Garmin Connect team from SF not moving to Kansas
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An interesting story[^]. Garmin decided to relocate its San Francisco team to Kansas, and they declined and created their own web site as a sort of a collective resume.
This not that unusual a story. California and San Francisco have priced themselves out of the market. It sounds more dramatic to say they moved to "Kansas" with visions of some dusty prairie and Dorothy walking down the road. Actually Garmin is located in Olathe which is a suburb of Kansas City a fairly large metropolitan area. I work as a programmer for one largest banks in the country in the same area. Like myself there are numerous ex-Californias working in the office. My salary is about the same as in California, Taxes are lower, home prices 1/2 to 1/3 of California, and I have a 7 min drive to work. I'm close enough to even ride my bike. Also Kansas can even pay its tax refunds. In all honesty California's glory days are over.
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They're far from the only company to be moving operations from expensive parts of the US to ones with much a lower CoL to cut costs without the more difficult problems that come from outsourcing halfway around the world.
3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
Actually, Garmin is headquartered in Olathe, Kansas. This is in suburban Kansas City (Missouri), which also is the home to Sprint, H & R Block, Hallmark Cards and others. Years ago Sprint wanted to persuade some of their employees from one merger or another to move to the KC area from California. They brought them here and showed them the houses they could buy here. A four bedroom house sitting on a lakeside developement with all the perks cost them a fraction of what a smaller house cost them in California. It did persuade more than a few of them.
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Actually, Garmin is headquartered in Olathe, Kansas. This is in suburban Kansas City (Missouri), which also is the home to Sprint, H & R Block, Hallmark Cards and others. Years ago Sprint wanted to persuade some of their employees from one merger or another to move to the KC area from California. They brought them here and showed them the houses they could buy here. A four bedroom house sitting on a lakeside developement with all the perks cost them a fraction of what a smaller house cost them in California. It did persuade more than a few of them.
Jim Satterfield wrote:
Actually, Garmin is headquartered in Olathe, Kansas.
Which just means cost savings aren't the only likely reason behind the desire to move the team, not that they aren't still one.
Jim Satterfield wrote:
They brought them here and showed them the houses they could buy here. A four bedroom house sitting on a lakeside developement with all the perks cost them a fraction of what a smaller house cost them in California. It did persuade more than a few of them.
Part of the problem now is that there's a good chance that some of the people were under water on their mortgages and couldn't afford the loss if they moved even if they wanted to. :doh:
3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
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This not that unusual a story. California and San Francisco have priced themselves out of the market. It sounds more dramatic to say they moved to "Kansas" with visions of some dusty prairie and Dorothy walking down the road. Actually Garmin is located in Olathe which is a suburb of Kansas City a fairly large metropolitan area. I work as a programmer for one largest banks in the country in the same area. Like myself there are numerous ex-Californias working in the office. My salary is about the same as in California, Taxes are lower, home prices 1/2 to 1/3 of California, and I have a 7 min drive to work. I'm close enough to even ride my bike. Also Kansas can even pay its tax refunds. In all honesty California's glory days are over.
RatRod wrote:
My salary is about the same as in California, Taxes are lower, home prices 1/2 to 1/3 of California, and I have a 7 min drive to work.
And you can get good BBQ as well (as opposed to all those raw fish based meals that CA residents seems to enjoy) :-D
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Actually, Garmin is headquartered in Olathe, Kansas. This is in suburban Kansas City (Missouri), which also is the home to Sprint, H & R Block, Hallmark Cards and others. Years ago Sprint wanted to persuade some of their employees from one merger or another to move to the KC area from California. They brought them here and showed them the houses they could buy here. A four bedroom house sitting on a lakeside developement with all the perks cost them a fraction of what a smaller house cost them in California. It did persuade more than a few of them.
Obviously not during tornado / thunderstorm season.
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There isn't enough money printed to get me to live in California. :)
I grew up in KC, and now live in CA. You couldn't pay me enough to move back to KC. I moved back to the Midwest a few years ago and hated it. Other than getting to watch my Royals and Chiefs at home games, there just wasn't much to do. What is so great about having a huge house? It costs more to heat and cool because the house is big and the weather more extreme. Lawn care is expensive. Maintenance costs go up due to hail damage. We had a big house in the Midwest with a couple empty rooms that we never used. I prefer my small place here in California. The beach and the mountains are really far from Olathe. Oh, and fresh produce isn't found there as easily. In CA, life involves the outdoors more due to the more mild weather. I don't mean just doing a weekend hike. There IS that. But more than that, it involves just every day being able to be outside and not worry about the snow or the thunderstorms.
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I grew up in KC, and now live in CA. You couldn't pay me enough to move back to KC. I moved back to the Midwest a few years ago and hated it. Other than getting to watch my Royals and Chiefs at home games, there just wasn't much to do. What is so great about having a huge house? It costs more to heat and cool because the house is big and the weather more extreme. Lawn care is expensive. Maintenance costs go up due to hail damage. We had a big house in the Midwest with a couple empty rooms that we never used. I prefer my small place here in California. The beach and the mountains are really far from Olathe. Oh, and fresh produce isn't found there as easily. In CA, life involves the outdoors more due to the more mild weather. I don't mean just doing a weekend hike. There IS that. But more than that, it involves just every day being able to be outside and not worry about the snow or the thunderstorms.
I lived 6 years in Lee's Summit, MO (KCMO suburb). I enjoyed it there, but ended up getting transferred to Mississippi (work). I dreaded it at first, but now I've been here (Laurel) since 1998 and it's home to me. Yep, the t-storms and hurricanes and tornados get a little overly exciting but you get used to it. The east side of Katrina's eyewall passed within 40 miles of my home but it was still standing when I got back. In MS everything goes just a little slower, which suits me. My job had me spending a lot of time in southern Cal during the late 80's and early 90's. Always hated going out there. I know the whole state isn't like LA, but aside from an occasional visit to Susanville or Pittsburg that was all I saw out there. And I hated LA. Nice country up around Susanville, though. Different world. I have a nephew in Sherman Oaks, CA who loves the place, so I suppose it's not all bad, but it's definitely not for me.
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As a matter of fact I have delivered the ink to the printing facility near DC on several occasions. All the money in that building wouldn't be enough to move me to CA. :cool:
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By asking people to move half way across the country so they can then pay them less. Seems to work fairly well.
Does that also mean a reduction in product quality? Longer lead times?
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RatRod wrote:
My salary is about the same as in California, Taxes are lower, home prices 1/2 to 1/3 of California, and I have a 7 min drive to work.
And you can get good BBQ as well (as opposed to all those raw fish based meals that CA residents seems to enjoy) :-D