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Wal-Mart Computers - reply to tintin

Don't take this wrong Tintin, but do you manufacture computers? I do a lot of PC building for several of my clients and as such, I know the prices pretty well. A computer that Dell/IBM/HP sells for about $800 can be built, spec for spec, for about $400. Now that is based on prices from such places like NewEgg and eCost. It would be logical to assume that for them the cost is much less. This would suggest a minimum of 100% profit, if not more. Also, don't let the retail markets rebate system fool you. Just because Joe Enduser can get $300 in rebates doesn't mean that a company which buys hundreds of PCs at a time is going to get that discount on every unit. Generally they get little to no price breaks.
The real problem...the problem that will always overshadow these decisions to outsource to countries like India and China will always boil down to one thing. Corporate greed by those at the top. The people I like to refer to as the C's. You know, the CEO, CFO, CIO, and whatever other C you can imagine. They want more money so their strategy is to pay employees less for their work. If they hit a floor with American employees then they start looking at exploitation of economically depressed countries. They ignore the long-term impact of their choices (such as ruining the American economy) in order to accomplish their short term goals of increasing their personal wealth through the blood of their employees.
As for the concept of "hand-holding" service, I disagree there too. I remember the days of calling Dell tech support when they had American employees. You could resolve most issues within minutes because they understood the language, the culture, and the problem. Now when you call Dell's tech support you go through a language barrier, a cultural barrier, and a simple problem needs to be run through a script that a brainless $2.00 per hour employee forces down your throat. Their solutions almost always involve the same steps. Flash the BIOS, reload the operating system, etc. Most of the time they don't even understand the problem as you describe it to them and they just force you through their useless script.
Outsourcing tech support is never a good idea for the consumer. It only benefits those at the top no matter what BS an economist wants to shove down your throat.

Posted by: Stellardyne   Posted on: 03/09/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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