Recession? Depression? Nah…oDesk’s Got A Gig!
February 28th, 2009
OK. I’ll admit it…I’m an oDesk junkie. Signed as a provider last year. Couldn’t help myself from browsing daily—even though I’m seriously overqualified/overpriced/over experienced/or just over oDesk standards. Silly me! Set my pricing by industry standbys like experience, GAG, AIGA, competitor research, and the old “gotta pay my bills, add profit margin to expenses, divide by annual hours” routine. Anyway, I rant…
Here’s the thing, though…I’m sick and tired of seeing posts for “rockstar coder,” “kickass designer,” “short timeline,” and my personal favorite—“top quality, cheap designer, must deliver within next 24 hours!” Has NO ONE heard the old adage: “fast, good, cheap: pick two”? For the uninitiated, I’ve attached links:
Freelance Folder, The fast, good and cheap pricing method
Johnson Banks Thought for the Week
Vivid Media, Good + Fast + Cheap: Pick Any Two
Now, I understand that many US buyers want to save money by using offshore providers. (Don’t agree, but I understand.) However…there are also many buyers who seem to just to EXPLOIT certain providers. I find it particularly curious that a large number of such exploitative requests come from two of our priciest cities: New York & San Francisco. What, they won’t pay regional rates for their purchase? Heck, some of these buyers won’t even part with enough money for the cost of dinner in their neighborhoods! Check out this ad, posted recently:
Preferred Qualifications
Hourly rate: below $1.00 per hour
English skill: above 4Buyer Facts
Member Since: January 22, 2009
Country: United States (GMT-08)
City: San FranciscoIf you cannot work for $1/hr, please dont apply.
Im looking for someone to design a website for me.
I want to have some way to change the text on each page myself, without having to go through you.
So far, I only need less than 10 pages.
Maybe want to be able to put a video up on the site.
I may want to be able to put a audio recording on the site, or stuff for people to download.
May want to be able to put up a paypal button on the site, or someday, a shopping cart.
at some point, i will want to include an affiliate tracker, though that might be done on some program that I have to purchase separately.Im looking for someone who knows how to create a website that show up on google’s first page.
I already have web addresses.
I use godaddy.com right now for hosting, am willing to change if need be.Thank you!
Let’s not talk about skill level, quality or delivery time. Let’s talk about economics and comparable income streams. To pay for high speed internet service ALONE, you’d have to work 45 hours for this client—that’s one entire work week, plus OT—no profit, no taxes, no benefits, just staying connected! But wait…there are other ways to earn $45:
1) You could…babysit. Going rate for 1 kid no diapers is $5/hour. Add $2-4 dollars/hour if there are additional kids, babies, baths, etc. Job requirement: 12 yrs. old, and Red Cross first aid class. Hours to earn $45…7 (one work day)! That’s 5 times faster!
2) You could flip burgers/roll tacos/make smoothies. Going rate is $8.40/hour (OR minimum wage). Let’s round down to $8.00 to make the math really easy…8 times faster, or 5-hour work day and looooooong lunch!
3) You could…clean houses. Going rate is $20/hour, less supplies & transportation. So let’s make it simple and call it $15/hour. Clean a few toilets, floors, kitchen…3 hours MAX. Heck, clean another house and earn your internet connection + free 4 work days! (That’s 15 times faster.)
So, here’s a message for Mr./Ms. San FranCheapskateCisco…
Get real. Get some morality. Offer a living rate! We all know that the ONLY reason you even pay your local EEs a living wage is because it’s mandated by state law.
How DO you sleep at night?
Here’s a job request from New York:
We are looking for an experienced designer to complete web design for five (5) pages of our real estate services website. We have mockups prepared and you must have a strong, sophisticated of New York style and typography skills. We are not looking for typical corporate or real estate website design.
Please send links to your portfolio or websites. Our budget is $50 for design of 5 pages including 5 – 10 revisions per page.
And a sample of this company’s buying history:
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $1,648 (742 hrs @ $2.22)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $189 (171 hrs @ $1.11
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $239 (215 hrs @ $1.11)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $59 (53 hrs @ $1.11)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $1,525 (913 hrs @ $1.67)
- Writer / Admin Assistant $4,018 (392 hrs @ $8.89)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $342 (205 hrs @ $1.67)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $527 (316 hrs @ $1.67)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $716 (323 hrs @ $2.22)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $1,338 (603 hrs @ $2.22)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $552 (330 hrs @ $1.67)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $267 (240 hrs @ $1.11)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $330 (298 hrs @ $1.11)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $5 (5 hrs @ $1.11)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $11 (5 hrs @ $2.22)
- Real estate Listings Data Entry (outsourced) $16 (9 hrs @ $1.67)
I especially like the “5-10” revisions per page…this buyer is not only cheap & exploitative, but also unorganized & indecisive!
Hmmmm…I wonder if they treat their clients with similar respect?
