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New Museum

Started by thedeeredude, January 20, 2009, 05:03:33 PM

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thedeeredude

If you make it to southeastern Pennsylvania and find yourself traveling on Chocolate Avenue, there is a new Hershey's museum, called The Hershey Story.  We went there yesterday and it was a neato place.  Not terribly large, but amazingly well done!  It shows the complete history of Hershey's Chocolate and gives the life story of Milton Hershey.  One heckuva good person.  Around here Hershey's chocolate is taken for granted :D  I didn't take any pictures in the museum, they wouldn't have come out good due to the lighting and that. 

http://www.hersheystory.org/


thompsontimber

now I'm wantin some chocolate!

Ron Wenrich

And it only cost $28 million.  Part of it was taxpayers dollars, I believe.  You would think with the largess of Hershey that they could have paid for the whole thing.   ;)
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

low_48

Did they have a section about moving some production to Mexico for higher profits?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/15/AR2007021500788.html

thedeeredude

Yeah, that moving production deal peeved me off >:(  They're supposedly gonna make a factory in China too. If only Milton still ran the place.  It is a neat museum if you are interested in the history of the company though. 

Quote from: Ron Wenrich on January 20, 2009, 07:26:18 PM
And it only cost $28 million.  Part of it was taxpayers dollars, I believe.  You would think with the largess of Hershey that they could have paid for the whole thing.   ;)

In reading eagle it said 23.5 million, but didn't mention tax dollars.  Wouldn't be surprised though. ::)  They gotta save money to pay unemployment to their American and Canadian employees and start new factories in other countries.

cheyenne

Did you meet Willie Wonka.....Cheyenne
Home of the white buffalo

DonT

The Hershey name is not a popular one in my area after closing the local factory,and moving it to Mexico.

farmerdoug

Alot of our candy is made in Mexico, Canada or elsewhere due to high sugar costs.  Here is the USA sugar is 35 cents a pound wholesale but it is much cheaper outside of the USA.  Candy is largely sugar so it pays to make it outside the USA.  Tariffs raise the price here to protect our farmers. ::)

Doug
Truck Farmer/Greenhouse grower
2001 LT40HDD42 Super with Command Control and AccuSet, 42 hp Kubota diesel
Fargo, MI

thedeeredude

Hershey is popular around here for the amusement park ::).  They shut down the Reading,PA plant and moved it to Mexico.  I don't like chocolate much anyway. :)  Every now and again Ill have a chocolate bar, but if chocolate dissapeared from the face of the earth, I wouldn't be too concerned.  Except for hot cocoa ;D 

cheyenne

How do tariffs protect our farmers ???.....Cheyenne
Home of the white buffalo

Ron Wenrich

I think Hershey got a $12 million grant for the museum.  That nifty Giant stadium over by the park was also on the taxpayer's dime.  Meanwhile, it costs a family of 4 about $200/day to enjoy the park that Milton Hershey built for his employees.  Channel 33 has a program it runs on the park, and shows the history.  My gripe is that if we helped in half the expenses, we should make half the profits.  It was money that could have been better spent elsewhere, and Hershey could afford to build both without taxpayer money.

I've only been there 3 times since they put up a fence and made us pay just to walk around.  That was back in 1966.  Each time was paid by someone else.  There were also racial overtones on why it was done.

You lose some of your appetite for chocolate once you work one of those plants.  Amazing what gets put in the mix.   ;)

Tariffs raise the price of a commodity, thereby allowing local farmers to be more profitable....on the consumer's dime.  There are 2 sugar markets.  The US market has all sorts of support for a rather small growing area of the US.  The US market is currently about 20¢/lb and the world market is at 12.5¢/lb.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

farmerdoug

Ron is right.  My number was a little high but it is done so US farmers can compete with the foreign markets.  Not sure I agree but that is how it is done.  With the difference the bottom line says to produce the candy outside the USA.  Just like everything else. ::)
Doug
Truck Farmer/Greenhouse grower
2001 LT40HDD42 Super with Command Control and AccuSet, 42 hp Kubota diesel
Fargo, MI

thecfarm

But now there should be another "tariff" on the finished product that would make it so high it would not be worth it to make it outside the US.Put me in charge,I'll straighten it all out.  :D  Maine was a big shoe industry.I was right there when it all went outside of the US.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

DonT

I agree with Ron.I worked at the Herschey factory for a couple of summers,you could eat all you wanted to.After about 2 weeks the novelty wore off,after 4 weeks you got sick of the smell at the end of the summer it was nice to go back to school.Never figured I looked that good in a hairnet anyway.The closing of the factory has had serious implications in this area,lots of people out of work and the trickle down affect has started to show in other areas now.

Warbird

Quote from: Ron Wenrich on January 22, 2009, 05:56:55 AM
You lose some of your appetite for chocolate once you work one of those plants.  Amazing what gets put in the mix.   ;)

What kind of chemicals do they put into chocolate bars?  I have to be careful what chocolate I eat...  it can trigger a migraine.  Good, high quality chocolate doesn't seem to have as much of an impact.  I've always wondered about this.

Ron Wenrich

I worked for Kline's Chocolate in Elizabethtown, PA.  They were just down the road from Hershey, and have since been bought out by M&M Mars. 

I couldn't tell you about chemicals nowadays.  Back then, we just put cocoa, water, sugar and boxes of oil in a vat.  I'm sure there were other things in there, but I was just putting those 50lb boxes of hydrogenated oil in the vat.  Notice there was no milk. 

I also remember cleaning out a chocolate liquor tank.  It was about 20' high and still had about 1' in the bottom.  We were to unload it and scrape down the walls.  We found a bucket handle in there.  No bucket, just the handle. 

I remember packing 20lb bars of chocolate that we made for Peter Paul.  We would run a bar through a metal detector every once in a while.  Sometimes it went off.   :o

The worst job was bagging cocoa.  This was before they had dust masks or respirators.  It would get so dusty that you could hardly see the light in there.  No one ever bothered you.  You would be blowing chocolate out your nose for a couple a days after a stretch in there.

I worked with a guy that had put in 70 years in that plant, and they were forcing him to retire.  He started when he was 6.

Ah yes, the good old days.   :D 
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Warbird

Quote from: Ron Wenrich on January 22, 2009, 06:02:46 PM
The worst job was bagging cocoa.  This was before they had dust masks or respirators.  It would get so dusty that you could hardly see the light in there.  No one ever bothered you.  You would be blowing chocolate out your nose for a couple a days after a stretch in there.

I knew you were a sweet guy but that's ridiculous!  LOL

isawlogs


So if I got this straight , a millionnaire or multy , got some cash from the goobermint to put up a museum of his doing or his familys doings and now charges some coin to the general public and makes more mulla but does not give a percentage back on the benifits of the museum .....
I guess it is still who you know that really counts ....  :-\
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

thedeeredude

No, Milton's dead, Hershey chocolate company apparently got the grant.  I think I was last at hershey park about 4 or 5 years ago.  Someone else paid for the ticket ;D  I hate rollercoasters too.  I hate amusement parks, there's nothing for me to do. 

Meadows Miller

Gday

I like Hurshes  8) and dont mind paying for it because i thought i knew where it was made  ;)  but What realy Peves me is that companys will lash out and spend money like that then turn around and say well we cant produce in our own country and shift production to save afew cents a box and the price at the store dont change  ::)
its the same down here the box will say made in australia and in the fine print it says packaged in aust using local and imported ingedints now im not dumb and i know the only thing made here is the bloody box   :) :) :) ::) ::) ::) and i try not to buy things that are blatently bulls#$ting me asto where they are made  ;)
just one of those things that realy ticks me off then the blokes incharge wonder why ohh why do we have problems with our economys at times

Chris
4TH Generation Timbergetter

Cedarman

The rich get richer by soaking the poor.  Steinbrenner used the government of New York to confiscate a park to put his new stadium.  Did you ever notice how much government money goes into ball parks, art museums, ballet theaters, amusement parks etc to suck money from the masses and how little goes into regular parks where kids can play ball and have some supervised activities?  Government officials are in bed with the rich to use eminent domain to take from the poor and give to the rich. 

Why would anyone pay the big bucks to go to a baseball game that they paid for with their tax money?
I am in the pink when sawing cedar.

snowman

On the museum subject, a few years back when entire west was on fire and the woods were shut down I jumped in my old van and took off on a road trip. One place I stumbled on was Buffalo Bill musueum in Cody Wyoming. I spent 8 hours in there not counting lunch break :D. They have every gun ever made from 1st muzzle loader through gattling guns to modern day weapons. If you like guns put this place on your must see before I die list.

beenthere

snowman...

"must see before you die....."  Hmmm? Any clue as to how long we have to getRdun?  ;D ;D ;D

Have been to the Buffalo Bill museum and agree that it is a site to see. Hard to see it all in just 8 hours too.  ;D
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

thedeeredude

I always wanted to see the west and then head up to Alaska for the northern lights.  My grandparents were lucky enough to go on a trip there.  They went through New England, through Canada and then out to the western states.  They didn't go to Alaska though.  I know my grandfather would've loved that.

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