FOND DU LAC, Wis. — On Friday, Mercury Marine released a statement about plans to cut approximately 300 positions from its workforce in June and July. 

A Mercury Marine employee, who asked to use an alias for this story, said he received notice he — along with many co-workers at Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac — was being laid off. We've called him "B.G." for this story. 

"People are upset and crying. A lot of people base their whole lives around, you know, the next paycheck," B.G. said.

What You Need To Know

  • Mercury Marine employee "B.G." said "overproduction" could have contributed to layoffs

  • Mercury Marine is a major employer in the Fox Valley area, with more than 3,500 full-time employees in Fond du Lac

  • Mercury Marine is a division of the Brunswick Corporation

B.G. said he’s not too surprised at the layoffs, because of what he called "overproduction" at Mercury Marine.

"All last summer, they were pushing out, you know, every weekend ... 100 motors on the weekends. So now they've stockpiled an extra 3,600 motors, two warehouses full," B.G. said.  

Davis Sonnenberg has worked in the boating industry for 26 years and is the service manager at Mr. Marine, a boating company in Fond du Lac.

Sonnenberg said his business does boat repairs and motor sales. But the company no longer sells boats post-pandemic.

"It's slowing down. Service work is still strong. People are still buying things to put on boats. It's just maybe the engine sales aren't quite as strong as they had been," Sonnenberg said.

Sonnenberg said the boating industry has been dragging the past four years because of inflation and high interest rates. He said this market has always had highs and lows and expects things to level off.

"Everybody was spending a lot of money on boats. They were doing a lot more outdoor activities and less other things. I think now it's just leveling back out to where it was before. I don't know that it's any worse, necessarily," Sonnenberg said.

As the boating industry remains in flux, unemployment is now a reality for B.G. He said his summer will be packed with uncertainty.

"The only thing that I can do is try to keep my head up high and look for another job — something that's going to pay roughly the same, as it's not going to be in town, most likely," B.G. said.

A Mercury Marine spokesperson said there have been just over 400 layoffs this year in Fond du Lac. When asked about the layoffs last week at Mercury Marine, the spokesperson provided the following statement:

“These actions were taken due to softening of consumer demand in some of our markets mainly as a result of continued high interest rates and near-term reductions in boat production by mercury’s boat builder partners.”

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