diff --git a/serde/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/io/HiveBaseCharWritable.java b/serde/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/io/HiveBaseCharWritable.java
index 5b7b3b4d7965..c4bd6ff93411 100644
--- a/serde/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/io/HiveBaseCharWritable.java
+++ b/serde/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/io/HiveBaseCharWritable.java
@@ -27,12 +27,17 @@
 
 public abstract class HiveBaseCharWritable {
   protected Text value = new Text();
+  protected int charLength = -1;
 
   public HiveBaseCharWritable() {
   }
 
   public int getCharacterLength() {
-    return HiveStringUtils.getTextUtfLength(value);
+    if (charLength != -1) {
+      return charLength;
+    }
+    charLength = HiveStringUtils.getTextUtfLength(value);
+    return charLength;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -45,6 +50,7 @@ public Text getTextValue() {
 
   public void readFields(DataInput in) throws IOException {
     value.readFields(in);
+    charLength = -1;
   }
 
   public void write(DataOutput out) throws IOException {
diff --git a/serde/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/io/HiveCharWritable.java b/serde/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/io/HiveCharWritable.java
index 5cc10a8f4781..ea3b8e58cebe 100644
--- a/serde/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/io/HiveCharWritable.java
+++ b/serde/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/io/HiveCharWritable.java
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ public void set(String val) {
 
   public void set(HiveCharWritable val) {
     value.set(val.value);
+    charLength = -1;
   }
 
   public void set(HiveCharWritable val, int maxLength) {
@@ -78,6 +79,9 @@ public void enforceMaxLength(int maxLength) {
   }
 
   public Text getStrippedValue() {
+    if (value.charAt(value.getLength() - 1) != ' ') {
+      return value;
+    }
     // A lot of these methods could be done more efficiently by operating on the Text value
     // directly, rather than converting to HiveChar.
     return new Text(getHiveChar().getStrippedValue());
@@ -88,7 +92,11 @@ public Text getPaddedValue() {
   }
 
   public int getCharacterLength() {
-    return HiveStringUtils.getTextUtfLength(getStrippedValue());
+    if (charLength != -1) {
+      return charLength;
+    }
+    charLength = HiveStringUtils.getTextUtfLength(getStrippedValue());
+    return charLength;
   }
 
   public int compareTo(HiveCharWritable rhs) {
diff --git a/serde/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/io/HiveVarcharWritable.java b/serde/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/io/HiveVarcharWritable.java
index 796c533b2a72..c3812d62e11b 100644
--- a/serde/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/io/HiveVarcharWritable.java
+++ b/serde/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/io/HiveVarcharWritable.java
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ public void set(String val) {
 
   public void set(HiveVarcharWritable val) {
     value.set(val.value);
+    charLength = val.charLength;
   }
 
   public void set(HiveVarcharWritable val, int maxLength) {
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ public void set(HiveVarchar val, int len) {
 
   public void set(String val, int maxLength) {
     value.set(HiveBaseChar.enforceMaxLength(val, maxLength));
+    charLength = maxLength;
   }
 
   public HiveVarchar getHiveVarchar() {