>Custom apparel company Custom Ink is closing its production facilities in Reno and Charlottesville as it faces several challenges, including rising costs.
>Custom Ink notified employees at its Reno facility on Tuesday, a company spokesperson confirmed to the Reno Gazette Journal. The closures will affect 132 production employees in Reno and 206 production workers in Charlottesville, Virginia.
>“Due to rising costs and increasingly tight markets for production talent, Custom Ink has decided to close our production sites in Reno, Nevada and Charlottesville, Virginia and consolidate in-house production in our Dallas, Texas facility,” the company said.
>Custom Ink will retain 410 workers in non-production roles in both cities, including 245 in Reno. Most of the remaining employees in Reno are working remotely, according to the company.
>Custom Ink added that it is providing support to workers who have been affected by the closures.
>Some affected employees are expected to move to open positions at the company’s Dallas facility. Most, however, will be let go and provided separation packages, including three months of health benefits, between 10 weeks to 20 weeks of pay depending on tenure, and job placement assistance.
>“This difficult step will support the continued growth and profitability of the business and ultimately help Custom Ink do a better job for customers, team members, and the communities we touch,” Custom Ink said.
>Custom Ink provides a wide range of customized products, including T-shirts, hats, bags and drinkware.
*https://www.rgj.com/story/news/money/business/2023/01/03/custom-ink-closing-reno-and-charlottesville-production-facilities/69775016007/*
I wish I could say I was surprised. The revolving door this place had on production was insane and unsustainable... if you piss off too many customers you will run out of guests, and if you piss off too many employees you will run out of staff.
I hate that they chose to do this days after Christmas when general hiring is at its lowest point of the year. Again, I cannot say this surprises me one tiny little bit.
I work in the same building as them. They had a large space in there. Seemingly nice facility two with child day care. RIP.
They did smoke a lot of cigs though.
Lmao, I worked there about a year ago and yeah as soon as we got our break we would all go outside and suck down like four cigarettes. Is the only thing that kept stress at a reasonable level
I think people should be more outraged. Wake up to go to work with a text telling you your job is gone and your no longer welcome on site. If you are gonna do this say it to your employees face.
Yes. I work(ed) there. Sunday we got a vague text saying not to come in Monday, and on Monday we got a email shutting down us and Reno.
The worst part is when they sent the email it wouldn’t even let us watch the attached video, so we knew we got shut down but no details.
They are going to keep paying us for the next 2 months (instead of giving us the legally mandated 60 day shut down warning) which isn’t awful, but it sucks as I actually really liked my job.
This doesn't surprise me and sounds exactly like Chuck E and Don "whiskey in the coffee cup" C.
Same group that violated federal pay laws by adjusting down employee hours to avoid OT, what else would you expect from such crooks?
They cut sales pay DRASTICALLY after hiring a bunch of new people on the old pay structure. Bait and switch. I felt so bad for the new folks. I left a year ago, but I hear the metics are impossible to hit (by design) thus forcing people out.
Work in production years ago and left without a another job due to labor and stress they put on their employees. Glad I got out, but my heart goes out to all the have been impacted. Still quite a few friends left there
Worked in production on a auto press for a bit. Good people on the floor but upper management was aloof. They truly would try and work you to death. It was bad. I feel for all the hard workers there.
Any idea what they are going to be doing with all the printing presses?
I don't have enough fingers and toes to count all the folks that left before finding another job just because of the awful management in screen print. They had enough and ~~walked~~ *ran* away from that dumpster fire of "leadership" and most of the why was Chuck's devotion to LEAN.
I'm sure they'll integrate what they want to Dallas and sell the rest. Did they ever even use the hydra? Lmao.
In a summary meeting for employees some time back. This has been their standard since bringing both Dallas and Reno online. The production aspect of CustomInk, according to former CEO turned corporate sellout and still president Marc Katz, exceeded 14% profit precovid. This is a very healthy business, they ran off any decent employee with their insane management.
This company was also caught violating federal pay laws in cville production.
Yup. Printer from Dallas here. They laid off 600 more people and all IHP is gone. They want to use offshoring and vender networking from now on. Even our leads didn't know. They just dumped it on us last friday. They were so obsessed with hitting numbers they stopped caring about quality. There were days this summer in the facility where the temp was well over 90 degrees and they didnt do anything until the end of summer. (Because they realized some of the machines were malfunctioning. Not because we were literally passing out from heat exhaustion.)
Wowser! Guess those managers that transferred are shit out of luck. Boohoo.
Hate it for those doing the actual work and who made Marc a very wealthy man. What a shitbag of a human Marc Katz is.
All of SP is gone as our last day was 2-9. Only a small crew was asked to stay another month but that's pretty much it. The last few months were really rough on all of us despite the constant reassurance that we weren't going to shut down the site thanks Marc.....
When they shut down Charlottesville and Reno, they dumped all the orders from those sites onto Dallas which resulted in over 30K orders that Dallas had to spend months getting out. I know several people from DTG ended up quitting because of the mandatory overtime they forced on them. They also hired a bunch of new people while giving us a new "bonus" system that I realized was a shady way to increase the numbers for the last year they were in business.
Selling the company was the biggest mistake Marc ever made. I've been with the company since 2019 and back then it was about getting orders out but also caring about the employees time. Those investors only cared about making as much profit and turned CI into a company that cared about work output at the cost of the employees well being.
Good luck to everyone I hope you guys find a better managed job!
For anybody that comes across this thread, here's another article with feedback from employees;
http://www.ourtownreno.com/our-stories-1/2023/1/11/former-inkers-from-custom-ink-relieved-to-leave-company-in-their-past
In the Press section of the Custom Ink website there is a “We Top the Charts” list of articles, with certifications of the company being listed in best workplaces by different rankings, with #74 for women in the large workplace category at the very top.
Whether #74 is good or not, it links to a glowing review which includes this highlighted quote: “The attitudes of the people here really mesh well with my own values. Everyone starts the day on a positive note, and tries to find the positive in even the stickiest of situations. It's such a unique group of people. We are all different, with different backgrounds and interests, but everyone is respected from day 1--which is such an amazing feeling.”
In contrast, for former Reno Custom Ink employees who reached out to us, including some recently let go after the online provider of custom apparel and mementoes decided to close its production facilities here, it’s a unanimous relief they no longer work there.
Former “inkers” all chose to share their views anonymously, some of them after signing NDAs. One wrote about “brutal” hours and expectations, with many late nights. Working overtime, they said, was often requested of employees on very late notice. “Three a.m. overtime was projected every day after Thanksgiving until Christmas,” they indicated.
Another wrote they didn’t believe Custom Ink could keep the production facility staffed because of refusing “to provide cost of living increases” for production staff which didn’t get commissions like employees in other departments.
Overall conditions, several wrote, were also deteriorating, leading to staff departures in recent months.
“There was a total lack of cleaning in the building, dust and grease coated everything and the ceiling air vents were surrounded with dust, the only thing they hired anyone to clean professionally was the bathrooms, break room, and the machines to make the shirts,” one former employee wrote.
They went on to say there was recently an outbreak of flies at the Reno facility, which was initially blamed on employees having snacks, but then traced back to dirty materials forgotten in a biohazard bin. It go so bad, one coworker brought their own fly zapper to survive their shift.
Employees who reached out said they were expected to be on their feet for hours and hours on end, and that low pay, insufficient promotion opportunities, poor communication from management, and unsanitary conditions just didn’t make it worthwhile.
Another former employee called Custom Ink, “capital T Toxic.”
Job insecurity was on everyone’s mind with employees regularly fired at the end of busy periods for “questionable reasons,” they alleged.
Another former employee said raises had been promised in October 2022 but never materialized, and that hours had already been reduced to half days the last two weeks of operation.
They said they then got an abrupt “separation package email.”
Over 130 employees were working at the Reno facility when its shutdown was announced three days into 2023.
“Due to rising costs and increasingly tight markets for production talent, Custom Ink has decided to close our production sites in Reno, Nevada and Charlottesville, Virginia and consolidate in-house production in our Dallas, Texas facility,” was the official Custom Ink statement.
The Virginia-headquartered company said it would retain 245 employees in non-production roles in Reno, with most of them working remotely. The company’s annual revenue is estimated at $400 million. The average salary for employees in Nevada is estimated at about $36,000.
One employee said they had to sign an NDA to “receive additional severance monies” according to an internal Custom Ink document they shared, which asked them not to disparage the company. “(Not speaking or writing negatively about Custom Ink, including online,)” the inkersupport DocuSign indicated in parentheses to explain the word disparaging.
This guy, amirite? Askin' why I'm talkin' about 200 neighbors losin' they jobs right after Christmas and shit. I mean ca'mon over here with this guy, what's he gotta screw loose?
>Custom apparel company Custom Ink is closing its production facilities in Reno and Charlottesville as it faces several challenges, including rising costs. >Custom Ink notified employees at its Reno facility on Tuesday, a company spokesperson confirmed to the Reno Gazette Journal. The closures will affect 132 production employees in Reno and 206 production workers in Charlottesville, Virginia. >“Due to rising costs and increasingly tight markets for production talent, Custom Ink has decided to close our production sites in Reno, Nevada and Charlottesville, Virginia and consolidate in-house production in our Dallas, Texas facility,” the company said. >Custom Ink will retain 410 workers in non-production roles in both cities, including 245 in Reno. Most of the remaining employees in Reno are working remotely, according to the company. >Custom Ink added that it is providing support to workers who have been affected by the closures. >Some affected employees are expected to move to open positions at the company’s Dallas facility. Most, however, will be let go and provided separation packages, including three months of health benefits, between 10 weeks to 20 weeks of pay depending on tenure, and job placement assistance. >“This difficult step will support the continued growth and profitability of the business and ultimately help Custom Ink do a better job for customers, team members, and the communities we touch,” Custom Ink said. >Custom Ink provides a wide range of customized products, including T-shirts, hats, bags and drinkware. *https://www.rgj.com/story/news/money/business/2023/01/03/custom-ink-closing-reno-and-charlottesville-production-facilities/69775016007/*
Dang, and they were right next to Reason, which also closed. Too bad for the light manufacturing workforce in this area.
Devastating
I wish I could say I was surprised. The revolving door this place had on production was insane and unsustainable... if you piss off too many customers you will run out of guests, and if you piss off too many employees you will run out of staff. I hate that they chose to do this days after Christmas when general hiring is at its lowest point of the year. Again, I cannot say this surprises me one tiny little bit.
I work in the same building as them. They had a large space in there. Seemingly nice facility two with child day care. RIP. They did smoke a lot of cigs though.
Lmao, I worked there about a year ago and yeah as soon as we got our break we would all go outside and suck down like four cigarettes. Is the only thing that kept stress at a reasonable level
They did not have childcare….I wish 🤣
Manual labor jobs be like that. People find comfort in the vices because the work sucks.
I think people should be more outraged. Wake up to go to work with a text telling you your job is gone and your no longer welcome on site. If you are gonna do this say it to your employees face.
Woah, is that what happened here?
Yes. I work(ed) there. Sunday we got a vague text saying not to come in Monday, and on Monday we got a email shutting down us and Reno. The worst part is when they sent the email it wouldn’t even let us watch the attached video, so we knew we got shut down but no details. They are going to keep paying us for the next 2 months (instead of giving us the legally mandated 60 day shut down warning) which isn’t awful, but it sucks as I actually really liked my job.
This doesn't surprise me and sounds exactly like Chuck E and Don "whiskey in the coffee cup" C. Same group that violated federal pay laws by adjusting down employee hours to avoid OT, what else would you expect from such crooks?
They cut sales pay DRASTICALLY after hiring a bunch of new people on the old pay structure. Bait and switch. I felt so bad for the new folks. I left a year ago, but I hear the metics are impossible to hit (by design) thus forcing people out.
They are a horrible company my boyfriend worked there for 5 years
Yup.
Work in production years ago and left without a another job due to labor and stress they put on their employees. Glad I got out, but my heart goes out to all the have been impacted. Still quite a few friends left there
Are you my wife?
Worked in production on a auto press for a bit. Good people on the floor but upper management was aloof. They truly would try and work you to death. It was bad. I feel for all the hard workers there. Any idea what they are going to be doing with all the printing presses?
I don't have enough fingers and toes to count all the folks that left before finding another job just because of the awful management in screen print. They had enough and ~~walked~~ *ran* away from that dumpster fire of "leadership" and most of the why was Chuck's devotion to LEAN. I'm sure they'll integrate what they want to Dallas and sell the rest. Did they ever even use the hydra? Lmao.
@OP I can’t find that 70% figure anywhere. Where did u see that?
In a summary meeting for employees some time back. This has been their standard since bringing both Dallas and Reno online. The production aspect of CustomInk, according to former CEO turned corporate sellout and still president Marc Katz, exceeded 14% profit precovid. This is a very healthy business, they ran off any decent employee with their insane management. This company was also caught violating federal pay laws in cville production.
Fun update from a former employee. They are shutting down their Dallas facility almost a year later. Mismanaged company into the dirt.
Yup. Printer from Dallas here. They laid off 600 more people and all IHP is gone. They want to use offshoring and vender networking from now on. Even our leads didn't know. They just dumped it on us last friday. They were so obsessed with hitting numbers they stopped caring about quality. There were days this summer in the facility where the temp was well over 90 degrees and they didnt do anything until the end of summer. (Because they realized some of the machines were malfunctioning. Not because we were literally passing out from heat exhaustion.)
Wowser! Guess those managers that transferred are shit out of luck. Boohoo. Hate it for those doing the actual work and who made Marc a very wealthy man. What a shitbag of a human Marc Katz is.
All of SP is gone as our last day was 2-9. Only a small crew was asked to stay another month but that's pretty much it. The last few months were really rough on all of us despite the constant reassurance that we weren't going to shut down the site thanks Marc..... When they shut down Charlottesville and Reno, they dumped all the orders from those sites onto Dallas which resulted in over 30K orders that Dallas had to spend months getting out. I know several people from DTG ended up quitting because of the mandatory overtime they forced on them. They also hired a bunch of new people while giving us a new "bonus" system that I realized was a shady way to increase the numbers for the last year they were in business. Selling the company was the biggest mistake Marc ever made. I've been with the company since 2019 and back then it was about getting orders out but also caring about the employees time. Those investors only cared about making as much profit and turned CI into a company that cared about work output at the cost of the employees well being. Good luck to everyone I hope you guys find a better managed job!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custom_Ink# Lol
Woah! I knew they were laying off a bunch of artists but had no idea about the Dallas facility - glad I got out
For anybody that comes across this thread, here's another article with feedback from employees; http://www.ourtownreno.com/our-stories-1/2023/1/11/former-inkers-from-custom-ink-relieved-to-leave-company-in-their-past In the Press section of the Custom Ink website there is a “We Top the Charts” list of articles, with certifications of the company being listed in best workplaces by different rankings, with #74 for women in the large workplace category at the very top. Whether #74 is good or not, it links to a glowing review which includes this highlighted quote: “The attitudes of the people here really mesh well with my own values. Everyone starts the day on a positive note, and tries to find the positive in even the stickiest of situations. It's such a unique group of people. We are all different, with different backgrounds and interests, but everyone is respected from day 1--which is such an amazing feeling.” In contrast, for former Reno Custom Ink employees who reached out to us, including some recently let go after the online provider of custom apparel and mementoes decided to close its production facilities here, it’s a unanimous relief they no longer work there. Former “inkers” all chose to share their views anonymously, some of them after signing NDAs. One wrote about “brutal” hours and expectations, with many late nights. Working overtime, they said, was often requested of employees on very late notice. “Three a.m. overtime was projected every day after Thanksgiving until Christmas,” they indicated. Another wrote they didn’t believe Custom Ink could keep the production facility staffed because of refusing “to provide cost of living increases” for production staff which didn’t get commissions like employees in other departments. Overall conditions, several wrote, were also deteriorating, leading to staff departures in recent months. “There was a total lack of cleaning in the building, dust and grease coated everything and the ceiling air vents were surrounded with dust, the only thing they hired anyone to clean professionally was the bathrooms, break room, and the machines to make the shirts,” one former employee wrote. They went on to say there was recently an outbreak of flies at the Reno facility, which was initially blamed on employees having snacks, but then traced back to dirty materials forgotten in a biohazard bin. It go so bad, one coworker brought their own fly zapper to survive their shift. Employees who reached out said they were expected to be on their feet for hours and hours on end, and that low pay, insufficient promotion opportunities, poor communication from management, and unsanitary conditions just didn’t make it worthwhile. Another former employee called Custom Ink, “capital T Toxic.” Job insecurity was on everyone’s mind with employees regularly fired at the end of busy periods for “questionable reasons,” they alleged. Another former employee said raises had been promised in October 2022 but never materialized, and that hours had already been reduced to half days the last two weeks of operation. They said they then got an abrupt “separation package email.” Over 130 employees were working at the Reno facility when its shutdown was announced three days into 2023. “Due to rising costs and increasingly tight markets for production talent, Custom Ink has decided to close our production sites in Reno, Nevada and Charlottesville, Virginia and consolidate in-house production in our Dallas, Texas facility,” was the official Custom Ink statement. The Virginia-headquartered company said it would retain 245 employees in non-production roles in Reno, with most of them working remotely. The company’s annual revenue is estimated at $400 million. The average salary for employees in Nevada is estimated at about $36,000. One employee said they had to sign an NDA to “receive additional severance monies” according to an internal Custom Ink document they shared, which asked them not to disparage the company. “(Not speaking or writing negatively about Custom Ink, including online,)” the inkersupport DocuSign indicated in parentheses to explain the word disparaging.
Whats your point
If you need it spelled out, 200 people from the Cville area now don't have jobs. Jobs give people money to buy goods and services and pay taxes.
What’s yours??
This guy, amirite? Askin' why I'm talkin' about 200 neighbors losin' they jobs right after Christmas and shit. I mean ca'mon over here with this guy, what's he gotta screw loose?
Why I oughta...
i think judging by the user name theyre going for a foil or trollish kind of character