What is a VPA you might ask? I did too... it turns out be a Virtual Personal Assistant. You can hire one through an online company like getfriday.com or redbutler.com and go from there. They can do all sorts of things for you - organize your calendar, handle appointments, book travel plans, database management, etc. And the best thing... they're cheap... $1 to $3 per hour! What a deal!
The only thing with them is... they live in a Third World country somewhere. Where $1 per hour is a lot of money but... somehow it doesn't seem ethical to me... Somehow it seems just one step up from slavery. So there are sweat shops in the Third World where people get paid a pittance for a day's work... but we don't really think about that too much when we buy our jeans or sneakers. But now... this would be you hiring a personal assistant and you paying them a pittance... it's a step closer to us.
I wonder about it... maybe $1/hr is a huge amount of money for people over there? Or maybe not? Lots of companies are outsourcing services to the Third World - call centres, customer support, phone sales, etc. Does that make it right? I just wonder sometimes...
1 comment:
Very good points! Some people boycott Dollar Stores for the same reasons.One can see both side of the problem..some one might be getting a paltry sum of money for their work but where would they be with nothing? Yet who gets the huge profits in the long run? I choose to get most of my stuff at Thrift Store, non- profit ones. It might be interesting to visit these countries and bring back goods bought directly from the artisans etc
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