Small Business plus Empathy

AssHatZombie said:
They use their deep pockets to lobby congress to outsource everything we do, making us dependant on the supply chain, and unable to surivive without it.
Click to expand...

Then we have to come up with new ideas. Why should we be making toasters when someone can make one for $10.00?

We need to innovate. I suggest turning one of the car companies into a robot factory. We need robots to cut our lawns. Cook our dinner. Clean the house.

Invest in R&R like the Japanese are doing.

(Excerpt)
Japan’s aging population and low birthrate point to a looming shortage of workers, and Japan’s elder care facilities and hospitals are already competing for nurses. This fact has not escaped Toyota, which runs Toyota Memorial Hospital in Toyota City, Japan. Taking a lead from Honda, Toyota in 2004 announced plans to build “Toyota Partner Robots” and begin selling them in 2010 after extensive field trials at Toyota Memorial.

Toyota doesn’t see these machines serving only as nurses. They’re also being designed to provide help around the house and do work at the factory.(End)
Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010...ses-in-your-lonely-final-years/#ixzz0dAvg01ge

Now that's innovation!
 
apple0154 said:
Then we have to come up with new ideas. Why should we be making toasters when someone can make one for $10.00?

We need to innovate. I suggest turning one of the car companies into a robot factory. We need robots to cut our lawns. Cook our dinner. Clean the house.

Invest in R&R like the Japanese are doing.

(Excerpt)
Japan’s aging population and low birthrate point to a looming shortage of workers, and Japan’s elder care facilities and hospitals are already competing for nurses. This fact has not escaped Toyota, which runs Toyota Memorial Hospital in Toyota City, Japan. Taking a lead from Honda, Toyota in 2004 announced plans to build “Toyota Partner Robots” and begin selling them in 2010 after extensive field trials at Toyota Memorial.

Toyota doesn’t see these machines serving only as nurses. They’re also being designed to provide help around the house and do work at the factory.(End)
Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010...ses-in-your-lonely-final-years/#ixzz0dAvg01ge

Now that's innovation!
Click to expand...

We should continue to make all items, merely for the sake of maintaining our independence, ignoring completely the overseas fruits of slave labor and poverty. In this way, we maintain our sovereignty, and we disempower corrupt overseas leaders who enslave their people for personal profit.
 
AssHatZombie said:
We should continue to make all items, merely for the sake of maintaining our independence, ignoring completely the overseas fruits of slave labor and poverty. In this way, we maintain our sovereignty, and we disempower corrupt overseas leaders who enslave their people for personal profit.
Click to expand...

The real answer is a in between both.
 
AssHatZombie said:
We should continue to make all items, merely for the sake of maintaining our independence, ignoring completely the overseas fruits of slave labor and poverty. In this way, we maintain our sovereignty, and we disempower corrupt overseas leaders who enslave their people for personal profit.
Click to expand...

I think most poor countries appreciate the work.

I'm not sure why you consider we take advantage of them. We have to remember paying someone $2.00/hr in some countries makes them part of the wealthy. We can't compare their wages to ours as their doctor may charge $10.00 for a bandage and a pill, whereas, here the same bandage and pill would be $200.00!

Our wealth, or lack thereof, is determined by the people we require to help us. Is the plumber charging $100.00 for a house call or $10.00?

As for making our own stuff we need to make different stuff, more technologically advanced stuff.
 
apple0154 said:
Do tell us; when you're shopping for large ticket items like, say, a refrigerator do you purchase it from a large company or a "small business" with a "New and Used Kitchen Appliances" sign pasted in their window?
Click to expand...
Yes

When you're in the market for a large screen TV do you go to a reputable, large business or a "small business" which has a picture of old fashioned radio tubes hanging in their window?
Click to expand...
Also yes

Have you ever purchased an item from a "small business" and tried to return it?
Click to expand...
Yes, and it was easier to do than at a large business

Maybe next time you're car shopping avoid dealerships and give your business to the guy who has a trailer set up on an empty lot with a few cars parked in front.
Click to expand...
Another yes, multiple times.

Do you support small business?[/QUOTE]
 
apple0154 said:
I think most poor countries appreciate the work.

I'm not sure why you consider we take advantage of them. We have to remember paying someone $2.00/hr in some countries makes them part of the wealthy. We can't compare their wages to ours as their doctor may charge $10.00 for a bandage and a pill, whereas, here the same bandage and pill would be $200.00!

Our wealth, or lack thereof, is determined by the people we require to help us. Is the plumber charging $100.00 for a house call or $10.00?

As for making our own stuff we need to make different stuff, more technologically advanced stuff.
Click to expand...

No. They would appreciate being allowed to develop in a more natural fashion, instead of having foreign powers enable local warlords to round them up into work camps.

But I'm glad you're willing to whitewash the wage slavery fueling the global race to the bottom.
 
It's funny to watch liberals become neocons because of the innate fascism of their worldview.

Libs love big business now that it's being used as a tool to destroy the middle class.
 
apple0154 said:
Do tell us; when you're shopping for large ticket items like, say, a refrigerator do you purchase it from a large company or a "small business" with a "New and Used Kitchen Appliances" sign pasted in their window?
Click to expand...
do they have a better service guarantee than the big business?

apple0154 said:
When you're in the market for a large screen TV do you go to a reputable, large business or a "small business" which has a picture of old fashioned radio tubes hanging in their window?
Click to expand...
because only big business can afford the high tech stuff, right? :palm:

apple0154 said:
Have you ever purchased an item from a "small business" and tried to return it?
Click to expand...
many times and it's faster and easier than returning an xbox to microsoft for repair.

apple0154 said:
Maybe next time you're car shopping avoid dealerships and give your business to the guy who has a trailer set up on an empty lot with a few cars parked in front.
Click to expand...
often times the price is better and your car doesn't lose 12% of its value just by driving it off the lot.
 
Topspin said:
Asshat was laid off 3 times by big companies. I too would be a little less enthusiastic about large companies.
Asshat, data entry clerk is a noble job. Not too worry
Click to expand...

so is customer service specialist, union style. nothing like getting paid 3 times what you're worth for doing the job that grind can't.
 
SmarterThanYou said:
then that's a business not staying in business long. I took mine in, guy gave me a replacement in 5 minutes.
Click to expand...

Lucky you man, mine got the 'red ring of death'. Could have fixed it myself, but I could just as easily fuck it up. Besides MS only took about a week, including shipping both ways. So I'm not unhappy with my service.
 
CaptBillyTheKid said:
Do you support small business?
Click to expand...

If it's an ice cream stand or a neighborhood restaurant.

Years ago I was shopping for windows so I attended a Home Show. Picked up a few business cards, chatted with the folks, then went home. I called a government agency that companies can join and any disputes against them are logged so people can check out their reputation.

After discounting any company not listed I checked the info on the ones that were. A typical report read:
Company ABC. Owner: Mr. J Smith. The previous year the owner was a Mr. B. Smith and the year previous to that was a Mr. P. Smith.

What happens is a guy starts a window installation company. The windows they're selling are a national brand guaranteed for 20 years. Sounds good, huh?

So, I chose what appeared to be a reputable installation company (in business 5 years and one of the longest.) and they installed the windows. (Double hung windows.) They didn't function properly so I called the national company that made them.

A guy shows up, checks the window and tells me it wasn't installed properly. I called the installation company. They sent a guy who starts to place a screw in the top section which would render the window a single hung window which would make it impossible to clean on the third floor as the window was designed to tilt into the apartment for cleaning.

I refused the solution. He left and having held back the payment on one window I ended up not paying for it. I was fortunate.

The other companies I mentioned changed ownership on a yearly basis so one could never sue if the job was done incorrectly. Here's how they operated. The company would do defective installations during the spring ad summer. Come fall they file for bankruptcy. Assets: a "cash for clunkers" truck and a few hand tools. Company is sold to the son for a few hundred dollars and any outstanding claims are settled with that money. Company is now out of business.

Next spring the company is back in business although it's considered a new company. Same father, same two sons and the same Mrs. answering the phone. :) Same operating procedure.

That's supporting small business.

A quick check shows the majority of all small businesses fail within five years. Why would anyone do business with a small business unless it's a transaction that would never require a follow up such as a meal at a restaurant?
 
apple0154 said:
If it's an ice cream stand or a neighborhood restaurant.

Years ago I was shopping for windows so I attended a Home Show. Picked up a few business cards, chatted with the folks, then went home. I called a government agency that companies can join and any disputes against them are logged so people can check out their reputation.

After discounting any company not listed I checked the info on the ones that were. A typical report read:
Company ABC. Owner: Mr. J Smith. The previous year the owner was a Mr. B. Smith and the year previous to that was a Mr. P. Smith.

What happens is a guy starts a window installation company. The windows they're selling are a national brand guaranteed for 20 years. Sounds good, huh?

So, I chose what appeared to be a reputable installation company (in business 5 years and one of the longest.) and they installed the windows. (Double hung windows.) They didn't function properly so I called the national company that made them.

A guy shows up, checks the window and tells me it wasn't installed properly. I called the installation company. They sent a guy who starts to place a screw in the top section which would render the window a single hung window which would make it impossible to clean on the third floor as the window was designed to tilt into the apartment for cleaning.

I refused the solution. He left and having held back the payment on one window I ended up not paying for it. I was fortunate.

The other companies I mentioned changed ownership on a yearly basis so one could never sue if the job was done incorrectly. Here's how they operated. The company would do defective installations during the spring ad summer. Come fall they file for bankruptcy. Assets: a "cash for clunkers" truck and a few hand tools. Company is sold to the son for a few hundred dollars and any outstanding claims are settled with that money. Company is now out of business.

Next spring the company is back in business although it's considered a new company. Same father, same two sons and the same Mrs. answering the phone. :) Same operating procedure.

That's supporting small business.

A quick check shows the majority of all small businesses fail within five years. Why would anyone do business with a small business unless it's a transaction that would never require a follow up such as a meal at a restaurant?
Click to expand...

I'd like to point out that your quote is attributed to the wrong person.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top