[Mongoose]

Ok, I admit that I may be slightly drunk (after seeing Utd destroy the mighty Arsenal as if they were Scunthorpe), however I am listening to some of that Radio 2 gig crap and Jon just said something about Work for the Working Man being about DHL shutting down in Germany? Am I just wankered, deaf, or is Jon actually on smack?

[Supersonic]

Aloha !

Originally Posted by Mongoose

Ok, I admit that I may be slightly drunk (after seeing Utd destroy the mighty Arsenal as if they were Scunthorpe), however I am listening to some of that Radio 2 gig crap and Jon just said something about Work for the Working Man being about DHL shutting down in Germany? Am I just wankered, deaf, or is Jon actually on smack?

No, Jon said it's about DHL shutting down in Ohio, but knowing Jon he gave it a little twist so he might've twisted the story to make it more "accessible" to people over here. Within a year or so he'll say that the song is about anyone who's lost his job during the crisis.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

[Mongoose]

So, why did DHL shut down in Ohio? DHL came and picked a parcel off me not too long ago, they are doing ok methinks. Plus some terrorists in Iraq shot at one of their planes a few years ago and it made a big fat hole in their wing, however they still delivered...so I see on reason to shut down in Ohio.


Was it Youngstown, Ohio perchance? I mean that town has had some bad luck man, lets not forget that Back in eighteen-o-three James and Dan Heaton Found the ore that was linin' Yellow Creek They built a blast furnace Here along the shore And they made the cannonballs That helped the Union win the war

[bonjovi90]

I don't know why it exactly shut down, but Jon talked about it a few minutes in a Japanese TV show called "Rock City". I once read that it was about the DHL factory in Wilmington, Ohio.

[Simon]

Yeah he said something about Ohia... but he also said before that it's about everyone who lost their jobs due to the crisis. It's this BJ thing, their songs that they always want their songs to be universal. Ohio might have been the inspiration though. But was it really DHL? Because he told that story about half of the citizens lost their jobs in that one specific town, because whoever closed down was like THE employer in town.

[Butters]

There was a 60 Minutes special that aired in the US (and is available on youtube) about a town in Ohio that was devasted econocially in the recent downturn.

This particular town was hom to US owned company who operated their air-based delivery business from this town. In 2003, DHL, a german company, bought out the american company. The entire town's economy was dependent on DHL. A large proportion of the towns residents were employed by DHL, and many other tertiary businesses existed because of DHL. The people who worked for DHL did so with immense pride, so much so that they would wear their DHL ID as a badge of honour when they'd go out.

Then when the economy crumbeled DHL had to significantly downsize their operations which meant laying off innumerable staff who wanted nothing more then to go to work. This piece focused on this one particular woman who's job it was to walk each person out to the DHL gate and take their ID off them. She did this for weeks until she was walked to the gate herself and her ID taken.

The town's entire economy has been destroyed because of DHL pulling out and Jon was so moved by seeing these people's reactions that he got the idea for WFTWM. Many of the lines in the song are things the people in the show actually said.

[RichieW2001]

As a former client of mine, I can confirm that DHL (owned by Deutsche Post) are very much still in business. Given the focus on cost savings over the last couple of years, it's almost inevitable that spend on courier freight has tempered. The story Jon has mentioned is pretty sad, but not unique in that industry.

The problem with much of America is that the small towns and cities there are so heavily reliant upon one sector, they're completely poleaxed when that sector struggles. I have a number of other US inbound clients and I only hope that their industries don't suffer or there'll be thousands of others in the same position as the DHL workforce in Ohio.

[milomom]

This is the original 60 Minutes segment that aired and inspired WFTWM:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?...in;contentBody


This is the follow-up that 60 Minutes did in December:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?...in;contentBody

[*ºÇåptäîn¤Çrä§hº*]

Originally Posted by Mongoose

Was it Youngstown, Ohio perchance? I mean that town has had some bad luck man, lets not forget that Back in eighteen-o-three James and Dan Heaton Found the ore that was linin' Yellow Creek They built a blast furnace Here along the shore And they made the cannonballs That helped the Union win the war

My sweet Jenny, I'm sinkin' down...
It ain't funny, but I couldn't help but laugh.

[Bleeding Purist]

It should be clarified where it was once Fed Ex, UPS, and DHL providing parcel service in the U.S., DHL has ceased to provide domestic parcel service here, leaving the remaining two. You can imagine the impact and it certainly goes beyond Ohio.