
Company town - lelf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town
======
ubernostrum
This article seems to paint an awfully rosy picture of what were, on the
whole, pretty awful places. In particular it's nice to talk about all the
"ideals" of raising people up into the middle class, etc., when the reality
was that company towns were explicitly used to impose and perpetuate debt
slavery: you'd be paid only in the company's scrip, which was what you had to
use to pay rent on your company home and buy things in the company store, and
of course the prices were set to ensure you'd never _quite_ be able to live on
it, despite being required to live in the company town and shop at the company
store. That meant you went into debt to the company and worked more to pay it
off, but could never earn enough to clear the debt, and would recruit your
children from a young age (remember when we didn't have those awful child-
labor laws meddling in the "free market"?) to work for the company, too,
carrying it on to the next generation.

This is the source of the chorus in the song "Sixteen Tons":

 _You load sixteen tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in
debt. St. Peter, don 't you call me, 'cause I can't go; I owe my soul to the
company store._

~~~
hueving
>meddling in the "free market"?

And what exactly kept the families from just packing up and leaving? It would
seem that it must have offered a better value proposition that anything else
if people chose to stay there. Unless they were slaves, your whole point is
moot.

~~~
MereInterest
Sure, you can leave. You just need to settle your debt at the store before you
do. We did give you that advance after all. And don't forget the rent that
you're paying us, and how you're a few months behind. Maybe next year would be
better. Save up, get out of debt, then leave town. Never mind the fact that we
control both your income and your expenses, and will make sure that never
happens.

~~~
hueving
If you're in debt you declare bankruptcy. This isn't 1500s in England.

~~~
true_religion
I'm not sure of the specifics, but in the US personal bankruptcy didn't exist
in its present form until 1978.

It's very likely, that it was incredibly difficult to file for bankruptcy in
the era of company towns in the US---i.e. 1880 (first bankruptcy bill was
filed in 1889) through 1934.

------
prawn
For those who find this interesting, Fordlandia is a book about Henry Ford's
attempt to create a utopia in Brazil for employees sourcing rubber from
plantations. Spoiler: it's a bit of a disaster. That said, a lot of its
failings are due to the specifics of the location and lack of local knowledge.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordl%C3%A2ndia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordl%C3%A2ndia)

------
batiudrami
I lived for six months in a town called Leinster, a company town 1000km from
the nearest major city (Perth, Australia). It was run to support a nickel
mine, back before FIFO (fly in, fly out) rosters were commonplace and everyone
lived in the city.

Interesting place. You weren't supposed to drink the water so people would go
to town and get distilled water (though I was at school and we just drank from
the water fountains connected to mains water). In general though it had much
better facilities than similar towns of that size due to being funded by the
mining company.

Wikipedia says it still has about 700 people - though I believe the town was
shut for several years while the mine was in care and maintenance (the nickel
price is not high enough to justify mining at the time so they operate on
barebones staff doing equiment maintenance and dewatering) - and by the sounds
of things that is happening again now so I'm not sure what it's like.

~~~
CatsoCatsoCatso
Were the shops and local conveniences (pubs, bars etc) company owned & run or
contacted out to other companies? How free was a private business able to
establish a means of supplying services to those who lived and worked in the
town?

~~~
compiler-guy
Another question:

Are you paid in cash, or in company scrip?

~~~
batiudrami
My parents were teachers at the school (it was a 6 month posting while the
permenant Principal took long service leave) so they were paid by the
government.

I would be very surprised to hear that people were paid in anything other than
cash, though wages would have taken into consideration that accommodation and
food was free (as it does with all on site mine workers).

Mine workers in Australia are paid very well in comparison to a lot of other
industries so a debt cycle mentioned by others probably didn't apply as much.

------
m-i-l
Most of the examples of company towns in this article are from the late
nineteenth century onwards, when working and living conditions were already
starting to improve. But it is worth looking at the earlier history of model
villages[0], starting with New Lanark[1] established in 1786. These were
founded at the very start of the industrial revolution, when working and
living conditions were deteriorating following the mass migration from the
countryside to the new industrial towns with their "dark satanic mills". In
this context, the model villages were much more genuinely focussed on the
social and humanitarian aspects than the later company towns. You could argue
that model villages were more about proving that you could still treat people
well and make a profit, whereas the later company towns were more focussed on
simply trying to maximise profit.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_village](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_village)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Lanark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Lanark)

------
twelvechairs
Not sure why this has been posted but I will say that as someone who works in
planning and development I wouldnt be surprised if we see a return to company
towns soon.

For all their faults they can potentially be hugely beneficial to employers
and employees in driving down the amount of money put towards housing, avoid
poor planning and design outcomes caused by the interface between government
and developers and also can be planned for strategic locations where
governments have not shown initiative.

Public housing could do similar things (and as a case study was a major factor
in the econmic success of hong kong - for all its faults) and isnt a million
miles away in what it does although is often considered very differently, but
most modern governments shy away from this.

~~~
pjc50
Really? We're living in the age of Uber, when companies don't even admit they
have _employees_ rather than contractors rented by the minute. I can't see a
company making the huge capital investment of fixed buildings which only make
economic sense after a decade. It also makes it much harder to uproot the
company and move it overseas in response to bad quarterly results.

~~~
enraged_camel
In expensive housing markets like SF, companies will soon have a choice:
provide subsidized housing to employees in the form of residential campuses
(which are basically company towns in an exurban/suburban setting) or pay them
more salary.

I think they will go with the former.

~~~
pjc50
Would it really be cheaper to make a large capital investment out of VC money
upfront to build housing, or just up the salaries?

If we just run the numbers as an example, taking the 11000 Google employees at
Mountain View, and assuming that each wants a ~$500k house, that's $5.5Bn of
housing!

------
bane
Overseas U.S. military bases are often very much like this, with the dual need
to house troops and their families, they often have schools, shopping, and
various other services in place.

It's very common for deployed families to come back after 2 or 3 years
overseas with almost no knowledge of the local language, area or customs
because the comprehensiveness of the "little America" on-post is so complete.
You can even buy cars, American breakfast cereal and fast foods and get TV
shows and radio all pumped in at almost no cost differential to being in the
U.S.

If the bases aren't large enough, they'll often set up an American enclave
nearby that extends the services and provides a few neighborhoods for the
families to have extended social interactions. When I was touring in Germany,
I came across the town of Vilseck, which has a large American base nearby. The
town was full of deployed families, and imagine my surprise when I came across
an honest to god Soul Food restaurant! After eating German and Italian food
for a couple weeks, getting some very traditional American food was a very
welcome site.

[https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1641647-d4233...](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1641647-d4233161-Reviews-
Angelo_s_Soul_Food-Vilseck_Upper_Palatinate_Bavaria.html)

~~~
compiler-guy
One very big difference between a military company town and the ones described
in this article:

The military pays you in cash, which is useful anywhere US dollars are
accepted.

Cash gives you freedom to exit the company town without losing all that stored
value.

~~~
bane
sorry for the late reply:

I was talking this over with a couple vet friends of mine and both mentioned
cases where they were paid in some kind of scrip (usually in combat zones
where bringing in cash was dangerous) or in dollars in cases where dollars
weren't accepted on the local economy making it effectively the same.

[http://www.robertsworldmoney.com/banknotedetail.php?id=7597&...](http://www.robertsworldmoney.com/banknotedetail.php?id=7597&searchbanknote=)

------
connoredel
I grew up a few miles south of Roebling, NJ -- a company town created for the
Roebling Steel Mill. Some nice pictures here:
[http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/05/roebling_a_little...](http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/05/roebling_a_little_hamlet_with.html)

~~~
kixpanganiban
Thanks for sharing! Somewhat reminds me of The Walking Dead's Alexandria.

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grkvlt
The article contains this fascinating gem:

> Fordlândia was established by American industrialist Henry Ford in 1928 as a
> prefabricated industrial town in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. Intended
> to be inhabited by 10 thousand people, it failed; and the city was abandoned
> in 1934.

More details at
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordl%C3%A2ndia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordl%C3%A2ndia)

------
p4wnc6
15201 Maple Systems Road

~~~
jaytaylor
Saving any other people like me a google search:

    
    
        15201 Maple Systems Road was the Simpsons’ home
        while living in Cypress Creek after Homer was
        headhunted by the Globex Corporation. From the
        outside it appeared structurally similar to the
        Simpson's home in Springfield; however, the
        interior was much larger and more modern.
    
        They were welcomed shortly after arriving by the
        CEO of the Globex Corporation, Hank Scorpio, who
        was participating in a fun run.
    
        Many of the house's functions were automated,
        including a self-cleaning oven, dirt-patrolling
        vacuum cleaner, and an automatic sprinkler system.
    
        After Homer tackled an escaping secret agent at
        work, Hank Scorpio promised that when he returned
        home there would be another story in his house.
    

[http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/15201_Maple_Systems_Road](http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/15201_Maple_Systems_Road)

~~~
RankingMember
I often think that our real-life Hank Scorpio is Elon Musk.

------
taneq
A lot of remote towns around Australia started out as camps built by mining
companies to support nearby mine sites. These camps have a significantly
different connotation, though - generally accommodation, catered food and
amenities (gym, pool, etc.) are free for the workers. Aside from the inherent
stresses which come with the FIFO lifestyle, they're pretty nice places.

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curiousDog
This is still pretty common in India, AFAIK. You usually have an industrial
plant (like a steel mill, aluminum plant, sugar factory etc) and the employees
are given housing in the "company town" along with a free school, hospital,
electricity etc.

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pauldprice
A truly phenomenal company town in the United States is Kohler, Wisconsin

~~~
hackaflocka
Could you elaborate please? What makes it phenomenal? Also, is it still the
traditional model of a company town (i.e. everything owned by the same co.)?

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akbar501
The monopsony, which is infrequent in today's markets, is what caused these
types of cities/towns. Specifically, a labor market monopsony.

~~~
_nalply
Monopsony is buyer-side monopoly, i. e. there is only one buyer. A labor
market monopsony means that there is only one company employing people.

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gregimba
The first time I saw a company town was in Baja and it was a gypsum mine.
Oddly colorful place given everything was coated in the white powder.

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Keverw
The whole story about Facebook getting into real estate and building
apartments makes me think they're trying to build a company town.

~~~
teen
would probably be a pretty dope town though

