The only other call center of any size in Shasta County is a Pac Bell customer service center. ACI, which operates eight additional centers in the Midwest, has hired 225 local people and is already planning to expand. The company reports that the Redding center is far and away the most productive operation they have ever developed. Several additional companies have visited the area and at least two of them have begun negotiations for leases on space. The obvious answer is jobs, but it's more complex than that.
Some jobs are more valuable to our local economy than others.
Retail wages, for instance, are supported by sales made mainly to local residents. These jobs are valuable in that they prevent retail buyers from shopping out of the area, but only a small percentage of cash is generated from outside the County. On the other hand, call centers, and other primary industries, provide products and services to customers in other parts of the United States, yet pay all wages within Shasta County. They are a true source of outside cash, which then circulates within our community. The call center industry can have other positive local effects.