Outsourcing?

[Indigo]

I am so sorry to have caused so much offence.

It appears that I have expressed myself so poorly that I have only succeeded in causing injury and upset.

Please accept my apologies.

My only point is that the poor and desperate will always work for low wages. They are not unskilled, just poor.

The internet now allows, encourages them, to work for low wages in all and every market in the world. They
no longer have to be poor.


These people who have come to your attention are but the vanguard. They are going to tell all their relatives
how easy it is to make a good living subbing over the net. They are all going to tell all their relatives and off we go.

Deluge.

The true irony is that the muti-nationals and the "smart-guys" in the city made these people "web-aware" by
hiring them at garbage rates to cut company overheads. What these people have found is that the door swings
both ways. Now it is these same multi-nationals and "smart-guys" who are screaming for someone to bolt the
very same door that they created.

Indigo

[davidr]

Hey, their offer sounds really good! I know the people in south Asia work very hard at very low wages and not greedy like us.

I think we can watch movies or sleep the whole day by letting those people sweating on our jobs at negligible cost!

Let me know how can I reach them?

David

[jon2003]

As far as I know there is only one company in the world that is capable of offering such low cost solutions for the image restoration industry which is based in Bangladesh; their quality is also better than most of the US companies.

Most of you are afraid of loosing your jobs/business but all you know that the rude law of the world, "Survival of the fittest". So I think all of the photo restoration (or similar) jobs of USA would be outsourced soon as the 99% garments products are outsourced from Asian countries. The catch will be for ourselves who would be smart enough to pick the easiest way of outsourcing first!

Have a nice time, buddies.

Jon

[Jim Conway]

For the benefit of younger people here - the same cries of foul were being played loud and clear after World War II when I first went into business.

During the fifties and sixties - the complaints were that we were giving the electronic industry to Japan - you could buy a college grad over there for $40 bucks a month. We would never survive it, our foreign policy was going to destroy America etc. etc.

While gloom and doom may be easier to spread than historic fact, it's probably worth noting that only a few today would not agree that Japan is considered a reasonably good trading partner!

Could it be that in looking for reasons that business might be bad we often start in all the wrong places?

Jim Conway

[Groundedfaith]

My question is who is working on the images. I hope not children. Also will service rendered be quality?

[Photo Grafix]

It's great to have a forum like this for retouchers. Be sure to support the site by purchasing a RetouchPro coffee mug or sweatshirt. I have mine!

This is a contraversial topic and I think "cool heads will prevail." Jim Conway's historical point of view is wear I tend to wade. Moreover, I believe that we can ALL benefit with an open mind.

This is not to say I don't feel "threatened" by outsourcing. However, I am getting in the habit of using such fear to my advantage: Be a better retoucher! From working more efficiently, to training to upgrading equipment and offering better print quality, there are many, many ways self-employed American retouchers can stay competitive.

This world is getting smaller. In a time of great intolerance for political ideals and cultures, we need to examine why we react to certain things. Sometimes we misinterpret opportunities for solid business alliances as "threats." As Jim Conway wrote "Could it be that in looking for reasons that business might be bad we often start in all the wrong places?"

Eric C. Basir (Bond)
www.abetterreality.net

[Jim Conway]

Aside from the historical point of view another way to avoid feeling "threatened" by events or others is to find out everything you can. Order a job from anyone you feel may hold a key to your future and the same applies to any new technology that you feel can put you out of business - explore it! The threat is either real or (more likely than not) just hype. Either way, you are back in control.

When I was a kid I read a book that had the a theme that has help me countless times in my life - "Go straight to the heart of danger and there you will find safety"

Like a pilot learning to handle any emergency - Just assume you've already crashed and work backwards from there, that kills the fear factor!

Jim Conway

[col]

Can anyone let me have his URL I will check it out.

col

[dwdraw]

Hello Folks,

There are other things to consider, for instance, how long do they work? Do they get a lunch break? How much of the two dollors do the workers actually get?

There were a lot of inhumane conditions revealed in the clothing sweatshops that were shown on "60 Minutes" a few years ago. By providing work for them will make somebody rich, but not the overworked sweatshop employee.

Sometimes they are forced to sleep on the primises that they work, and as mentioned above, how many are childern?

Why contribute?

DW

[Photo Grafix]

I agree. However, it would be wise to research such companies first. We don't want to be guilty of generalization. Just because people in another country are doing the work at an exchange rate which is lower than the dollar, doesn't necessarily mean they are working in retched conditions. Call human-rights organizations for possible sources.

[jon2003]

As far as I know, only the college gradutates in developing countries can reach to a computer for learning and children of rich people who don't need any job at least. I think people of those countries are thousand times civilized than us and don't pay taxes to kill children with F-16s!

Cheers!!!

Jon

[Lesley]

I would like to just add a short comment to one person's ideas. You state that these people from Bangladesh are taking over business that should be done by Americans. I don't think that you realise the extent of the American takeovers in other countries. Please go easy on the attitude. We at present have quite a few hostile takeovers by American companies. I think that the person who made this comment needs to look at both sides of the coin.

Apart from that I agree with the work not being done by young children and that the workers should receive decent wages.

[Blues_X]

There's a word that encompasses the idea of business seeking out the cheapest possible labor.

It's 'capitalism'.

[Blues_X]

Don't get me wrong regarding slave and child labor... I stopped buying Nike products for a long time when the news came out about the shoes being made in sweatshops in the far east. And I am strongly against U.S. companies going overseas to avoid paying wages at a livable U.S. level. And I really hate companies that avoid paying U.S. taxes by registering their ownership in foreign countries.

I'm just saying that many capitalist enterprises will generally continue to do what's best for their profits, and not necessarily their employees, society, etc. Look at the profitable auto plants in the U.S. that were closed and moved to Mexico, just because they could be a bit more profitable down there. They weren't losing any money at all, but they couldn't resist the temptation of cheaper labor.

The only way to stop it are laws and regulations. But businesses hate regulations and many start with the "regulation is un-American" arguments anytime more regulations are mentioned.

Businesses are only as moral as their owners. And as we've seen over the last two years with the turmoil in the stock market, it seems that morality in business is in short supply these days.