What a difference GSP renewal can make for companies like Kona Bicycle in Ferndale, Washington.
Nearly 30 years old, the independent company still has the same founding owners and a staff of active and impassioned cyclists. Kona describes itself as “a dedicated group of cyclists making bicycles for people who love bikes” – and GSP renewal is allowing that dedicated staff to grow.
Kona has hired two new people since GSP was renewed on June 29: a senior engineer and an industrial designer. Both already started working at the office in Ferndale, despite the fact that GSP didn’t go back into effect until yesterday.
Kona isn’t done with post-GSP renewal hires: it plans to hire a product manager in August. The company also hopes to add a junior engineer during the winter.
The timing is not a coincidence: Kona’s new jobs in Washington were simply waiting for Congress to renew GSP. As Kona’s Chairman Jacob Heilbron said last fall:
“We’re unable to raise prices during our model year so the loss of profit is absorbed into our bottom line. We would like to hire new U.S. based personnel for our R&D/Product Development team but are waiting until GSP is renewed.”
Fortunately, Kona didn’t wait long to act. Like Primetac in Little Ferry, New Jersey, it didn’t even wait for GSP to go back into effect! If your company is taking similar steps (e.g., hiring workers, making job-creating investments, etc.) as a result of GSP renewal, we want to hear from you.
After two years of talking about terrible effects of GSP expiration, GSP users must show the benefits of GSP reinstatement. We cannot afford to wait until 2017 when another expiration is looming…
