Would you rather not visit your Asian supplier yourself?
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I find all sorts of things in my Workcycles mailbox. Most is just work, a bunch is just spam to be marked and deleted and then there are mails like this one. It’s not really spam like the Nigerian money scams, the fake UPS delivery messages or the sex pill ads since somewhere I’m probably on a list of people of companies who do international business. But clearly it’s aimed for a different public, a different kind of business, a different kind of person; one who apparently knows quite well what it’s like at their “Asian supplier” and would prefer, thank you very much, to not have to experience it “again”.
Type “inspection partner” into Google and their site comes up on top: https://www.inspectionpartner.nl/ So they’re apparently real. It’s a Dutch firm and they do both product inspections and social audits. I suppose then they offer valuable services, but the means of communication leaves something to be desired. Or is it supposed to be confrontational? Or is it just a bad match of image and text?
It caught my attention in any case. Any thoughts from the audience?
March 5th, 2012 at 22:56
Google Maps says theirs is the address of a company called BK Design, on an industrial estate in Goes of all places. Google also tells me that BK stands for Ben Klinken who runs a web design agency. May be genuine but I would not be in a hurry to entrust them with my business – not that I have any!
I always wonder where those offers come from. There was a time I regularly was offered brass nuts (the ones that go on screws) from Chinese and Indian manufacturers.
March 11th, 2012 at 12:40
Not sure why they used that marketing approach but it seems like a smart business idea and if done in a high-quality way (who audits the auditors?) a very good way for a company to save money and also the environmental cost of flying round-trip to East Asia.
I would like them to do environmental and labour practices monitoring as well.
March 11th, 2012 at 13:15
Have you seen their rates? No way they can provide good quality services … by which I don’t mean to say that if they asked enough they would qualify as experts :-).
March 11th, 2012 at 13:27
I looked at the inspection for IKEA… how long does this take? The thing to do would be to contact IKEA or the other partners mentioned to see if those case examples are genuine.
March 27th, 2012 at 04:07
Hi there,
I happened upon your Japan trip photos and am hoping I might write a bit about them on the blog for my Japanese-theme website and blog. Loved some of the shots of the “Dorky Pedal Things” and think they’d be a great share. I am a big fan of “slice of life” photos from Japan and found you when I fell down the flickr rabbit hole.
Thanks for considering it, and hope you are having a lovely start to Spring.
Cheers!
Sydne
https://www.japanistic.com/blog
March 27th, 2012 at 15:11
Hi Sydne,
Yes you’re welcome to use the photos as long as they’re used in a positive sense, not for commercial purposes and credited to Henry at Workcycles.com. Do please send links when posted.
I’m also almost done with a post about some parts of our recent trip on my blog bakfiets-en-meer.nl. Previously I wrote about Japan here: https://www.bakfiets-en-meer.nl/2009/11/20/japan-a-land-i-love-but-just-dont-understand/
Regards,
Henry
April 2nd, 2012 at 00:46
Hi Henry,
I’ve done the post. Hope it does you justice! And yes–full credits abound throughout the post.
Here’s the link:
https://www.japanistic.com/blog/japan-through-vacation-photos-my-favorite-way-to-backseat-travel-also-teeny-tiny-kids-on-bikes-are-almost-too-cute-to-handle/
Love to hear what you think.
Cheers,
Sydne