[arnoldfrederick]

I'm kind of young, 16, actually, and this may be extremely ignorant of me, but it's hard to get straight up answers from google about some obvious things like this, and this really bothers me.

Now, I have a couple of questions, actually.

Is it really true that in some countries factory employees, often even children, work for far less than minimum wage in very poor working conditions, and endure abuse from their employers?

Also, does Marvel use factories that employ such workers, or relate to these employees in any way?

The reason I put this in the general discussion forum is because much of Marvel's merchandise are toys.

[bmorr]

Almost everything we buy is made overseas by people who make maybe 30 dollars a month. The collapsed factory in Bangladesh showed that pretty clearly.

but, if you want to read articles on this, just Google, "companies that have factories overseas."

[arnoldfrederick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmorr

Almost everything we buy is made overseas by people who make maybe 30 dollars a month. The collapsed factory in Bangladesh showed that pretty clearly.

but, if you want to read articles on this, just Google, "companies that have factories overseas."

Not to offend, but people on the internet can often be pulling other peoples legs, are you by any chance doing this to me? Because this seriously makes me wonder how people can justify buying action figures, toys, and any other non-necesseties from a company that supports such actions as paying these people such low amounts of money when buying from those companies is in fact probably supporting those actions ourselves. Does anybody else have any answers, just to be sure I'm not being fooled here?

[Brownfinger]

Well, "Arnold Frederick", it's well-documented that conditions are poor in factories based in other countries where goods are manufactured. You'll probably find many people here that are aware of or sympathetic to the plights that you're casting deserved light upon, while still acknowledging that none of us have the power or ability to enact any real change. So long as these factories offer labor at a tiny cost to the companies, they'll keep being used because the aim of any business is to maximize profits.

So, what answers are you looking for, here. Will anyone here give up their hobbies because the lifeblood that drives the consumer side of them are invariably unrewarded? Probably not. The best you can do is bring your complaint to the companies themselves, and support the sites that have brought these stories to light. I've seen a few. Here's one that I recall:
Holidays by Hasbro

Many of us at some point in our lives have eaten meat products from animals that have been mistreated, thrown around with no regard like dirty laundry and they die, squealing. Out of sight is out of mind, and the sad truth is that for some of us, maybe that's for the best. If I pause to think about any of these things, I recoil in terror and anger.

Are these things unfortunate? Absolutely. Your pleas, while compelling, might be better received by the people who affect these unscrupulous practices.

[Crazy Jetty]

Aye. I agree with Brownfinger, and bmorr isn't pulling your leg.

And believe me, I'd love nothing more than to see those workers be treated well and payed fairly, and to see those outsourced jobs return here, for many reasons.
Sansung, I think, is bringing a factory back here, and will be producing the first smartphone made in america, just outside of Fort Worth Texas. Because all we here from Apple is that "If we made something here, the cost would be so outragous no one could afford it."
Which is total BS. They just don't want anything shaving off the profit margins. Why settle for 3 billion when you can go for 5 billion? (Note: I pulled these numbers out of my ass. They have no baring on reality outside of that's how the thought process looks)

Also, there's nothing ignorant in asking questions you do not know the answer to, when you want to better your understanding of the world.

[clarkjordan103]

I did not know about Samsung. I would love to see them bring a factory to the US.

[bmorr]

So would I. I'd love to see new facilities/complexes be built up in New England to get a sweet new Facilities Management job.

[Crazy Jetty]

It might not be sansung. I don't know anything about cell phones, so all these products/companies are one big confusing blurr to me.
But it's whomever makes the Galaxy.

If they started opening factories again... sure, things will cost more, to pay for the employee salaries and benefits, but then more people will have better jobs, there will be more money in the economy, and more people can afford those higher prices. And all this effects mostly non-essential items like electronics and toys.
Food and most other essential items would be handled exactly the same way as it is now, so cost of essentials would not go up at all.
So what if a $1000 television cost $100 more because it was made in america? More oof us would have better jobs, and thus more of us might actually be able to afford to spring for a $1100 tv, when now we might not even be able to afford a $300 chinese tv.
It's an idiotic cycle all geared to do nothing more than put more money in executive pockets. To hell with the rest of us. And when our economy suffers, they can make up those "losses" by selling product overseas.

[redx24]

sorry its true but i needed to do this

[Snowflakian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arnoldfrederick

I'm kind of young, 16, actually, and this may be extremely ignorant of me, but it's hard to get straight up answers from google about some obvious things like this, and this really bothers me.

Now, I have a couple of questions, actually.

Is it really true that in some countries factory employees, often even children, work for far less than minimum wage in very poor working conditions, and endure abuse from their employers?

Also, does Marvel use factories that employ such workers, or relate to these employees in any way?

The reason I put this in the general discussion forum is because much of Marvel's merchandise are toys.

It's dependent on a host of factors and to which you're directly talking about.

One let's remove one main thing. Outside of Disney and Marvel themselves is where the rights are "licensed to" for production of other goods. These companies bid for the rights so to speak and pay for durations or whatever else a contract may stipulate.

In this case, for toys that branches out to several smaller ones.
Lego.
Hasbro.
Diamond.
And I'm not sure who else(the list goes on for statues and minimates and more).

Now sticking to Hasbro since that's where Marvel Legends and Marvel Universe are made is the only one I could potentially answer.

Hasbro designs a prototype and has an entire internal process for checks and balances on that including passing it on to Marvel at times or asking for their input. Then they send that design off to be made that can vary in either in-house or factory prototype production.

Now, when it comes to factories. These vary.
Hasbro has had factories all over. Mostly countries where the currency exchange is quite favorable to theirs.
China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Mexico. The list can go on.
This isn't just Hasbro though.

For awhile on the China side, Mattel and Hasbro used some of the same factories allegedly. This is what made Mattel's problem of lead paint in certain toddler lines curious as it didn't show up in anyone else's. (There's more to that story on corporate greed that doesn't reflect well on those divisions of Mattel and how they caused a ripple effect to other companies that were already going out of the way to comply to standards entirely, but Mattel tried to cut back to just the letter of the standards instead which has no caused a testing processing to be implemented that's more costly overall. This has caused partially the price spike we see alongside the already growing costs of materials and labor.)

The various country factories vary in detail. Most aren't Child Labor anymore, or when made aware of it the people usually force a change. Hasbro typically is one of the better companies out there in this regard and allegedly investigates every claim into the factories they use.

The exchange rate is what really hinders wages though. While to us, 30 dollars a week or month isn't much at all, to other countries that's close to 100 to 1000 of their currency. Excuse the exageration, but it's true in essence.

Would I love to see factories stateside or in other areas though? Heck yes to that. You also have to consider theft though and corporate secrets too. Fans working at them while many would love to also leads to leaks, as we already see with ebay and other sites too. It'd also potentially raise the cost. While this isn't an excuse as there are other ways to reconcile that, it is some of the many factors that have to be taken into account too.

So does Marvel or Disney do it deliberately? No.
Out of all the companies and outside factors the deal with regularly though, some may fall through the cracks. That's why consumer groups need to be vigilant about it so that it can be pointed out once known. Then acknowledged and rectified at the appropriate levels.

The one thing we always need to remember though, and this goes for all jobs, all walks of life, and all, well, everything. Global statements do not help anyone. Large sweeping statements that hide behind arrogance simply obscures the issues that need to be handled. Especially if misunderstood.

[DHeezy81]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arnoldfrederick

Not to offend, but people on the internet can often be pulling other peoples legs, are you by any chance doing this to me? Because this seriously makes me wonder how people can justify buying action figures, toys, and any other non-necesseties from a company that supports such actions as paying these people such low amounts of money when buying from those companies is in fact probably supporting those actions ourselves. Does anybody else have any answers, just to be sure I'm not being fooled here?

Good luck buying anything, anywhere...

[Crazy Jetty]

Snow's post deserves to be saved and archived.

One little thing though:

Quote:

Would I love to see factories stateside or in other areas though? Heck yes to that. You also have to consider theft though and corporate secrets too. Fans working at them while many would love to also leads to leaks, as we already see with ebay and other sites too. It'd also potentially raise the cost. While this isn't an excuse as there are other ways to reconcile that, it is some of the many factors that have to be taken into account too.

Actually leaks could be contained far more easily. Employees would probably be required to sign confidentiality contracts, which means the lisensor and factory could seek legal action against the leaker.
The stuff happening in china, stolen prototypes, people popping onto boards to say what they saw while working on the line... there's not much american companies can really do about that, if the factory won't stop it.
And sometimes, as we've learned, some companies like Hasbro, have to go through other companies to deal with the factories.
In reguards to Transformers, Hasbro does not deal directly with the factories. They have to talk to Takara as a middle man, who then deals with the factory.
We learned this through the TFCC, and Botcon. Because some of the biggest problems Fun Publications faces is the fact that Takara is the middle man, and Takara doesn't like doing small number runs for anyone but themselves.