SOURCE: TMCNET
As many call centers around the U.S.  are shutting down and offshoring operations to other countries, it comes as no surprise when the coffee giant Starbucks announced that it would close its Seattle call center and outsource center to a third party.

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The call center, which employed 130 people, will now fall under the domain of global contact-center giant Sitel. According to reports, the new call center will be outsourced to the Sitel branch in Albuquerque, N.M.
The observed trend of customer care, back office and business process operations being closed or shifted seems to be very prevalent in the retail domain.
Early last year, Williams-Sonoma, the retailer and lifestyle company closed its call center in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, putting approximately 330 …

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SOURCE: MIAMI HERALD

WASHINGTON — In the often murky waters of the debt collection industry, United Recovery Systems in Houston is considered a “whale hunter.”

In its search for clients, United isn’t looking for mom-and-pop businesses with a few hundred deadbeat customers. It wants bigger fish.

Its client roster includes national banks, international credit card issuers and domestic and foreign auto finance giants, each of whom count on United to make good on their bad accounts.

In the current economic climate, the “whales” are virtually jumping out of the water and into United’s boat. A year ago, the company was reeling in $540 million to $560 million in new delinquent accounts each month. This year, it’s $937 million, said United’s marketing director, Sean Keegan.

Patrick Lunsford, senior editor at InsideARM.com, which chronicles the accounts receivable industry, said the collections industry growth spurt is fueled by several factors, including falling real estate values that …

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