State stacks package to keep on trucking.

• Position: Triad

Mack Trucks Inc. could get $8.5 million in state incentives for moving its headquarters from Allentown, Pa., to Greensboro. That's if the truck maker creates at least 493 jobs in three years--and keeps them. And if Volvo Trucks North America Inc. keeps the 1,454 jobs it has. Both are owned by Sweden's Volvo Group. One reason Mack is moving is to combine some operations--including information technology, parts logistics, product development and purchasing--with Volvo Trucks. So it makes sense that the state would safeguard itself against gaining jobs in one division while losing them in another.

It nearly got a taste of that earlier this year when Lake Forest, III.-based Brunswick Corp. stood to collect about $4.4 million in state incentives for opening a plant in Navassa while its Hatteras Yachts subsidiary closed one in Swansboro. Commerce Department spokeswoman Deborah Barnes said at the time that Brunswick could still collect because keeping the Hatteras jobs wasn't part of the original agreement. Brunswick has since cut jobs at Navassa and may not hit employment targets.

So does the agreement with Mack...