To avert inner-office strategic hoarding of the Cherry Flavor and Vanilla Flavored Tootsie Roll Fruit Midgees after the semi-annual candy-run last week, I finally tracked down a distributor and am purchasing around 2,000 pieces of candy (roughly 30 pounds) at a cost of 5.5¢ per piece including shipping. I don’t know why Tootsie Roll Industries doesn’t simply offer individual flavors for sale directly from the company’s website – I would have spent considerably more for those two flavors and put them in a giant glass jar for display for guests to enjoy.
The Tootsie Roll Fruit Midgees are fantastic for those of you who have never tried them. I take the Cherry and Vanilla ones, personally.
Reader Comments
(6)
Comments are presented chronologically, with replies indented beneath
the comments to which they respond.
F
FratMan
August 29, 2011
Ha. Well put. I remember in grade school when everyone was fighting over the blue-flavored jolly ranchers. Anyhoo, here are my three questions for the month of August---
1. One of the subtler themes of your blog I think has been the inevitability of Drucker's vision coming to fruition of the future for the knowledge based workers and the non-knowledge workers who will be left behind. In your post on the ethics of Wal-Mart, you pointed out that it's a legitimate question to ask why a janitor deserves $35,000 for sweeping floors. You've pointed out that those business owners who can control costs ruthlessly end up ahead, and I got the impression that you consider that trait to be a virtue. I know you don't like the seniority system, and I know that you don't necessarily feel that employers have an obligation to keep around 'dead weight.' So I wanted to ask you this--do you think that it is in the best interest of Americans that businesses pursue 'maximum efficiency' as an objective? The reason I ask you this is because I can think of a local grocery chain that my grandpa used to praise to me as a kid. He knew the owner of the business--and the owner was content to treat workers extraordinarily well. He probably had the place staffed with twice as many people as necessary, paid them well-above market wages, was generous in giving people second, third, and fourth chances, and he definitely allowed workers to stay on well past their prime. My grandpa thought this business owner was the most selfless guy who ever lived because he was content to make $100,000 or so a year (in 1970s-ish money) when he could have probably brought in close to half a million I would guess, if he pursued 'efficiency' as an objective. Let's say, for argument's sake, he could price things competitively with Wal-Mart, and accepted the smaller amount of profits for shareholders (i.e. himself) that his generosity would create.
2. I'm sure every one of your readers are dying to know your thoughts on the Buffett op-ed that has been tearing up the headlines recently. If Buffett means 'higher taxes' in the form of hedge fund managers have to pay 35% on income, too, then yeah, we're probably all okay with signing off on that. But he was criticizing people who 'make money with money' by investing, which would lead me to think he's advocating raising capital gains taxes, which I would disagree with. I mean, half the country pays no taxes. We should all have some skin in the game, I would think. If I diligently put aside $500 a month from 1950-1990 into Coca-Cola stock and now have millions, I don't think I should have to pay higher taxes, but then again, what I think's not important--I'm curious for your thoughts.
3. And lastly, I'm not sure how much this has been a concern for you since I get the impression that you keep a close circle of friends that doesn't vacillate much, but, has it been your experience that people have treated you differently since finding out you're loaded? i.e. Are there people you knew growing up as a kid that maybe didn't treat you all that great, but now that you've made it as a businessman, are much nicer towards you? I know of a couple in my parish who were middle class, and definitely got ignored by the upper middle class folks in the parish (and treated so-so by the middle class folks), and then the dad sold some kind of patent to a company that netted him $10 million, and everyone treats them differently. My parents have been friends with this couple for about 10 years, and the husband of the couple remarks when he gets invited to parties and people go out of his way to talk to them, where were these people five years ago? He's the same person, but now, people suck up to him who used to mildly blow him and his wife off. I guess here's what my main question is getting at--you've said in the past that basically, there's enough a**holes out there and that you don't want to be one of them, and you want to treat people kindly. But if you make it big financially, how ought you treat the people that are now sucking up to you that used to snub you?
As always, great posts lately. Loved the one on happiness and the psychology profile.
F
FratMan
August 30, 2011
Replying to FratMan
PS it's Buffett's birthday. Isn't there an annual ritual you do every year on his birthday? I forgot what it was, it might have been from about.com.
J
Joshua Kennon
October 2, 2011
Replying to FratMan
I answered your last question in this mail bag post:
As for your first question, I'll get to that when I can. Things are still crazy around here.
J
Joshua Kennon
August 31, 2011
I completely forgot! I was too busy. I'm flying back to Kansas City shortly after having been at one of the Walt Disney World resorts with friends for the past week for our semi-annual vacation. Normally, I look through the expenses of the family operating businesses and try to think of new ways to cut costs and increase return on equity ... completely out-of-the-box stuff. One year, we managed to cut thousands of dollars by getting rid of all the phone lines and switching to automatic voice-over-IP systems that used the Internet to replicate a phone line without the customers knowing.
FratMan
August 29, 2011
Ha. Well put. I remember in grade school when everyone was fighting over the blue-flavored jolly ranchers. Anyhoo, here are my three questions for the month of August---
1. One of the subtler themes of your blog I think has been the inevitability of Drucker's vision coming to fruition of the future for the knowledge based workers and the non-knowledge workers who will be left behind. In your post on the ethics of Wal-Mart, you pointed out that it's a legitimate question to ask why a janitor deserves $35,000 for sweeping floors. You've pointed out that those business owners who can control costs ruthlessly end up ahead, and I got the impression that you consider that trait to be a virtue. I know you don't like the seniority system, and I know that you don't necessarily feel that employers have an obligation to keep around 'dead weight.' So I wanted to ask you this--do you think that it is in the best interest of Americans that businesses pursue 'maximum efficiency' as an objective? The reason I ask you this is because I can think of a local grocery chain that my grandpa used to praise to me as a kid. He knew the owner of the business--and the owner was content to treat workers extraordinarily well. He probably had the place staffed with twice as many people as necessary, paid them well-above market wages, was generous in giving people second, third, and fourth chances, and he definitely allowed workers to stay on well past their prime. My grandpa thought this business owner was the most selfless guy who ever lived because he was content to make $100,000 or so a year (in 1970s-ish money) when he could have probably brought in close to half a million I would guess, if he pursued 'efficiency' as an objective. Let's say, for argument's sake, he could price things competitively with Wal-Mart, and accepted the smaller amount of profits for shareholders (i.e. himself) that his generosity would create.
2. I'm sure every one of your readers are dying to know your thoughts on the Buffett op-ed that has been tearing up the headlines recently. If Buffett means 'higher taxes' in the form of hedge fund managers have to pay 35% on income, too, then yeah, we're probably all okay with signing off on that. But he was criticizing people who 'make money with money' by investing, which would lead me to think he's advocating raising capital gains taxes, which I would disagree with. I mean, half the country pays no taxes. We should all have some skin in the game, I would think. If I diligently put aside $500 a month from 1950-1990 into Coca-Cola stock and now have millions, I don't think I should have to pay higher taxes, but then again, what I think's not important--I'm curious for your thoughts.
3. And lastly, I'm not sure how much this has been a concern for you since I get the impression that you keep a close circle of friends that doesn't vacillate much, but, has it been your experience that people have treated you differently since finding out you're loaded? i.e. Are there people you knew growing up as a kid that maybe didn't treat you all that great, but now that you've made it as a businessman, are much nicer towards you? I know of a couple in my parish who were middle class, and definitely got ignored by the upper middle class folks in the parish (and treated so-so by the middle class folks), and then the dad sold some kind of patent to a company that netted him $10 million, and everyone treats them differently. My parents have been friends with this couple for about 10 years, and the husband of the couple remarks when he gets invited to parties and people go out of his way to talk to them, where were these people five years ago? He's the same person, but now, people suck up to him who used to mildly blow him and his wife off. I guess here's what my main question is getting at--you've said in the past that basically, there's enough a**holes out there and that you don't want to be one of them, and you want to treat people kindly. But if you make it big financially, how ought you treat the people that are now sucking up to you that used to snub you?
As always, great posts lately. Loved the one on happiness and the psychology profile.
FratMan
August 30, 2011
Replying to FratMan
PS it's Buffett's birthday. Isn't there an annual ritual you do every year on his birthday? I forgot what it was, it might have been from about.com.
Joshua Kennon
October 2, 2011
Replying to FratMan
I answered your last question in this mail bag post:
http://www.joshuakennon.com/mail-bag-once-you-become-rich-how-should-you-handle-people-that-wouldnt-give-you-the-time-of-day-in-the-past/
Joshua Kennon
October 2, 2011
Replying to FratMan
As for your first question, I'll get to that when I can. Things are still crazy around here.
Joshua Kennon
August 31, 2011
I completely forgot! I was too busy. I'm flying back to Kansas City shortly after having been at one of the Walt Disney World resorts with friends for the past week for our semi-annual vacation. Normally, I look through the expenses of the family operating businesses and try to think of new ways to cut costs and increase return on equity ... completely out-of-the-box stuff. One year, we managed to cut thousands of dollars by getting rid of all the phone lines and switching to automatic voice-over-IP systems that used the Internet to replicate a phone line without the customers knowing.
Yeahem
November 1, 2011
WHo was the distributor? I wnat Cherry only