What Exactly Is Going On

What I want to chat about is this: my Aunt who is a senior and retired with a limited income has had a free (no frills) cell phone for a couple of years; for some reason (and we could not find out exactly why); her service was cancelled and she had to reapply.

On Tuesday she called the toll free number the company provided and got a young man on the phone in the Philippines; and the time before this last call; when she called the same company (again about her phone) she got a young man in Costa Rica.

Ok...so this morning she was having trouble with one of her email accounts; called a toll free number and got a person in India.

My Aunt is very upset; why all this outsourcing of work to these other countries? She says we need to bring it all back to the USA.; and our economy would improve. She also says she wishes there were specific laws in place so that American companies had to hire workers that live in America.

I just have to wonder...with all these companies outsourcing... their telephone workers to other countries...well...no wonder peoples email accounts get hacked etc. (I'm just saying).

What say you ATS; what do you think about all of the outsourcing going on in the U.S.?

Outsourcing, needs to be American.

I Agree with that.

Sick of dealing with automatic services and customer support, can't talk English.

They outsource because its cheaper... Not that its the right thing to do but that is why.. also they get tax breaks yes you heard me correct.. for outsourcing jobs to other countries... makes sense right? oh wait it doesnt...

Maybe if corps weren't all about making 500bil a year in profits and cared more about the people who work for them and the country they are based out of they would be willing to lose 1-2bil and pay workers in the US to do jobs that should be in the US...

But nothing in this world makes sense... until it all comes crashing down on their heads even they wont realize the truth that everything we do in this world effects everyone else. no one will be immune.

I'm not completely against it but it has gotten out of hand. You know, when most people think of businesses they see it in terms of black and white when it isn't always that simple.

Let me ask an oversimplified question. You have a business and are debating whether to outsource your call center. If you don't find a way to save money you are going to have let 10 people go and consolidate jobs. You find that you would be able save the necessary money by outsourcing your call center. You would still need to let 2 employees go but you can save 8 jobs and still make profit. What do you do? Is outsourcing taking jobs away from native population?

Maybe we try a different route and try to only hire within our country. The cost is going to be more and we can't hire as many as needed. Profits suffer and the company loses too much money to recover and goes out of business. Now instead of 2 people out of work or even 10 all of 100 employees are now out of work.

It's a different world out there. To me it's a global economy still playing by individual economy rules and the two don't always mesh well.

I think The Earth, being our only home as a species for the foreseeable future, must be thought of as an island. We, Earth's inhabitants, must learn to coexist as though we were on an island. Modern technology has eliminated the distance between us, as your customer service experiences point out, and we can no longer think of ourselves as separated. A job here, a job there, what's the difference?

We have to learn to live as a global village, with a unified goal of cooperation towards a better end, i.e. repairing the immense damage already done to our one and only home in the entire universe.

Countries don't exist anymore. Only the variety of culture defines us as well as binds us.

reply to post by DetectiveT

It's a different world out there. To me it's a global economy still playing by individual economy rules and the two don't always mesh well.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Good call.

Originally posted by Manhater
Outsourcing, needs to be American.

That's an oxymoron. If it was American then it wouldn't be outsourcing.

If people in America would be happy working lots of hours for peanuts then the jobs would be American jobs. The other options are pay a huge amount more for your phone contracts to keep the jobs in the country or don't have a mobile in the first place.

Originally posted by ZeroReady
I think The Earth, being our only home as a species for the foreseeable future, must be thought of as an island. We, Earth's inhabitants, must learn to coexist as though we were on an island. Modern technology has eliminated the distance between us, as your customer service experiences point out, and we can no longer think of ourselves as separated. A job here, a job there, what's the difference?

We have to learn to live as a global village, with a unified goal of cooperation towards a better end, i.e. repairing the immense damage already done to our one and only home in the entire universe.

Countries don't exist anymore. Only the variety of culture defines us as well as binds us.

Well that's nice, but you will change your tune as soon as you call 911 and speak to a guy in a different country whos only task is to take your specific details and relay it to the correct emergency.

Who do you complain to when you wait 2 hours for the ambulance after the call gets lost?

Mind you, I called my ISP one early morning and was speaking to a lovely girl for about 20 minutes. As we ended the call, she told me to have a nice day and I said the same to her, and she told me she was about to finish work as it was the end of the day. She was in South Africa. I thought that was pretty neat, a casual chat as my issue was sorted, and to someone on the other side of the world as if we were in the same room.

But yeah, try calling any essential services and it's pathetic.

With the flooding over east, you'd expect government services to be tied up over there. But the local number here, which goes over there, makes a simple query take over an hour.

Call before 8am, you get the recorded message. Call after 8am and you're instantly in a 60 minute queue.

They know Im not over there, yet I have to be put onto a time restricted line.

Or wait till you call someone at a company to report faulty hardware.

"Yes sir, now let me please ask, have you installed the driver for it."
"It's a dvd-rom, it just wont open."
"Yes sir, ok. Now, what operating system are you running?"
"It's a dvd-rom, it just wont open. I want to report faulty hardware."
"Yes sir, ok, can you please see if you can play a dvd."

on and on and on till you go "&*^K YOU !" and hang up.

I hope it wasn't a net10 wireless pay as you go phone.
I had gotten one for one of my kids,comes with a card that you activate your phone with for so many minutes.
I had a hard time buying more minutes,and the next thing I know I am getting emails from people asking why I had sent this email to them.
My email was hacked into.
I had to cancel that account.
I tried it again and the same thing happen with trying to get more minutes.
I don't know if they were connected,but watch out.

Thank you to everyone who has responded. You have helped me to better understand the whole (outsourcing) thing. Now to explain it to my Aunt...lol.

reply to post by caladonea

ust have to wonder...with all these companies outsourcing... their telephone workers to other countries...well...no wonder peoples email accounts get hacked etc. (I'm just saying).

Did you really just say that foreigners are more likely to be criminals that your average American?



The outsourcing is due to lower costs and better corporate offers from the governments in those countries. They make it lucrative for business's to do business in those countries.

Furthermore, foreign workers are better educated than most Americans and especially in Telecom, IBM for example, ( who handle most telecoms internal tech support) prefers to higher those with university degrees than those with just a high school diploma.

I do agree that outsourcing is crap, but until companies have incentives to do business in the US, they just simply won't.

~Tenth

reply to post by caladonea


We live in a global community. If they can use a cheaper work force they will. Nothing wrong with it.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
reply to post by caladonea

 

ust have to wonder...with all these companies outsourcing... their telephone workers to other countries...well...no wonder peoples email accounts get hacked etc. (I'm just saying).

Did you really just say that foreigners are more likely to be criminals that your average American?

:

No...America has many criminals too...I am just saying that could be part of the problem.

You bring up some very good points...food for thought...I stand corrected.