Scanner Co-op

[Dave Jeffery]

"another method is to allocate blocks of scanning time to each participant."

Scanning is an art each person would need a lot of time and the equipment to learn? What is our time worth? I would love to be wrong about this.

[Dave Jeffery]

"I think you'll have some huge and insurmountable challenges to overcome."

I'll agree that you may be right and if you can list the challenges I may find some that kill the idea. I really appreciate your input.

[Dave Jeffery]

"forget about the obvious challenges of getting the hardware up and running"

Set it up here first and then ship it and expect a few challenges. There are direct flights to Bankok from LA and if Costa Rica makes more sense then thats not so bad?

[Dave Jeffery]

have you any experience working in SE Asia? it's a very different part of the world.

Yes, and the dumb things that happen thorugh sheer lack of common sense is a big shock to the system. Your concern is very valid.

"i am not saying that this venture is not possible, but to be perfectly frank with you, after getting a huge dose of working in Asia for the last 18 months, this is not something i would attempt - and i've got scores of connections throughout the region."

If I had to find a number of people to make this happen I would consider it a long shot. The chance of finding one or maybe two people that understand computers and that can learn to work with software for good compensation by local standards seems possible. As someone else posted this will not be a high volume operation but there needs to be enough work.

With your recent experience in the region do you think it's possible to find one or two good people in a city like Nakorn Ratchasima in Thailand, which is the second largest city, and that has a university geared toward technical training? Again the wages would have to be good to attract and retain good people. I agree that finding the right person will be challenging.

I really respect and appreciate your advice.

[Dave Jeffery]

I don't need to own this project by the way. If feel you have better ideas please feel free to speak up.

I have a gut feeling that this is going to happen in some way. A number of us will throw some money in, we'll take some beatings along the way, some people will want out..........

We need to have some fun with this and have a few good war stories to tell when it's all said and done.

[Ted Harris]

Dave,

1) Working in Asia is one thing, running a foreign owned business there is another. For a number of years I was on the Board of a company that did the latter. There were many very very difficult problems and we eventually dissolved the business, in large part because of labor and management span of control issues.

2) Do some research, there are already several companies offering such services at very reasonable prices. Most that I know of with operations in India. One company works both in the US and India (JaincoTech). Some of the scanning done here and some there with data transmitted via T1 lines. The only problem is that when you want or require anything beyond basic scans your costs and time will go up as it is way more difficult to do business on a phone across an ocean or two when you want corrections and adjustments made.

3) Scanning requires a lot of skill. How are you going to run this company and maintain quality control if you are not skilled in the operation of the machine or machines they are running (maybe you are)?

Bottom line, if you are looking for a business opportunity then go for it. As one photographer who is in the high end scanning business (I do a limited amount of work for others when my time permits) I would welcome others who take the same approach I take. The capital costs involved in what you are proposing are small indeed to start a business.

OTOH, if you are looking for relatively inexpensive scans they are available now, just do some more looking.

If you want more information on getting an IQSmart3 in Asia contact me via email please.

[jetcode]

We need to have some fun with this and have a few good war stories to tell when it's all said and done.

Business is the last place I want to experience war stories. Usually money and attitudes are involved and usually with some form of loss.

[Dave Jeffery]

Business is the last place I want to experience war stories. Usually money and attitudes are involved and usually with some form of loss.

That's an appropriate response.

I should have written that I think we can have some fun with a co-op if it's looks like it won't be overly challenging and maybe some travelling in the region would also be an interesting experience as well. "War stories" is an expression that a few of my friends use so I'm not surprised by your response.

I agree with a lot that Ted says as well but I was hoping that a one or two person operation might be possible and I was hoping some others might have suggested a few similar possibilities.

I did a co-op on a small boat in Hawaii where a number of us threw in $1,000.00 and the idea was that the boat could be sunk by anyone, any day, and we wouldn't care. The boat lasted a while and although I ended up doing most of the work on it we did some great diving, we all are still good friends, and we have a lot of fond memories of the experience.

Scott and Ted asked about my experience in Thailand and my last trip there was another somewhat expensive adventure treasure diving, which is another risky venture one throws money at with a high chance of loss, for a few interesting stories to tell.

There was an article about the pirates that are around Sinapore, which we had to watch out for, in the this months National Geographic (October 2007 pg 126).

I put together a very simple web page about the short treasure diving trip we did as a number of friends read National Geo and are kind of interested as well.

It's totally off topic so I used my own bandwidth. If you are totally bored here's the link. http://members.cox.net/zzing/index.html

I'm still waiting for more information from Thailand but I think Ted is right that there are a few too many challenges unless the people there are connected.

Who knows. I wish it were easier as I hear that the results from scanning companies are not always what people wish for and I didn't want to do my own scanning if someone that would be happy with much less compensation could learn to do it.

Thanks everyone!

[Randy H]

Find a retiree in FL that loves LF and set it up there. Does several things. Gets your scanner going, gives the retiree purpose, gives the ability for more to "go see" the operation, quicker turn-around times due to shipping time, less chance of "lost in transit" as opposed to overeas shipping, more stringent "accountability" available, ongoing training for the "next" person, readily avilable techies if problems with equip, etc, etc.
I would agree that if overseas, Thai would probably be the preferred, having worked alongside several. But why not look at home? SS recipients, on fixed income, unable to earn above $XX... loves photography ???

[Dave Jeffery]

Thanks Randy!

That's a great idea for a lot of reasons!

How about a retired Aztek scanner repair person

- more people would be interested in a co-op in the US
- flights are relatively short if needed
- someone close to the Aztek facility would be a big bonus
- door to door shipping with and account is easy
- retirees are usually home a lot
- a used drum scanner would be purchased since time is not an issue and only a small number of partners would be needed and that might produce about the right amount of work for a retiree - may be able to scan when in the mood
- it would not be a business, no deadlines, pressure
- larger reusable shipping materials and labels could be used as wieght and size are less of an issue domestically, no hassle shipping and recieving. (printfile pages in padded boxes), less consumables needed.
- no import, customs or international copyright concerns and potential impounds/ bribery problems
- ideally close to one of the partners for support
- less language issues if technical consultation is needed
- partners still benefit from pooling resources to give one person a lot of more experience scanning and photogs time can be spent shooting pictures instead
- former photographer would enjoy looking at the very best pictures from a small pool of people
- scans can be redone until desired result without high re-shipping costs
- larger and more reliable bandwidth available most places
- SOMEONE ON THIS FORUM MAY KNOW A GOOD CANDIDATE!

Great Randy!
It's responses like your's that make my embarrasment of throwing out ideas well worth the effort.