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Say what you will about the conditions at places like Foxconn in China, but at least they provide food and shelter. I wonder if there is an opportunity for wes

Say what you will about the conditions at places like Foxconn in China, but at least they provide food and shelter. I wonder if there is an opportunity for western companies to build factories on a smaller scale to Foxconn where employees live on campus. Wages could be low, but with basic services provided it could be a chance for low wage earners to save up some money. The costs might be too high for it to work on that scale though.

lucaspiller 10y ago
A few years ago my wife was working for an airline in the Middle East, and they provided accommodation for all crew. They had a few buildings in various places around the city (some right in the city centre, some further out), and provided regular buses between the buildings, HQ and the city centre (for buildings outside). Inside the buildings were apartments that housed up to three people, everyone had their own private bedroom and bathroom. The quality of the buildings was fairly good, not luxury but not cheap. You could also opt to receive a stipend if you wanted to find your own accommodation, but it was a bit low to get something of the same quality.
kogepathic 10y ago
> to build factories on a smaller scale to Foxconn where employees live on campus I was recently in South Korea and was surprised to see that there were a lot of large apartment buildings around Seoul which appeared to be employee dormitories from previous decades (1980s I believe). Some even still said Samsung and LG on the side. However, I don't think this concept would work in Western society. The cultures between Asia and the West are very different. It's common for several generations to live in the same house in China/Japan/Korea, but this isn't the case in the West. I agree it would make sense to build dormitories, from a transportation and economic perspective it makes perfect sense. Economies of scale. But people in the West don't want to move to live near the factory/warehouse. They want to have a social life, and dorm life really doesn't facilitate having a social life.
- amonette 10y ago
  Many Samsung buildings in Seoul are simply regular apartments - Samsung and other chaebols (family-controlled megaconglomerates) have divisions in many more sectors of the domestic economy than one sees in the rest of the world. In particular, in South Korea Samsung manufactures a large portion of the country's automobiles, and developed and owns much of the residential real estate.
  - contingencies 10y ago
    Many Samsung buildings in Suwon, Samsung's HQ town slightly south of Seoul, are still company dorms. I went there for 10 days and it scared the hell out of me.
- navait 10y ago
  I'm a little confused on why you think dorm life is less social. I went to college, and am now employed/live in a major US city. In my college, we had regular dorm events and I knew everyone on my floor, and was friends with many. If I try to talk to my neighbors, they treat me with suspicion. If I make a neighborhood event, 1-2 or two people come to eat my food, then leave. Ancedotal, but my intuition is that dorm life is much easier, though that may be inherent to college. It's extremely frustrating to know that few will give you any of their time to form friendships, no matter the effort you try. Also, I thought warehouses were the trendy places to live now.
  - kogepathic 10y ago
    > In my college, we had regular dorm events and I knew everyone on my floor, and was friends with many. I'm sure dorms are great if all you want to do is party all the time. However given that people working at Foxconn/Amazon are probably working 8-16 hours every day, I'm doubtful that they'd really be in a partying mood after working that long. Hence, when everyone is finished working their shift and just wants to sleep, and you don't, it's a bit hard to be social without pissing off people around you. > Also, I thought warehouses were the trendy places to live now. You're talking about old warehouses which have been converted into trendy apartments. This is gentrification. No one actually wants to live in a functional warehouse.
cordite 10y ago
I'm not sure about Foxconn and others, though Amazon fulfiment employees can't take two sick days in a row, else be fired. This is coming from an aquantence that is human and got sick. I guess at-will employment is very at-will.
toomuchtodo 10y ago
> I wonder if there is an opportunity for western companies to build factories on a smaller scale to Foxconn where employees live on campus. Wages could be low, but with basic services provided it could be a chance for low wage earners to save up some money. The costs might be too high for it to work on that scale though. How quickly we forget history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip
- Klathmon 10y ago
  I was gonna say, didn't this lead to exploitation and almost slave-labor before? I mean with some strong regulation things might be different, but with the political landscape as it is I don't think it would work out.
  - the-dude 10y ago
    The Netherlands has several 'Company neighbourhoods', I was raised in one. They were typically built before the second world war and they were actually meant to 'enable the working class'. Build quality was good and had quite some space for the time. Layout of the neighbourhood was not dense but left spaces open for nature and play. Facilities included schools, sports accomodation etc. PSV, a dutch premier league football team is a project of Phillips the former electronics giant. PSV -> Phillips Sport Vereniging. And Phillips built neighbourhoods, schools and public swimming pools too. Ah well ... sigh ( I was not raised in a Phillips neighbourhood btw ).
  - besselheim 10y ago
    Not always. For example the village built up by the Cadbury family in Bournville was designed to favour the wellbeing and living standards of their workers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bournville https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bournville
- cowsandmilk 10y ago
  Does FoxConn have company scrip? As far as I know, you can take the money you make at FoxConn and save it until you find another job. Or send it to your family to support them. Company scrip served to make it so you could never save up money to leave, which was the biggest problem.
a3n 10y ago
> Say what you will about the conditions at places like Foxconn in China, but at least they provide food and shelter. And nets!
- Inconel 10y ago
  I know the Foxconn suicides and subsequently installed nets got a lot of play in the US press, and I don't have any incites into the overall conditions at Foxconn, but considering the number of people they employ, I've heard it said that they have a lower suicide rate than some American demographics like males attending college.
blackguardx 10y ago
I fear it would lead to exploitation. As an aside, I worked with an ex-Foxconn engineer who lived in the dorms to save money. They wired up his office phone to also ring in his room. When foolish US engineers would call him, not aware of the time difference, it would wake him up in the middle of the night. He took his phone off the hook to get some sleep but got in trouble for it.
sorenjan 10y ago
Workers living at the factory working for a low wage sounds like something from 200 years ago, a bit like a lite version of slavery. I think we should try to make peoples lives better in the future, not worse.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

lucaspiller 10y ago

A few years ago my wife was working for an airline in the Middle East, and they provided accommodation for all crew. They had a few buildings in various places around the city (some right in the city centre, some further out), and provided regular buses between the buildings, HQ and the city centre (for buildings outside). Inside the buildings were apartments that housed up to three people, everyone had their own private bedroom and bathroom. The quality of the buildings was fairly good, not luxury but not cheap. You could also opt to receive a stipend if you wanted to find your own accommodation, but it was a bit low to get something of the same quality.

kogepathic 10y ago

> to build factories on a smaller scale to Foxconn where employees live on campus I was recently in South Korea and was surprised to see that there were a lot of large apartment buildings around Seoul which appeared to be employee dormitories from previous decades (1980s I believe). Some even still said Samsung and LG on the side. However, I don't think this concept would work in Western society. The cultures between Asia and the West are very different. It's common for several generations to live in the same house in China/Japan/Korea, but this isn't the case in the West. I agree it would make sense to build dormitories, from a transportation and economic perspective it makes perfect sense. Economies of scale. But people in the West don't want to move to live near the factory/warehouse. They want to have a social life, and dorm life really doesn't facilitate having a social life.

amonette 10y ago
Many Samsung buildings in Seoul are simply regular apartments - Samsung and other chaebols (family-controlled megaconglomerates) have divisions in many more sectors of the domestic economy than one sees in the rest of the world. In particular, in South Korea Samsung manufactures a large portion of the country's automobiles, and developed and owns much of the residential real estate.
- contingencies 10y ago
  Many Samsung buildings in Suwon, Samsung's HQ town slightly south of Seoul, are still company dorms. I went there for 10 days and it scared the hell out of me.
navait 10y ago
I'm a little confused on why you think dorm life is less social. I went to college, and am now employed/live in a major US city. In my college, we had regular dorm events and I knew everyone on my floor, and was friends with many. If I try to talk to my neighbors, they treat me with suspicion. If I make a neighborhood event, 1-2 or two people come to eat my food, then leave. Ancedotal, but my intuition is that dorm life is much easier, though that may be inherent to college. It's extremely frustrating to know that few will give you any of their time to form friendships, no matter the effort you try. Also, I thought warehouses were the trendy places to live now.
- kogepathic 10y ago
  > In my college, we had regular dorm events and I knew everyone on my floor, and was friends with many. I'm sure dorms are great if all you want to do is party all the time. However given that people working at Foxconn/Amazon are probably working 8-16 hours every day, I'm doubtful that they'd really be in a partying mood after working that long. Hence, when everyone is finished working their shift and just wants to sleep, and you don't, it's a bit hard to be social without pissing off people around you. > Also, I thought warehouses were the trendy places to live now. You're talking about old warehouses which have been converted into trendy apartments. This is gentrification. No one actually wants to live in a functional warehouse.

cordite 10y ago

I'm not sure about Foxconn and others, though Amazon fulfiment employees can't take two sick days in a row, else be fired. This is coming from an aquantence that is human and got sick. I guess at-will employment is very at-will.

toomuchtodo 10y ago

> I wonder if there is an opportunity for western companies to build factories on a smaller scale to Foxconn where employees live on campus. Wages could be low, but with basic services provided it could be a chance for low wage earners to save up some money. The costs might be too high for it to work on that scale though. How quickly we forget history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip

Klathmon 10y ago
I was gonna say, didn't this lead to exploitation and almost slave-labor before? I mean with some strong regulation things might be different, but with the political landscape as it is I don't think it would work out.
- the-dude 10y ago
  The Netherlands has several 'Company neighbourhoods', I was raised in one. They were typically built before the second world war and they were actually meant to 'enable the working class'. Build quality was good and had quite some space for the time. Layout of the neighbourhood was not dense but left spaces open for nature and play. Facilities included schools, sports accomodation etc. PSV, a dutch premier league football team is a project of Phillips the former electronics giant. PSV -> Phillips Sport Vereniging. And Phillips built neighbourhoods, schools and public swimming pools too. Ah well ... sigh ( I was not raised in a Phillips neighbourhood btw ).
- besselheim 10y ago
  Not always. For example the village built up by the Cadbury family in Bournville was designed to favour the wellbeing and living standards of their workers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bournville https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bournville
cowsandmilk 10y ago
Does FoxConn have company scrip? As far as I know, you can take the money you make at FoxConn and save it until you find another job. Or send it to your family to support them. Company scrip served to make it so you could never save up money to leave, which was the biggest problem.

a3n 10y ago

> Say what you will about the conditions at places like Foxconn in China, but at least they provide food and shelter. And nets!

Inconel 10y ago
I know the Foxconn suicides and subsequently installed nets got a lot of play in the US press, and I don't have any incites into the overall conditions at Foxconn, but considering the number of people they employ, I've heard it said that they have a lower suicide rate than some American demographics like males attending college.

blackguardx 10y ago

I fear it would lead to exploitation. As an aside, I worked with an ex-Foxconn engineer who lived in the dorms to save money. They wired up his office phone to also ring in his room. When foolish US engineers would call him, not aware of the time difference, it would wake him up in the middle of the night. He took his phone off the hook to get some sleep but got in trouble for it.

sorenjan 10y ago

Workers living at the factory working for a low wage sounds like something from 200 years ago, a bit like a lite version of slavery. I think we should try to make peoples lives better in the future, not worse.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]