|
Wilson plant closes; 380 jobs lost: IWCO Direct shuts its operation in Elm City
(News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 24--Two years after sweeping into Wilson County to save hundreds of jobs, direct mail company IWCO Direct is closing its plant and putting about 380 people out of work.
The Minnesota company announced Thursday that it is immediately closing its Elm City plant and shifting the work done there to facilities in Minnesota. The Elm City plant was used for printing, including creating personalized messages and inserting and mailing direct-mail pieces.
"Unfortunately, these jobs will be very difficult to replace," said Jennifer Lantz, executive director of the Wilson Economic Development Council. Obstacles include a declining manufacturing sector and many companies' having put expansion projects on hold given the struggling economy.
IWCO's move was triggered by a slump in demand for direct mail solicitations, said Debora Haskel, vice president of marketing at the privately owned company.
"We looked at every conceivable option to avoid making this move," Haskel said, "and unfortunately, this is what made the most sense."
The Elm City plant specialized in solicitations sent out by customers seeking to drum up new business. A "significant portion" of its mailings, Haskel said, were done for financial services companies -- including offers for credit cards, home equity loans and home equity lines of credit.
"We've seen, in some cases, clients cutting their mailings as much as 40 percent," Haskel said.
Lantz said IWCO is "an example of how the Wall Street crisis really is hitting Main Street."
IWCO closed another plant in Long Island in June. The company employs about 1,000 workers in Minnesota, but 250 jobs will be added there as a result of the Elm City shutdown.
Consolidating the work will enable the company to gain efficiencies, Haskel said.
An undetermined number of Elm City employees will be offered jobs in Minnesota. "I don't have an estimate," Haskel said. "Part of that is people's ability and interest in relocating."
IWCO announced in October 2006 that it was buying the Elm City operation. It was then owned by Cox Target Media of Florida and used to send out Valpak envelopes stuffed with coupons. Cox had announced two years earlier that it planned to pull out of North Carolina after building a facility in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The state offered IWCO a $375,000, three-year grant from the One North Carolina Fund as an incentive to buy the plant -- contingent upon achieving job and investment targets.
Since then, IWCO has received $187,500 from the state. However, the incentives agreement called for the company to maintain its jobs through 2010.
"We expect them to repay that money," said Deborah Barnes, a state Commerce Department spokeswoman.
david.ranii@newsobserver.com or 919-829-4877
To see more of The News & Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsobserver.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
[ Back To Homepage ]
|
Home
Featured Article Archives
eNews
RSS FEED
