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An interview with Andrew Huang of Chumby in the O’Reilly Radar ETech Preview is full of insights about working with Chinese factories to have products manufactured. A very interesting to read. I applaud Mr. Huang for being willing to share his experiences and for being interested in the process with ethics but also pragmatism very much in mind. Most companies prefer to know as little as possible rather than as much about how their products come to take on physical form oceans away.

One thing that struck me was Huang’s characterization of the living conditions in the better factories as being very much like dorms.

I understand that realities are very different in other countires/economies, but I couldn’t help feeling very depresssed by the idea that normal family life after work was not in the offing for this kind of worker, who is so common and numerous.

Living a dorm-style life would mean that your family is living somewhere else without you — likely a very poor and rural location at a remove — and you are living with incidental colleagues (in group conditions without much privacy) for which I imagine money is taken out of your paycheck.

I don’t have any answers and I am not judging —  I know no-one would buy a $1599 Chumby built by me or my neighbors — but I am saddened by the loneliness I imagine such Chinese factory jobs bring with them.

Update: On a Twitter tip from a friend I’m going to watch Young & Restless in China (Frontline) now.