James Dyson whines about employment law and corporation tax

[hipipol]

If you follow the Dyson story it's actually a story about how an idealist slowly gets turned into a cynic by the crap British system (crap for manufacturers at least).

Came up with an invention and tried to licence it to existing manufacturers.
They said fuck off, we make a mint in after sales on filters and bags. Why would we want to do that?

Tried to make it in the UK. Couldn't.

Got the Japanese to manufacture it.
Made a bundle.
Could afford to build his own factory and supported the UK by building it here despite the higher costs of manufacturing here.
Tons of copycats sprung up built in cheaper countries. Slowly erodes the advantage of his invention and brand.
Has to bite the bullet and follow suit. Moves to Malaysia.
Moans about stuff like every other capitalist.

Moans on a bit? a "bit"????
He's a fucking non stop cyclone of bile and self pity
I know your made of plasticine, but get someone to give you a transcription if your ears are a bit bunged with all those complex long chain polymers - oh now I get, its a sort of solidarity of all the plastics joke, innit?

 

[SpookyFrank]

If you follow the Dyson story it's actually a story about how an idealist slowly gets turned into a cynic by the crap British system (crap for manufacturers at least).

Came up with an invention and tried to licence it to existing manufacturers.
They said fuck off, we make a mint in after sales on filters and bags. Why would we want to do that?

Tried to make it in the UK. Couldn't.

Got the Japanese to manufacture it.
Made a bundle.
Could afford to build his own factory and supported the UK by building it here despite the higher costs of manufacturing here.
Tons of copycats sprung up built in cheaper countries. Slowly erodes the advantage of his invention and brand.
Has to bite the bullet and follow suit. Moves to Malaysia.
Moans about stuff like every other capitalist.

Idealist my arse. He's a bog standard posh boy capitalist. His brexit campaigning is all about what he thinks will make him richer at the expense of working folk, and yet he's got the fucking brass neck to act like he's somehow speaking up for ordinary people. I'd pull the bloody lever myself.

E2a: See the above post about Numatic making everything in the UK and tell me again about how Dyson was forced, forced to move to Malaysia.

 

[redcogs]

We've had our Henry in our community hall for 12 years. He still works as well as he did when he was first bought.

(Note to self) Must acquire a Henry when hoover thing finally packs in.

 

[Cloo]

It's that old false idea that businesses would be able to make soooo much more money if only they didn't have to give workers those pesky rights, whereas I heard there is no evidence that reducing worker rights increases productivity or profit. I imagine probably reduces it if anything due to misery and negative feeling towards work.

 

[ViolentPanda]

(Note to self) Must acquire a Henry when hoover thing finally packs in.

The other benefit is that they're technically simple, so a bit cheaper to repair/service than your cyclone/tornado-type vacuum cleaners.

 

[ViolentPanda]

It's that old false idea that businesses would be able to make soooo much more money if only they didn't have to give workers those pesky rights, whereas I heard there is no evidence that reducing worker rights increases productivity or profit. I imagine probably reduces it if anything due to misery and negative feeling towards work.

It does reduce it. Cuts to employment rights, wages and union rights in East Germany in the early '50s led to an attempted revolution against the state. Cuts to the rights of steel-workers, miner, merchant seamen and dockers (among others) in the UK in the '70s, led to worsening productivity in those industries. Workplace sabotage inevitably increases, too.

 

[SpookyFrank]

It's that old false idea that businesses would be able to make soooo much more money if only they didn't have to give workers those pesky rights, whereas I heard there is no evidence that reducing worker rights increases productivity or profit. I imagine probably reduces it if anything due to misery and negative feeling towards work.

This is why we shouldn't let people like Dyson have a platform to talk about public policy. Being rich makes you less able to understand how the world works, not more.

Anyone who does any kind of actual job knows that being unhappy and insecure in your work does not help your productivity, it has the opposite effect. Even if mistreating workers was good for the economy, that would be evidence that the economy was dysfunctional not that the workers had it too easy.

 

[campanula]

Henry vacuum cleaners are beloved of hotels, schools, builder's because they are basically immortal. Parts are cheaply available (the hose is a bit dodge) and best of all, they are robust,yet technically simple and can be serviced or repaired...unlike most other brands.
My local repair shop claims Dyson's are,by a very large margin, the most unreliable, tacky and easily broken machines on the market. Remember the first coloured Apple Mac's - almost a grand because turquoise? Well, it is exactly the same effect - add in some primary coloured plastics and the British public appear to regress to some Lego filled childhood nostalgia. It's a mystery.

 

[Poi E]

Only thing with my Henry is that it tipped over around corners when given a tug. I beat the shit out of him then figured a quick spray of silicone around the edges and now he glides around corners with aplomb. Science over violence!

 

[agricola]

If you follow the Dyson story it's actually a story about how an idealist slowly gets turned into a cynic by the crap British system (crap for manufacturers at least).

Came up with an invention and tried to licence it to existing manufacturers.
They said fuck off, we make a mint in after sales on filters and bags. Why would we want to do that?

Tried to make it in the UK. Couldn't.

Got the Japanese to manufacture it.
Made a bundle.
Could afford to build his own factory and supported the UK by building it here despite the higher costs of manufacturing here.
Tons of copycats sprung up built in cheaper countries. Slowly erodes the advantage of his invention and brand.
Has to bite the bullet and follow suit. Moves to Malaysia.
Moans about stuff like every other capitalist.

That is what does my head in about Dyson though - in that summary of his career, the only people to blame are other capitalists and yet for some reason its holiday entitlements and regular hours that need to go.

 

[nadia]

I have been to the henry factory too under the guises of weird shit you do for work. Its quite spooky all the eyes looking at you

 

[binka]

It's all very well spending 3 pages slagging off his shit vacuum cleaners but why am I the first to mention his awful airblade hand driers?

[Edit - oh apparently it has been mentioned. As you were then]

 

[not-bono-ever]

You should see the state his Airblade hand dryers get in. All the gunk drips into the sealed bottom and them slowly rots away the material underneath. Disgusting.

View attachment 120606

looks like a pack rat midden

urgh

 

[UnderOpenSky]

The thing with Henry's style hoovers is they don't sit nicely in a corner like an upright one. Fine if you have a cupboard to chuck it in, but annoying otherwise.

 

[Gromit]

Idealist my arse. He's a bog standard posh boy capitalist. His brexit campaigning is all about what he thinks will make him richer at the expense of working folk, and yet he's got the fucking brass neck to act like he's somehow speaking up for ordinary people. I'd pull the bloody lever myself.

E2a: See the above post about Numatic making everything in the UK and tell me again about how Dyson was forced, forced to move to Malaysia.

You aren't comparing like with like.
Numatic is small potatos comared to Dyson.
If they were big big players someone would steal their market and drive them out of the UK.

900 employees vrs 7000.
124 million revenue vrs 2.5 billion revenue.

 

[Raheem]

I think Henry hoovers are probably pushing back the revolution by giving cleaners a face they can kick their frustrations out on.

 

[equationgirl]

Didn't he whine on about setting up factories, get every grant and tax break to do so here, then fuck off to produce his plasticky crap in the far flung countries where there's no controls on anything.

Yes he did. Made a huge deal about needing British engineers and supporting British manufacturing and when it suited him, probably after maxxing out his grant aid, he moved it to Malaysia. As an engineer I've never forgiven him for that.

 

[Gromit]

Yes he did. Made a huge deal about needing British engineers and supporting British manufacturing and when it suited him, probably after maxxing out his grant aid, he moved it to Malaysia. As an engineer I've never forgiven him for that.

I don't think it was maxing out his grant aid. He could have received grant aid off any number of countries from the start.

He stupidly thought he could milk out his patent for the full life span.
Copycats realised that if they added extra cyclones... boom gotten around the patent. He's no longer selling as much as he thought and having to drop his price mark. Can no longer afford British x,y,z's on those incomes. Bye bye UK.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I don't think it was maxing out his grant aid. He could have received grant aid off any number of countries from the start.

He stupidly thought he could milk out his patent for the full life span.
Copycats realised that if they added extra cyclones... boom gotten around the patent. He's no longer selling as much as he thought and having to drop his price mark. Can no longer afford British x,y,z's on those incomes. Bye bye UK.

Nonsense. He could have stayed in the UK, it would have affected his bottom line a bit, oh noes, £250m in his pocket this year rather than £500m, boo-fucking-hoo.

Drop his price mark, are you having a laugh? This thing:



is a fan, it blows air. Honeywell sell fans for £30 and make a profit. This fucking thing is £349.99.

He's a pisstaking cunt and CTR will marvel at the engineering excellence of British gallows builders.

 

[Gromit]

Nonsense. He could have stayed in the UK, it would have affected his bottom line a bit, oh noes, £250m in his pocket this year rather than £500m, boo-fucking-hoo.

Drop his price mark, are you having a laugh? This thing:

View attachment 120691

is a fan, it blows air. Honeywell sell fans for £30 and make a profit. This fucking thing is £349.99.

He's a pisstaking cunt and CTR will marvel at the engineering excellence of British gallows builders.

Once again you aren't comparing like with like. I was talking about vacuums.

But let's look at the fans. Could Dyson manufacture a conventional fan for £30 in the UK and compete with Asian manufacturers? I very much doubt it. Which is why he isn't doing it.

Instead he spent a fortune in R&D, international patent lawyers and new tooling to manufacture an innovative fan. Money he has to claim back in price mark. Once he has and once the patent runs out watch the price point plummet. Plus it's offset against R&D that didn't pay off.
That's how it works with innovation vrs conventional products.

 

[8ball]

it is a fan, it blows air. Honeywell sell fans for £30 and make a profit. This fucking thing is £349.99.

It is a "prestige product". Goes down well at dinner parties, dahling.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Once again you aren't comparing like with like. I was talking about vacuums.

But let's look at the fans. Could Dyson manufacture a conventional fan for £30 in the UK and compete with Asian manufacturers? I very much doubt it. Which is why he isn't doing it.

Instead he spent a fortune in R&D, international patent lawyers and new tooling to manufacture an innovative fan. Money he has to claim back in price mark. Once he has and once the patent runs out watch the price point plummet. Plus it's offset against R&D that didn't pay off.
That's how it works with innovation vrs conventional products.

Innovation? It is a device which moves air from one place to another, they have been around since the dawn of time.

 

[Gromit]

Innovation? It is a device which moves air from one place to another, they have been around since the dawn of time.

Dust movers been around since dawn of time...

Early Vacuum Cleaner, The suction could do with an upgrade

... but Dyson's cyclone is still innovative. It's not what it is but how it does it.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

^^^see that? Works for more than 5 minutes before getting clogged with dog-hair and going, kaput.

 

[8ball]

Innovation? It is a device which moves air from one place to another, they have been around since the dawn of time.

It doesn't need a bag, though. Granted, over the life of a cleaner you'd pay a lot less buying a few new bags and cheaper Hoover, but IT HAS NO BAG!!

 

[DotCommunist]

the detritus doesn't get fed down a miniwormhole into the heart of a star. If it did I'd get one. You still have to empty the chamber and change the filters. Its a load of old bollocks.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

It doesn't need a bag, though. Granted, over the life of a cleaner you'd pay a lot less buying a few new bags and cheaper Hoover, but IT HAS NO BAG!!

It has a plastic tube that gets filled with shit that goes everywhere when you try to empty the fucker, needs hoovering up...

 

[2hats]

Is it the same whine his vacuum cleaners and hand dryers make?

 

[8ball]

It has a plastic tube that gets filled with shit that goes everywhere when you try to empty the fucker, needs hoovering up...

Seems they have thought of a solution for that.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Seems they have thought of a solution for that.

Nah, the big ones have something similar, but you have to give 'em a whack to get the ming out from around the cyclone bits, and that causes dust and shit to fly around the house. Or you have to go outside on to the street to empty a poxy hoover.