Spoke with Bill at Swift Bullets yesterday

[Nyala23]

Bill is a great philanthropist, outdoorsman and innovator. To characterize him as a “shitty employer” is to be a troll of lowest order. The small town of Quinter has been supported by the Swift company for many years by taxes and providing jobs to residents. The workforce pool available has exponentially decreased in recent years. He has had many great employees retire and the young people entering the market since Covid have shown a lack of math skills, no interpersonal abilities and a real challenge with authority and training. We as shooters expect precision products. Swift makes them but the process is taking more time because training how to make them is taking longer. And along with some complaining about short supply I don’t see many offers to accept a 25-30% increase in price to help keep the trained workforce at work! Just my thoughts. Thanks

 

[Rule 303]

I was told by a person that knows him and he is in his 80's so to move probably not happen

I was surprised Woodleigh is producing again. I think Geoff is in his 70's. It will take time to get all the calibres up and running there. When Geoff does retire I hope the business is taken over/sold of and keeps running.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I was surprised Woodleigh is producing again. I think Geoff is in his 70's. It will take time to get all the calibres up and running there. When Geoff does retire I hope the business is taken over/sold of and keeps running.

@Rule 303
I will check my mail for the 35 cal projectiles you are sending me. You have a metric shit ton so you won't miss a kilo
Bob

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Bill is a great philanthropist, outdoorsman and innovator. To characterize him as a “shitty employer” is to be a troll of lowest order. The small town of Quinter has been supported by the Swift company for many years by taxes and providing jobs to residents. The workforce pool available has exponentially decreased in recent years. He has had many great employees retire and the young people entering the market since Covid have shown a lack of math skills, no interpersonal abilities and a real challenge with authority and training. We as shooters expect precision products. Swift makes them but the process is taking more time because training how to make them is taking longer. And along with some complaining about short supply I don’t see many offers to accept a 25-30% increase in price to help keep the trained workforce at work! Just my thoughts. Thanks

I do not know Bill, nor have I ever shot Swift bullets. I would however like to think that I knew at least the tiniest bit about the subject before I labeled someone a "shitty employer." The troll owes an apology, but I doubt that we will see one.

 

[Bill J H]

Interesting thread. A couple of things really drew my attention: Feedlots and Swift bullets.

I did 31 years in the military before retiring in Jan 2022. I had "broken time", i.e., got out after Desert Storm and came back in after 9/11. Growing up on a ranch in TX had given me a lot of cattle skills, so from 1998-2001, I was a cattle manager at one feedlot in SW KS and then the Asst GM of another in West-central KS. We had a lot of illegals working in the feedlots and the owner said that, unlike the 70s and 80s, they just couldn't get local kids to work in the feedlots.

From my experience trying to recruit workers and hiring it came down to a few of things:
1. Wages - they hadn't risen with the times.
2. The local ag-minded boys would work there right after graduation or when home from college, but it wasn't something they wanted to make a "career" of for the wages paid. They saw a better future elsewhere and I couldn't blame them.
3. Illegals were willing to work there for the wages offered...better than where they came from.

I couldn't blame the locals for wanting better opportunity nor the illegals for taking the small opportunity given. I'll admit, it did turn my stomach knowing we had illegals working there...and this was greatly to blame for the depressed wages.

Regarding Swift Bullets - After retiring from the military, I originally moved to western KS as my wife was from there. I was about 45 minutes from Quinter and Swift Bullets. I went to the factory numerous times to buy bullets as they came available. Although the operation was surprisingly humble looking, the folks I dealt with seemed quite happy and extremely nice.

One thing to remember is that Swift is essentially located in the middle of nowhere, with a limited labor pool to draw from, and most kids that grow up there were likely looking to graduate and move where there was a bit more "activity". So, you are left with a small pool of locals and a slightly larger pool of workers in surrounding areas. I don't know what they paid, but if you live in one of the closest towns (30, 40, 50 miles away), you have to have a pretty good amount just to pay for weekly gas. And if you lived in the country between the town, there is a high likelihood you either worked on your own farm/ranch or a family farm/ranch, so you weren't looking to go to work in Quinter...

 

[John P.]

Man, if Swift was in my neck of the woods, I'd work there just to experience making A-Frames!

And perhaps an employee discount?

Just sayin'....

Roger that. Retired here, if I was close, I could put in a few hours a day Maybe making those unobtainable 375's. Even have a pickup truck for transportation. 40 years of Machining experience.

Hey, Puddle I am a Wet Sider also, Port Angeles foothills.

Rain?? Yo!. Vancouver Island in the background. My Mako before rebuilding and repowering with Yamahas.

 

[Puddle]

Nice! Good ol' PA

I'm Whidbey Island. I don't fish tho, well, not since dynamite was outlawed...

 

[Rule 303]

For some reason the authorities in most places do like you using Expanding Bait.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Nice! Good ol' PA

I'm Whidbey Island. I don't fish tho, well, not since dynamite was outlawed...

@Puddle
I call it Alfred Nobel bait