# Companies you've frequently heard of, yet you have little idea of what they do **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2011, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313 "2011-09-23T09:01:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/81 "2012-10-20T14:22:22Z")
> [@InsomniaMama](#): > > Nope! They have some great items at low prices. This week I bought 8 oz of salt and pepper cashews, on sale for $1.79. Yum! The pumpkin pie ice cream is back, too. Love that stuff. Aldi’s has been discussed here previously, but there are three Aldi’s in my region that are just on the fringes of the suburbs. Love the unusual things you can find every so often (tamales, weinerschnitzel, herring in dill sauce, frozen gyro kits), as well as the low prices. I would not, however, try shopping there on a Saturday morning! … It’s Save-A-Lot or Save-More (something like that) that are located in the actual city. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/82 "2012-10-20T16:17:58Z")
I could not tell you what the Koch Brothers do, other than evil and philanthropy. I guess it’s a holding company, which means it doesn’t really do anything directly. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/83 "2012-10-20T16:31:40Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > Acxiom is apparently a marketing company that collects information on people and sells it. Okay… They provide background check services. My company uses SAP otherwise I wouldn’t know what it was either. A relative works for Ingersoll Rand but I still don’t 100% understand it. Koch Brothers own so many companies - very diversified. Georgia Pacific which is various paper products, and they are into oil and stuff too I think. IBM came into my work to do a phone project, so they do that at least. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/84 "2012-10-20T16:48:46Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I don’t know but I often confuse them with SYSCO, the food service distributor, and sometimes even [Cisco](http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bella/Cisco%20Wines.jpg). “Oh, Cisco!” “Oh, Pancho!” I’m old. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/85 "2012-10-20T22:34:50Z")
Not quite the same but a friend having just watched the movie Schindler’s List, and got into an elevator (as you guys call them) and being English she realised looking at the maker that she was now in Schindler’s Lift. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/86 "2012-10-20T22:40:19Z")
I don’t really get what Maersk does that makes me see it all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/87 "2012-10-20T23:35:54Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Aldi’s has been discussed here previously, but there are three Aldi’s in my region that are just on the fringes of the suburbs. Love the unusual things you can find every so often (tamales, weinerschnitzel, herring in dill sauce, frozen gyro kits), as well as the low prices. I would not, however, try shopping there on a Saturday morning! … It’s Save-A-Lot or Save-More (something like that) that are located in the actual city. I thought you said frozen gyno kits. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/88 "2012-10-20T23:47:00Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > Sutherland Global Services is a global provider of business process and technology management services offering an integrated portfolio of analytics-driven back-office and customer facing solutions that support the entire customer lifecycle. So they don’t actually do anything, but they’re coining it anyway. I’d like to run a Company that does that, pocket 80 million dollars, then shut it down before we got found out. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/89 "2012-10-21T00:08:17Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > They do constructionwork for the oil industry, they were partially responsible for the gulf oil spill Halliburton actually spun off KBR back in 2006, which was their subsidiary that did construction (and, incidentally, the controversial subcontracting for the military). The problematic Halliburton cement on Deepwater Horizon wasn’t construction cement, but the cement that gets pumped into the hole to line the sides of the well itself. But, yeah, it’s kind of hard to say in a single word what they _actually_ do. They’re basically a conglomerate of a bunch of sub-contractors that do all sorts of little specialized jobs in the oil industry. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/90 "2012-10-21T00:46:25Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > I don’t really get what Maersk does that makes me see it all over the place. A lot of shipping containers in your neighborhood? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/91 "2012-10-21T00:57:33Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Around here, Aldis are always located in poor neighborhoods. Once, the wife and I stopped at one not far from us. The carts are all chained together outside the store. There are special padlocks that require you to insert a quarter to unlock your cart, and you get your quarter back when you lock the cart up again. Inside, there is little variety and no brand names that you would recognize. You are expected to bag your own groceries. > > To be brutally honest, Aldi’s target demographic is one step above ghetto. The only thing missing was bullet-proof glass for the cashiers. Though to be absolutely honest [and I do occasionally shop at the Aldi in Willimantic CT] though they may be one step above ghetto, they still have fresh fruits and vegetables, and a limited selection of meats and dairy, so you can get reasonably priced _real_ non garbage foods and cook them. They are much better than subsisting on McDonalds garbage meals. I have purchased beans, rice, assorted vegetables which can be made into a very healthy meal, herbs and spices to flavor the meal, and fruit for dessert. The cost was very reasonable, less than what it would have cost to feed the same number of people at a fast food place, even accounting for the use of electricity for cooking. Yes it was vegan, but I could have purchased a tiny canned ham or a package of bacon and added some pig to the beans and rice. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/92 "2012-10-21T01:02:16Z")
> [@Uther\_Penguin](#): > > OTOH, they can survive even with low prices because they offer just one or two brands per type of item. The “house” brands are often and rather obviously made by well known companies and just packaged in a neutral way. So they need less shelf space than bigger supermarkets. The quality is not as good as in specialized artisanal shops, but not worse than in other chain stores ans supermarkets. The weekly special offers can be very good. > In Germany, there are four or five different discount store chains that work this way. When I was living in Gaertringen in 2003 if I wanted to walk, I shopped at all the tiny little stores in town - the green grocer, the baker, the butcher .. if we wanted to buy a large amount of stuff we went to the [Real](http://www.real.de/startseite.html) a couple train stops over in Boblingen.. Nearest equivalent at the time to me would have been a Super Walmart. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/93 "2012-10-21T05:38:01Z")
I don’t remember what the company is called but there is a company out there that pays big money for prime advertising space along the center ice boards at Rogers Arena and they are definitely not a company that Joe Public just walks into and buys something from. I guess those ads are aimed at the money men in the box seats because I can’t see any other reason to buy what has to be the most expensive spot in the arena just to advertise a company 99% of the audience has never heard of anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/94 "2012-10-21T12:58:24Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > Honeywell was actually bought out by AlliedSignal in 1999 or 2000, who were huge in automotive world (Bendix brakes, Garrett turbochargers, etc. etc.) They thought the Honeywell name had better “branding” so they went with that, even though AlliedSignal had been much larger than Honeywell. AlliedSignal was run for many years by Larry Bossidy (sp?)who came up through the Jack Welch/GE “Buy everything” school of business. Honeywell is also a military manufacturer/contractor. A lot of their hardware comes through my lab… ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/95 "2012-10-21T13:05:27Z")
> [@Kiyoshi](#): > > I know this post is over a year old, but in case anyone is interested, Lexis Nexis make legal reference books. The books are printed on loose pages and kept in ring binders. Every few months, the company sends you a bundle of new pages, and a list of instructions (remove page x, replace page y, add new page z). I live in the greater Dayton (Ohio) area, and there’s a large \*\*LexxusNexis \*\*facility located south of Dayton along I-75. From what I’ve heard, they maintain the world’s largest database of legal documents, and they sell subscriptions to it. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/96 "2012-10-21T18:08:27Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > To be brutally honest, Aldi’s target demographic is one step above ghetto. The only thing missing was bullet-proof glass for the cashiers. Depends on where you are. My closest Aldi is a bit run down. The ones out near where I work are fairly new, very clean, in nice enough areas and are actually pleasurable to shop at. They do maintain the Aldi mission statement of “Let’s buy six cash registers but only ever use one” though. > [@Simple Linctus](#): > > I don’t really get what Maersk does that makes me see it all over the place. I remember then as a shipping company from the Somali pirate hijacking and US Navy rescue a couple years ago. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/97 "2012-10-21T18:13:57Z")
Sunrider Global, I knw what they say they do but they just seem to big for what they are supposed to be. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/98 "2012-10-21T18:23:12Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > A lot of shipping containers in your neighborhood? Like Evergreen. You see it everywhere up and down the Alameda Corridor, and might wonder, “What the hell is it?”, but their function is pretty tangible: they’re the company that gets that massive quantity of cheaply manufactured goods from China to here. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/99 "2012-10-23T16:36:04Z")
I know what they do (heaps and loads of…stuff), but anyone who can concisely describe what GE does deserves a medal. ---
**Author:** ![LonghornDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313/100 "2012-10-23T21:58:00Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > I know what they do (heaps and loads of…stuff), but anyone who can concisely describe what GE does deserves a medal. If you wanted to say it as succinctly as possible, you would call GE a conglomerate that focuses on financing and energy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/companies-youve-frequently-heard-of-yet-you-have-little-idea-of-what-they-do/597313.md?page=6)