Carly Fiorina Gives Us Good Reason To Boycott HP - Compaq Products.

[jose]

We'll she's made my list.

Regards,
Jose

 

[WeiWei]

Reality is harsh. Like it or not, companies have to compete. Its a cycle.
Guess thats how Rome went down..

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: Amused
Where in the Constitution are you guaranteed a job? You have no "right" to a job. And corporations have every right to move jobs out of the country if the labor pool here has become overvalued making it un-competitive to keep the jobs here.

Of course not. It's her attitude that sucks so hard I could use her as a replacement for the catalytic converter on my car, and the computer products and customer support that third world staff puts out deserve exactly what I recommended, NOT buying their products. In a consumer based democracy, that is the only vote we have. That vote may as well be cast with enlightened and informed self interest.

 

[Pariah]

That's a great idea, and I hope all the American workers who get laid off because of people like you boycotting their companies products visit you to thank you personally for costing them their job, because we all know it won't be the overseas lowest paid workers that lose their job first when sales numbers drop.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: Pariah
That's a great idea, and I hope all the American workers who get laid off because of people like you boycotting their companies products visit you to thank you personally for costing them their job, because we all know it won't be the overseas lowest paid workers that lose their job first when sales numbers drop.

What American workers holding what jobs? Except for Carly and her upper eschelon corporate buddies, the rest of the jobs have already headed offshore to India? :|

 

[GnomeCop]

usually the same people who are boycotting these products turn around and demand lower prices.
Boycott away, then go buy a boutique brand computer for $5,000, then I may believe you.

for those who build you're own, thats great.

 

[thraxes]

Sigh... You or I may not like what she said and now don't want to deal with HP again.

But: We are ignoring the fact that what she said is the truth. I may not like the truth (because, although I am not american, the same applies to any first-world nation) but she at least had the "cojones" (pun intended) to actually speak the truth out loud. Come on guys, you must have figured it out by now that this is the way things are going, and not just in the US. Is this acceptable? Well no, not everybody has the brains (and the money) to study some engineering degree that "might" help him get a job that won't be outsourced so quickly. Those that can should be glad (I am for sure) but the vast majority is either facing unemployment or considerable pay-cuts (thank you capt. obvious).

The clincher comes here: As more and more jobs got to "emerging" economies in the east, their standard of living will increase aswell (which is good). The corporations will be again faced with moving on to somewhere cheaper. In some areas this is actually already happening! The Mainboard manufacturers are slowly pulling much of their production out of Taiwan (which 10-15 years ago was THE low cost place to go to when making electronics) into mainland China as Taiwan has become too expensive... freaky huh?

So what I am saying is: I don't like what she said, but I admire her for saying it out loud as it is the bitter truth.

EDIT: I don't like HP printers anyway... and my fathers Compaq notebook sux. Wouldn't buy anything from them just because of those two reasons. But ignoring my experiences with HP-CPQ's iffy products, Carly's utterings wouldn't have really affected my purchasing habits at all. I don't have the tendency to punish those that are just stating the truth.

 

[Tom]

Originally posted by: Harvey

Originally posted by: Dead Parrot Sketch
i dont like the exportation of jobes either,

but honestly how much of this indignation is actually thinly veiled sexism ?

BULLSH8! I have nothing against females asserting their rights and realizing the most from their potential. I have four very bright, overachieving sisters, any of whom can hold their own in a conversation among the highest levels in their respective fields. This isn't about sexisim or feminism; it's about selling out American citizens for the sake of personal and corporate greed. :disgust:

Maybe not you, but read some of the posts in this thread.

 

[Pariah]

Originally posted by: Harvey

Originally posted by: Pariah
That's a great idea, and I hope all the American workers who get laid off because of people like you boycotting their companies products visit you to thank you personally for costing them their job, because we all know it won't be the overseas lowest paid workers that lose their job first when sales numbers drop.

What American workers holding what jobs? Except for Carly and her upper eschelon corporate buddies, the rest of the jobs have already headed offshore to India? :|

Now you're just being stupid. HP employed close to 100,000 people before the Compaq merger. They obviously employ more now, after the merger. Believe it or not out of that group, more than Carly and a dozen top board members are domestically employed.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: Pariah
Now you're just being stupid. HP employed close to 100,000 people before the Compaq merger. They obviously employ more now, after the merger. Believe it or not out of that group, more than Carly and a dozen top board members are domestically employed.

I don't believe I engaged in any name calling, but if Carly's attitude prevails and directs the company's future, you can be sure that total will be soon be spirialing to the floor, and I'm way overquailfied to be one of the two remaining shipping clerk they'll need to handle local returns and incoming freight from overseas.

As I said at the start, the computers from both companies suck enough that I would never consider buying one under either name brand for my own machine. I'll miss HP's better printers.

Hewlett Packard was founded by a couple of engineers to build high quality test equipment. That company had a reputation for integrity and excellence. When they split the test equipment division from the computer maker, the test gear company became Agilent, and the computer maker became TRASH. They should have kept the better name with the better company. :disgust:

 

[Pocatello]

Carly is bringing a once proud company down.

 

[fkloster]

The American labor force needs to evolve, not boycott.

I concur... except in order for the U.S. to build its own computers...our consumers must PAY UP and not be so cheep so we can pay for our 'bloat-ware' work force of over-paid white anglo-saxon workers to build our computers

 

[Pariah]

I don't believe I engaged in any name calling, but if Carly's attitude prevails and directs the company's future, you can be sure that total will be soon be spirialing to the floor, and I'm way overquailfied to be one of the two remaining shipping clerk they'll need to handle local returns and incoming freight from overseas.

No, you didn't, but in a rare incident, I did, because that comment was pure idiocy that is easily proven wrong. HP still employs 10's of thousands of Americans, they have not sent ALL jobs overseas except a couple dozen. From your post, it appears you are a disgruntled HP employee who is the victim of corporate downsizing due to a terrible economy, not overseas job losses. I somehow doubt HP is laying off US warehouse personnel and sending their jobs overseas. As far as HP goes, I'm just a consumer like most of us, who wants to pay as little as I have to for what they sell. If that means cheap foreign labor, oh well, that's the current nature of the business.

 

[MadRat]

HP doesn't even warehouse, they use the virtual warehousing techniques using point-to-point configuration of their products via contracted vendors.

 

[Maus]

Originally posted by: Pocatello
Carly is bringing a once proud company down.

Two companies, more like. She's gotten rid of what made HP distinctively HP, and (high-end) Compaq Compaq.

Originally posted by: Dead Parrot Sketch
Maybe not you, but read some of the posts in this thread.

I have, and I still don't know what you're talking about. CEOs and arrogant management are getting attacked, not womankind.

 

[Texun]

I don't like it at all and I think it sucks, but the cold truth is that businesses are nothing more than giant machines. In order to remain useful or even survive they must constantly reduce their operational costs while improving productivity or they they will be left in the dust like a '73 Buick Roadboat. I am not supporting her comment, but it all comes down to the needs of the business while the rest is left for conversation, but it still sucks.

My limited experience with HP has been cold and prickly. Their site is poorly designed and finding support is a joke unless you need help installing a print cartridge or plugging something in.

 

[tdawg]

Nothing good comes from knee-jerk reactions, and yet you are calling on America to boycot a company for doing what every other company has done to increase profits and remain competitive--which is demanded by corporate America, not to mention Wall Street (Who wants another depression? I do, I do!)--just by hearing one sentence on the news. It's a simple fact in an economy (however flailing it is right now) that for one to be successful, they must remain competitive. Yes, it sucks, but this is the way capitalist societies continue to function.

Now personally, I will not buy anything made by Compaq or HP because I think they are trash, or at least their computers are. There are companies I do think are important to boycot, most of all, Abercrombie & Fitch, as I feel they lack any sense of social responsibility, and I will tell people why that is so if asked. However, if you are willing to boycot HP/Compaq over this issue, then I sure hope you are sitting at your computer terminal dressed only in clothes made from hemp or that you have hand-woven from cotton you picked yourself, because if you're walking around in Nike shoes, wearing a pair of Dockers or a J.Crew sweater, you are simply supporting other companies that are doing far worse things than what HP/Compaq and the rest of the computer companies you listed are doing. (I must say that those six-year-olds in Pakistan can sew a great soccer ball! Go Adidas!) And I don't even want to get started on how you can own a computer in the first place!

Yes, overseas customer service is a terrrible idea and I hope with repeated complaints from customers and ever decreasing satisfaction rankings, companies that have call centers in India, for example, will bring them back to the US in order to satisfy those that may require said service. Same goes for all the other jobs sent overseas by these companies. But to call for the destruction of one or many American companies because of this business practice is going overboard and can only hurt the American economy, as has been stated by some previous posters. This is the price of doing business. The only loyalty a corporation has is to it's bottom line; it's employees have always come second. This should not come as a surprise to anyone.

I am getting tired of all the pointless crusading going on around me and this is definitely one of the most pointless! What's worse is the blind patriotism on display for all to see:

I find it disgusting that the CEO of a major American company has such little regard for her fellow citizens in the country that has given her the opportunity to rise to the heights of corporate leadership and incidentally made her disgustingly rich.

Furthermore, her continued success--measured at the bottom line--is because of the increased ability to compete by moving services overseas. All this blind patriotism stems from the 9/11 tragedies and, thanks to our wonderful president and his administration, people can't help stating the greatness of America and how it's being torn down in every argument they make. How about we save patriotism for something that matters. And remember that despite Vice President Dick Cheney told everyone that it was an act of treason to question your government, it is in fact your patriotic duty to question your government. So why don't you really go display your patriotism instead of dumping it off on this ridiculous crusade.

 

[Auric]

Carly Fiorina? Isn't Schwarzenegger the governor of that state? Haw.

It's interesting that everyone thus far has not seen the forest for the trees, as 'twere. The problem exists because of the pyramid scheme that is a public company. It is the expectation and indeed necessity of profit and the greed of owners, management, and yes workers that can be their own nemesis. A private company is far more employee friendly by its nature because owners and workers alike can largely be content with "breaking-even" while earning a sufficient wage.

 

[iluvdeal]

Cheaper labor
Companies can find low-cost technology professionals overseas:.
Country Average programmer salary
United States $60,000 - $80,000
Canada $28,174
China $8,952
India $5,880 - $11,000

 

[RossGr]

Originally posted by: Harvey

Originally posted by: Pariah
That's a great idea, and I hope all the American workers who get laid off because of people like you boycotting their companies products visit you to thank you personally for costing them their job, because we all know it won't be the overseas lowest paid workers that lose their job first when sales numbers drop.

What American workers holding what jobs? Except for Carly and her upper eschelon corporate buddies, the rest of the jobs have already headed offshore to India? :|

NOT TRUE! The Corvallis HP site is the last remaining HP manufactureing site in the US. We actually make things here, and yes all this talk of boycott makes me very nervous. That is MY JOB you are talking about.

 

[Aganack1]

I dont know... i belive there is something very wrong witht he education systems in the United State, but i definitely don?t believe that India and china have Better solutions. I really wish CEO's would just say Americans can compeate with labor of a third world country, though i hate talking to help desks that are no help at all.

 

[mosco]

So we should boycott them to further lower their profits to the point where they need to move even more american jobs overseas in order to compete in the always volatile computer industry? Sounds like a plan....

The problem is that in order to compete in the industry and still remain profitable for both the well being of the company and the stockholders they have to do everything they can to lower prices. Ever year computers prices get lower and lower while companies try to gain market share. If people were willing to spend a little more on their computers, then maybe companies wouldn't be so willing send jobs overseas. We are so used to cheap prices on everything we buy; electronics, gas, etc.

Yes, its a shame that these jobs are going overseas but I don't think a boycott of their products are the best plan of action. YOU have been contributing to the downslide of american manufacturing for years and have only realized the error in YOUR ways. Just think of all the clothes you own and how much of that is made in other countries, its the same thing. Most of the stuff claimed to be made in the US, isn't even made on the mainland, but made in US territories where labor laws aren't that strict. It's all YOUR selfish fault. Maybe if you didn't need so much companies wouldn't be so desperate. Just my theory.

And the education system in the US does suck, I should know because I am in it right now. Well, I attend a very good private high school so I don't have it that bad but kids my age are so stupid. There just isn't enough pressure put on our children today to succeed and do well. All kids do is get drunk and smoke weed. Not to say that is bad, but if you party hard you have to study hard, but no one ever does it seems like. I want to be a computer engineer, and I know other kids in public high schools that also want to be engineers that haven't even taken physics 1 let alone physics 2. Maybe if we had a good set of engineers and skilled labor with a good work ethic along with a with a stay on the cut-throat price wars that are demanded by US customers we would see SOME relief.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: mosco
So we should boycott them to further lower their profits to the point where they need to move even more american jobs overseas in order to compete in the always volatile computer industry? Sounds like a plan....

No, we should boycott them until they get the message that they can't spit in the face of American workers and expect those same people to support their crappy computers and decent printers, no matter how much advertising and promotion they do.

Hopefully, they'll wake up before it gets to the extreme you fear, but if they can't figure it out, they still will not deserve our loyalty, and it'll be hasta la vista, Hewpie, with no tears from me. There are better computers available for much less money, now, and someone will still produce good printers and scanners.

 

[mosco]

Originally posted by: Harvey

Originally posted by: mosco
So we should boycott them to further lower their profits to the point where they need to move even more american jobs overseas in order to compete in the always volatile computer industry? Sounds like a plan....

No, we should boycott them until they get the message that they can't spit in the face of American workers and expect those same people to support their crappy computers and decent printers, no matter how much advertising and promotion they do.

Hopefully, they'll wake up before it gets to the extreme you fear, but if they can't figure it out, they still will not deserve our loyalty, and it'll be hasta la vista, Hewpie, with no tears from me. There are better computers available for much less money, now, and someone will still produce good printers and scanners.

Whats your response to the rest of what i wrote?

The problem is they are just trying to follow the one of the main characteristics of what makes America... America. Its called capitalism. Why aren't you boycotting other brands that have shipped jobs overseas? Because you would be stuck with nothing. If companies kept jobs here would be complaining about the prices, and when they try to keep prices down, you complain too. You seem to think they we somehow deserve these jobs? Why? Because their company was built by Americans? What does that have to do with Capitalism? Our culture is part of the problem, but I don't see you trying to change that.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: thraxes
Sigh... You or I may not like what she said and now don't want to deal with HP again.

But: We are ignoring the fact that what she said is the truth. I may not like the truth (because, although I am not american, the same applies to any first-world nation) but she at least had the "cojones" (pun intended) to actually speak the truth out loud. Come on guys, you must have figured it out by now that this is the way things are going, and not just in the US. Is this acceptable? Well no, not everybody has the brains (and the money) to study some engineering degree that "might" help him get a job that won't be outsourced so quickly. Those that can should be glad (I am for sure) but the vast majority is either facing unemployment or considerable pay-cuts (thank you capt. obvious).

The clincher comes here: As more and more jobs got to "emerging" economies in the east, their standard of living will increase aswell (which is good). The corporations will be again faced with moving on to somewhere cheaper. In some areas this is actually already happening! The Mainboard manufacturers are slowly pulling much of their production out of Taiwan (which 10-15 years ago was THE low cost place to go to when making electronics) into mainland China as Taiwan has become too expensive... freaky huh?

So what I am saying is: I don't like what she said, but I admire her for saying it out loud as it is the bitter truth.

Bingo. Sucks like hell.