Government Claims Against B&H Seem Suspicious

All my visits to B&H have been great experiences

I remember a government case against a big software company that had about 400 million users that ended up in it being ruled a monopoly because it didn’t let you choose a default web browser or media player.  In 2016, I don’t see a way to change my default browser or media player on the 700 million iPhone’s, and countless other Apple and Android based devices. 

I point this out because there are often times the government has gone on a witch hunt after a company because of a political axe to grind or some other motivation. In the case of that software company, one particular politician seemed overly motivated to prosecute a software company that had legitimately beat a company in his state in the market place. Yet ironically, we’ve never seen him go after Google, Apple or any other company with similar business practices. Why is that?

Deplorable? Really?

Katrin Eismann, a well-respected photographer and author of successful Photoshop books, recently posted these pictures in a Facebook album that I think shed some light on reality versus the claims in question:

Do these conditions look "deplorable" to you?
Images used by permission and link to Katrin Eismann’s Facebook Album

While neither Katrin nor I are not labor relations experts, these photos certainly don’t seem much different from the many warehouses I’ve toured. In fact, it’s actually a lot better than some that I’ve been to for other companies.

In an article entitled, B&H Responds to US Govt Lawsuit, Calls Claims ‘Inaccurate’ and ‘Bizarre’, B&H says:

“The allegations you have been hearing about are largely made by people who have never set foot in a B&H facility,” the store writes. “We can declare outright that B&H does NOT have any segregated bathrooms by race or religion, and anyone working at B&H knows that to be true. Additionally, any similar contentions are not only inaccurate, but bizarre.”

I’ve visited B&H many times both alone and with B&H representatives, and I’ve never witnessed any conditions that support the governments claims.  While I don’t work for B&H or represent them in any way, as a long-time customer I have a hard time believing these claims are true for if they were why – after all these years – are they just now coming out? 

With states going after big online retailers using Nexus laws that are targeted at sales taxes lost from out of state online transactions, one could only wonder if this might have to do with something more than the issue at hand.

As a tax payer I’m disappointed to see our government wasting money on this, but I also believe everything has a reason. I’m optimistic this investigation will ultimately help B&H by having concrete evidence that these claims were not true and the respect and honor for which they’ve run their company since 1973.

UPDATE

B&H warehouse photos taken in October 2015

B&H has provided their own photos of their warehouse here on Facebook.

Disclosure

Katrin Eisman is not a journalist nor labor relations expert, so her post is purely her photos of what she has observed.

I am not a legal, tax or labor laws expert. The views expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of any company or third party.

I’ve been a satisfied customer of B&H since 2006. When founding my blog, I chose to link my articles to the store where I purchase my own gear . Linking did result in a situation where this blog was able to earn a small commission for those referrals, just the same as I’ve done with Adorama, Amazon and others. However, B&H has never asked me nor paid me to do anything on their behalf and all of my interactions have been at my request to them as a source where people can learn more (much like Wikipedia) or order the products I enjoy blogging about.