They say it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, and the ill winds blowing through the credit industries have improbably blown some good to Buffalo, N.Y., a city long overdue for a break of any kind.What Silicon Valley is to software and startups, Buffalo is now the same for debt collectors, a mecca for practitioners of the art of extracting cash from hard-luck cases and deadbeats alike.Not even waiting for the spring thaw, The New York Times dispatched reporter Ken Belson to the far western reaches of the state -- "here be dragons," as far as Gothamites are concerned -- and he reports back that Buffalo "has become one of the leading hubs for debt collectors." It seems 108 collection agencies have set up shop in the area, employing 5,200 collectors, a number expected to grow by more than a fifth over the next five or six years.A work force of 5,200 at one time would have been a good-sized basic steel plant, of which Buffalo used to have several before the area turned into an industrial graveyard. Thanks to those miseries, Buffalo has a large supply of inexpensive space -- a collection agency is basically a huge cubicle farm -- and an abundance of willing, well-trained workers anxious for jobs.The collection agencies tell Belson that Buffalonians have a strong work ethic and evenhanded temperament, in spite of all they've been through. They also bear loyalty to their employers and, perhaps because of what they've been through, an empathy with the people they're trying to collect from. Belson doesn't come right out and say so, but because the weather is so rotten they also have a strong appreciation for indoor work.Debtors and debt collectors will always be with us, and Buffalo seems as fine a place as any for the two to interact. But considering all that Buffalo has been through, it would be impossibly cruel that the city suffers another shattering blow because prosperity has returned to the rest of the country.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Where the Buffalo phone
Submitted by SHNS on Tue, 03/25/2008 - 14:33
Where the Buffalo Phone cheap shots
Your article on the debt collection call centers in the Buffalo area started out semi-humorous, so I read on. Then came the needless digs at our city, the same crap that is akin to beating a dead horse. The truth? Buffalo far outweighs most American cities for cultural activity and inventory, solid middle class ethic and lifestyle and - despite what your silly report says - weather. Give me a Buffalo summer over those in just about any place in the country! Warm sun, cool breezes off Lake Erie and an abundance of trees and green space far outweigh the hyperbolized pitfalls of our winters. I suppose your mother was too busy working and ignoring you to afford life in whatever metropolis you're from to teach yout this adage - if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
Since Cincinnati, which is
Since Cincinnati, which is not nationally pinged as a place with bad winters, has even more debt collection agencies than Buffalo, I'm not sure how your cheap and boring weather comments qualify as journalism or make sense.
What's next, an editorial about President Bush's speaking slip-ups?
Work harder rather than digging up the same old stuff.
Post new comment