Posted on 08/20/2013 10:19:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
If you call the customer service line of a major business or corporation these days, there’s a good chance you’ll end up talking to someone thousands of miles away (or to a computer, if the company is really trying to cut costs). If you go shopping for new clothes, it’s likely that some of shirts and dresses you try on were made by people who are also thousands of miles away, in shops far less glamorous than the ones in which the finished products end up.
Outsourcing is so commonplace in certain industries, we don’t even think twice about it anymore. But over the past few years, the trend has spread to practices far beyond call centers and apparel manufacturing. In fact, you might be surprised at the industries that rely on outsourcing now.
Running Errands
We could all use personal assistants to return calls and emails, pay the bills, and shop for presents, but how many of us can afford to hire them? That’s why India-based companies like GetFriday and Brickwork offer a team of assistants who take care of the little tasks you don’t have the time or energy for—and do it for a much lower fee than what you’d pay an in-person assistant. Writer A.J. Jacobs wrote about using Brickwork in a 2005 Esquire story and expressed much satisfaction with how his hired assistants, Honey and Asha, researched his stories, dealt with the phone company, and even honored bizarre requests, like emailing Michael Jackson jokes to him and intervening in a fight with his wife.
Drive-Through Order Taking
When you imagine the person taking your order at a fast-food drive-through, you probably assume he or she is behind the counter in the restaurant. But that’s no longer the case in some establishments; instead, the people who take your order might be located in call centers in entirely different states. For example, a 2006 New York Times story reporting on the new practice found that an employee at a California-based McDonald’s call center took orders from Hawaii, Mississippi, and Wyoming in just two minutes. The orders are then sent to the stores’ computers. Chains like Wendy’s and Jack in the Box also have been testing out this approach. The goal is to help other employees focus their attention on in-store matters and to keep the drive-through line moving as quickly as possible.
Drug Trial Testing
Drug makers have to host clinical trials for any new drugs they want to put out on the market to ensure that they’re safe. Increasingly, they’re moving these trials to lower-income countries and regions like India and parts of Eastern Europe. Researchers who published an article on the subject in a 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine found that the number of countries that are hosting trials outside of the United States doubled between 1995 and 2005, while the number of U.S.-based trials went down. Part of the reason for this has to do with decreased labor and testing-site costs at places outside of the United States; another factor might be a bigger pool of humans in these locales who are willing and able to be tested.
Unfortunately, it’s not always done with explicit permission. The BBC reported in 2006 about an experimental drug being tested in India on people with cancer without their consent. Because the tests are done abroad, language barriers and cultural differences might get in the way of the test subjects’ comprehending the risks or benefits. As S.P. Kalantri, a doctor who runs such trials in India, told Wired magazine’s Jennifer Kahn in 2006, “Ninety percent of patients being recruited in India are poor … Trials enroll very few patients who are rich, literate, and capable of asking awkward questions.”
Video Gaming
People generally fall into one of two opinion camps when it comes to video games: they either think they’re a waste of time and a contributor to childhood obesity, or they find them a fun and mentally stimulating way to spend one’s leisure time. But both camps would probably look down on the fact that you can pay someone to play the lower levels of games like World of Warcraft so that you can effortlessly ascend to the more challenging stuff. There are also players (known in some circles as “gold farmers”) in Chinese gaming factories whose sole purpose is to accrue points and game currency so that others can buy it off of them with real money. The buyers then use that game money to buy weapons and other items necessary to play the game as successfully and lazily as possible.
Blogging/Tweeting
Ever wonder how some power bloggers manage to update their pages so frequently and post new content throughout the day and night? It’s possible they get a little help from organizations like Rent A Blogger, which hires people to do everything from set up blogs to research and write about new topics for them. Even Tweeters can pay others to send tweets throughout the day and find Twitter directories to join. There’s a lot of controversy in the online world as to whether this is ethical, since blogs and profiles are supposed to be personal, so many users keep the practice on the down-low. They’re more open about outsourcing for things like page redesigns and traffic generation, though.
Unfortunately, having everything done out of eyesight has also created a great deal of unethical situations beyond the blogosphere, like the drug trials in India or the apparel sweatshops in Asian countries. Even McDonald’s outsourcing was described as “bizarre” by one consumer interviewed in the 2006 New York Times story. What we gain in productivity and profit, we lose in personal touch and a feeling of connectedness. But as long as there are businesses interesting in saving money and potential employees willing to work for less, it will continue to be a major part of our economy and culture.
(Wave of the future - New Media - Dontchano?)
“Have you ever met a millennial? Many of them are about as interested in working as I am in skydiving. Who is going to do the work? If we were talking about 1950’s or even 1970’s America, I could see your point. That place doesn’t exist any more.”
Yeah, because Boomers destroyed it. Well done boomers.
The number one entitlement in America is social security. The folks who pay into social security are the millenials and Xers who are actually working.
Without this, the whole ponzi scheme would collapse. Right now, we just hit record highs of one person on social security for every 2 fulltime workers.
That’s the same as a 50 percent tax rate just to support workers who are retired. Then the said millenial has to sit down and try to support themselves on that 50 percent.
And people wonder why the standard of living is dropping? Taking money from poorer young people who are trying to earn the money and giving it to folks who have many assets is wrong. It’s unsustainable.
This boomer here is still working after 40 years. If you millenials don’t like the social security then why did you vote for your guy Obama to continue the scheme and run it even further in the ground? There are a hell of a lot of you millenials sitting around with your hand out waiting for someone to do something for you.
You boomer bashers really take the cake. It’s always someone else’s fault.
“If you millenials don’t like the social security then why did you vote for your guy Obama”
So you’re perfectly ok with stealing from young folks because you’ve already got yours?
“vote for your guy Obama to continue the scheme and run it even further in the ground?”
Our guy? 3/4ths of this most corrupt administration are boomers. Boomers are the ones at the helm of the Fed, making the decisions right now. It’s about time they stepped up and starting owning this economic disaster.
I don’t want a handout. I just want to be left ALONE. No obamacare, none of this doubling down on my taxes.
I pay for all my bills - I just need boomers to leave me alone so that I can get ahead. Deal? No social security ponzi and I’ll be more than happy enough to pay my own way.
I’ve already “got mine” because I’ve been working 40 years. How long have you worked? I’m not trying to “take” anything from you. This boomer bashing usually comes about because of pure jealousy. After you have worked hard for 40 years, then you tell me how much of your money you want to give away to some younger jealous loafers with their hand out.
The globe doesn't pay the income taxes required to fund the military for the U.S. defend foreign goods and services.
“I’m not trying to “take” anything from you.”
So long as you favor continuing the social security program, you are in fact stealing from each and every paycheck.
That’s how the system works. It takes from the young folks working and they pay the folks who are retired. The system is breaking down because:
1, there’s not enough young folks to pay for your benefits.
2, we don’t make enough.
You couldn’t live on what I make a year. Full stop. However, I don’t get to opt out of the same chunk of payroll that you take out even though I don’t make all that much.
‘then you tell me how much of your money you want to give away to some younger jealous loafers with their hand out.”
Which is why you’re picking my pocket? I don’t want your money. I want to hang onto my own.
If our deficit was under control, we would have full employment, like in the Reagan years, and even under Clinton. We even had full employment under Bush, with all of his spending.
Many people around here really don’t like it when someone holds that mirror up in front of them. Lots of talk about how socialism and redistribution of wealth are horrible...until you start talking about social security or government school sports and clubs. Then all of a sudden you’re a heartless, selfish bastard if you’re against those things.
The people who will do the work are the same people who are serving in our military...Millennials.
I’m a boomer and if you go back in time to when we were the age of millenials, you will find that the previous generation said the same things about us.
I strongly disagree.
For an entire generation we have sold off US factories, and sent those jobs (millions of them) to other countries.
Many to China.
A couple months ago, it turned out that China according to some reports, now exports more than America and is growing.
We need to bring back US manufacturing.
Now.
Can we have a business environment that enables business (including manufacturing) to thrive on OUR shores? Can we finally elect some folks are not brain dead to such a critical need?
Second, can I have a customer service telephone number answered in English?! And dammit, NO, I don’t want to press 1 for English.
Stealing ????
I've been working for going on 44 years ... paying in the max for the last 19 of those.. and haven't taken out a dime yet.
No social security ponzi and I’ll be more than happy enough to pay my own way.
Fine, give me mine back and then you can have yours.
“I’ve been working for going on 44 years ... paying in the max for the last 19 of those.. and haven’t taken out a dime yet.”
There’s no lockbock. The money was stolen from you, and if you collect, you’ll be stealing money from young people. It’s a ponzi scheme.
The choices are, boomers take the hit now, or the system collapses and nobody gets anything.
“Fine, give me mine back and then you can have yours.”
You have no right to steal from me because others robbed you. Not my problem. Get it back from the folks who took it from you.
“Many people around here really don’t like it when someone holds that mirror up in front of them. Lots of talk about how socialism and redistribution of wealth are horrible...until you start talking about social security or government school sports and clubs. Then all of a sudden you’re a heartless, selfish bastard if you’re against those things.”
Personally I would be happy if Boomers just stopped digging the damn hole. But no. It’s like Ebeneezer Scrooge - except that the heavy burdens of the dead are being laid, chain by chain, on us. And the Boomers are adding more and more to it’s ponderous length.
Working at the level of jobs that get outsourced?
Yes.
I didn't like the rules any more than you do .. I played by them because, same as you, I'm not part of the ruling class and didn't have a choice.
So, for now, I'll just take the checks until things break and the rules have to change ... it's the only choice I have and to do otherwise would be foolish.
Not pretty, but if you've got a better plan, let me know.
I will grant you one thing ... it sucks to be you.
“it’s the only choice I have and to do otherwise would be foolish.”
So you’re ok with robbing me because it would be ‘foolish’ to do otherwise. I see.
“I will grant you one thing ... it sucks to be you.”
Heh, since everyone has the same attitude - what happens when the checks stop?
I’ve gone Galt a long time ago. :)
Like you said, every man for himself, right?
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