Apple Factory Conditions

[Swinny]

$50USD PER MONTH???? What??????? Is that what people usually get paid in china??????

Yes...in many places that would even be considered a good wage also...welcome to the rest of the world...

I respect Apple's stance on this - they seem to have acted quickly to try and investigate the claims. (and block the potential negative press obviously!)

It must be said that the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday though are particularly vicious in their never-ending pursuit of scare-mongering and moralising. Not that I am disputing the claims (nobody can at this point) - but it would not surprise me in the slightest to see they have conveniently not mentioned certain facts or deliberatly misinterpreted them just to make their point. They are the shining example of Britain's hateful tabloid culture.

 

[allpar]

Average salary in US is around $29000 which gives you about $13.90 per hour.

MEDIAN salary is what you'd want to be looking at. Average salary is weighted rather far upwards by CEOs, Bill Gates types, investment bankers... you can't have a salary below nothing (not officially anyway, but coal miners used to work for less than nothing) but you can easily have a salary of $2.9 million. (Well, easily if you happen to be a six foot tall accountant with graying hair, a firm handshake and deep voice, good posture, and luck.)

I don't think the salary is the problem here since room and board is clearly given; it's the working conditions. Many Americans would be happy to net $50 per month after living expenses.

 

[Mustafa Monde]

Apple should adopt and enforce a fairplay practice.

I would be willing to pay more for an iPod if I knew that a fairplay practice was adopted and followed by the manufacturers of Apple products. Its just like the coffee. Most people, while they are looking for a bargain, most likely don't want it on the unfair treatment of others. I've always avoided the purchase of products and services that have ethically challenged origins.

It looks as if the Chinese have adopted the late 19th century version of capitalism. I'm reminded of the British coal mines of the early 20th century and the immigrant sweatshops in NY's garment district during the same period. People never seem to learn and greed is too easily embraced.

If I were the Apple management I would insist on regular tours of the facilities, ensuring the proper treatment of their defacto employees. So far, they seem upfront about the whole situation, hopefully they follow through.

 

[Yamson]

... even if they would drop their prices by 100% they still would make over 100% profit per product sold....

Well, I suppose zero is 100% of zero...

 

[jaxstate]

Surely it didn't take this article for you to figure out Apple is just another greedy company. As with every large company, they will do damn near anything to up their profit margins.

I guess Apple is just another greedy company, can't really blame them, all major players outsource factories to cheap labor countries. The price of an iPod wouldn't increase by that much if it was manufactured in USA, these are not some hand made custom jobs, this is a production line, couple of thousands of iPods per hour I assume. Modern world is all about greed. Companies move to cheap labor countries to generate more profit as they never decrease MSRP prices anyway. Plus it always helps that in countries such as China there is no labor laws like in USA or Western Europe so the employer can do whatever he feels like doing and taking more advantage of already low paid workers.

I had a discussion with one of the forum goers ( https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/206312/ ) and how he defended globalization and how he wrote that by US opening factories in countries such as China or India it actually helps our economy and I ask how is the $50-$100 per month salary going to help us (which I mentioned in those posts)? They can barely afford basic life necessities let alone "high end American" products. This is all just corporate greed, nothing else.

They can move Nike from their sweatshop and into theirs and produce the new shoes for the iPod together.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Can't "Machines" be used to create iPods in the U.S. Just a thought.

 

[bartelby]

The Mail on Sunday is well know for it's high quality journalism...

 

[Sun Baked]

Apple has used Foxconn for decades, strange that this is news now.

Unless Hon Hai has really been pushing their factories to make some extra profit lately.

Of course a problem with Hon Hai and Foxconn can really hurt Apple, considering how close they have worked these past years. And how much they actually do for Apple, since Foxconn has been a common stamp on subcomponents for Apple products for a long time.

Can't "Machines" be used to create iPods in the U.S. Just a thought.

Even if Apple "assembled" iPods here in the US, Foxxconn would likely still be a major supplier of assembled parts.

Sort of like the Ford GT is built by Ford, when all they do is "final assembly" aka, adding the motor or something similar.

 

[jaxstate]

And just because Apple has some type of "code of conduct" on their site, doesn't mean the enforce it.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

sounds interesting, but apparently apple is investigating the claim..
lets see what does come out of this

btw is it steve@mac.com ??

yes, i think the fact that they responded so quickly show that they take it seriously.

not sure what address...

 

[topgunn]

Average salary in US is around $29000 which gives you about $13.90 per hour, even if it would take an hour to assemble one iPod (which somehow I know it takes a lot less time) the final cost of the iPod would be slightly higher than it is now.

Don't forget that the actual cost of an employee in the US is much higher than their salary. That $13.90 per hour will end up costing closer to $25.

So again, it's just corporate greed, look at car manufacturers especially US moving some of the plants to Mexico, not only is labor cheaper there and not only are they starting to use cheaper materials but the final cost of the cars actually is increasing.

Again, look at the big picture. The "cheaper materials" you are referring to have quadrupled in price in recent years. Steel prices began to shoot up 2 summers ago and hasn't showed signs of stopping. Oil, a prime component of rubber and plastic, is well over $70 a barrel. US auto makers do not want to move to Mexico. They are being forced to to keep up with overseas production facilities.

 

[quigleybc]

I'm so glad I don't live in China....

 

[081440]

Average salary in US is around $29000 which gives you about $13.90 per hour, even if it would take an hour to assemble one iPod (which somehow I know it takes a lot less time) the final cost of the iPod would be slightly higher than it is now. So again, it's just corporate greed, look at car manufacturers especially US moving some of the plants to Mexico, not only is labor cheaper there and not only are they starting to use cheaper materials but the final cost of the cars actually is increasing.

It's called an assembly line and you have to have hundreds of workers to produce one iPod, plus all the machinery and labor to do maintenance and repair on it, plus taxes on the factory building and land, a long with the increased cost of doing business and suddenly the price is much higher than it is now.

And as for the car prices, thats because of so many new required things that the companies have to put in and increased liability insurance as the stupid trail lawyers sue for deaths in crashes that were clearly fault of the driver.

 

[ITR 81]

$50USD PER MONTH???? What??????? Is that what people usually get paid in china??????

Better then nothing at all.

Plus, it's probably not a bad living actually in China..where everything cost almost nothing.

blk market DVD's of US movies only cost maybe dollar or two.

 

[commonpeople]

Are you serious?! They have not even been exposed by another party yet! and Apple probably wouldn't have known about these things!!

I bet most of you clothing was made in worse conditions than this and yet you still will buy that won't you. (not saying these conditions, of true, are excusable just that you can't just abandon a company if something goes wrong and they didn't know about it)

Yes you can abandon a company if they don't treat their workers right! I'll wait to see how Apple responds to these allegations.

 

[jaxstate]

Since they are an American company, they should have to follow American (Cali) minimun wage laws.

 

[allpar]

" Most people, while they are looking for a bargain, most likely don't want it on the unfair treatment of others."

I wish I could believe that, but Wal-Mart proves the opposite is true.

Too many people have drunk the globalization kool-aid without realizing that it contains a slow acting poison.

How many of us have jobs that are completely independent of American manufacturing? And how many people seriously believe that once we outsource everything else to India, China, and Russia, that they'll never develop the intellectual capital to lead engineering and management?

 

[Swinny]

Apple has used Foxconn for decades, strange that this is news now.

The Mail have probably done a deal to give away free Creative players in competitions or something - so decided to dig some dirt on Apple just so they could take the moral high-ground and try to slur the competition. A tactic I am sure they would have used many times in the past.

Tabloid journalism in the UK is purely about building people up just so you can knock them down - so a gutter rag like the Mail wouldnt be able to see a company like Apple succeed without attempting to put the knife in at least once.

As I said earlier - I'm not disputing the claims, and to be honest probably think there is some truth in them (afterall, even Apple are all about making profit, whatever we might like to think)...I just don't believe the Mail would have willingly given the complete, balanced story - not when they can fill a few column inches with moral righteousness.

Ask the Mail what they think about allowing those Chinese workers to come over to Britain so they can work in better conditions than those enforced on them by the evil American corporation...that would get an interesting response!

 

[SC68Cal]

I was impressed reading through Apple's Supplier Code of Conduct, but I sure hope they really enforce it.

If the story is true, they are definetly violating that Code of Conduct, so the next thing to ask is how long they have been violating it, if enforcement measures were taken (if any) and what the end result for the supplier will be.

 

[blitzkrieg79]

Well, I suppose zero is 100% of zero...

Lets see here, the total manufacturing cost of A product is $15 bucks (which includes all the materials, assembly, packaging, advertisement). And I usualy sell that product for $90 (and you have no idea how many people buy it), that would give me over 100% profit (actually more like 500%). Now lets say that I would drop the price to $45 per A product and I still make over 100% profit, wouldn't you say?

 

[codo]

It’s sad. Apple doesn’t care - Just another "psychopathic" company.

Manipulative, Lack of remorse or guilt, Shallow emotional response, Callous/lack of empathy and Poor behavioural controls.

Welcome to the world of billion dollar corporations.

 

[Yamson]

Lets see here, the total manufacturing cost of A product is $15 bucks (which includes all the materials, assembly, packaging, advertisement). And I usualy sell that product for $90 (and you have no idea how many people buy it), that would give me over 100% profit (actually more like 500%). Now lets say that I would drop the price to $45 per A product and I still make over 100% profit, wouldn't you say?

Oh absolutely... but in a previous post you had suggested dropping their prices 100%, which by definition would drop any price to $0.

EDIT: Sorry, just being sarcastically nit-picky.

 

[cervaro]

This post made me laugh.....

Do you think the PC factories are better?

Just because the this labor is cheap doesn't mean Dell doesn't have cheaper laborers.

No, but now Macs are Intel based, I consider them closer to a PC hardware wise, and hence cost wise too. Don't get me started on Dell PC's. Most unreliable machines I've ever had the misfortune to own.

 

[jaxstate]

Or if Apple knew about this the entire time and just turned the other way. That's the million dollar question. Which I'm sure is, yes they knew.

If the story is true, they are definetly violating that Code of Conduct, so the next thing to ask is how long they have been violating it, if enforcement measures were taken (if any) and what the end result for the supplier will be.

Even after reading this, how many of us would really stop supporting apple if this turns out to be true and Apple in fact did know what was going on. Sad to say, but I would continue to buy Apple products.

 

[hvfsl]

If this does turn out to be true. Then I hope Apple do something about it to increase the workers wages and improve their living conditions.

I doubt it would affect the prices of iPods too much (maybe add $30 to the higher end models). But the amount of positive publicity they would get in return would be well worth it, maybe they could start advertising the iPods as 'Fair Trade' or something like that.

Plus having decent working conditions would probably help to cut down on defects, saving Apple money that way.