Las Maquiladoras

In the mid 80s maquiladoras began to pop up long side the US/Mexico border. "A maquiladora is the Mexican name for manufacturing operation in a free trade zone, where factories import material and equipment on a duty-free basis for assembly, processing, or manufacturing and then export the assembled, processed and/or manufactured products, sometimes back to the raw materials' country of origin."  Many women who were desperate for work moved from central Mexico and Central America to border towns in search of a better life. Working at maquiladoras gave women the independence and freedom that many of them longed for. 

Unfortunately, they were not prepared for the exploitation that awaited them: “slave wages; ten-to-twelve-hour shifts on their feet; working conditions that include dangerous levels of noise pollution, toxic fumes, and sexual harassment by management; manic production schedules and the constant threat of dismissal for not meeting quotas, for being late, for getting pregnant; demeaning beauty pageants disguised as work incentives and moral boosters; pregnancy testing at the time of hiring; enforcing birth control through pill or injection or Norplant implants; and the strict monitoring of their reproductive cycles through monthly menstruation checks” (Gaspar de Alba, Alicia. "Poor Brown Female: The Miller's Compensation for "Free Trade"").

So now I’m torn. Is globalization bad? The bottom line is essentially making money, right? Globalization makes rich people richer.  But why would any person allow another human being to work in such shitty conditions (primarily maquiladora workers)? Ladies, imagine having to show your boss a soiled sanitary napkin to prove that you're still menstruating. It's intrusive and unsettling! Cheap labor = cheap goods but at what cost?

 Below is a short video about maquiladora workers in Tijuana.

Surviving In An All-Digital Market

I normally do all of my video game shopping at Gamestop. It’s easy, it’s convenient, and I have the option of purchasing a pre-owned game…sweet. I buy a pre-owned game, beat it, take it back and swap it out for something else. That’s one of my favorite perks of buying pre-owned. It isn’t a secret that Gamestop makes most of its profit from pre-owned sales. It is estimated that almost 50%  of their profit comes from used goods. 

But, within the past few years, we’ve seen a huge growth in digital downloads. We’ve come a long way from blowing into our NES cartridges. Nowadays it isn’t uncommon for a game to be released in conjunction with DLC (downloadable content). Not only do we have to pay the standard $59.99 for a new game BUT if we want the full experience we also have to pay for the DLC as well.  Publishers like Activision and  EA are bringing in the big bucks with Call of Duty Elite and other Season Passes.

Gamestop is also jumping on the digital download bandwagon.  One can purchase pretty much any DLC for console or PC in store. Sadly, digital downloads often cost the same as a physical copy. The only "perk" of buying DLC in store is being able to use trade-in credit for the purchase. But what do you do if you bought a crappy game (i.e. anything on the PSP GO)? Once the DLC has been purchased there are no refunds/trade-ins. I’d rather have the physical copy and have the option of selling it once I’m done. But that is neither here nor there.

The point I'm trying to get to is why go to a store to purchase a digital copy of a game when one can easily download it directly from a 360/PS3/PC? Digital retail is strong but is it strong enough to over through physical retail? Eventually, it probably will. So where does that leave companies such as Gamestop? Unless some sort of digital trade system is implemented, I think they’re screwed.