4 ms·

Do you want to pay your mouse 200 € ? I submit you do not. That's why companies like Microsoft work with companies like KYE.

cstuder 17y ago
Well, we could afford to pay more for our tools. And would be willing to, if it came with a fair trade label associated. That's a business model which works well for the food industry, both with fair trade and organic production.
- ido 17y ago
  I think that the problem is that you are a tiny segment of the market. Average users (both private and corporate customers) don't really care much about their mice.
eregj 17y ago
Or, I don't know--we could pay the same provided more of the income went to the low-paid workers and less to the big corporations. Crazy thinking.
- ido 17y ago
  In highly competitive markets with a low barrier to entry (such as computer mice and keyboards) profit margins are low and production cost increases are mostly forwarded to the customers.
gaius 17y ago
Well, there's the crux of it. I have a friend, an Irishman, who is livid that Dell is closing their operation in Ireland and moving it to Poland, putting lots of Irish out of work. But when he wanted a PC, he shopped around for the cheapest one, that's how he ended up with Dell in the first place. It's the same with a lot of people I notice. All about the worker's rights but they buy their clothes at Primark, their food at Lidl, their MP3 players are brands you've never heard of from China, everything as cheap as they can. If you want to see what people believe, look at how they spend their own money.
- chaosmachine 17y ago
  "If you want to see what people believe, look at how they spend their own money." More along the lines of: "If you want to see what people are blissfully ignorant of, look at how they spend their money"
  - gaius 17y ago
    c/blissfully/wilfully/
- smokinn 17y ago
  I've always been irked by that as well. In Quebec most blue collar workers are unionized. And shop at walmart. While on strike. It's so hypocritical.
hristov 17y ago
I am not sure I buy this thinking. If labor was more expensive things might cost more to begin with, but eventually people will figure out how to do stuff with machines. So eventually things will get even cheaper than they were with cheap labor. There is no reason a computer mouse should be assembled by hand at all. But of course nobody wants to invest in automating tasks that can be done for breadcrumbs by some desperate poor people somewhere.
- shin_lao 17y ago
  Automated assembly is still more expensive than cheap labour. You understimate human beings. See for yourself: http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=185 http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=185

cstuder 17y ago

Well, we could afford to pay more for our tools. And would be willing to, if it came with a fair trade label associated. That's a business model which works well for the food industry, both with fair trade and organic production.

ido 17y ago
I think that the problem is that you are a tiny segment of the market. Average users (both private and corporate customers) don't really care much about their mice.

eregj 17y ago

Or, I don't know--we could pay the same provided more of the income went to the low-paid workers and less to the big corporations. Crazy thinking.

ido 17y ago
In highly competitive markets with a low barrier to entry (such as computer mice and keyboards) profit margins are low and production cost increases are mostly forwarded to the customers.

gaius 17y ago

Well, there's the crux of it. I have a friend, an Irishman, who is livid that Dell is closing their operation in Ireland and moving it to Poland, putting lots of Irish out of work. But when he wanted a PC, he shopped around for the cheapest one, that's how he ended up with Dell in the first place. It's the same with a lot of people I notice. All about the worker's rights but they buy their clothes at Primark, their food at Lidl, their MP3 players are brands you've never heard of from China, everything as cheap as they can. If you want to see what people believe, look at how they spend their own money.

chaosmachine 17y ago
"If you want to see what people believe, look at how they spend their own money." More along the lines of: "If you want to see what people are blissfully ignorant of, look at how they spend their money"
- gaius 17y ago
  c/blissfully/wilfully/
smokinn 17y ago
I've always been irked by that as well. In Quebec most blue collar workers are unionized. And shop at walmart. While on strike. It's so hypocritical.

hristov 17y ago

I am not sure I buy this thinking. If labor was more expensive things might cost more to begin with, but eventually people will figure out how to do stuff with machines. So eventually things will get even cheaper than they were with cheap labor. There is no reason a computer mouse should be assembled by hand at all. But of course nobody wants to invest in automating tasks that can be done for breadcrumbs by some desperate poor people somewhere.

shin_lao 17y ago
Automated assembly is still more expensive than cheap labour. You understimate human beings. See for yourself: http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=185 http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=185