Always dreamed of running a sweatshop, but were worried about the legal ramifications? Sick of paying American workers boatloads of money just because the government says it's fair? Really, it's a free country, so you should be able to pay people whatever you feel like, no? Who cares if they need a certain wage to live, no one forced them to take the job. You're the victim here. But like Superman flying over the horizon in his confusingly bright colored outfit, a hero is coming to save you.
Behold, Offshoring.com, where you can hire cheap, skilled labour for as little as $4 an hour. How is this possible? Because the workers are in the Philippines. You can hire everything from programmers to graphic designers for a fraction of what they cost in the US. According to their website they are an American company with a headquarters in Atlanta who send people to the Philippines to run offices staffed with skilled Filipino workers. These workers will work whenever you work, Monday-Friday, and speak English. No word in the FAQ as to whether the workers are chained to their computers or not.
And, as an added bonus, you can fire any worker you want for whatever reason AND you don't even have to do it yourself. You just tell the office and they fire the worker for you. Which, one would assume, involves a large trap door and some sort of flesh eating monster. God bless capitalism.
[via wired]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-16-2008 @ 3:54PM
rodan32 said...
So this may actually be a net benefit both for small businesses here and for the economy of the Philippines. I've worked extensively with support people in Manila, and while they weren't always up to the same standards as support teams here in the US, they were still pretty solid. $4/hr goes a LONG way towards basics in the Philippines as well. Average wage there is about $3/hour, if you can get work.
Seems like there's a lot of potential for a win-win with this setup.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 3:55PM
Jared C. said...
That is a sad, sad story for all Americans. There is nothing wrong with it legally though (as far as I know anyways), so I have no room to actually complain. I guess it is a plus that they are based in Atlanta. Any clue on the salary and contract for the Atlanta workers?
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 4:34PM
Fred Thompson said...
How could this possibly be a "sad, sad story for Americans"? You must not understand economics, much like the OP. When a task isn't economical in one area but is economical in another, the task moves and trade happens. The people who had been doing the task are now available to do more productive things. Everybody wins except selfish complainers who have no are interested in activity for the sake of activity, not productivity. This is the way of the world. If you don't like it, tough. The rest of the world prefers not to be subsistence farmers.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 4:42PM
James said...
Also, just so you know, I totally would have voted for you had you still been in the race once my state finally had its primary.
* Who wins in a fight between Jack Bauer and Chuck Norris? Fred Thompson.
4-16-2008 @ 4:35PM
James said...
Jesus, why does everybody always act like outsourcing is such a terrible idea without looking at the specifics of the situation? It's not like they're going out and Shanghai-ing hundreds of peasants then working them in a galley until they die; they're finding technically-skilled people in a developing country and giving them more money than they'd make elsewhere to sit in an office somewhere. If I lived in a 3rd-world country, you can bet your ass I'd take $4/hr to sit inside and type over a low-paying job doing manual labor.
My internet trawling shows yearly income for the average Philippines resident is around $1420/yr, compared to about $44,000/yr here. If cost-of-living adjusts anywhere near proportionally, that 4 dollar wage would be like making $120/hr here. If anybody stands to get screwed here, it's definitely the US company (who doesn't know what quality of work they can expect), not the 3rd-world worker (who is getting a job that pays way, way over the local average).
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 4:40PM
Fred Thompson said...
Yup, far better to pay Filipinos to WORK with their heads. What a concept! Why, is they work and are paid, they can raise their own standard of living by being productive. Amazing! Notice how typical it is that people who complain about "outsourcing" don't complain about the narcotics, prostitution and slavery in those same areas of the world. Hypocrites.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 5:53PM
DaveA said...
I am fed up with people knocking out-sourcing.
Why is OK to buy cheap products made in developing countries but not to buy services from the same places?
In supplier countries good people who want to work get the opportunity to better support their families whilst in consumer countries competition ensures that the cost savings are passed on to customers. Those customers use their increased disposable income to buy more things and so everyone is better off.
This is what economists call the law of comparative advantage at work.
Reply
4-16-2008 @ 9:38PM
Jeebus said...
The sarcasm is dripping from this socialist diatribe.
Reply
4-17-2008 @ 1:11AM
MaryL said...
Contrary to this "sweat shop" image perpetuated there, offshore companies in the Philippines, especially the new ones, have better facilities and more employee benefits than traditional companies. (Even multinationals.)
Reply
4-17-2008 @ 12:49PM
Jonnas said...
I bet you are all people from the U.S., aren't you???...excellent, that's why you are in such a deficit, have no respect for people (not even different races in your own country...well, what is a U.S. race?....ahh, you are all immigrants) and talk about freedom in a very scary way (like if you know what freedom is, living in such a big brother country!!!)...you all need a shrink.
Reply
4-17-2008 @ 12:49PM
Mike said...
My only issues is that there are so many people with out any job right here in America, and in my opinion, rather than have them sit on welfare with no job collecting money from the people who do work hard or live on the streets they should be able to have these jobs. The federal government says no since the pay is to low, but come on, something is better than nothing isn't it?
Reply
4-18-2008 @ 1:16AM
Jeebus said...
Historically low unemployment rates.
4-20-2008 @ 11:33PM
Fred Thompson said...
You've got to be kidding. U.S. unemployment is about 5%. At that point, the overwhelming majority of unemployed people are either between jobs or unemployable. If you're really going to examine this concept, you need to look not only at unemployment rates but also how those rates are determined. Just as "hunger" is calculated as missing one meal a year, I kid you not, "unemployment" and "uninsured" are calculated in similar manners. When any society gets to about 5% unemployment, the vast majority of those who are unemployed are incompetent or have various chemical or mental problems. Ten years ago I interviewed a manufacturing manager in the South side of Atlanta. He said it was almost impossible to get workers because the local 5% unemployment rate meant half fo the people who applied for jobs could not do simple fractional math, half of the remainder did not show up for their drug tests and half of those who did show up failed the drug test. What's half of half of half of 5%? 1.25%. Any idea what happens whens to the cost of labor when the percentage of able bodies is 1.25%? It costs too much to employ people.
The idea that there is massive unemployment, lack of health care (insurance doesn't matter, it's a $50K fine for each person involved who refuses help at a hospital, hence, the reason trauma centers had to close in high-drug abuse areas.), hunger, etc. is a pure propaganda lie. 85% of U.S. households have central heating and air conditioning. Poverty? I don't think so.
4-20-2008 @ 6:56PM
Fred Thompson said...
Darn it. Nothing better than making your own math mistake when discussing those of other people. Half of half of half of 5% is 0.625%. The rough estimate of available labor was 1 out of 160 people.
Reply
4-20-2008 @ 11:34PM
Michael said...
OK Fred, so who said anything about going hungry or Health Insurance? Believe me I know there are not as many people going hungry in this country as some may want you to think. There are too many bleeding heart liberals to let that happen. I wrote about people in America who have no jobs. So yea, When you simple write something like 5% unemployment rate, that makes it sound like a very small number, but lets put some perspective on that number. Take a look at US Department of Labor stats for February and March 2008 (http://www.bls.gov/cps/). February was at 4.8% unemployment again that looks like a small number, but going from 4.8% in February to 5.1% in March was an increase of 434,000 people who lost there jobs, thats almost a half million people who lost there lost there jobs in a month. Are you telling me that almost a half million people suddenly became incompetent or got chemical/mental problems? Wow, now that would be a staggering statistic then.
Reply
4-20-2008 @ 11:34PM
Mike said...
I don't think it's OK to buy cheep products made in other countries. Americans complain about the quality of the crap that comes in from outside this country but continue to buy the same cheep stuff. People can preach all they want, I just choose to severely limit my purchases to made in America. Hell I've been looking for a new Soap dispenser for three months now because every one I pick up in a store says "Made In China". I know very well that it is impossible to buy ONLY products made in America but I sure as hell can try to limit it as much as possible. I work very hard and realize that I do make quite a bit more that the average American so I am willing to pay an extra dolor or two to buy something made is America.
Reply
4-21-2008 @ 10:11AM
Chuck said...
Compared to tech support based in India, where on the average the accents are so thick the words come out almost unrecognizable, the Philippine support people are a joy.
Reply