A report on Hasbro factory

[VERT]

I just found this report on a Hasbro factory. This is where some of our TF are made.

Kinda expected this bit its not a nice place.

issuu.com/iglhr/docs/hasbro/search/13

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Probably standard Chinese factory etiquette...

[griffin]

It makes me sad reading that. So much of my happiness has been at the expense of slave labour. Hands up anyone who would want to sit at a cramped table for 11 hours a day, building 7 Transformers an hour, for about $1 an hour? If only there was some way of changing that situation.
(see, isn't this one of those situations that a UN should be addressing - protecting the rights and welfare of any disadvantaged people in the world... so that one country isn't taking advantage of others because they wouldn't be allowed to have slave labour in their own country)

This explains why Hasbro repeatedly refused my requests for some info or pics of the construction process (I've always been curious to see how these complex things are constructed, from start to finish).
It's a sad, but not surprising report. The western world is so dependant on cheap foreign "slave" labour, that economies would collapse if there were universal workers' rights and minimum wages... because we are so used to "cheap" imported goods, it now drives our economies (retail is apparently our biggest employment group, so imagine the reduced turnover of sales if we had to pay 10 times as much for the stuff that is imported - due to them being paid a tenth of what people here would be paid).

I remember a recent "off the record" comment from someone high up at Hasbro, talking about Mattel's manufacturing ethics and standards... either they are both as bad as each other, or Mattel is even worse... or propaganda within Hasbro isn't allowing too many employees realise how the company is managing to generate so much profit from such cheap product.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

It makes me sad reading that. So much of my happiness has been at the expense of slave labour.

Yeah, this.
It's not totally unexpected but kinda disappointing all the same.

[griffin]

At least with buying Australian made where-ever possible (which isn't easy these days), there is less chance that what you are buying was produced with slave labour like this.
(we do have sweat shops in Australia, often from people taking advantage of migrant workers who either don't know their entitlements, or don't want to risk being deported... they are illegal and should be shut down)

[GoktimusPrime]

The link doesn't work for me. However I remember Tiby posting this article from Choice magazine which showed Hasbro's ETI rating as - while certainly having room for improvement - being relatively okay by the standards of factories in developing nations.

Another alternative is to do what companies like Lego do and move their manufacturing to more developed countries (like Denmark, Germany, Croatia etc.) -- but then that would massively increase the cost of the toys... and even with the dirt-cheap Chinese labour, Transformers are expensive enough as it is. Makes you kinda wonder why Transformers are so expensive if their manufacturing costs are so cheap... (-_-)

[griffin]

It's only expensive outside of America and HK, thanks to the extra profit margin imposed on other Hasbro markets like ours. And keep in mind that Hasbro America is making billions each year of profit... funded by the huge gap between the price and the costs we now know.
Like if a Deluxe figure is about US$12 at retail in America, Hasbro is selling it for about $7-8 to the retailers (RRP is usually set at about 40% margin for profit and other costs). Take that same ratio for Australian Deluxe figures, a retail price of $25 here would mean about $14-16 pre-GST price to retailers here.
So if Hasbro America is already making $3-4 profit from their standard $7-8 price to America retailers for every Deluxe toy sold in America, every Deluxe toy in Australia would have to be earning Hasbro America an *extra* $8-10... which gives a total profit margin (up to $14 per figure) that is MORE than what Americans are paying for their Deluxe toys.
That's why the toys are disproportionately expensive here. And knowing how little Hasbro pays to make these toys (about $2 per Deluxe), makes it even more frustrating that we are forced to pay $25-30 here for that $2 Deluxe toy.

[kup]

I think it's been pulled. I can't see anything on the link.

Makes you kinda wonder why Transformers are so expensive if their manufacturing costs are so cheap... (-_-)

One doesn't have to wonder, it's to get a higher profit margin rather than saving costs for the consumer.

[reillyd]

A followup on http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/12/...workers-china/

includes hasbro's response.

Now I don't feel guilting buying loose Star Wars figures for a buck, from people who slip them out of the factory!

[primatives]

i feel so bad for those guys and its not right but i'd find it hard not to buy TF's its something we all share the same passion for.