Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by elmerfud 2151 days ago
It's rare to find a large national or international business that doesn't price differently based on location. This sometimes is due to taxation difference but mostly due to regulatory differences that effect the cost to deliver. Even companies that have flat list prices, what you'll find is that discounts are offered based on a number of factors with economic location being one.

If location was the only factor that changed then I would a agree that the companies monetary exchange for work value should be the same. It's very rare that when making a move like this that location will be the only factor that changed.

1 comments

If you sell a physical product, this is often the case. When I sell license for access, I charge based on value, not how much it costs me to deliver. Even physical products, which have not been commoditized, see value based pricing.

When a person moves, what other factors are effecting the company which justified the reduced salary?

If someone did that to me, is be looking for new work while grumbling doing old work. So if you do this and lose the employee, does it actually cost the company more?

> When I sell license for access, I charge based on value, not how much it costs me to deliver.

The value often depends on the customer's location. Or do you think, e.g., Photoshop provides the same value to a photographers in New York and Cairo?

I can see factors that effect company to potentially be taxation compliance and employee regulatory compliance to be a big factor if the move was to a different state/jurisdiction. A very quick example is that some states require that accrued time off is an earned benefit and must be paid out when it expires or you quit. Other states do not. There's many such compliance issues to worry about with an employee.

Additionally, moving also usually accompanies lifestyle changes as well. Is the timezones the same as other, will collaboration be the same as it was before? If travel is required will they still have the same access to do so? Will internet access be the same or stable as before?

There are many factors, perhaps the only change is the physical location and everything else is equal but it's almost needs to be determined on a case by case basis.