Low cost labor – Part 2

Labor is so cheap here, that activities done by machines in the US are done here by hand. That means you will see women breaking bricks into smaller pieces with hand tools. I noted today in the IBM India Research Lab cafeteria, there is one microwave and 3 assistants helping employees heat their food. In IBM Research in NY, there are many microwaves, and no assistants. I have gotten my hair blow dried a couple of times – (de-tangled and de-frizzed for $10, and that’s at a high end salon.) We finish very quickly, because there are two people working on my hair…one holds the brush, one holds the hairdryer…Couriers come repeatedly to the office, to hand me documents or to get something signed. I tell them that I can scan the document and send it; they say that they need the original. The availability of low-cost people probably furthers some of these bureaucratic processes. The bank representative makes multiple trips to my office to get us to sign certain documents. The cost of labor in the US probably encourages US banks to make due with a scan of your signature. Less courier work for them, and fewer bureaucratic processes for the rest of us.