The city of Dayton and National Cash Register have shared a unique history with one another, intertwined in communal growth and technological innovation. It was NCR, founded by John Patterson (whose name decorates many a fixture and street sign through out the city) in 1884, who spurred great economic growth around the Dayton municipality during the early part of the 20th century.The student neighborhoods that so many University of Dayton students have come to know and revere were once the original housing provided to employees by NCR so they could live close to their jobs and maintain affordable and respectable homes. Although NCR extracted most of its' manurfacturing out of the city, it still retained corporate offices employing over 1,200 Dayton area people until now.
After rumors began circulating that NCR planned to pack it's final bags for Georgia, Ohio politician's began to scramble to prevent the exodus. Efforts made to communicate with the company were met with a wall of silence, despite Govenor Ted Strickland (D-OH) reportedly offering the company around 31 million dollars in incentives to say. There have also been allegations that Georgia may be using Federal stimulus money to purchase the building which will eventually be leased to NCR. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown has been said to be investigating that allegation and will be exploring what legal options, if any, Ohio may have concerning it. Finally, NCR released an official statement declaring their official intentions of moving their final offices to Georgia:
“The decision to consolidate functions in Georgia and build a technology-focused corporate headquarters campus is right in line with our business strategy to drive growth, improve our innovation output, increase productivity and continually upgrade our focus on the customer,” said Bill Nuti, NCR’s chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Aparrently their business plan does not account for the 125 year old relationship between Dayton and National Cash Register. This startling economic hit comes admist continually rising rates of unemployment, especially in the Dayton area, whose unemployment numbers have reached a towering 13% compared to the national average of 9.4%.
During it's tenure with the City of Dayton, National Cash Register, brought such innovation in cash registers and related products like integrated liquid-crystal displays, bar code scanning for retail, automated tellar machines, and self-check out equipment.
When NCR checks out of Dayton for the final time, it is predicted they will take over 1,200 jobs with them, leaving this increasingly desolate city in an even weaker economic position.
2 comments:
Tom, i can't think of his name...
our old sociology professor - the cool, enlightened, old irish one. Well anyway, sad story but he called this.
But as you well know, I'm sure, but get ready for this trend to continue (as it has now for decades). It's true capitalism, - People act in their own self-interest, government steps back and waits until the over supply of businesses fade out and thus the market returns to the "market clearing point". Adam Smith states that this may take time but to let the market run freely. Then again, Adam Smith also never mentioned government interference to limit 16 hours work days or regulations to stop child labour.
Donnelly!
It's an interesting process, this american hyper capitalism. in the race to cut costs and lower that bottom line, we're driving jobs right out of this country. it's a race to the lowest wages and it's the worker who always gets screwed.
while adam smith was right about some things, "taking time and letting the markets run freely" these days loosely translates to a lot of people getting left behind and loosing access to simple services they need because they can no longer afford them.
it's tough.
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