J Crew opening 200-employee call center in SA (Houston, San Antonio: apartments, houses)

[Darien_Rod]

Originally Posted by plwhit

Then why did they move?

To be rather simplistic, AT&T outgrew San Antonio. Significantly. Like the NFL in Jacksonville, AT&T never really belonged in San Antonio.

The Dallas Metroplex has lots of things San Antonio does not - top consultancy offices, Investment Banking offices, a legitimate tech corridor, specialized accounting support, first-rate advertising companies, a massive airport equidistant to America's population centers, 4x the metro population, nearby suppliers, a plentiful stream of educated workers, a downtown business district with actual businesses. It is one of America's major business centers and is growing far faster in percentage and absolute terms than San Antonio. It has that "critical mass" that only Houston really shares in terms of business factors.

AT&T is a public company with an enterpise value of over $230 BILLION dollars. They work in a very competitive industry where they must juggle the demands of complex marketing, billions of dollars of annual capital expenditures, staying ahead of a tech curve and constant interaction with regulators and government entities to stay profiatable. Perhaps in 1988 a regional Bell CEO could pursuade his Board to relocate Southwestern Bell from St. Louis, the symbol of rust-belt decay, for a foothold in Texas and proximity to Mexico in the form of San Antonio. AT&T in 2011 is the biggest telecom comapny in the WORLD, far larger than the original 22 million landline phone customers Southwestern Bell served in 1988.

Simply put, it is silly to think that AT&T moved based on the whim of the CEO for being more "familiar" with Dallas - it takes a lot more than that to convince the Board of America's 7th largest company that moving shop is a good idea, unless they were already convinced years ago. I can personally assure you that this move was brewing for a long time and was pretty much inevitable - your ex-Mayor Nelson Wolff basically said as much. Tax breaks? Almost irrelevant for a company that does that much business in that many places. In an industry that lives and dies by strategic decisions made by smart people, you have to be near the action, and Dallas is far closer to it than San Antonio.

The point? San Antonio is America's 26th largest metro area, and no area so situated should hold its nose up at any company willing to migrate jobs in the area, no matter how menial they seem to those lucky enough to be overqualified for them. Nor should anyone hold unrealistic expectations for the city - it is a nice place to live, not a global business superpower. Those seeking the latter should really consider living in Hoboken, commuting to Manhattan, and re-evaluating life's options periodically.

[L210]

Hoping for more jobs that pay $15-20 an hour is an unrealistic expectation? The median income here is more than that. Why would one have to move to Hoboken near Manhattan? As you said, Houston and Dallas are major business centers. If we ever get a commuter line to Austin, I already know there are better paying jobs up there. If we don't get a commuter line, then I will move to the jobs. And Austin has a smaller metropolitan population than San Antonio by the way.

[L210]

The EDF had early success, but in recent years its leaders have relied too much on attracting call centers while resisting any loss of control. So EDF has lagged behind.

For too long, companies have come to San Antonio to exploit our low-wage status, the euphemism for which is "cost of living," a leaden-ridden phrase.

Petco is good news but San Antonio needs great news - San Antonio Express-News

[xsa210tx]

My gosh people!

We have nearly 15 MILLION people in our country unemployed and people are complaining about a call center KEEPING these jobs in the United States of America?????

During the past decade, many companies were allowed to ship our jobs to oversea call centers without some type of penalty. At least, one company is keeping these jobs right here in our country.

Maybe those of you who have a decent and comfy job don't care, but for the nearly 15 million Americans who are without a job, this is good news.

This will mean that 200 more people will have a job in our city.

[eastontracks]

I graduated from UTSA in '09, and had a difficult time finding much other than these call centers they keep building. Good luck to you L210, but I had to leave SA. There are some opportunities in San Antonio, but not enough to keep me there. I think it accounts for many though in my field of marketing/communication as SA's market isn't as big as Austin/Dallas.

[IonRedline08]

Well, we are going to need somewhere for all the misplaced Teachers to work.

Personally, any job that we can create is a good job.

I actually work at a Call Center, and San Antonio is known as the Call Center Capital of the USA.

I think that, not only because of the low cost of living, as well as the fact that they can easily get bilingual reps, but that the cost of electricity is so much lower here than most places

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by IonRedline08

I think that, not only because of the low cost of living, as well as the fact that they can easily get bilingual reps, but that the cost of electricity is so much lower here than most places

When I worked at West I remember the client mentioning that San Antonio is a top choice because we lack an accent (although that is questionable at times). It's probably why there are numerous call centers in the midwest as well.

[L210]

Originally Posted by xsa210tx

My gosh people!

We have nearly 15 MILLION people in our country unemployed and people are complaining about a call center KEEPING these jobs in the United States of America?????

During the past decade, many companies were allowed to ship our jobs to oversea call centers without some type of penalty. At least, one company is keeping these jobs right here in our country.

Maybe those of you who have a decent and comfy job don't care, but for the nearly 15 million Americans who are without a job, this is good news.

This will mean that 200 more people will have a job in our city.

Is that the same argument you used before the recession and is it the same argument you're going to use after the recession?

[L210]

Originally Posted by eastontracks

I graduated from UTSA in '09, and had a difficult time finding much other than these call centers they keep building. Good luck to you L210, but I had to leave SA. There are some opportunities in San Antonio, but not enough to keep me there. I think it accounts for many though in my field of marketing/communication as SA's market isn't as big as Austin/Dallas.

Thank you. I know I don't have to move far to find more opportunities. I've been checking job ads in other Texas cities for years.

[shoe01]

Originally Posted by Bo

This has been well covered in another thread. The main reason AT&T moved is because Ed Whitacre, a native San Antonian, retired as CEO and was replaced by Randall Stephenson, a native of Dallas. Whitacre had moved the company HQ here to his hometown and his successor moved it to his hometown.

The public reason stated at the time was that Dallas has better airline service.

Nowhere were tax breaks mentioned.

Actually, Ed Whitacre is a native of Ennis (just SE of Dallas) and I believe Randall Stephenson is a native of Oklahoma City.

It's not all doom and gloom in SA, as NuStar has grown quite a bit, and its new HQ is under construction at The Rim, for example.