I think that people have become more health conscious over the years and are not purchasing things like Twinkies and Devil Dogs. I know I have never bought these for my kids. You know there's something wrong with a food when it doesn't decompose for almost a decade!

Sad to think of the people who will be out of jobs because of this.

I would like to take over the company and re-invent the product! The jobs would be saved and the product would be healthier. People are still going to eat snack food for a treat and I personally prefer backed goods to candy. I fondly remember the field trip when I was in Elementary School in Dedham - Dexter (now closed) - where we went on a tour of the factory. It was a great trip!!!!

Yes people have become more "health" conscious but for god sake! It's a darn Twinkie !!!!!! It is awful to know the labor unions are so out of touch with what is right that they force these companies like hostess out of business and what do they do for the thousands of employees left without jobs in this ridiculous economy ? Absolutely nothing! Besides we should be allowed to decide for our selves I we want to eat that devil dog.....Twinkie....ding dong if we so choose to!!!!!

Going for $75 a box on EBay

You are right Jim, Another victory for the unions. China will be sending us Twinkees soon. Isn't this what happened to most of our manufacturing industry??

Sad but not tragic.

A business analyst I heard on the radio last night said that Hostess was already in a "death spiral" due to lack of innovation and inability to meet current consumer demands. Blaming this entirely on the unions is asinine. Yes, they bear some responsibility as well, but, as usual, the problem is much more complex than the talking heads on Fox News would have us believe.

Nobody died. It is NOT tragic. I am all for strong unions and I am sorry for those about to lose their jobs.

I am all for strong unions too but what was the issue(s) on which neither side would compromise? Having a job and, in the case of the owners, a business is better than having nothing. Why was the option of turning Hostess into an employee-owned company in majority stock not explored? No better motivation than your own financial success/failure based on employer's success/failure.

Life is about balance - you can be as health-conscious as you like but absolute abstainence from Twinkies & Devil Dogs is cruel, unnecessary self-deprivation. What's next? Eradicating ice cream, candy and every other sensory-delight to the taste buds?

18K jobs? Those were union jobs. It was less about declining sales and more about cost. They told the union this would happen but they still voted to strike. Now they see the consequences of their actions, they are all out of a job. But the workers wont blame the union, they will blame the greedy "1 percenter" that owns the company. It was their job to "take care" of these workers not to make money!

One day we will wake up and see the light, obviously that day is NOT today! Maybe Obama will use our tax dollars to bail these guys out too. Santa Claus is alive and well in the white house. Of course he's charging everything on the taxpayers credit card but who cares, he's not paying the bill!

Seems that the unions really screwed the pooch as well as thier members on this one. The company was already in bankcruptcy and there's no way they could grant the concessions that were being sought.
Oh well, maybe someone like Bain Capital will now step in and re-open (some) of these factories (non-union of course). Perhaps the cost to us consumers will also be reduced as a result of all this as well.

Its the end of an era but only for us 50 plus people. Our kids don't buy the Hostess products and frankly, Hostess stopped marketing to the "newer" generation. Now we have energy bars, health snacks, etc so the old junk food is not appealing to our newer parental generations nor their kids at home, in school, in college and in general.

Companies do die off when the market they aimed at shrinks and when perceived better alternatives are aimed at the markets they used to dominate.

BTW, the workers knew Hostess was going bust, were told by management that it was so bad that any glitch in supplying what little market they had would kill the company. They were told many times that the company would have to layoff any striking workers because it could not afford to hang in as is only surviving by filling dwindling re-orders, not new and growing orders.

The workers struck and the company closed their plants as promissed. It was the final blow that pushed Hostess into bankruptcy.

Not every management/owner team is the enemy. Some actually do see keeping people employed as part of their mission, not just profits. Workers must learn to try and see that point before deciding to strike. Neil Licht

I knew there was something wrong when they closed down the Wonder bread store in Oklahoma City three years ago.

There are two sides to every story -
(this is from thinkprogress.org)
Today, Hostess Brands inc. — the company famed for its sickly sweet desert snacks like Twinkies and Sno Balls — announced they’d be shuttering after more than eighty years of production.

But while headlines have been quick to blame unions for the downfall of the company there’s actually more to the story: While the company was filing for bankruptcy, for the second time, earlier this year, it actually tripled its CEO’s pay, and increased other executives’ compensation by as much as 80 percent.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/16

Thank you, Kerry. People who vilify "the unions" conveniently forget that the unions ARE the workers--not some separate corrupt behemoth, but the everyday people who work in the factories and the bakeries such as this. And you cannot convince working people to accept pay cuts when the supervisors continue to make out like bandits. And by the way, Hostess products already had a reputation for being notoriously unhealthy forty years ago--their IMAGE and their PRODUCTS should have changed, not their workers's expectations of decent wages. Next thing you know, we'll be having nostalgic tributes to The Marlborough Man...

I'll miss their Suzy-Q's.

My grandfather worked most of his life and retired from the plant in Framingham until they closed the plant. When I read this post I am glad that he did not have to go through what this employee has. It's very sad.
Daily Kos: Inside the Hostess Bankery
www.dailykos.com

I do feel bad for workers who will be unemployed but glad to see that people are becoming aware of side effects of eating junk food.

And, of course, "Ghostbusters" needs to be re-edited now.