I Found Work on an Amazon Website. I Made 97 Cents an Hour.

[BeyondGeography]

Last edited Tue Nov 19, 2019, 05:49 PM - Edit history (2)

Inside the weird, wild, low-wage world of Mechanical Turk.

The computer showed a photo of what looked like a school board meeting. My job was to rate it on a scale of 1 to 5 for 23 different qualities: “patriotic,” “elitist,” “reassuring” and so on. I did the same for a photo of a woman wearing headphones — I gave her a 4 for “competent” and a 1 for “threatening” — and another of five smiling women flanking a smiling man in a blue windbreaker. I submitted my answers. I checked the clock. Three minutes had passed. I had just earned another 5 cents on a digital work marketplace run by Amazon called Mechanical Turk. At least I thought I had. Weeks later, I’m still not sure.

...Over the course of several weeks in September, I completed 221 HITs in a little over eight hours of dedicated turking, and earned a grand total of $7.83. That works out to 97 cents an hour.

... Katie Boehm of Pittsburgh turned to turking in 2017 after her husband, who has diabetes, lost his job and insurance coverage. Her own health issues keep her from working outside the house, and turking seemed like a lifeline. She turks at least 50 hours a week, sets herself a minimum goal of $20 a day and usually makes $30 to $50.

Her husband’s insulin costs $1,500 a month. “MTurk covers about half of what he needs to survive,” Ms. Boehm, 40, said. “Silly insulin.”

More at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/15/nyregion/amazon-mechanical-turk.html

[Sherman A1]

1. Sad

And another example of why we need a Universal Basic Income in this country.

[True Blue American]

2. That is really sad!

That our Country and companies have become nothing but grifters.

We have always had them but have degenerated back to the so called Golden Age!

We need an FDR, Teddy Roosevelt to fight for us. We have a corrupt Government, Supreme Court. They all have to go. The Zuckerbergs, Bezos and all the rest. Bloomberg would do us a favor by buying Fox News, now that it is broken off. Sinclair and all the rest.

[BeyondGeography]

3. It's an eye-opener to read about how TR and Wilson went after Big Money

And of course FDR. You realize how pathetically tepid our politics have become.

[in2herbs]

13. But according to an article posted yesterday Pelosi and Obama have warned us to be centrist in

our selection of a president, not revolutionary, and a lot of people on DU agreed with them. Not me. If rooting out the corruption in government and the courts requires a revolution I am for it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. Amazon is not the problem. They are providing a marketplace. The people paying a penny are the prob.

[Vinca]

4. She should find a reliable pharmacy in Canada for the husband's insulin.

She'll save more in one order than she'll make in a month "turking" or whatever it's called.

[Nay]

5. Agreed. She can pop right over the border since she's in NY already. NT

[BeyondGeography]

6. She's in Pittsburgh, not Plattsburgh

[DeminPennswoods]

11. Pittsburgh is only a few hours from Buffalo

and Toronto area.

[BeyondGeography]

14. Yeah, piece of cake for a financially overwhelmed woman

who probably doesn’t know all the angles on how to beat the system to drop everything and “pop over” the border to a country she may never have been to.

Listen to you guys.

[DeminPennswoods]

15. Your post implied

that Pittsburgh was far, far away from Canada. In fact, it's not. If she would want or need to travel to Canada, it's a few hours by car.

[Vinca]

19. If she has Internet access - or a telephone - she can order by mail. They ship

with cooling packs and the insulin arrives just fine. You do need either a debit or credit card and you need a written Rx from a doctor you can scan and send to them. The savings are significant.

[BeyondGeography]

20. As can be the risks

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/fda-sends-warning-to-canadian-drug-company-what-to-know#FDA-cracks-down-on-importing-Rx-drugs

[Vinca]

23. Technically, insulin isn't considered a prescription drug. It's a hormone. In some countries

it can be purchased over the counter. I was worried about it, too, but it's worked out great for us. No problems at all.

Editing to add, if the alternative is dying without insulin or rationing insulin the risk is worth it. What a country we live in . . .

[TheFarseer]

7. I found a site to take surveys

I made $50 in about 3 months. I just did it when I was bored. Glad I didn't really need the money or that would hacve been frustrating.

[Farmer-Rick]

8. It's just the filthy rich preying on our citizens again.

Capitalism at it's best. You too can work for practically nothing and allow the filthy rich to profit off you. It's everywhere. Thanks capitalism.

[Delphinus]

34. Isn't that the truth?!

I am so disheartened by this story. So many people are trying to survive ...

[HAB911]

9. What friggin' world am I in?

[Quackers]

10. I've actually done these types of sites before.

You do offers, surveys, etc for pay. You can’t get rich by any means, but in my best month, I made $300. I just do it to have extra spending money. It means more than you think when my income is $1540 a month from disability. I don’t report it so it doesn’t get counted against my health insurance.

https://gain.gg/r/DarknessFalls <<<that is my referral link. If you check out that site through my link, I get a 5% bonus of whatever offer you do.

I’ve been here a long time and never have shared this info. If it’s too spammy, just tell me and I’ll delete. I just thought I would share some insight into these types of sites and how they work.

[BeyondGeography]

24. Useful info

Thanks for posting.

[Quackers]

25. Glad you found it useful.

Honestly, I was quite worried I would get a hide. If you or anyone has any questions about what works or how to get something to pay out, feel free to ask.

[marlakay]

27. Wow I clicked on it and was reading

The chat a guy called Trump2020 is going on and on about how he likes him and a bunch of others saying the same. Got me to click out...lol

Couldn’t figure it out anyway, looked complicated with weird ways to pay.

[Quackers]

28. It pays out direct to PayPal for me at any amount.

The chat is unregulated. I just close it out most days. Offers range from email submit, iOS downloads, surveys, etc. it’s definitely not for everyone. For me, I can do a few surveys, withdraw it instantly to PayPal, and go and buy a gallon of milk for the kids. Yeah, it gets that tight.

I actually did an op here a while back asking for guidance on stretching our food budget. There were some sincere responses and good post, but several turned it into a parody, so I deleted it. This helps out. Even a few extra dollars a week helps us make it through the month.

[marlakay]

30. I am one of those that totally gets it

Not now but in early 80’s home with my babies and husband out of work we could barely pay rent and eat. My dad would stop by and slip me a $20 every once in awhile and it was only time in my life on food stamps for 9 months.

I am actually glad for that time because now it gives me more compassion for others.

[Quackers]

31. My mom used to help us out a lot like that.

She passed last November. I think that’s what made it even more of a struggle this past year. We get food assistance right now. It’s currently $279 for 5 of us. Ironically, when I joined the Army, we weren’t on assistance. When I separated 8 years later, we were. The US is such a strange place anymore. I wish money went as far as it used too.

[Hav]

32. It is an interesting concept

and I tried it out. Some are rather quick surveys and then I just had a rather long survey and it didn't pay more than the short ones. But I'll see whether I'll eventually be able to transfer that money (I think you need to reach a limit).
I used your link and in the header I already saw you got come coins for a referral. Not much but if it works and if one has some time to spare, good for both of us.

[Quackers]

33. Thanks for trying it out!

If you use your PayPal, the minimum withdrawal is 1 cent usd. He doesn’t charge a withdrawal fee or processing. The first withdrawal might take longer due to review. They had an issue with bots running accounts doing $30-$40 a day in surveys.

Use a good email when registering. Create a new email account for info submits. Those will get spammed hard and you don’t want that on a good email account. The better surveys unlock after you get higher levels. For now, there are several offers where you just submit an email or download an app that pays 200-300 coins. That would be worth 20-30 cents. 100 coins equals $1

I don’t want to post too much more for fear of getting a hide. DU has been generous in allowing these post to stay. If you have questions, feel free to pm me

[mountain grammy]

12. Free market capitalism

Ain’t it great? Soon we may have citizens filling potholes for tips.

[dlk]

17. More evidence why strong unions are critical for American workers

My friend’s father was s union organizer and he always said that without unions there aren’t good paying jobs.

[crickets]

18. How is this legal?

Obviously, people are voluntarily working from the comfort of their own homes at their own pace, but in terms of payment this doesn't seem much different from sweatshop wages. It's surreal.

[Ms. Toad]

26. You're an independent contractor.

Pay to an independent contractor is not governed by minimum wage laws (and you are responsible for reporting income and paying all taxes on it - so the actual "take-home' pay is even less).

That said - I've done some of this. I occasionally play electronic games just for a diversion. I can do stuff like this, which provides a similar diversion, and get a little spare change.

[hunter]

21. In some places 97 cents an hour goes a long way.

It's the same reason clothes are made in places with very low wages.

The internet is international.

International labor unions are ruthlessly suppressed.

[UniteFightBack]

22. I earn at least 5 bucks a day on my survey and video sites and I'm very happy with it. I could earn

a lot more if I put more effort it in. I've never heard of 97 cents an hour though...it may be a penny to do a task but the task should not take an hour. A penny an hour would not be worth it.

[ansible]

29. meanwhile rich assholes spend $50 a meal and laugh at us poor people