On Tue, 2004-12-28 at 21:45 -0600, Paul wrote: > On Tue, 2004-12-28 at 10:57 -0500, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > > On Tue, 28 Dec 2004, Globe Trotter wrote: > > > > > Walmart sells their employees, too! For under $5 an hour (when > > > averaged over the time they have to spend unpaid and locked in) and > > > no benefits. So, they show up in your city's ER and your local taxes > > > go up.... > > > > i didn't want to wander into the political arena here, but there is > > one extra piece of information i wanted to add. (and, yes, this has > > relevance to laptops.) > > > > a while back, a friend told me that one of the ways wal-mart can > > keep prices so low (and also even keep *lowering* them year after > > year) is that, when they sign a contract with a supplier, that > > contract typically states that what wal-mart will pay the supplier per > > unit will *drop* each year. so, you the supplier, will get $1.50 per > > unit the first year, but only $1.35 the second year, and $1.25 the > > third year. how you choose to cut costs year after year to remain > > profitable is *your* problem. if you don't accept such onerous terms, > > wal-mart just moves on to another supplier. > > Same thing in the auto industry ... I work for an automotive parts > supplier and the big three tend to want 7% or more cost reductions each > year. The first couple years are good, but by the end of the program > you typically not making any money and hoping for the next new program > so that you can start making money again. > > Being a supplier to any large company where they are your primary source > of income leaves you more vulnerable than the large corp. > > Regards, > Paul > OK now that we're completely off topic, I couldn't help myself. My 2 cents: Never let one company control 25% of your business. After my last business trip to China, out of guilt I guess. I set up a page for a song written by my Brother-in-law. There are links at the bottom of the page if you want to give some large US companies a hard time. Ask questions, have fun :-) http://www.tmpco.com/immortals.html Tim... -- _ ASCII ribbon campaign ( ) - against HTML email X / \
