[Leica] OT ! a naked exposure

[dorysrus at mindspring.com (Don Dory)]

One of the issues raised below assumes that a legislative body can in
fact sort through the issue.  In fact, the answer will come with
billions of purchasing and working decisions.

Issue one; Wal-Mart purchases their merchandise from low wage countries.
And the first answer is who doesn't.  At least in the U.S., low price
for the same merchandise wins.  The southern U.S. where I live has been
undergoing a slow hollowing out of mill workers and the mills as socks,
towels, undergarments, relatively inexpensive clothing has all been
moving overseas.  Really a simple matter to understand, when confronted
with a bin of socks, you tend to pay 5 for a $1 not $1.

Continuing on that thread, manufacturers have been sending first parts,
then subassemblies, then the whole device manufacturing to low cost
countries since at least the 1950's.  Another example would be the C/V
versus Leica purchasing decisions going on now.  How many of us own a
C/V product because it was good enough but much less expensive?  Proof
that if an organization doesn't actively work to decrease the cost of
its products while keeping quality up, that organization will in fact
disappear.

Issue two: Wal-Mart pays its employees poorly and is stingy with
benefits.  On the retail floor level this is news?  Stop by any mall and
find out how many of the folks on the floor are full time.  Some of this
is due to the seasonality of retail; most of the business occurs at very
specific times of the year and even on a daily/hourly cycle.  Think
about a restaurant, huge lunch rush then nothing for four hours.
Flexible hours and seasonal workers are a requirement for a retail
establishment to survive.

For many workers, flexible hours are a highly desirable commodity.
Sonny's college students can work Tuesdays and Fridays or can work from
8:00AM to 12:00PM three days a week.  Senior citizens who worked at
Enron might need some supplemental income, or just a place to go that
makes them feel useful.  Single mothers balancing making a living with
their children's schedule: typical white collar work really does need
you in some semblance of 9 to 5.

A subset of issue two is the mom and pop store and their being squeezed
out.  Most of the mom and pop stores are going away as the generation of
entrepreneurs from the 50's dies out and their children don't really
want to go into a business that requires ten hour days with very few
vacations.  If the mom and pop is big enough to hire workers, then
frequently those workers are in for similar treatment as the larger
retailers.

Once you get away from the folks on the floor, Wal-Mart pays wages that
are industry competitive.  A truck driver for example earns good wages,
the warehouse worker the same.

Issue three: Wal-Mart makes some pretty harsh demands on suppliers.
Yes, but on this level you are not talking about Tiny Tim.  If you
choose to do business with Wal-Mart then you understand the pact you are
making: extremely low margins, very strict delivery requirements, huge
volumes that will pay the overhead and if you are really good huge
profits.

Over time, people will make decisions as to where to work and where to
purchase that will shape this issue.  We saw this during the holiday
season, Wal-Mart tried to increase profits by not having markdowns and
was hurt by competition who took advantage of the situation.  In a
relatively free labor market people will choose what works for them.  If
the Starbucks pays benefits then the better worker will go there and not
Wal-Mart.  Costco could enter the regional market and siphon off workers
with a better pay/benefit package.

0.02

Don
dorysrus@mindspring.com  

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+dorysrus=mindspring.com@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+dorysrus=mindspring.com@leica-users.org] On Behalf
Of hlritter@mindspring.com
Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 4:48 PM
To: lug@leica-users.org
Subject: RE: [Leica] OT ! a naked exposure

This is a good point, though there are two ways to look at it...
 
It may well be that in a purely laissez-faire capitalism, the interests
of the owners of the company do trump all other considerations, but my
position is that we left that kind of society behind after Dickensian
times. This admittedly socialist-left stance sits in cognitive
dissonance with my libertarian feelings, and I am still trying to
understand what I really think. It is an emblem of my naivete that I
think there is a solution out there somewhere, an acceptable balance of
legislation with laissez-faire. 

--howard