Sorry to the slave who painted my nice minis

[Turanil]

I am guilty of two things:

1) I am guilty of opening a political thread on a messageboard that expressely forbids it. If I am banished (or at least the thread is closed), it will be merited, just let me apologize in advance.

2) I am guilty of encouraging slave labor because I am lazy and selfish...

So, I was reading a book unrelated to RPGs, and there I learned that Mattel and Hasbro customarily employ "slaves" in sweat shops (18 hours per day workers paid half a dollar per hour, when they are paid) to produce most of their toys, which obviously include pre-painted minis.

Recently I was so glad to show you pictures of my latest prepainted dragon mini (which is not of Hasbro origin to be honest, but I have bought several D&D minis too). I was so glad it did cost me only 6$. After that, I thought it would be stupid to paint my minis myself, or buy non-painted minis for a higher price. But I was wrong; the work not done by me had to be done by someone else, and in this case, at this cost, a Chinese or Korean "slave". Sorry to that person. I won't anymore support slavery in buying stuff manufactured in such conditions, at least when it comes to RPGs, and otherwise when I have the choice and am informed (actually much more difficult to do than it sounds).

Already I wasn't buying Hasbro stuff anymore for having found games I like better, but now I know why it was a good thing. 4e: no way.

 

[Yair]

I am guilty of two things:

1) I am guilty of opening a political thread on a messageboard that expressely forbids it. If I am banished (or at least the thread is closed), it will be merited, just let me apologize in advance.

2) I am guilty of encouraging slave labor because I am lazy and selfish...

So, I was reading a book unrelated to RPGs, and there I learned that Mattel and Hasbro customarily employ "slaves" in sweat shops (18 hours per day workers paid half a dollar per hour, when they are paid) to produce most of their toys, which obviously include pre-painted minis.

Recently I was so glad to show you pictures of my latest prepainted dragon mini (which is not of Hasbro origin to be honest, but I have bought several D&D minis too). I was so glad it did cost me only 6$. After that, I thought it would be stupid to paint my minis myself, or buy non-painted minis for a higher price. But I was wrong; the work not done by me had to be done by someone else, and in this case, at this cost, a Chinese or Korean "slave". Sorry to that person. I won't anymore support slavery in buying stuff manufactured in such conditions, at least when it comes to RPGs, and otherwise when I have the choice and am informed (actually much more difficult to do than it sounds).

Already I wasn't buying Hasbro stuff anymore for having found games I like better, but now I know why it was a good thing. 4e: no way.

Since this thread is SO gonna close, why not discuss it on CM?
http://www.circvsmaximvs.com/showthread.php?t=9060

 

[Aus_Snow]

I know. It's why I don't buy their miniatures, and never have. Oh, and never will.

I'm into the whole Fairtrade thing though, so that probably makes sense.

Or something. Fa la la, waiting for the end of the world thread.

 

[Moosoid]

But they pass the savings on to me, the consumer.

 

[Felon]

Stop using the word "slave". They are in fact not slaves any more than most of us here in the U.S. here are. They can choose to work or not work, just as we can, and the consequences are also the same: homelessness and malnutrition.

You can argue that the government's labor policies are heinous, but a bad job is better than no job at all.

Bottom line, I don't see how boycotting the minis does anyone a favor.

 

[MojoGM]

Since this thread is going to be closed real soon, I thought I'd just pop in and say "hi".

Hi.

 

[JoeGKushner]

It'll be interesting to see where all this labor goes when things are... cleaned up so to speak. The people aren't going to just disappear because those jobs did.

 

[Krelios]

While I have a chance to post...

1) As people have stated, the alternative to crappy hours is those workers (they're not slaves) starving to death. If you stop buying minis and those people lose their jobs, aren't you killing them by that same odd logic you used to justify the boycott?

2) Who cares? We get our minis at a good price and WotC makes a profit. This is the cold hard fact about life, it isn't fair.

 

[GlassJaw]

I know. It's why I don't buy their miniatures, and never have. Oh, and never will.

I think you'd be shcoked at how many things you do buy and have no idea how they are made. And I'm sure you don't want to know either. To say that toy companies are the only ones that employ foreign manufacturers is foolish.

 

[Garnfellow]

Well, I certainly hope the mods do not automatically close this thread as a knee-jerk response. If the discussion breaks down then, by all means, shut it down, but until then, I'd like to read more.

The subject is important and completely relevant to this board. I don't have enough information to make an informed comment right now. Certainly this issue has recently been raised with other products that are near and dear to me, like iPods.