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Outsourcing Your Life

online.wsj.com — Sending work offshore has transformed the U.S. economy. Now, some families are tapping the same approach for personal tasks, getting them done for a fraction of what they'd cost at home. Here's how to take your to-do list global.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 3, 2007

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  • torched, on 10/11/2007, -4/+51I wish we could outsource Washington, I have a feeling that a group of 20 top graduates from India could do a better job than all the clowns we have in DC.
  • SpaceMonkeyZero, on 10/11/2007, -7/+42Japanese companies opening plants in the U.S. seem to have figured it out.

    Kodak moved their US and Mexico plants to China complaining they can't earn a profit manufacturing here (and Mexico)

    Meanwhile Fuji is opening plants in the U.S. and they're profitable.

    GM has all but outsourced to Canada and Mexico, While Toyota and Subaru are building more and more cars in the U.S.

    I think it's time for middle management to be sacked. That and throw out the Union leadership.
  • aryo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+30i would like to outsource my sex life, as well. i'm sick of these local hookers.
  • lopla, on 10/11/2007, -3/+21As a busy evangelical I often have less and less time for prayer. That is why I have outsourced 5 prayer sessions per day to India. I am now assured a place in eternal paradise and best of all, just $5.95 a week! Praise God!
  • penncon, on 10/11/2007, -6/+23Higher quality at a cheaper cost...sounds like good, old fashioned capitalism to me. If the US wants to keep jobs here and keep people from going overseas for services, we need to create a more business-friendly environment to allow our companies to compete globally.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -5/+21I've got some guy in India brushing my teeth for me.
  • zandr, on 10/11/2007, -7/+23Ok, I am an Indian and let me give you guys an honest prospective on this:

    This is outsourcing thing is getting really creepy. Its ok when limited to companies, organizations etc. But on the individual level this is really really sad. I just read some outsourcing accounts on TimFerris.com and I was shocked to see what kind of ugly turn this is taking.

    All I see is lazy people who cant do their own research work outsourcing it. Americans who cant say I love you to their wife outsourcing even that!!! I mean, this is not how you're supposed to live your life people!!!

    I mean if you're outsourcing everything to India, you aren't making your life easy. You are just being L-A-Z-Y.

    And imagine things on the Indian side. Smart graduates who should be interested in opening new companies, create innovative products, help solve problems in India are just wasting their time by helping LAZY people on the other side of earth by writing articles for a lazy journalist, choosing menu for a lazy diner, saying i love you for a scared boyfriend. Think about the mental impact on the Indian living someone else's life!!!

    This is type of outsourcing is wrong and should be stopped.

    For Americans I will say: "Stop being lazy and live your life"

    For Indians I will say: "Stop living someone else's life. Find other jobs, this kind of job is sick and will have big mental impact on you"

    Please Digg this article since you wont get this honest Indian prospective from other comments. Thanks
  • edebolt, on 10/11/2007, -5/+20Great article. it makes total sense. I have outsourced most of my needs to Thailand where I live 10 months of the year. I work for a company in the States and also trade financial markets. Everybody is going to complain we are losing jobs to other countries but the US is all about innovation and the jobs we lost to manufacturing were more than made up with Internet, Biotechnology new industries. There are huge new industries in Nano technology and advanced material sciences that when they kick in are going to make the industrial revolution look like childs play. We have 4% unemployment anyway... Not a lot of slack.

    People talk a lot about China which I visit frequently but I will tell you this. They will get lots of manufacturing but will innovate very little in the next 2 decades. Currently China gets less than 2% of the new Patents and I and other analysts can't point to a single Chinese company that will innovate without stealing. Let the low cost high pollution mfg work go to China to feed their people and that allow free market capitalism of the US does what it does best and innovate. Remember when everybody wrote off the US when Japan came on the scene 25 years ago? The US was done... Kaput. Could never compete with Japan. Well 25 years later the US economy has widened its GDP gap over Japan and done it with drastically less debt than Japan. (external Japanese debt 180%, US external debt 35%). Nobody would have ever predicted that but new Industries like the Internet are driving world economies. Same thing will happen with China. Solid economy but not a driver by any stretch.

    I think the US will wake up in a few years and wisely outsource a lot of basic medical care. Little johnny does not need to get his tonsils out at the Mayo Clinic but could save lots of money and get a free vacation in many countries like Costa Rica, Argentina, Thailand. Philipines, Malaysia. Most medical care is decades old technology now.

    Global economy.. Bring it on.

  • floejoe, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Saying you can do a better job than Bush is not saying much. I would be hard-pressed to find a person unable to do a better job than him, the standard is so low now we could have one of those Bonbo monkeys in an Iowa lab that can apparently talk do the task.

    My guess is that since they are monkeys they will be pro-environment.
  • MacintoshSauce, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10How about allowing foreign-born US citizens to become President? I could do a better job than the moron that is in office right now. My four ferrets could do a better job than the dimwit that is presently in office.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9Can I outsource the reading of this article for me?

    So many words... Can't... read them all... Must watch... American Idol instead!
  • maiku00, on 10/11/2007, -3/+10this is sad and disgusting, there are plenty of designers and coders in the states who don't need to lose their jobs to some douche in russia who will work for pennies on the dollar
  • thecoolestguy, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9One more point about Japan. What people don't realize, that the GDP figures don't show, is the rise in personal assets/savings of the average Japanese versus the average American. Japan, thanks to having a government that isn't run by special interests, has a healthier economy that allows for higher personal savings rates, versus Americans who are borrowing to maintain their level of consumption. America needs Dr. Ron Paul.
  • zandr, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9He's probably ***** your girlfriend for you too (assuming you have a girlfriend
  • floejoe, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7I disagree, I think that making ourselves co-dependent on the world and making everyone else dependent on us creates a worldwide ecosystem of economics where people are motivated to earn more, maintain their lifestyles, and have a reason to live, rather than contemplate wars and how to destroy another nation due to jealousy and misconceptions about another culture that any government throws out into their media.

    (e.g. china-taiwan, china-japan, japan-korea, india-pakistan, russia-europe, everyone-USA) I think people would not support the illogical rhetoric of all these governments if they had connections to these other countries, people would be happier because casual folk just want to put bread on their family's table.
  • rhabd0mancer, on 10/11/2007, -5/+10I'd rather have a clean environment than a "business-friendly" environment.
  • aceg1357, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5The tutoring aspect was very interesting. Provide quality tutoring for your children at a very reasonable price. It works very well for Math and languages. Want your kid to learn Chinese?
  • DougPenn, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6I've hired a man in India to find me the hottest blonde porn on the net, and have the links waiting for me when I arrive home. All for only $5 a day - that's how much I was spending on lunch!
  • byrnesrebs09, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Economic outsourcing, free trade, evil.

    Contrary to popular belief, free trade is not fair.
  • Birdoftruth, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2@ edebolt

    I don't know if you just read the new [i]Consumer Reports[/i] issue or not but they had an article on Nano technology explaining that there are a lot of hidden risks that ma prevent it from becoming big due to health issues. I suggest you check out the issue with Digital Cameras on the front. So I am just saying don't blow your life savings on Nano tech stocks because the EPA could prevent it from becoming big.
  • timf, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Megan sure looks enthusiastic.
  • SpaceMonkeyZero, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Ever find it funny that they've been "Painting" that room for 2 weeks now?
  • twiztedambience, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2So then tell the USA to stop giving tax breaks to the rich (some of whom outsource) and tell the gov. to help out some of the poor in this country. Otherwise, according to your theory, while the rich trickle their money into cheap labor, the poor of the United States get no "equaling theory" effecting them and life gets tougher.
  • damnyooneek, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5We're screwing ourselves every time we rely on outsourcing. its going to come back and bite us in the ass. i hate talking to indian people when i need customer service. its obvious there's a language and culture barrier that doesnt allow for satisfactory customer service.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2"the EPA could prevent it from becoming big."

    Welcome to why everything is being outsourced.
  • mescalitospoke, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I agree with Penncon, if we want to start competing globally it's time to start paying all of our manufacturers a nickel an hour, that way we can compete with with China.

    It's not enough that corporations rule our Govt. lets get rid of the middle class entirely, they make terrible slaves.
  • ferndave, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2People love to complain about paying illegals low wages and sending all that money to their native country. Now, if you call that payment 'outsourcing' it makes it ok.
  • BESTenemy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2There is no solution on a global market scale.

    Product cost incorporates the investments made throughout its production. Here in the US the cost of living is high. We enjoy more luxuries than people in other parts of the world and we pay more for them. We demand our employers to give us wages that would pay for this lifestyle. In turn, they are forced to make products more expensive. Those same products then, cannot outcompete identical products from other countries where the cost of living is lower.

    We cannot reduce our cost of living, cause we don't want to. The only solution to that is continuing on with existing trends until the appetites can no longer be met. Till the buying power of middle class is reduced to nothing. Depression, recession, war, the whose shebang.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -4/+6It sucks for the tutor, however, who has to get up at 3:30 am. I can't imagine being into my job and giving good performance if I had to wake up then.
  • mcdaddy1, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"You want to repeal the workers' protection laws? And get back to the exploitation of the Victorian times?"

    Tarnum, thanks for your comment.
    Without the proper context, most people will see this as exploitation...that's because they fill in the context with their own values and standards.
    You have to see it from the perspective of the immigrants. It wasn't exploitation. They wanted to come here and do this stuff.
    So I guess my great grandfather who fought tooth and nail to come to the US from China to work on the railroads, was being exploited... that's such *****. People came here to work these jobs (which seem ***** to us) but these jobs were most likely better than the jobs they had back in their native land - we had some regulations for safety; he had watch groups even then. You think they had that stuff back home? Plus they were being paid more than what they were used to.
    It's not different from the current liberal viewpoint on sweatshops in southeast asian or where ever. These people by and large want these freakin' jobs - no one is forcing them to work. They are linked to multinationals so there is a possibility to air grievances. They make more money than they would otherwise. They work hours that seem long to us but are nothing to them. To some of the child laborers, it's either a factory job or prostitution. Which is better? I have a grandmother who has worked in such factories...has she ever complained? No, because now all her grandchildren have college degrees.
    thanks for reading
  • Impetus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Why should you be taxed more for working harder and making more money? It just doesn't make sense being punished for sacrificing your time and energy to do better in life... I just don't get that mentality... It seems that this mentality comes more from Europe. Do you guys not make more money for harder work and more personal sacrifice? I know I had to work my dairy air off to get where I am, and I plan on working harder still...
  • indijay, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1You are such a sick ass pervert
  • SpaceMonkeyZero, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Sometimes a really bad accent can invalidate the tutoring received... Just sayin...

    I've worked with outsourced employees from other parts of the world, and sometimes just getting an answer to "What did you work on last night" was next to impossible. I for one am glad that my company is pulling coding jobs BACK to the U.S.

    Illiteracy is when someone can speak, but can not read/write the language. What is it when someone can read/write it, but can't speak it worth a crap?

    "xenophobic" rant over. I know I'll get dugg down... But really, if you're going to do business over the phone with someone in another language, (and they're paying the bills) speak clearly!

    Also... getting up at 3:30AM What's so tough about that? I'm up at 4:45 every morning to get ready for the day. Once you're out of college, you'll realize that people don't normally go to bed at 3AM every day.
  • etnu, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"Japan, thanks to having a government that isn't run by special interests, has a healthier economy that allows for higher personal savings rates, versus Americans who are borrowing to maintain their level of consumption."

    Japan also has the highest debt:GDP ratio in the world -- not exactly sound fiscal policy.

    The world economy isn't really all that big of an opportunity for the U.S. the only thing that we really export is our IP, and as we all know most of the world has absolutely no respect for IP in the first place.

    China is different from Japan in several ways which will help it in some areas and cripple it in others:

    - The huge population will make it so that China always has a very large poor population, no matter what. While life will get a lot better in some places, the chinese per capita GDP will never come close to what we have in the currently powerful countries of the world.

    - China has virtually no regulation, turning it into one of the most polluted countries on the planet while allowing all business to be done much cheaper. Labor is hardly the most important factor here.

    - China forbids foreign ownership. Anyone who wants to do business in China must partner with domestic companies, and foreign ownership is capped at below-controlling percentages.
  • etnu, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1In many parts of the U.S., the average wage is over $75,000 because that's what it costs to live there. Try living in S.F. and supporting a family on anything less than $75k a year. The guy asking for $90k isn't asking for some ridiculous salary, he's asking for enough money to live comfortably. If he asked for $90k in some smaller place, he'd get laughed at.

    Contrary to popular belief, software engineers in the U.S. don't all make 6 figures. Most of us don't even make that much in the bay area. People in ohio or michigan or arizona routinely make less than $40k a year -- or around $15-$17 an hour. Suddenly that $11 an hour guy isn't really looking all that cheap anymore.

    I'm sick of people using the artificially high salaries of the bay area when doing salary comparisons.
  • kuzotz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1mcdaddy.

    americans work hard enough as it is. MAny work 12 hour shifts with an extra 5 hour overtime..

    There are people that work 85 hours a week, and almost never see home.


    Yea they'll still lose their job only because its cheaper to outsource.

    companies don't look at an individual, and say "Well he doesn't seem to work as hard as this indian guy thus he loses and indian guy wins."

    thats ridiculous to say....... Simply put America doesn't manufacture, and American companies are taking the well they're pretty much running away.. But don't you worry we have foreign companies that still hire Americans because apparently they are making money by manufacturing in America.. How come American companies can't do this? Why must they outsource?

    simply put American companies think in the short term. Trust me. I know I know. China's, and India's markets will grow, but the problem I have with this is that the growth is too rapid. Anyway I have no clue where I am going with this, but I think that there will be much more to lose if outsourcing continues.. Watch someday it will bite us in the ass very very hard.

    American companies do exist to make money, but they don't innovate as they use to... When it comes to technologies. Countries aren't buying from an American company. THey're getting it from the Japanese, South Koreans, or the EU.
  • kuzotz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1My profession will not be outsourced. For it requires us to travel the world, and pretty much work abroad. btw minimum wage has nothing to do with the number of jobs.
  • freixas, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I really don't understand the people in the US who love outsourcing. OK, you save money by buying a cheap service overseas--this way you don't pay a higher fee to a local person. The local person earns less money and they can't buy as much as they used to. Perhaps they wind up outsourcing as well, just to get by. More money leaves the US, less money is arriving in the pockets of the US workers, who are also consumers.

    Back to you: you try to sell your product locally. It seems like eventually, there will be no one in the US who can afford it. So you sell try to sell it overseas, but they can't afford it either and you wind up having to lower your price.

    To me, it seems like a downward spiral until everyone is earning on the same level. As I said, I can't understand the attraction of the global market--except maybe to corporations that can eventually move completely offshore--workers, managers, CEO's and even shareholders.
  • jwalk81980, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The wife wanted me to help her paint a room in our house. I outsourced it to a buddy of mine for $50. She paints - He paints - I play xbox. Everybody wins.
  • Chimp711, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1http://www.domystuff.com allows you to find someone inside the US to outsource your work to.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Of course there's the fact that many illegal immigrants prefer to spend their money on essentials and luxuries within their host country, which (along with the work they do) makes them undocumented but active contributors to the local economy.
  • sastian, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1notice how they're all design jobs?
    this crap makes me sick.

  • LastVisibleDog, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Great idea - let's outsource everybody's job but my own - that'll work (and think of the money I'll save)
  • twiztedambience, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Look at it another way Zandr, some jobs on those sites provide the opportunity to build a resume and succeed in a few years if opportunity is limited. I'm not too familiar with India I admit, but I would gather it's an extremely crowded job market there -- so having the ability to say you designed someone's home, or wrote an article that got printed in the States.. that would probably go a long way on the resume.

    The more small projects you do and get rated for, the more likely a larger company will see your profile and hire you.

    So there are some advantages too..

    Unfortunately, for us freelancers in the states, this just puts more pressure on us. Ideally that's great, but there are only so many jobs to go around here too.
  • twiztedambience, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1writing jobs too.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1It's just shift work - and with evening tutoring, the time difference isn't THAT crippling.
  • kuzotz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1making more money doesn't equate to working harder because its easy to stay rich, and trust me the rich are greedy bastards in my opinions.. I hate how libertarians has this approach of the rich being the strong when they are the exact polar opposite of strong.. They just have wealth, and there is nothing special about that. Sure you get more of a say in the country you reside in, but so what. You will be food for worms just like us.

    To say that every single poor person is just plain lazy is what pisses me off. I know people who work 4 to 5 different jobs, and only get 1 to 2 hours of sleep daily that are ***** poor, and get no breaks. Nope they get ***** taxed because the local government decided to give a few businesses that are already wealthy another tax break while they cut the budget in their child's education, and health care.

    IF you think nothing is wrong with that then something is wrong with you.


    There is one reason why I really don't like libertarians. They think that the rich will just be willing to help.

    *****. The government must force their asses to pay taxes just like the government does to us...

    I'm tired of the poor, and middle class being forced to tank the burden of a nation.. The rich much carry some of that burden also...Hell if anything. IF you make it big, or if I make it big there is an obligation to give back to society since you will be considered apart of its elite.

    BTW poor to middle class make more money through hard work. Rich people with huge corporations make more money through tax breaks, government pensions, and corporate pensions. Also exploitation.

    BTW the way Switzerland does things doesn't sound half bad. Same with the Scandinavian countries.
  • etnu, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Even better than outsourcing these stupid tasks, how about saving some real money by just buying direct from Chinese and Indian companies?

    Oh! That's right, we have artificial trade barriers (tariffs, import restrictions, etc.) that prevent consumers from actually benefiting from outsourcing. Barriers that were lobbied for by American businesses begging to be protected from international competition. Businesses who scream "PROTECTIONISM!!!!1" the moment anyone suggests that we might want to do something to curb the rapid job loss.

    Quick question -- if outsourcing lowers prices for consumers, could someone please explain to me why prices for goods and services are higher today than they were 10 years ago, after adjusting for inflation? Corporate profits are at all time highs. The DJIA & S&P are at all time highs.

    Yeah, that's right. The only people benefiting from outsourcing are the shareholders.

    Fortunately, most companies that have outsourced most of their work have been shown to be useless, and are now being crushed by their overseas competition. Within 10 years there won't be any domestic furniture, toy, clothing, or consumer electronics companies.

    The rapid level of income displacement that's happening is going to trigger a massive world-wide depression very soon. When Americans can no longer afford to buy all these things any more, the whole house of cards will collapse. The only thing propping everything up right now is the artificial dollar:yuan ratio. The dollar has lost 40% against the Euro and almost 30% against the Canadian & Austrlian dollars in the last 8 years -- it should have lost about 75% against the yuan.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The key to economic prosperity is to outsource your neighbor's job before he/she outsources yours.

  • kuzotz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@eksai

    yea because I would really love to work for 11$ an hour with the current cost of living rising in a place that has no public transportation.....



    India has a different cost of living, and different demographics.

    simply put.. You go into debt getting through university. HEll yes you need a high paying job in order to pay off your debt. But you seem to be an economist to say what you're saying, btu many are very skeptical if china, and india can keep us this fiscal.

    outsourcing is a very touchy issue with economist, and this is coming from someone who does international studies(yes we also do economics to an extent, but mostly trade, and finance.)

    Anyway I think outsourcing is hurting American companies in the long run..
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