No joke:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050929/ap_on_re_as/rita_india

Phil

something is very wrong with that picture. thousands of displaced and unemployed Americans due to the hurricanes, and help is outsourced to India. I am more concerned about the epidemic of mental disease that makes decisions like this.

While I am not a fan of "American" companies moving their jobs overseas, this sounds like a good utilization of an existing resource. I don’t see any GOOD reason to move American jobs over seas; I believe that American companies have a duty to the American people that outweighs cost savings… but I can go on and on about that issue, for another time.

A problem was identified and a quick and effective solution was found and utilized. Maybe if FEMA had thought of this solution instead of trying to up staff new call centers with new employees it would have made it easier for victims of Katrina to register for assistance via their 800 number…

While it's a shame...maybe even a crime... that call centers are a dying breed in North America, I do think what happened here can be used as a learning experience for emergency planners.

At all levels of government, emergency planners should be looking to establish agreements with call centers well outside their geographic area. The phone numbers of the centers could be published in the local news media as part of emergency preparedness and awareness programs. During a disaster, national and any local news media still active, could publish the numbers and make life a lot easier for a lot people, especially those who aren't so good at helping themselves.

Why? It's the same thing that got Rome in the end.

can you elaborate on that? I know some of the causes of the fall of Rome, but am I missing something?

Rome was founded as a Republic to start and became an empire based on military and economic might with an oligarchy of powerfull men under a string of emperors of mixed ability, many possibly brain damaged by lead vessels polluting their wine. Rome's economy was based on slave labour with most of the goods and services produced in outlying areas. The military itself became an almost mercenary force of foriegn troops often fighting their own people. In the end Rome even split into two empires with a single recognised official religion of christianity. I've always been a Vercingatorix and Boudicca supporter myself. Druids respect trees <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Unfortunatly its the same short term thinking that happens with any other call center or any other function that becomes outsourced. The company saves a bit of money by doing it and then the people who are left in the US start to have to take up the slack and in the end it ends up costing more in the long run. Nothing against India and its people, but but basically you can't effectively manage something that far away and in such a different time zone. I've managed to survive being outsourced a couple times and (and managed to not survive a couple other times but thats a different story) and I have had to clean up the mess that it caused.

I was laid off from a job that outsourced overseas. The company credit card I FINALLY qualified for after 8 years had a small balance and I missed a payment. I get a phone call from 'David' whos indian accent ( and I don't mean Catos or Kiowas) bled through the affected texan accent. Once I determined I was talking to Devendra we made arrangements for final payment and cancellation of my card. The prepaid envelope, another altuistic company courtesy came. I taped said postage paid card to a box, filled with the maximum 72lbs of a cut up tire, my cut up credit card and some lead scrap from my reloading days and promptly sent it to them <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

The "savage Germananic hordes" we might have learned about in high school were mostly the "outsourced" military of the Romans. The reason why the Roman army couldn't stop them is becuase they were the ones raiding- grabbing what they could, not just art and monetary items, but scrolls and other knowledge repositories, before the econmic system totally collapsed under the weight of a beuracracy that lived only to make more possitions that we would call "paper pushing".

And people don't understand when I curse them with "A Pax, a Pax apon your house!". *sighs* At least here, people get that joke.

It would not have been delivered. There is a limit to the amount that can be mailed by those prepaid deals and the post office has been aware of this trick you years so they just dispose of over heavy packages.
I've wondered though with the quality of modern printers and scanners and the simple text in a box noting that the envelope is prepaid if one wanted to they could make multiple copies of said envelope on to blanks and mail each part of the card back in a different envelope. But the cost of blank envelopes and ink would hurt you more than them.

I'm guessing that he was keying off >>... the epidemic of mental disease...<< in your post, thinking of the alleged effects of lead poisoning of the Romans from their water pipes (lead).

I called one of my credit card companies and I got an indian sounding woman and she asked "and where are you calling from?" I told her, and she promptly replied they were in a town 3 hours from me (in one the most expensive areas of the state I might add) and told me how nice the weather was today. I believe she quoted the temperature too. To me, that smaked of a list of cities near my billing address with current weather and temperature.

Or she could have been telling the truth.

I have to do a lot of tle support with West Publishing Co - the worlds largest legal publishing company - in Min'eh'soh'tah. I love it. We give each other grief about our accents, or lack thereof.

Other day I had to call a software support company and got a very nice and knowldgable fellow with a very Indian accent. I asked where he was, and he said "Montreal." Go figure.

I don't think I will be talking to too many Canadians in India, but I am not surprised to talk to Indians anywhere. Who is exporting what, and why?

And if you have ever been to Lufkin, Texas, you would know why the had to 'outsource' -- there just ain't many folks there, and the telco probably could not support the volume. At least the money comes home in the end, even if the jobs don't.

so are you saying the place you work for [west publishing] outsources to India too, or is that another company?

Friend, please re-read my post more carefully.

so it's the software company that outsources, makes little difference anyway, most american jobs are being outsourced, virtually everything we buy is now made in china, very little is made here and if it is, it's all foreign parts, it's all very depressing

I'm not being racist here, but now you have the frustration level of mostly southern black people with their own dialect, trying to talk to an Indian who speaks with an accent. That should make for some interesting phone conversations. Foreigners have a real hard time understanding differences in pronounciation and grammer use. If I said "Ain't that right?" or "That the way it be", most native american english speakers would not have a problem understanding.

The only good thing to come out of it might be more money for the individuals because of a misunderstanding!

Have I spelled "Boycott" correctly? I already have a couple of American?? companies on my list that have outsourced to India. I get Very irratated when I am trying to conduct business over the phone (buying or troubleshooting a product) and have the added frustration of communicating with someone that does not understand English or makes me say "would you please repeat that" more than once. People Power is alive and well, if only America would use it. We need to send a Strong message to our American companies that outsourcing American jobs is NOT GOOD FOR BUSINESS!!


ONE DAY CLOSER

Seems like more and more products are being created, assembled, or supported from overseas.

American companies don't realize (or don't care) that they're hurting themselves further down the road. Instead they're worried about the short-term savings and the bottom line.

Won't we all be surprised when countries like India and China start marketing their own big-name products here for cheaper than we can build ours there. Then the U.S. companies will call for tariffs and trade restrictions, citing how woeful the situation has become. The only ones they reallly have to blame is themselves.

Okay, I'm rambling and ranting. Too much coffee this morning. Off my soapbox.

Welcome to the Brave New World of the 2000s. Get used to it. I believe it's here to stay.

-- Craig

American companies love to outsource to India because it's cheap. There are plenty of Indians immigrated to Canada too. There is good chance that your next call will be answer by an Indian living in Canada.

Actually, the chance of your call being answered by an Indian, from India, in Canada are quite low. Most internationl call centers in Canada are located in New Brunswick, north or Maine. The majority of Indian immigrants are either in Ontario or British Columbia.