Any ideas for 25 years

[Tim Baude]

I have a customer that would like to come up with something to give to employees after 25 years. They do pen set for 10, jacket for 15 and clock for 20. The company sells industrial supplies. Any help would be appreciated.
Tim

[Dan Hintz]

An engraved pink slip?

Seems to be the way things are going these days...

[Dee Gallo]

An engraved pink slip?

Seems to be the way things are going these days...

Jeez, Dan, I was going to suggest a pension plan!

Glass half full, dee

[Dan Hintz]

You say potAAAto, I say potaaato...

I guess after 3-4 layoffs, you tend to hold a different definition of "long-term job"...

[Prashun Patel]

Some of my employees haven't liked the material gifts we've given.

What goes over well is gift certificates to restaurants.

An expense-paid vacation - or even just plane tickets to anywhere within the cont-US would be highly appreciated by my employees.

I think though, if you have a small enough number of employees who make it through 25, the best approach is to get them something personal for their service; not a 'standard' item.

[Dan Hintz]

Awards/trophies, engraved pocket watches (does anybody wear pocketwatches anymore?), etched glasses, etc. mean very little to most employees who have worked for a single business for 25 years (I know I wouldn't be impressed with an award after that many years... show me a fat bonus!). As Shawn mentions, you need something tangible, but it needs to be generic enough they can use it to get what they want... a gift certificate to a nationwide mall chain (like Simon Malls, assuming you have one in your town) is much better than a gold Cross pen, a round-trip plane ticket with the continental US and a week's vacation to use it is probably appreciated more than a vacation package at some resort they may not like (though feel free to include brochures to some more exotic locations as suggestions).

[Trevor Watson]

One place I worked at gave a pewter beer mug for 5 years
Silver Ingot for ten years
Bigger Silver ingot for 15 years
Gold Ingot for 20 years

Good thing about that was if you wanted to cash them in you could or
get them ingraved for keep sakes it was a usefull gift could be kept or spent! Size of ingot depends on the company i guess lol ..And how much loved you are

Trev

[Dan Hintz]

<chuckle> I imagine someone getting a lump of coal and being told if they squeeze it in their hand and wait long enough it'll turn into a diamond At that point I might suggest placing it where the sun don't shine on the boss as the pressure there would obviously change it faster.

I like the silver/gold ingot idea, though... very unique, valuable, and can be converted into cold, hard cash without too much issue. It could be considered an investment, too, as the price will vary with the market.