Data Entry job pays ONE DOLLAR for 1000 Words? (RANT) Am I missing something?

[Voixdelion]

So lets say I have the marketable skill of being able to type 100 WPM flat.  We're talking 10 mins for 1OOO words, or a whopping 6 bucks an hour?  Who the hell would do this job?  If you can type 100 WPM I'm betting that you can temp for twice that wage easily, right?  

...Right? I mean, really, I seriously HOPE I am right about that or this country is deeper in the sh** than even I thought.  Are there any legitimate freelance work sources that aren't about creating garbage articles for pennies for spammers and scammers out there?  Freelancer.com has been disappointing to say the least.  

Am I just too proud or what?  Why does it seem like even skilled labor is totally without value now?  Is it just because the things people are trying to accomplish really are so low that skill is actually unnecessary? Honestly! Everytime I try and find gainful employment I start to lose faith in humanity...

[Findecanor]

Don't worry. It's just the end of the world, as we know it.

Get yourself a gun, some land in a non-urban area and learn to grow your own vegetables. It might be worth it to get a few hens also, so that you can get fresh eggs.
Then, when the **** really hits the fan, instead of being deep in it, you can sustain yourself.

(Edit: Not my intention to be trolling. I am just pessimistic about the world right now.)

[Ekaros]

OCR?

Yep, for western level that is low... Still it might be decent for some Indian...

[Voixdelion]

Don't worry. It's just the end of the world, as we know it.

Get yourself a gun, some land in a non-urban area and learn to grow your own vegetables. It might be worth it to get a few hens also, so that you can get fresh eggs.
Then, when the **** really hits the fan, instead of being deep in it, you can sustain yourself.

(Edit: Not my intention to be trolling. I am just pessimistic about the world right now.)

Trolling?  Hardly.  Way ahead of you - already started the garden last year...

[kriminal]

So lets say I have the marketable skill of being able to type 100 WPM flat.  We're talking 10 mins for 1OOO words, or a whopping 6 bucks an hour?  Who the hell would do this job?  If you can type 100 WPM I'm betting that you can temp for twice that wage easily, right?  
.

ewwwwwwwwww

guess ill stay in the caribbean

[hazeluff]

if its data entry. posibly its just numbers/shirt words thus allowing for like 200wpm?

[Malphas]

Just one of the many nasty side efffect of globalisation.  Why would an employer pay any more than that when an Indian would do it for even less?

[weenis]

I buy my ammo buy the crate.

And it usually has Russian text all over the wooden box.

[Voixdelion]

if its data entry. posibly its just numbers/shirt words thus allowing for like 200wpm?

I'm guessing its probably more like entering captcha's.  It would appear that a great deal of the opportunities people are bidding on are rather nefarious or unscrupulous ways to generate more garbage for the glory of ad clicks.  People have no souls anymore or something.  I watched this video today and it made me cry:

[video=youtube_share;BRtc-k6dhgs]http://youtu.be/BRtc-k6dhgs[/video]

[cactux]

As you may know there are some people in countries like China, and India that charge less than any other country. Is hard to compete against these countries if you offer the same, you need to offer something else that really make the diference.

[Input Nirvana]

My employees, who I taught everything (I hired them at $10 p/h 5 years ago) make around $70 per hour. They have the guts to get snitty with me when there are no contracts and I find small, temp stuff to do for a week at $28 p/h. They drag their feet and have bad attitudes. I tell them about the consultants that worked for me (different business) at $150 p/h and they feel they are getting ripped off. Interestingly, when my employees are not working for me...they just don't work. No one will hire them for more than $25 p/h. For $35 p/h they would have to sell their souls. I lose contracts that I bid AT COST to keep the wheels turning, and our infrastructure is as low as possible, can't be lower. How do people do it for cheaper than I can afford to do it for? Mystery of the Free Market Economy.

Everything is relative. The skills, supply/demand, desirability, current status, etc....

I'm curious how this evolves into guns, living off the grid, growing your own food, anarchy...am I missing something? Maybe because I live in the U.S. and I'm spoiled? Is "The System" about to crash? Isn't that what people have been saying my entire life? Is that good for the super-wealthy/powerful? (at least thats what I think I'm reading here). Isn't 'The System' somewhat self-correcting? Is everyone THAT dogmatic? Conspiracy? X-files?

Oops, lunchtime. Gotta go.

[Balgrog]

I agree with the ripster, Occupy movement annoys me to no end, especially where I live. I completely agree with the OP on how that it ridiculous. They are taking advantage of a bad situation, those people are just as bad as the best-buy that was selling bottled water for $50 during a hurricane.

[Ekaros]

Still, it's the global economy. If someone else can do your job for half the price and still make decent living they get it. Capitalism FTW.

I do belive there must happen something drastic. The measurements now done in US and EU are just post-poning the inevitable, likely massive inflation and reboot.

[cactux]

^ wc -w

[Voixdelion]

Well for what it's worth I am fairly certain that they aren't getting real high quality results for slave wages in any case.  You should see some of the comments posted on the writing jobs up for bid!  The spelling and grammar are atrocious on both the employer and bidder posts!  That isn't freelance work; its basically a human bot factory to defeat captchas when OCR can't do, or for generating "unique" yet incomprehensible "articles" that will trigger search algorithm hits so that they can generate ad revenue on useless drivel that doesn't even meet the already absurdly low standard of what is already a misappropriated definition of the word "content"  (at least, in cases where the job poster is unaware that  software can do the same thing,)  It's a cycle of bottom-feeding that adds nothing of value to the ecosystem, but rather is so parasitic and simultaneously cannibalistic that its like these people should just do like that Stephen King short story "Survivor Type" and start eating their own feet.

And whether it is silly or not, the Occupy movement at least has better sense than that.  What else is there to do when profit takes priority over people?  Somebody needs to pull the plug on the corporate machine or it will effectively become Skynet (except without awareness of any sort necessary)

Me, I'd prefer to try and adjust the balance rather than just hoping I survive the more catastrophic self-correction of the system that will orherwise

[Ekaros]

Yeah, I didn't like it either when OCN copied my Wikis and my pics without permission.

But what can you do?

It's the InterToobs.

Vote for SOPA and take em down!

[weenis]

Well for what it's worth I am fairly certain that they aren't getting real high quality results for slave wages in any case.

I don't know... Apple products sell like hotcakes. I don't know how they clean all the sweat off the products.

What else is there to do when profit takes priority over people?  Somebody needs to pull the plug on the corporate machine or it will effectively become Skynet (except without awareness of any sort necessary)

This is self-defeating. People will say this because they want more than what they have. Getting more than you have is profit at the expense of someone who has. The 99% is wanting to do for themselves what they call the 1% evil for doing. That's just silly.

Now, if the reply is "It's OK because it would be 99% of people winning, over the minority of the 1%."

Well... OK, but that's only alright if the majority dictates what is right. But I would guarantee that most, if not all, of the 99% would back the abolition of slavery, and backing the minority during the civil rights movement. This is contradictory in that on the one hand it is said, "It is alright because only 1% suffer while 99% benefit," but when the cause is altered, "It is not right that the 1% suffers, while the 99% benefit." This too is silly.

[7bit]

So lets say I have the marketable skill of being able to type 100 WPM flat.  We're talking 10 mins for 1OOO words, or a whopping 6 bucks an hour?  Who the hell would do this job?  If you can type 100 WPM I'm betting that you can temp for twice that wage easily, right?  

...Right? I mean, really, I seriously HOPE I am right about that or this country is deeper in the sh** than even I thought.  Are there any legitimate freelance work sources that aren't about creating garbage articles for pennies for spammers and scammers out there?  Freelancer.com has been disappointing to say the least.  

Am I just too proud or what?  Why does it seem like even skilled labor is totally without value now?  Is it just because the things people are trying to accomplish really are so low that skill is actually unnecessary? Honestly! Everytime I try and find gainful employment I start to lose faith in humanity...

Just tell them a word is 64 bits long and that one character has got 4 bytes these days (Unicode).

[Balgrog]

And whether it is silly or not, the Occupy movement at least has better sense than that.  What else is there to do when profit takes priority over people?  Somebody needs to pull the plug on the corporate machine or it will effectively become Skynet (except without awareness of any sort necessary)

This is called capitalism, and that is how we have thrived in the past. Now more than ever is the golden age for profit to over take human priority because people are willing to do anything for work, like in the great depression in the 1930's. Is it the "right" thing to do? That is all opinion. Personally I have worked terrible jobs with miserable hours, not getting paid what I should have by any means, but I shut up, did the work, got my bills paid. People need to realize life is not fair, you have to do stuff you do not like, and get it done.

[Malphas]

This is self-defeating. People will say this because they want more than what they have. Getting more than you have is profit at the expense of someone who has. The 99% is wanting to do for themselves what they call the 1% evil for doing. That's just silly.

Yes, but the difference is the 99% wanting more at the expense of the 1% can be justified by the obscene amount that 1% has in comparison to everyone else, arguably unjustifiably so.  A bit harder to justify your profits at the expense of Chinese factory workers, western minimum wage workers, and other 99%ers.

Capitalism is just as much an artificial and imposed system as Communism is, and Capitalism in theory is not the same as Capitalism in practice.  Some people tend to justify income disparity and such with the argument everyone is paid what the market dictates they're worth, but if you actually live in the real world you'll know this is horse**** for numerous reasons (cronyism, old boy networks, discrimination, class snobbery, etc.).  Globalisation also breaks the whole premise anyway, blue collar jobs in the United States, for instance, would pay much higher than they currently do due to market forces, if it weren't for illegal Mexican migrants and offsourcing of labour.  Finally, Capitalism messes up even when it's working as it should; e.g. a surgeon gets paid more than someone working at McDonald's, fine, but then someone who plays football well gets paid more then the surgeon?  And by an order of magnitude more than the difference between the surgeon and fast food employee?  That's what the market dictates, but unless you're some Ayn Rand-reading TPM idiot then it's obviously screwed up.

Basically, arguing the 1% should have less and the 99% should have more is pretty well justified, it has nothing to do with benefiting the majority as per your slavery analogy, it's because the economic system we have produces skewed outcomes that need corrected.  Not that any other system anyone has tried is any better yet.

[weenis]

Yes, but the difference is the 99% wanting more at the expense of the 1% can be justified by the obscene amount that 1% has in comparison to everyone else, arguably unjustifiably so.  A bit harder to justify your profits at the expense of Chinese factory workers, western minimum wage workers, and other 99%ers.

Like Apple. http://youtu.be/t6ekAvcd1lU

Basically, arguing the 1% should have less and the 99% should have more is pretty well justified

I have seen none, aside from people just saying it should be so. And if it's one person's word against another, then I see no need to change anything.

it has nothing to do with benefiting the majority as per your slavery analogy, it's because the economic system we have produces skewed outcomes that need corrected.

Haters gonna hate. You could always create a Dell, or program DOS, or ... or ... etc.

[Malphas]

Like Apple. http://youtu.be/t6ekAvcd1lU

Everyone already knows this.  Also, I don't care about Apple.

I have seen none, aside from people just saying it should be so. And if it's one person's word against another, then I see no need to change anything.

I just gave you one.  If you think the likes of a professional sports player, or a glamour model, or someone that appeared on reality TV deserves to earn more than a heart surgeon, or an engineer, or a research scientist then you're one of the people I was talking about that are blindly loyal to capitalism and probably can't be reasoned with.  It's just normal common sense.  Obviously plenty people do worthwhile things that net them being in the 1% also, but to a neutral observer it's pretty clear that being paid according to what the market dictates isn't anything close to being paid what your contributions are worth to society on the whole - even if they do correlate in some cases.

Haters gonna hate. You could always create a Dell, or program DOS, or ... or ... etc.

I'm not motivated by jealousy. I don't know what the figures are here in the UK but in the US to be in the top 1% you need to earn over around $350k, which my dad easily does, meaning at some point I probably will too as a direct result.  Currently I'm in the top 25% according to the same figures (downside is, I don't see much of it in disposable income as I have to pay off mortages, but on the other hand I don't have to actually do any work to generate my income, so meh).

[weenis]

If you think the likes of a professional sports player, or a glamour model, or someone that appeared on reality TV deserves to earn more than a heart surgeon, or an engineer, or a research scientist then you're one of the people I was talking about that are blindly loyal to capitalism and probably can't be reasoned with.  It's just normal common sense.  Obviously plenty people do worthwhile things that net them being in the 1% also, but to a neutral observer it's pretty clear that being paid according to what the market dictates isn't anything close to being paid what your contributions are worth to society on the whole - even if they do correlate in some cases.

The market dictates what professional sports players, or a glamour models, or someone that appears on reality TV are paid. They are paid that way because the 99% pay for them to be paid as much. If the 99% didn't care, there wouldn't be a market, and the individuals in question wouldn't be paid what they are. You want to look at how screwed the system is? Look to the 99%.

[Malphas]

Yes, the market dictates it.  Like I've said several times now, that's what the problem is.  I'll say it again: what the market dictates != what your contributions are actually worth to human society.  You sound too emotionally attached to your arguments - I'm not blaming the 1% for this state of affairs, it's just the outcomes the system we've got produces.  If you can't see any problem with it, then fair enough I guess.  Most people do though, including 1%ers like Warren Buffett.

[weenis]

Yes, the market dictates it.  Like I've said several times now, that's what the problem is.  I'll say it again: what the market dictates != what your contributions are actually worth to human society.

If the market doesn't dictate it, then someone does. And the someone that do, have historically done it through might. When it's done by might, you end up with a 99%/1% disparity.

Your argument takes you nowhere.

[Malphas]

If the market doesn't dictate it, then someone does. And the someone that do, have historically done it through might. When it's done by might, you end up with a 99%/1% disparity.

Your argument takes you nowhere.

I already said that no-one's come up with a better system than capitalism and I'm not personally advocating any kind of change.  You're misreading me, or not reading what I've said at all.  You were trying to state why the 99% thinking they should have more and the 1% less is silly, I'm telling you why you're unjustified in saying that.  I don't have to come up with an actual entire alternative economic system for that.

[weenis]

I already said that no-one's come up with a better system than capitalism and I'm not personally advocating any kind of change.  You're misreading me, or not reading what I've said at all.

If you have no suggested change, and you don't think anyone has come up with anything better than capitalism... why say or do anything?

You were trying to state why the 99% thinking they should have more and the 1% less is silly, I'm telling you why you're unjustified in saying that.  I don't have to come up with an actual entire alternative economic system for that.

If the 99% don't think they should have more, then what are they protesting? They are protesting what the 1% have, if they don't want the 1% to have as much as they do, then what do they expect to happen if the 1% didn't have what they did? Doesn't the 99% believe that the exorbitant resources of the 1% should be spread out among the 99%? That sounds like the 99% thinking they should have more to me.

[Malphas]

If you have no suggested change, and you don't think anyone has come up with anything better than capitalism... why say or do anything?

Ahaha are you serious?  What kind of attitude is this?  My position is basically "Capitalism is the best system we've come up with but it's not perfect."  You seem to be saying "Capitalism is perfect in every way, reality TV stars definitely deserve to earn more than brain surgeons. I <3 Ayn Rand".

(I'm just taking the piss, no offense meant.)

If the 99% don't think they should have more, then what are they protesting? They are protesting what the 1% have, if they don't want the 1% to have as much as they do, then what do they expect to happen if the 1% didn't have what they did? Doesn't the 99% believe that the exorbitant resources of the 1% should be spread out among the 99%? That sounds like the 99% thinking they should have more to me.

I'm not sure how you read my post as that.  I don't even know how to say it any more clearly, ha ha.  Are you being deliberately obtuse?  I didn't say that they don't want more, I'm saying that you were unjustified in saying it was silly or somehow reprehensible for them to do so?  Do you get it?