Bostitch used to be a staple of the East Greenwich economy. I can remember pals' fathers working there and making a good, if callused, living. They made and polished nails and created other products that helped build this country.

Back in 1995 it paid nearly $600,000 in annual local taxes. Now it's down to $375,000, and falling fast.

Bostitch and East Greenwich. The more-than-half-million square-foot factory has been out there on South County Trail for more than half a century. They've been together as long as I can remember, like Brown and Sharpe. But unfortunately, it may face the same fate as Ann and Hope.

Amazon sells 5,000 staples for the Bostitch P3 stapler for $3.23. A customer raves about the humble piece of machinery. "I have a very 'old' Bostitch stapler," the user opines on Amazon.com, "and it still works great."

Color me corny, but testimonials like that about a hometown product make me proud to have grown up in East Greenwich. Even though I left town more than 30 years ago, I've always gotten a kick out of picking up a box of Bostitch staples at a hardware or office-supply store most anywhere in the country and see "East Greenwich, R.I." printed somewhere on the bottom.

But as the recent story on My02818 makes clear, Bostitch's decision — or rather, the decision of its parent, Stanley Works of New Britain, Conn. — to shut down nail production is one of the final nails – no, scratch that — steps toward turning it into a ghost factory. The workforce is slated to shrink from 345 today to 180 in June, barely 10 percent of what it had been years ago. It will become a "warehouse and distribution center," a company spokesman said. He didn't deny that it might eventually be shuttered for keeps.

"The company made this decision in an attempt to strategically consolidate our worldwide operations into fewer facilities," plant manager Juan Carlos Molina told the town in a recent letter.

No one can blame Stanley for shifting more of its work overseas. That's the way the world works. But we don't have to like it.

Of course, you could see that letter coming from miles away. "We've got a world-class manufacturing facility in Long Fong, China," Stanley chairman John Lundgren told financial analysts two years ago. "We have great facility in southern Poland, as well as a very capable facility in East Greenwich, Rhode Island."

Lungren sounded like a teacher talking to the parents of three children. One was "world-class" and the second was "great". But their third child was merely "very capable," implying it wasn't keeping up with the siblings. When your town – home to the onetime headquarters of this outfit, and the world's onetime largest stapler plant – rolls off third from the boss man's lips, after China and Poland, well, the writing is on the wall.

Bostitch's work force has been rising and falling like the tide on Narragansett Bay for years. It's gotten especially choppy since the engineers in charge were replaced by MBA types, first from Providence-based Textron, which bought the company in 1966, and then, since 1986, by Stanley.

When a more modest cut – from 1,200 to 1,000 workers – was announced 12 years ago, then-Senator John Chafee wrote the federal Labor Department seeking help.

"Workers should not be left for months on end to find new jobs on their own," Chafee wrote (of course, he was a Potowomut resident). This time, the workforce is being cut in half and Bostitch's three federal lawmakers – to judge by their websites – are mute.

It was only eight years ago that then-Bostitch boss Jack Garlock said churning out wares in East Greenwich was the way to go.

"Can you make nails or staples cheaper in China? Yes, you can," he told the Providence paper. He said it made more sense to produce Bostitch products near the customers who need them, instead of waiting six weeks for them to come from China. "Why mess with all that?" Garlock wondered aloud. "There's no advantage to it."

In 2004, Governor Don Carcieri lauded the company for adding 60 jobs in East Greenwich. "Stanley Bostitch is one of Rhode Island's leading corporate citizens and has been for quite some time," said the governor, an East Greenwich resident. He should know: his mother-in-law worked in Bostitch's personnel shop for 17 years. "I look forward to their continued success," he added.

Well, Governor, you best look somewhere other than East Greenwich. Stanley's slogan is "Make Something Great." It's too bad it applies only to things, and not to towns.

Mark Thompson used to buy Bostitch products at Lindberg Office Supply at 280 Main Street, East Greenwich.