I don’t care if they’re in the United States legally or not, I respect people who make the attempt to work.
If you wake up and stand in a hot/cold parking lot for hours for the chance to MAYBE get a $10/hour job doing boring ass grunt work….I respect that.
This is the daily life of day laborers.
Pretty much every single day they stand outside of stores such as Home Depot in hopes a building contractor needs some extra help.
I wondered if a little copywriting could help these guys get work quicker.
So I decided to try a little experiment………
I would like to acknowledge my good friend David Gonzales from Internet Marketing Party for his help in this experiment. He’s a real Mexico Person who speaks fluent Mexico and 100% of the communication I had with all these guys was through him.
For this experiment he’s the Mexican Neville!
David Gonzales (This picture is completely un-altered in any way).
What We Want To Accomplish:
We’d like to see if we can help the dudes that stand on the street corner to work as day laborers get work quicker.
Whatever method we come up with would have to be:
- Repeatable across the country.
- Cheap or free.
- Simple enough to replicate by anyone.
My Hypothesis: It’s too complex and intimidating to hire from this market:
Here’s my original hypothesis:
I think a HUGE problem that prevents people from utilizing these groups of able-bodied men for work is that it’s super intimidating and scary to pull up to a group of them.
They themselves don’t look intimidating, but this is what happens soon as you pull up:
You get freakin’ SWARMED.
This is actually a SMALL group of guys who broke away from talking to us to go see if the person in this car needed some day laborers (two guys ended up going with this car).
Me and David both pulled up in black Lexus cars to a gas station, and before we could get out of our cars we both had 10+ dudes swarming each car.
I ain’t gonna lie, when 10 sorta-scrubby looking dudes surround you SOON as you park, your natural defense mechanisms go up.
If a house-mom from the suburbs wants to hire some people to paint her house, she’d NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS use this method.
It’s too chaotic.
It’s too intimidating.
It’s too uncertain.
I originally wanted to make binders showing their previous work, but this is a lot of work and money (and quite frankly, most of these guys have no specific skills to show off).
So my hypothesis was that if each guy carries a small sign with their name and basic skills listed on it, you could easily choose who to pick.
This way you can see which skills they have right away:
So in the beginning, I was hoping to go talk to these guys and make them all signs. I even brought markers and paperboard in my car.
Where to Find Day Laborers:
It was kind of hard to figure out online where these guys stand. This isn’t exactly a well-documented operation. So we went off basic memory. There were a few locations such as outside of Home Depot’s where these guys always hang out at.
We found an old torn-down Home Depot where across the street at a gas station these guys hang out. So on a Wednesday morning David and I found the spot, we both pulled up into the parking lot of a gas station where these day laborers stand, and immediately were SWARMED by guys asking us (in Spanish) if we needed some help.
“TRABAJO? TRABAJO? TRABAJO?” is all I heard. (It means “Work?”).
The demographics of these guys were:
- All men.
- Primarily Mexican, Honduran, or Cuban.
- Very few spoke English. At max some knew some basic English words.
- Almost 100% are undocumented workers.
- Age range from 22 to 65.
We ended up speaking to a group of about 15-25 guys for an hour.
We had to move parking lots when the owner of the gas station forced us to leave.
There were 4 guys who were still interested in speaking with us, and talked with us for another full hour:
David, Neville, Laborer Dudes (for privacy reasons I chose to obscure their faces).
We learned a lot from these guys about how this whole undocumented worker system operated. Here’s what we learned about how this hiring “marketplace” works:
How to hire day laborers (The Process):
So here’s what we learned about hiring a day laborer:
At the specific corner we went to, they say about 40 people show up per day and wait around for work. About 10 contractors or people will come through per day requesting workers. This means about 15 – 20 of these guys will get picked up for work in a given day. The others will not get work at all.
They would call the contractors looking for help “Jefe’s” which translates to “Bosses.”
They estimated about 30% of the “Jefe’s” (Bosses) that pick them up are genuine and good people that pay them a fair wage.
They estimated about 70% of the Jefe’s try to weasel out of paying them, or blatantly lie about the work. For example a Jefe will imply they are going to pay someone $10/hour for work, then at the end of a 9 hour workday they’ll say, “Here’s your $10” and leave. If the worker tries to protest or ask for more, the Jefe will call immigration.
We heard story-after-story from these guys about how contractors would take them 2 hours outside the city, make them do backbreaking work, not offer any food/water/restrooms, pay them only 10% of what was agreed, and then leave them 2 hours outside the city with no way to get home.
The workers essentially have zero recourse since they are undocumented workers.
Another common scam is a contractor will say they are hiring them for only 2 hours to do easy air-conditioned cleaning work inside an office building. When they get to the job site, the contractor then makes them do backbreaking work like manually pick-axe concrete for the same price and many many more hours than agreed.
Since most of these guys sometimes have a total of $3.00 to their name, there’s not much they can do besides accept the money and do nothing.
What to Pay Day Laborers:
The standard rate for a day laborer seemed to be between $10/hour and $12/hour. The Jefe’s they liked would pay them $10/hr for a full 8 hour workday.
If someone were to hire a day laborer, to NOT be a completely terrible person it’d be common courtesy to:
- Give them water.
- Let them have access to a restroom.
- It’s not required, but lunch or some food would be nice.
- Drive them back to the location you picked them up at.
The other way to pay is to offer a set price for the work. Maybe tell them you’ll pay $50 for someone to paint a wall or move some lumber, and they will tell you who is willing to go for that price.
How Can We Help:
OK, so we know there are problems with this broken marketplace:
- PROBLEM: The day laborers have no idea if a bad contractor will screw them over.
SOLUTION: This problem has been solved by “ratings.” Amazon uses ratings to rate good/bad products. Yelp uses ratings to rate good/bad restaurants. - PROBLEM: There’s no way to get hired again by the good Jefe’s except through luck.
SOLUTION: This problem can be solved by giving the Jefe their contact information. - PROBLEM: There’s no way for a Jefe to know what skills a worker has.
SOLUTION: This problem can be solved by holding a sign with their skills.
As we all were talking, I kept explaining (through the translation of David) how I think they should all keep little signs with their skills on it. This idea was rejected over-and-0ver, and quite honestly, I was a bit frustrated.
It’s like they didn’t even WANT to try.
There were two main mis-conceptions they had:
1.) The signs I was suggesting made them look like they were begging on the side of the road, which is illegal in that area and could get them arrested.
–and–
2.) The signs I was suggesting would take away work from their fellow day laborers.
THIS WAS A HUGE ISSUE FOR THEM. They were shockingly loyal to one another, and anything that gave one guy an advantage over another they absolutely rejected.
I kept persisting this method wasn’t designed to screw over their friends, but rather make the whole marketplace more efficient.
So then David pulled a business card out of his pocket as a demonstration of how the sign would work, and something shifted.
When the conversation moved to them giving out business cards, they 100% agreed that would be a great idea!!
However one guy pulled out his wallet and showed us he literally had $3 in TOTAL MONEY. He couldn’t afford business cards, or even knew how to get them made.
Well fortunately we could maybe help them with that buy either paying for their business cards, or printing them out!
So let’s try a field-test of this business card idea…..
Perform An In-Field Test by Printing Business Cards:
So one thing that would help these guys tremendously is if a good Jefe needed work, he could simply text or call them for work. 100% of the guys on the corner had smartphones, so calling or texting wasn’t a problem.
It was actually a big revelation that the workers and contractors almost never traded contact info. I explained to them how giving out business cards to the good Jefe’s would dramatically increase their chances of getting a call or text from one of them asking for more help. Perhaps even higher-paid specialized work.
Four guys were down to try this out. So we made some business cards for each of them. I just bought a pack of Avery Business Card paper and printed them out manually on my inkjet printed (I purposely did not buy them online because it was 1.) too expensive for most of these guys and 2.) a lot of them don’t have credit cards to buy stuff online.
So we manually started making 4 different business cards for 4 different guys:
It was pretty simple to make each business card using Avery Templates:
It took about 5 minutes to write out and print out each set of business cards (30 business cards each):
In a few minutes we got all the business cards printed:
I texted the day laborer dudes asking if I could come by the gas station and deliver their business cards, and surprisingly two of them were at David’s house painting! He was undergoing a big remodeling of his house and needed help, so he hired a couple of the guys:
So now armed with business cards these guys can “sell” their laborer more effectively without having to be at that street corner:
We then asked about skill level. One guy was skilled at leveling entire foundations of houses. One guy was great at woodworking and cabinet building.
I was curious if he had photos of his work, and he was proud to show it! Here’s some pics he texted me:
Not bad huh?
What’s interesting about this is a lot of these guys have specialized skills which go completely under utilized. This guy can do great woodworking and cabinetry, but since his sole way of getting business is standing at a gas station corner hoping for someone who needs day laborers, he’s relegated to digging holes for fence posts and busting up chunks of concrete with a pick axe.
Sincerely,
Neville Medhora
P.S. What else do you think these guys could do to get more work? Let me know in the comments!
Great story! I live in Needles California and I am looking for a guy to do some work at my house. Do you know anyone or where I should go in Arizona for a day worker? Thanks Michelle
Great, job with the experiment. I just stumble on your article, controversial but that’s besides the point. I’m going to be helping a group of these men/women in December 2020. Distributing food, gift cards, anything that may help them for the week of Christmas. It’s a difficult economy, and anything will help them. My personal goal is to contribute $5000 – $10,000 out of my own pocket. Not exactly sure how i’ll go about it, or what I’ll be purchasing for the group (haven’t figured out the logistics). Reach out to me by email (thediegochavez@gmail.com) – I’d like to know how the experiment went, and if anyone would like to join forces with me let me know? This is not a scam or some pyramid scheme… it’s something I’m doing, and I found this article intriguing.
Take Care
Diego
I am looking for some in Pennsylvania where can I find them? I need a crew of 15 ppl.
I am in Kissimmee FL what time do these guys usually stand outside Home Depot??
They get there before daylight 6:30-7:30 am
I have used successfully day labor in Seattle lots … north of Chicago people look at me like they have no idea. I don’t get it.
I haven’t seen day labor here in Vancouver, WA but have been fairly successful finding painters, roofers, flooring, etc on NextDoor or Craig’s List. When I find a good guy/girl I ask them if they know anyone that does XYZ. They almost always come through with a good one. We provide, food, drink, breaks (set their own schedule), bathroom and conversation to build a relationship. All except one, provided excellent hard work for us and did everything possible to make sure we were happy with the work. Usually they understand/speak more than they let on, so my husband attempts his bad Spanish and they finally give in and meet somewhere in the middle with the language LOL. I don’t care about their status, just their work ethic. We pay a fair price for the job agreed upon in the beginning and I usually have it confirmed by text for the record in case there is any dispute. Peace out people!
Uhg, my first bad experience…Hired a bunch of laborer, one ended up being a contractor (well claimed). 4 guys at 400 a day, split between each so I though, then oen guy says he only does by Project 2800 for one room and 2800 for another. Didn’t know by Sunday they were asking 1000, and by Wednesday asking 8000+ to complete remodeling (which they never did and wrecked the place). I supplied all the materials…what an awful experience this was too me… I will never use a day laborer.
Unless its someone I know.
Hello,
I like the fact you did your “experiment” and somehow helped these men.
There is a few things I would like to highlight, the title of you article can be taken as ignorant and as a way of generalizing. Yes, we are not perfect and we do not know it all. However, not everyone doing day labor is illegal. There are handyman, who simply have not been not able to acquire skills for them to enter the workforce in a different field. There are also, a few other things that I really thought you were joking, like the language. It should not be, “speak Mexico,” the language is Spanish. These kind of mistakes make the source less credible. Also, either for you or those here in the comments section, nation wide there are programs and laws for day laborer under the department of labor. If you don’t know, check it out. Also, each state and even each city has it regulations about it. I have worked with organizations and city in relation to Day Labor Centers.
Lighten up Sally
Check out CasaLatina.org
That is a nonprofit organization that helps Latin migrants find work at a fair wage. It is for the Seattle area, But maybe something can be set up similarly for your area
Where can I find day labor in Scottsdale for simple, heavy tasks. Moving brick and stone around my property
I’ve lived in Scottsdale or Phoenix my entire 38 years. 36th st and mcdowell Rd home depot always has them in the morning along with lots of other home depots.
In Pa where can I find a day labor worker
i am a licensed contractor in the sf east bay. none of the day workers here will accept a conventional w-2 income job. we are capable of getting documents that will cover their hire, so documentation is not really an issue for these people here at all. an employer is NOT required to determine the authenticity of the document, only note/report the numbers and move on. these people are commanding no less than $18-20 per hour here, and are likely receiving some benefits which would be lost if they reported w-2 income. you need to do alot more research into the individuals to understand the complexity of this issue. contracting laws were put in place to protect the consumer. as we watch that system break down, the consumer again will be the one that loses in the long run. in the short run, there is certainly potential for abuse of these workers as you have noted, but also there is the potential to undermine legitimate contractors who are trying to follow state worker comp and payroll laws. as potential clients clamor about deadlines and project completions, the subversion of w-2 payroll will increase as we experience a rebellion of the work force to payroll taxes. this will lead to increased labor without insurance, accidents leading to lawsuits, and unlicensed contractors performing more work. that is how the consumer will lose in the long run. it is an age old conflict of government taxation and consumer protection that raises the cost of construction that creates a pendulum swing rebellion until the consumer cries for protection once again.
EVERYTHING YOU WROTE COULD BE TRUE BUT IF THEY ARE UNDOCUMENTED HOW COULD THEY BE GETTING BENEFITS? Also, probably they don’t want to do this on the books bc they are scared they will get deported. That’s my guess.
i understand your position. i suspect many are registered alien status, so they can receive various benefits in CA, but not FICA. they dont seem to be afraid of deportation as they are very visible in their pattern and habits. there are very few immigration raids in nor cal compared to a decade ago. i dont think many of them fear deportation; the ones that work for me whom i suspect have false papers have even bought real estate and regularly buy and sell automobiles doing all the dmv paperwork.
Mitch,
You keep doing what you are doing, but also remember, this was all their land before “us” settlers moved here. So who is the true illegal here?
Benefits? really?….40 workers are not going to make our government fall.
Why pick on people who are trying to work in this economy and start making a saying to the politicians who do more bad things for our systems than Home Depot workers.
Contractors….btw…..just do the sale and find their, “workers” at the cheapest rates so the contractors make the most money…….Yes, I know contractors
keep working legally, but sooner or later your employees may sue….hmmmmm…..no sueing if there is outside help, could save you…..keep an open mind. THEY JUST WANT TO WORK
Charles
-2 BS degrees
-1 Masters
I just had to reply, Charles, it seems your degrees have failed you. You claim to understand an industry you are not part of, as a professional flipper, and owner of a decent sized contracting company in the east bay – I can tell you flat out, you know not of what you speak. The industry is regulated for a reason, there is common expressions for the work that is done on homes by these individuals. They also undercut legitimate businesses by over promising and under performing, ruining a true craftsman trade.
Please return to your field of study, i hope you show more signs of intelligence there.
The title of this article is very telling of the respect that you have for the law, and you following the law is none of my business, but for other people’s sales, this is a warning, so that they might be able to keep themselves from any Federal felonies that this may bring on them.
“A person (including a group of persons, business, organization or local government) commits a federal felony when he:
assists an alien whom he should reasonably know is illegally in the U.S. or who lacks employment authorization, by transporting, sheltering, or assisting him to obtain employment,
encourages that alien to remain in the U.S., by referring him to an employer, by acting as employer or agent for an employer in any way, or
knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions.
Penalties upon conviction include criminal fines, imprisonment, and forfeiture of vehicles and real property used to commit the crime.”
Source: http://www.fairus.org/issue/illegal-immigration/law-against-hiring-or-harboring-illegal-aliens
By sales I meant sakes, please excuse me.
Mitch Stuve, thanks for sharing about your experience and it all was well-written.
Charles, I agree with you. The concepts of legality are just social constructed. Many of these people can be descendant of people who already were living here.
Some can receive benefit through there children, who can be US Citizen or a few other programs that are run for people regardless their immigration status.
There are job and bad workers like there are good and bad contractors. It is important to keep in mind both sides of the story.
I realize this post is old.
Anyway, I tend to think that anyone getting “benefits” is not going to stand in a parking lot and compete with 40 other guys, why would they? they’re getting benefits!Commanding $18-20/hr? Why would any legit contractor take a chance to hire illegal immigrants at standard rates? You can lose your contractors license. If you’re willing to pay 18-20/hr, it means you can’t get reliable help, which brings you back to these guys, and it shows that they are hard workers. Who’s the scumbag at the end of the day? The contractor whose willing to scam.
These guys are willing to put an honest days work (at least most are, you will have a weasel or two in the bunch). From my experience, this is a good reliable source of employees.
I’m in the North East and we barely have guys in parking lots looking for work.
Anyhow, so far, I have not been able to contract ANY tradesman that can perform to their advertised bable. AND I have hired more than just a few, all talk, no shows and crap work, with referals, my head spins. When I decided to hire the Spanish guys, guess what I got? Reliable, respectful, punctual, dedicated.
So we have contractors who bid prevailing union wages. and then after they get the bid, they go and get undocumented labor. Or they have built a list of guys they can get for 15 hr, when they bid the labor at 25-40. I found hat whn I used these guys, I paid over scale (theirs) and got their phone numbers I got good workers. Food and drink and transportation to a place they want to go gets you a good reputation. And loyal workers, and friends.
I recently went over to home depot to hire one person to help me dig out an area of soil so I could lay pavers. It’s been a long time since I hired any day labor from home depot. I was used to the fact that I was swarmed as soon as i stopped my car. What I was not prepared for was the fact that they were firm at demanding $25 dollars an hour to dig dirt. Not one would agree to less money. I have to qualify this entry by saying I live in the San Francisco Bay area and obviously labor cost is more, but $25 per hour under the table, to dig dirt is ridicules. It appears they have formed somewhat of a union and either by pressure or voluntarily agreed to stand firm on demands. It’s interesting that many are still there in the afternoon when I drive by. I don’t understand what they are gaining.
Interesting. It does sound like they probably formed a pact to keep the prices high. Based on the type of camaraderie I saw between them in my own experiment, I would believe this is the case.
Ohhh me too! 7 years ago is probably the last time I sourced HD for labor. I offered $15/hr. up front they lived near me so they drove (but I have round tripped in the past). 2 days ago I offered $15 & they laughed at me!! $25 an hour.!! I’m down near Gilroy I’m offering $5 an hour tax free of min. Wage!! I finally took 1 guy for $20 but he worked his ass off for 6 hours so I did give $25. I at least got what I expected done by 2 men. Fair is fair.
My arguement was its 10am, you would rather stand here all day hoping for $25 when I will go $15 which is better than nothing IMO.
I can see holding out at 7 but I was surprised at 10 I was lucky to find anyone. Next week I’ll go to Salinas that was a lot for some yard work and I dont know how you are going to work. Some guys are not that motivated.
I am one of those regular homemakers who would like to hire a day laborer. I did not catch where you did this experiment? I am in Los Angeles.
I did this experiment in Austin, Texas, USA.
Do you know where I can find these individuals? What area? Street?
Thanks!
This was around the corner of I-35 and St. John’s.
I’d be cautious about giving out the location of the guys you interviewed with the current administration’s immigration policies and the overly ambitious (too the point of being malicious bastards) ICE agents. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of the immigrant hating Trumpites were asking you where to find them under the guise of wanting to hire, but in reality they could be using your insight to round them up. It’s sad that some people hate certain groups (that they likely have never actually had any type of real human interaction with) so much that they would go to such diabolical lengths in order to get them arrested/deported/ripped away from their families etc. All these guys are trying to do is work their asses off, doing jobs that most people wouldn’t do for twice the amount of money, in order to earn a little something to get by on.
/Los Angeles Area
In Harbor City, between PCH and 259th ST on Belle Porte Ave; There are MANY skilled and professional day laborers. I recommend “Andres”. Please feel welcome to pass this information to friends and family if any help is needed involving construction, home remodeling, landscaping, demolition, etc.They all come with many years of experience!
Great article and effort to help these day laborers out. I hired several today to help out with a patio project after reading your article and one spoke fluent English and they both had vehicles to get to my house. They did a great job and I think through word of mouth they will be able to get more work. They also had business cards with their particular skills.
Thank you for your efforts to help these workers and for sharing your experience and giving voice to theirs! I serve as pastor of a UCC congregation on the east coast and this morning I shared your story in my sermon. The scripture text for the day was Matthew 20:1-16 – the parable of the generous landowner and the day laborers.
Hello
Im looking for 6 guys to help me sweep out empty storages in ac and whip down walls very easy.Of course being female Just alittle scared to approach them ‘Today is 10-25 I live n Corpus and will pay cash water food.If you happen to read this with-n the next couple days i would appreciate if you know where i can find them here. Iam orginally from El Paso i completely understand how people can be im honest i just need some help.Thank you for the awesome website God bless!
i
Hey Neville,
I am a Qualified English Teacher and would love to help you, your project, and the guys out for FREE.
There is a very popular method that is used worldwide,
where they could master conversational English IN A SPAN OF 1 MONTH.
E-mail me if you are interested.
:)
Kimberley
P.S. Yo hablo español un poco.
Glad I came across this as I’ve always wondered ‘how to hire’. This is fairly recent, so I know the going rate now thanks to your blog. I’m more the paranoid type (probably watch too many murder mystery shows lol). Is there someone type I should avoid? Like an outcast standing by himself?
I was also thinking to show pictures of what i need done and how i want the end project to look and also bring my son with 2 yrs of high school Spanish with me to make communication easier. Also, What time do they show up in the morning during the week and weekends?
Thanks in advance for any insight.
The business cards are the best idea. Apps won’t work due to becoming an easier target for deportation. I would add on the cards on the phone/text part “to request photos of my work text the word “photos” to xxx-xxxx”
Neville,
great post. I have actually been the Jefe before when I had a couple of commercial greenhouses. It was always rough to communicate. I didn’t read all the comments but I would think that one of the big problems the laborers have with el Jefe is communications. Hard to communicate that your a great woodworker if you can’t communicate with your boss. The biz cards will definately help with that but maybe something like google translate would too.
Hey Terry, that’s awesome you have some experience with these guys! The English thing was definitely the #1 thing I noticed, but it was a little out of my scope for this experiment to help with that.
If you go to a country and can’t communicate with 90% of the population (especially the employing population) it’s definitely going to be harder to get work.
Great POST!!!! there are folks begging to work… And that’s what this great nation needs!!!
I agree James, I’m down to help people who WANT to work!
afternoon Neville im writting you to reach out to you in behalf of my husband he is an illigal imagrant from Honduras and is in need of a job here in san antonio texas he has been without a job for like 2 months i myself am a stay home mom. please my husband is a very hard worker her does everything but roofing or electrical work. i dont mean to brag but he does amazing work. please contact me
How about, if they all have phones, can they take a picture of the bad jefe’s pickup trucks. If they can identify the bad contractors, and not give them work, they will have to stop the abuses.
I don’t know how they can share the pictures, maybe just a phone number swap among friends, like an old phone tree. About 3-4 reports of “this guy screwed me” and no one will work for him in the community.
True they could do this….the major problem is there’s several spots these guys hang out in, so they go between them undetected. Also a lot of these guys will sometimes be willing to take ANY amount of money than nothing.
This means some guys won’t go with a certain Jefe they know pays badly, but someone will always be desperate enough to do it.
Awesome Post!
I love this solving-real-life-problem kind of posts.
Can’t wait to see the results of this experiment!
Thanks Rafael! I might update the post in 4-6 months with more details results!
I’m a very conservative person… and I find it shameful that people think this post is political. Even if it were, personal responsibility for helping others is much better than FORCING them to rely on government aid. Embarrassing.
Here’s an idea…
What about a “report card” they could carry with them…
Almost like a passport (no jokes)… the person who hires them one day basically “grades” them on their work and records it in the “passport”. Almost like a collection of references (filled out by an English-speaking “boss”) they can take with them everywhere.
Potential employers could just page through, see their work history, proficiency, attitude, etc.
Just a thought.
Hey Nick, that’s a great idea!
The only thing I DON’T like about it, is it would be difficult to explain this process to everyone. It also seems from talking to these guys a lot of the Jefe’s aren’t really worried about the quality of work.
However opening up this “market” to ratings and reviews would be super helpful for everyone involved!
They should take pictures of previous work and written customer testimonials … works like magic
all they will need is a photo album .. business cards can have a lead generation message like….
“14 and counting … happy clients with previous work done photos” Call to see the testimonials and photos
The main reason they don’t get hired is trust … they can address that objection by presenting previous work with testimonials .. ideally the testimonials must have contact information so the prospect can contact the person who gave the testimonial
Yeah this was going to be the second thing we try with these guys….give them sheets of paper with their previous work on it.
All of them had some form of photos on their phones of the work they’ve done, so this wouldn’t be all that hard!
1.) They can give offers to current, good Jefes if these Jefes recommend daily workers to others.
2.) Daily workers can introduce ‘combo’ works, combination of works at relatively profitable costs for both Jefes and daily workers.
3.) They can form networks with other daily workers so that any Jefe at any given day can approach any daily worker. The daily worker in turn would recommend expert daily worker. This creates an opportunity to form good rapport with Jefe as well as other fellow workers. Eventually daily workers will also get offers through their peers.
Hey Prashanthi, good thinking. Somehow the referral system within that “marketplace” is not very strong. hopefully the addition of business cards can change that!
One of the reasons why I immediately stop what I’m doing when I see “Neville Medora” in the inbox is the attention to detail. I know the content will be fire, motivational and thorough. This post is no different. Kudos my brown brother.
Here’s my 2 centz:
Create a Day Laborer Syndicate consisting of 5-6 laborers with DIFFERENT skillsets.
Keep the individual’s name and skills on the business cards (so they can market themselves) BUT work under one business name (Woodway Contractors, Gulf Coast Remodeling, etc). Doing this will help them stand out and hopefully get consideration in the future if they good work. If the electrician of Woodway Contractors runs into someone who clogged their kitchen sink with rice (which I may/not have done in the past) he calls up the plumber of the crew. Rep the same name, but continue to work on projects you can handle and refer to the crew if it’s above your payscale.
They can even market their crew with apartment complexes, community centers, new businesses needing handymen and lots of other places.
Nother idea.
To warn other day labors of fraudulent jefes make up a password or handshake to give to both good and bad jefes. Once a day labor works for a jefe and jefe honors the contract, the day labor can share the secret password or handshake with the “good” jefe. If jefe screwed them, they can also share a password although this would be one that would indicate that he was a jerkster.
Day Laborers could then start asking jefes for the password to give them a better idea of who they might be working for and if they’ll be getting a ride home.
Hey Nick, thanks for the kind words about the emails, I try to make them good for ya’ll!
For some reason all of these guys don’t want to form businesses or syndicates. I just don’t think they realize the value of it.
Also a lot of these guys are super low on the income and education scale, so these concepts are a bit beyond their thinking of just 24 hours ahead.
Hey Nev,
I think this is really great!
You defiantly sparked some hateful comments, but I guess that will happen with controversial topics such as immigration. 🙂
I am not sure what the specific requirements are, or if it still being offered, but some of the workers could apply for DACA. We have a team member who was DACA, which gives her authorization to work, and she has a SSN and everything. Then the good bosses, could hire them more on a more regular basis and not have to worry about the legalities with employing undocumented workers.
Another option that you touched on is how it feels approaching these guys. You didn’t really offer a good solution, and I don’t really know if there is one. As a woman, I have needed lot’s of projects done in my home over the years, but approaching these groups of men is very scary, and intimidating. Once I need a bunch of furniture and boxes moved, and I had my uncle help me talk with them, and get someone onboard.
If they all have smart phones, maybe they could check out Thumbtack? It does not feel as scary at all, and is easy to use. They can charge the rates they want too. I used it a couple of times. Once to hire someone to clear some debris and yard over growth, and a second time for someone to come clean the inside of my rental property after some remodeling was done. Both experiences were really easy, and went great. It felt a little uncomfortable the first time, but not nearly as bad as approaching guys on the side of the road.
Recently I used Thumbtack again, searching for someone to help out with my Weber Grill. No one responded, and I was ready to spend money on it, because the grill itself was around $800. Spending a couple hundred on maintenance after 5 years made sense. I googled, bought the parts on Amazon, did the cleaning and installed a new starter, and a couple of inside parts too. It cost me $40. One of these guys could have easily made $160 in profit, from less than 5 hours of work. That is $32 bucks per hour!
I also think that it would be helpful for them to generate a list of the bad bosses, be that it include a list of license plates, or even pictures that could be shared between all the communities and different location if they knew people in other areas. To help keep people from abusing these guys. If they were approached by someone on the list, they could deny the job in advance.
Hey Kelly, great comment, possibly shirt-worthy!
I actually asked these guys about stuff like Craigslist and Thumbtack, and they kept saying that without being legal they technically can’t use it.
Services like Thumbtack also require a form of digital payment, and a lot of them don’t have a proper credit card or bank account and such, making it pretty much impossible to use.
The other thing is that they simply don’t have strong reading/writing skills AND don’t speak English. This severely limits the amount of opportunities available.
First, I personally want to take a moment to thank you, Neville, for taking time out of you’ve valuable schedule/work to help out people who need the most guidance and direction in this country yet sadly have nowhere to turn for help on how to help themselves and be citizens of merit and hard work. I’m sure the guys who had the courage to accept you’re help are in extreme gratitude and will only to continue to spread your positive impact in that community.
Second, I follow you’re blog and read you’re e-mails and I’ve never actually taken aktion on any of you’re advice, but after reading this post from start-to-finish I feel motivated to start on heavier tasks in my life that I’ve been procrastinating on. It’s refreshing and motivating seeing someone like yourself help out guys who are trying to better themselves in a country that does not appreciate their hard labor, and do it with such elegance and cheer while showing the rest of us how far a little bit of work and effort can go into helping ourselves.
The truth is, to prove you’re point on how the rest of us can achieve our career aspirations/goals, you went out of you’re way and actually did something as opposed to just write about it. You also documented the entire experience really well throughout the article on how easy it is to build a portfolio and market oneself. You walked the walked, in this case literally, by helping others and thus brilliantly yet simply teaching those that are open to and willing to learn and grow.
Thanks Vesb! I thought it would be a fun experiment that could possibly help, be entertaining, and be published. A win win win!
Very glad this post inspired more than just copywriting technique. I truly think good content isn’t really about how you WRITE, but more the real world experience you’re drawing from.
Best of luck Vesb!
Mad respect Nev. You’re a genuine standout guy. Don’t listen to the haters; as always here’s another article I’ll have to come back to and read start to finish. Always quality stuff.
Thank you Demetrio! I knew this post would probably attract some crazy comments, but I’ve been publishing online since 1998 and am totally used to that :)
Appreciate the kind words!
Cheers man. You’re my hero. :-)
Dude, if you’re going to troll a copy writing blog with racist bullshit at least make sure your spelling and grammar are correct.
Part of me thinks that post must be a hoax, it’s just too easy to ridicule.
Hey Huba you thief you had better throw your self in the trash because Trump is going to beat you and deport your ass for having a bunch of crazy children that suck off the welfare system.
By the looks of it, your KopywritingKourseKlub has arrived.
Bahahaha, this topic is always sure to bring out the lurking weirdos :)
Here is the original Trump
and
I say
FUCK YOU
There is probably a market for Spanish copywriters in the local community. Teach them how to write copy so they don’t have to do backbreaking work.
Would love to see how copywriting on boards of homeless guys affects the donations in the street. Definitely something I want to try and help some people with soon in UK
I’ve actually done something like this before from my Homeless Experiment in 2009:
http://www.nevblog.com/homeless-experiment/
Hey Mark, unfortunately that would be a pretty difficult endeavor. I was more looking for a simple way to improve their situation that could be replicated anywhere with little or no resources.
Thanks Donald but this is a post about copywriting on a copywriting blog. Save your right wing bullshit for somewhere else. Head over to http://www.breitbart.com/, you’ll fit right in. P.S. If you didn’t know, you’re a racist.
Geeez these comments tho.
Bahahaha, gotta expect the weirdos to come out on this subject!
I love your content, and this is a pretty great idea for an experiment.
Anywho, here’s a thought:
Since everyone there is fiercely loyal and refuses to ‘one-up’ each other, perhaps they could pool their know-how and skills into one “Master mind.”
The concept is simple; when a jefe shows up looking for someone skilled with ______, the other guys use their phones to contact the right guy for the right job.
A network of day laborers.
That way, carpenters get more woodwork jobs, while concrete guys get more concrete jobs.
AND, it will help them all to distinguish the good jefes from the scumbags.
Best of all, it doesn’t require any extra expense, since they already have the phones.
I think this would be good, and introduce “ratings” into the marketplace, but it sounds complex and would take planning and effort.
I still think they’re mentality that they are “stealing jobs from one another” is totally wrong. They still however are pretty insistent on not doing things they “think” might take away jobs. It’s a sweet sentiment, but not correctly guided.
I’m not so worried about the workers, it’s the person that tries to hire them that would get the felony charges and massive fine. It’s against federal law to hire anyone that is in the United States illegally. So after they release the workers they will arrest YOU and they will charge YOU and YOU will go to federal prison. Not so sure if making that business card is such a good idea, it could be used as evidence against YOU at your trial. Good luck & adios.
Hmmm, I’m not sure if that’s totally true in every state. Generally it’s not legal to ask someone’s citizenship status for odd jobs like this.
I love these projects you undertake to help people improve their business/way of life.
Thanks Chris, they’re fun to do, and if they work can be replicated for others to live better :-)
Great article and experiment Neville, looking forward to hearing the results, can you get David to call the guys for a follow up email?
It seems strange that they dont want to advertise their skills so they dont take work off each other, perhaps that can be used to their advantage though? The workers need to organise themselves through a group leader. Like a Taxi Rank at the airport, the Leader organises a rota system every day by drawing numbers out of a hat for the workers that turn up that day. Then he then assigns work to the workers from 1-20+ every day, they can even organise it by skill set EG Painter 1-5, Carpenter 1.7. All the guys can then wait patiently for their number to come up. When a car pulls up, the leader points to a piece of paper with the skills on and the contractor nods his head etc for each worker needed. No intimidating mob just a well organised crew of people.
Also the workers might be reluctant to carry biz cards or flyers as it identifies them looking for work if searched by the Police or immigration officials.
To try to prevent working for rip off contractors
Why don’t the workers all sit down and agree a code. For example any kind of animal with more than 4 legs equals good boss and any kind of animal with 4 legs or less equals bad boss. They then get flyers printed between them that say, “Thank you for helping me help you today! Please say [insert animal] when you need help again to get the best workers. The workers carry two flyers one with good animal and one with bad and gives them to the boss at the end of his shift. If a rip off boss pulls up and quotes the bad animal then the group leader notes the reg and type of car then rings the other group leaders to blacklist the contractor.
Every week the passcode for good and bad boss changes. Word will soon spread who the people are ripping them off.
Hey Kristian, it’s true they COULD do this, but it would be a lot of work and organization, and these guys are generally just looking to make a few bucks for the next day.
I think not having legal residency status greatly impairs their ability to do any real organizing.
But good idea to help them out!
Unfortunately I think they’re just at the bottom of the economy, and it’s going to be rougher for them no matter what.
I DO wish they would take some of my advice on generating more biz without immediately rejecting it!
Nev…I’m not going to lie, I want a t-shirt! :)
This is amazing experiment! The fact you’re sparking some strong emotional comments mean you’re doing something that’s working. Up here in Canada, in a tiny city predominately white I see what are likely very low income people and/or homeless going through recycle bins looking for empties they can return for a deposit. It occurred to me that some of them are riding their bikes around, in deep snow, often at night with headlights, carrying multiple bags. I’m stunned with amazement how they’reworking their ASSES off just to earn a few dollars. Unfortunately their routes seem to be hit and miss. It’s a shame nobody has a made an app for them and call it something like “Empty Elves”, and let neighbors that want to leave their empties on the curb mark it on a map or drop off… hmmm…
Overall the one thing I was hoping you’d touch on is the rating part. How can they earn ratings like amazon or an uber driver? I suspect everyone would be nervous to post online ratings due to immigration and other reaons… if there away around that using word of mouth or something like an anonymous profile site redirected by a QR code?
Again…great post man!
Hey Pauly, thanks for the kind words!
It’s actually crazy that even thought these guys are all quite on the low end of the economy, they don’t behave homeless. I think the strong Mexican community kind of pitches in and takes care of them during hard times.
I don’t think they’re very trusting of the ratings, but with business cards at least if they do good work for someone, they can get called again. I hope they roll with the advice and try it out!
I applaud the effort… but, go to the inner city or blighted areas and lend your expertise. The people you are helping need to get in line. Many of my brothers and sisters need help to get off of welfare here at home. I won’t be a dick and advocate mass exodus from your emails until I see your next project working to help American citizens. So far not impressed.
http://imgur.com/a/LTFQ3
Your doing a great job of destroying the USA’s economy. Yes, we need more of these illegals to come to the white countries so we can have cheap labor and fill our streets with criminals. We need to work together to find better ways to destroy the US economy faster. You see the super rich Jew’s have an agenda to genocide the white race, all the white countries around the world are being completely flooded by none white immigrants and they say this makes us stronger. No it is to help the evil super rich Jews destroy the white race. Africa is for the Africans, China is for the Chinese but white countries are for everyone. You see in order for the jews to completely take over the world and install the jew (New) World Order they must first destroy the white race because white people create, discover, invent 97% of the technology we use today. With out white people the world will slowly disintegrate. So lets all give a helping hand in helping the jews install the communist new world order where everyone is a complete slave well that is if they don’t kill you first. They want to get rid of 85% of the worlds population. Please help these poor Mexicans that can’t make a country of their own come to the USA and make USA a larger Mexico. Let’s weaken USA so the Jews can complete the take it over.
What? You mean like every other post he makes?
C’mon. That’s weak.
If you’re getting welfare you’re getting free shit already.
These guys don’t get that and actually work.
I respect work over handouts any day.
Amazing Post, thanks Neville.
Thank you Antoine!
Love that you did this. I volunteer at a community center set up expressly for the reason of helping day workers. As you found in your experiment, it is a complex problem and you really summarized many of the issues well. How do you make it easy and non-threatening for folks to hire these guys? How do you make sure they are safe and paid what they are promised? How do you provide these folks a path to integrate and become successful in our society?
El Sol in Jupiter, Florida is a community center that was established by various religious, governmental, community groups to not only help these day workers, but to get them off the streets. They wait inside to be hired (not on the streets) where they can benefit from services like free English lessons, free breakfast, etc. There is a process they follow to register with the center, just as there is a process for those that hire them. When you want to hire a day laborer, you show up, name your price, and since the process is mediated by a 3rd party (the community center) everyone is a known quantity. It ensures a level of accountability. You are expected to provide lunch and to drive these guys back to where you picked them up. We have a huge Guatemalan population, but I’ve gone in the summer and picked up local high school kids too. The center mostly serves the needs of the undocumented worker population, but is open to everybody who needs to make money.
The center enjoys huge community support since it solved the problem of day workers hanging out on certain streets for jobs. There is an element of crime/insecurity and just “broken windows” unsightliness that goes along with groups of day laborers on the streets. The center is right next to the police station in my town. The soccer team of the center plays soccer with the police. There’s a community garden there, a weekly farmer’s market, classes (cleaning, sewing, English, US civics: how to actually navigate our beaurocracy). The center provides a pathway for both documented and undocumented workers to integrate into our society. A win for undocumented workers and a win for someone who needs some weekend help around their house.
Here’s the link: http://friendsofelsol.org/
As an aside: many of these people do not know how to read and write in their native language (Spanish) and in some cases, Spanish isn’t even their strongest language! (Many Guatemalans speak Mayan dialects.)
I have found that for many, comfort with reading and writing is in itself a challenge which would make any smartphone based system for employing them challenging.
I do speak Spanish, so I have not experienced a language barrier. The barrier I come up against the most with those who I want to work with again is that they don’t have the same relationship with technology and their smartphone as I do. They either don’t message back or message back in a way that is not understandable because they are not literate in their own language. I have experienced much frustration with some very good workers over this. An app alone will not solve this issue.
It seemed like most of the people I spoke to had smartphones, but I’m not sure how good all of them are at communicating.
They guy I communicated the most with was 23, so was probably more inclined to be experience with a smartphone.
Hey Jennifer, this is a really cool thing! It solves a problem in the community of these guys having to just loiter around, and makes everyone’s lives better.
They told me there are work centers, but you have to have legal papers to go there, so they can’t do that. I think something like this would be pretty useful for a lot of these guys.
Thanks for the comment, possibly shirt-worthy!
As a specialty contractor who sometimes works in homes after a homeowners experience, I can tell you a major drawback not addresses here.
Crime.
Obviously not all, but what has happened to many of my clients, they hire the hard working day laborers, and most are, and then a few days later, break ins occur.
The day laborers are probably not doing it, but a not so pleasant associate is probably paying them for intel.
However it happens, it happens to often.
If you hire this way, watch for wandering and extra attention being paid to your house.
Hey Skippy, I totally agree there are going to be some bad apples. I think that’s why it’s even more important to get contact information for the GOOD ones out there.
Of the maybe 40 guys we originally talk to, they all seemed totally chill and not threatening. However in the 2nd parking lot we went to, there were two aggressive drunk guys that scared me a bit. They kind of ruined the vibe.
I don’t have any additional suggestions – there are some good ones in the comments already!
I simply wanted to thank you and David for helping these men. You both are compassionate, intelligent and kind! Thank you for sharing a lesson with us, and for working with these guys to make their lives better.
Thank you Lara, I appreciate the kind words! Hopefully the experiment is fun for us, and super useful for them in the long run.
Interesting experiment! Too bad (if not completely surprising) that the comments ended up getting racist/political in some cases. The unique limitations of the market you approached make me wonder what the longer-term impacts will be on the workers you focused on. Any chance on a follow-up somewhere down the line?
Hey Ben, I’ll be following up with them periodically. Best case scenario would be they want MORE business cards because it worked so well!
Good, simple experiment on business cards. The current culture is that they are getting underpaid overall for their services and paid in cash, so no paper trail. If business cards are generated simply and easily, then there is a likely chance someone will hire from their skills sets;however, granted they are undocumented this call also pose issues if the person hiring wants to insure liability and wants a licensed and bonded service. On one side, it can possibly help the day laborers get more volume of work but can be limited by their own limitations too, i.e. language barrier, liability if worst case scenario a roof becomes defective from all the hard work and mad skills they may have. All in all, the businesses that are already established here and the skills they may already have and want to market pose the imbalance of working for the common denominator – our US dollar.
Than you Cindy. It’s definitely a tough situation for these people, and I think even with the business cards it will still be a tough life.
Being illegally in the country AND not speaking English is a huge negative, and will most likely keep them at the bottom of the economic barrel.
I actually think the biggest thing for a lot of these guys would be first learning English. That gives a person an enormous advantage, more than a business card ever could.
Neville, you amaze me! You tried to address an issue that I think most people would shy away from. For you to reach out to these gentlemen who are at the bottom rungs of society is pretty awesome, showing what a good person you are. The world needs more people like you. I hope there is a follow up to this post letting us know the short and longer term results of your efforts.
I also loved this post and thought it was a really creative way to apply copywriting skills. I also really loved how much I learned about this process. The photos of the laborers work at the end were amazing! Thanks for tackling a subject that can clearly be touchy. Really loved this.
Thanks Kendra! When I published the post, I knew there would be some people (albeit a very small weirdo minority) who would take it as some sort of political thing, but ultimately I have control over these comments, and I’ve removed most of the flat-out dumb comments that add zero value.
The point is I respect it when people come here with the intention of working hard. That adds to the economy rather than takes from it, so hopefully this experiment results in a few people getting the opportunity to work more!
Aww thank you David :)
Don’t have any brilliant or even unbrilliant ideas but wanted to commend you and David. I used to live down off William Cannon and would use laborers outside HD — honest, hard workers, not afraid to get stuck into it.
Any naysayers here, please rent the movie A Day without Mexicans. Might change your minds a bit. These dudes are only wanting to feed themselves, their family, and probably loved ones back in their home country.
Have a heart. There but for the grace of the gods go you.
What’s the relationship between these workers and “Americans that are depressed” or “the costing of living that is inflated”?
I agree. Illegal workers create a race to the bottom scenario where other firms also have to hire illegal workers to keep labor costs low enough to compete. What if someone was helping these men all become $8/hour copy-writers or the cheapest website entrepreneurs around? Of course we know that they can’t so we allow this kind of stuff because we’re “skilled” and so relatively immune to the effects of illegal immigrant labor and totally write off those in our economy who are “unskilled.” If the people commenting here actually had to compete against people willing to do their jobs for half the pay and no labor protections I don’t think they’d see this effort in the same sort of light.
Hey Terence, cool you’ve used these laborers before!
That’s why I wanted to help out, I highly respect anyone who puts up with these crazy conditions just for the opportunity to work.
None of these guys are holding a sign begging for money, they are willing to do hard labor just for a buck.
Thanks for chiming in Terence!
They need an app. Sell it for $1 Venmo, bitcoin, or other payment solution. Worker, buyer ratings just like eBay, Fiverr. Android first, surely almost 100% Android phones. Google translate. Space on description for skills. Also skills checkboxes for raters to confirm what they were hired for. Bad contractors would eventually be out of system because I could show my rating to worker on spot as could worker show his to me …. verified by our matching smiling faces.
Correction. App probably won’t work. Would identify them and phone location …. Problem when undocumented.
Hey Douglas, I agree at some point an app with a payment system like BitCoin could work at some point in the near future.
The problem is some of these guys are so desperate for ANY money at all, they’ll willingly go with bad contractors. So even though there are bad Jefe’s, someone will almost always go despite knowing that.
Top marks Neville – really great experiment. Someone needs to create an app for these guys. It should have a Spanish interface for them but allow them to offer their services in English to the Jefes. The workers can rate the Jefes and the admins can blacklist the bad Jefes.
It would have to be administered by a charity, at least to begin with, as payment would be cash in hand, not through the system. I imagine you have charities over there set up to help these kind of folks?
Hey Rick, I like the idea people have for an app, unfortunately there’s a lot of reasons an app like this hasn’t taken off for this specific market (undocumented workers).
However on sites/apps like TaskRabbit and ThumbTack this labor marketplace problem has essentially been solved.
Home Depot and it major supplier, Masco Corp., should set up training classes for this group. The home building and remodeling industries are in desperate need of skilled workers. Both companies would help themselves if they trained these willing to work folks. Masco has a foundation.
Hey Ann, actually Home Depot and Lowe’s both have free classes for a huge variety of free classes:
http://www.homedepot.com/workshops/
I think a major problem is not the skill level, but that these guys don’t speak English and are here illegally. This narrows down their scope of work to mainly low-paid labor jobs from smaller contractors.
Hey Neville,
I applaud you and David for trying to help. I think you could take the business card idea one step further by upgrading to a postcard size or full 8 1/2 x 11 flyer, both of which could be printed on a home printer. Since some of the guys had pictures of their finished work, the bigger size can accommodate some pictures. On days that they don’t pick up any work, they can put their flyers on car windshields in the parking lots of places like Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Pike Nursery to increase their visibility and chances of getting calls. They might want to switch up their locations and day and time they “share” their marketing material because I know that kind of marketing is frowned upon. But I come out of Walmart and the grocery store all the time to find flyers on my windshield. If I don’t care about what’s being advertised, I don’t get huffy about it, I just throw it away. But these guys just need that “one” good Jefe to give them a call to build their income, and potentially a long lasting relationship.
Hey there Denise! The 2nd part of this experiment would actually be exactly this (sans the windshield part).
For example: One guy sent me a bunch of pictures of all the cabinets and woodwork he did. He’s fantastic at cabinetry and woodwork, but is lumped into the “general labor” category along with everyone else.
To break this mold, we wanted to make him a regular size sheet of paper (so it’s easy to duplicate) as a “large business card” with all his previous work on it.
This way he can hand these out to the Jefe’s and they can SEE his workmanship and give him a call if they ever need some experience woodworking help.
I’d make them a website, let’s say if they do remodeling I’d build a site about kitchen remodeling, connect their phone number to it and rank the site in their city so it comes up first in Google search, so when someone goes to Google to look for “kitchen remodeling” they’re front and center. It could triple or quadruple their income or maybe more, the only “but” I see is they will need licensing and permits.
It’s unlikely one of these guys would outrank larger companies for this stuff, but thank you for the suggestion. Their level of tech knowledge is generally pretty low.
You mentioned most of them have smartphones and are non-English speakers. How about pre-loading some Spanish-English and/or English-Spanish work-related phrases (can be audio or text) on their phones? Just click play when the jefes and the laborers need to communicate with each other on the specs. Would make their working process smoother.
Intriguing post, Neville!
Do you think it might be helpful to share pricing on the business cards?
I immediately thought of your post about pricing and services.
For $20, I will paint a room.
For $100, I will install a cabinet set.
For $500, I will completely remodel your kitchen.
I feel that the price per hour often times gives the laborer the short end of the stick.
I wouldn’t want to perma-set their prices on their, but I bet they could write the prices on there, that could be a good idea!
Hey Arnaud, THAT would actually be a pretty good idea! They can’t watch too much YouTube due to data costs, so this would be pretty cool :)
This story hits home, as my grandfather had to do something like this when he first came to the United States from Mexico. He told me “Son, if you knew English, then you were blessed.” He was doing roofing work for very little pay, even though he was extremely skillful in woodwork and carpentry. He was approached by an American man that said, “Your English is terrible, but come work for me and you will never have to look for work again” and he agreed.
It is fascinating that you and David did this project. It makes me happy to hear that you weren’t afraid of these men like many other people are. The advantage that these guys have are smartphones. Utilize this tool, and they can change the way the world looks at them! Good work, Neville and David!
Thank you Jacob!
I could DEFINITELY tell that learning English was an enormous asset. I mean if I go live in China and can’t speak Chinese, it’ll definitely negatively effect my ability to connect and work.
I asked these guys if they use YouTube to learn English, and one guy said yes, but he ran out of data on his phone to continue.
I think a free English program would be cool if it could be accessed for free over wifi.
Great story about your grandfather Jacob, possibly shirt-worthy!
For those that have photos of nice work they have completed, create a free web site/wordpress blog to display the photos. Portfolio templates are free and easy to work with and finding help from family or friends could be simple (and free). Web and computer access at the public library is also free. Once the portfolio site is up and running, add that URL to a business card with other contact information. If a worker doesn’t have job photos, encourage him/her to take before/after pics of the projects they are working on now.
Hey G, I agree in making a portfolio of some sorts. I think a physical one, or something on their phone would be best.
ALL of these guys had pictures of their work, so it wouldn’t be too difficult!
I think if they had someone who would vouch for them would help a long way. Imagine if I befriend one of these
guys and really got to know what he was good at, where he had worked etc. almost like did up his resume and was a reference for anyone who would want to hire them – this will give the hirers or the bosses some level of comfort because somebody else is vouching for them and would go a long way in helping them get these assignments. Maybe an employment agency could vet them and help them get jobs while taking 10% of the pay they make for the services. People may be more ready to go through an employment agency or a middle man who is not too greedy but provide a referential service.
Hey Bosco, they actually have places like this for day laborers, but one’s that are here legally with papers. The undocumented ones are the guys that stand on the corner.
I’m not sure what a good solution for this is. My only hope is they can start finding more regular work through the use of the business cards.
Go back to where they came from and don’t break our laws. They are here illegally. If we were picked up illegally being in their country we would be put in jail.
Judy, the U.S. is a nation of immigrants: we all came here from someplace else. What makes this country different from others is that this has always been known as the Land of Opportunity. People come here to make a better life for themselves and to give their children a greater chance to be happy, healthy, and successful. Along the way, ultimately these strivers make this country stronger. For example would you lock Neville and his family out? Clearly he’s contributing to the overall well-being of this country. Obviously you think his contributions are valuable because you’re reading his e-mails and articles, looking for ways to improve your own life. Lighten up, Judy. Let these Latinos — who certainly aren’t lazy — have their chance at a better life.
Amen, “R!”
Purchasing a home /= home invasion
Colonization /= illegal immigration
America was built on the backs of LEGAL immigrants. Everyone who came through Ellis Island was legal. Immigration is welcomed… as long as it’s legal.
I’m certain Neville and his family are citizens who entered the US legally.
If you enter our country illegally… then you have to expect to be deported.
It’s the law. There’s no problem with that law.
Funny that an American is complaining about immigration. How do you think you got there?
Ah, the old “Nation of Immigrants” fallacy:
Colonization is most definitely not the same thing as immigration, and illegal immigration is more akin to invasion than to legal immigration.
– There are reasons that countries limit the number of foreign people who are allowed to move in.
– Those who move in without the express permission of the host country are doing so illegally.
– While these folks may be hard workers, their presence here has many other negative effects on the economy.
I feel for these guys in some ways (they are trying to make a living just like we all are), but they broke and are breaking the law, as are the people who hire them.
Unless you’re Native American chances are you came from somewhere.
I’m Hispanic, welcome to America, the land of diversity! :)
The natives came from somewhere too.
Really? did the “Native Americans” just spring out of the ground? NOPE! They immigrated for somewhere else, but its clear mental midgets like you have no real original thinking, just cliches.
“mental midgets like you” … lol love it when people get worked up while trying to make an argument.
False Judy! you would not be put in jail, you would be received with so much respect for being a guest in our country.
Btw, Automation is stealing your jobs, not this people
THIS! Finally, yes, automation is the current issue, not these workers.
Sergio, you are exactly correct! As an American who travels the back roads of Mexico this is the way we have been treated almost everywhere we have been, including Cuba. I am saying that the majority of people in 3rd worlds have more manners and empathy for fellow humans then anyone in America.
Wow MUCH respect for doing things like that!!! It’s really how marketers should work. This story and the one where you helped the shoe makers is so inspiring! I’ll do my best to notice and act when I see an opportunity to help someone with very basic, but very effective and life-changing marketing :D
My extra ideas are:
– give them t-shirt that has the name and the list of top 3 things they are good at (at the back and front) and maybe give those who are special at woodworking or something an icon that represents it
– print a nice A4 brochure for Jeffes (with hard paper underneath and spiral… and a nice front page… so it looks professional) with a list of all 40 workers and write what they are good at + contact info, PLUS 1 paper with really good copy that describes their story and explain they need the fucking bathroom and water… so good that it will convince Jeffes… or at least plant a seed in their inhumane mind.
– maybe use one paper in the brochure to mention Jeffes and highlight the ones who are fair, honest and friendly… (without exposing the bad ones, to avoid chaos)
Thanks for the kind words Peter!
Your post might be shirt-worthy because you came up with some interesting concepts. I never thought about the shirt listing their skills. I actually got a homeless dude to wear a shirt selling water when I did my Bottled Water Experiment!
http://www.nevblog.com/images/water/small/mini-CIMG2987.JPG
Will you follow up with the 4 guys in a few months?
Would be interesting to see if the business cards works.
‘Hey Neviiille, my amigos need like 300 more cards, pleeeasse…”
@tom hahaha :D
I will be following up in a few months. The best case scenario would be the business cards work so well they need a lot more!
Thanks Neville :) It’s so refreshing seeing good people without prejudices willing to help :)
I think the idea of one guy organizing the deals is good too, and since they have such a strong solidarity among them it shouldn’t be a problem. They could rotate the people that have similar skills needed for that job, in order to guarantee everyone gets a chance :)
The business cards was an amazing idea! Way to go man
Thank you! I hope the business cards work to some degree. It would be cheap and replicatable anywhere.
If they agreed to have a spokesman (ideally the dude with the best English) who speaks for the group when a Jefe turns up, that would help with the intimidation aspect. He finds out what is needed and gets an idea of the manpower and pay, and then takes the info to the group. They’d have to decide amongst themselves who goes of course, but it’s better than it looking like a scene from The Walking Dead when you pull up. This sounds like it might work better than I would have first thought too given Neville’s comments about their loyalty to each other.
They kind of already do this in a way….the dude who speaks the most English will translate for everyone.
…and yes it totally does look like The Walking Dead when they all roll up to a car at once!!
I think the biggest problem is getting “regular folk” to want to hire them – and that’s got to happen by them being less intimidating when you drive up. They do all have cell phones.. simply throwing an ad up on kijiji or Craigslist from their phone could be enough.. stating that they need to be picked up and include pics of their work etc. (Will probably require a translator to help them post)
Yeah it’s still a bit intimidating to roll up to a big group of dudes and just get a couple to hop in your car. It’s mainly contractors picking up these guys, so they know the drill, but for the average person I don’t think this is a viable way to get work done.
Thumbtack, TaskRabbit, or Craigslist would be most people’s outlet for this.
There’s often a group of men standing around our local hardware store in the same way. I would’ve never thought to hire them for personal work. I’ve always stuck to Thumbtack and Craigslist for general work around the home. If none of them spoke English however that would be a major hurdle.
Hey Gary, I guess most people probably don’t even know WHY they are standing out there! I too use Thumbtack and similar services like TaskRabbit for any sort of odd jobs.
If they are looking to paint, wear painters hat n painted on clothes while waiting. makes it easy to single out.
If Landscaping, Lawn work, go to thrift store buy shirt or sweatshirt w some industry related company’s name or it. Easier for English speaking prospective employer.
Masoners are tradesmen.
just have a business card.
on back list the other stuff you can do.
If the job is something they are good at, the pack is on both sides at the Windows. Go tap not bang on the hood of the car. point to your chest. back up while hand signaling the driver to pull the car forward and follow you. as the pack drops off, go to the passenger window and discuss. They will hire you… you just removed the pack mentality and controlled their chaos
Hi.. where can I find Day laborers for Dumbo Brooklyn, NY?
I have used daylaborers for decades. Even though I have a HUGE benefit Speaking Spanish fluently Mas o menos Pedro poco mas de menos. More or less but a little more than less.
caution to homeowners seeking help, the group will say they know how to do whatever task you are looking for just to get the job. therefore, wait until one of them point to another in the group. That is usually whom you want to hire.
If you need heavy lifting, grunt work get the heavier set guys. Slower but able bodied. Lawn work, thinner guys move quicker. These are usually good decision makers too. just my experience.
If you find someone you are comfortable with, ask for a phone number for future jobs. Meet them at a McDonald’s. No pack FEAR animosity. And a surprise $5 breakfast purchase will establish a good trusting work relationship.
don’t haggle over what to buy. pick up your person, hit drive thru. order egg mcmuffim, hash browns and orange juice. when McDs employee hands you the bag, take it, and w/o hesitation hand it to your guy. You just became President of the Company. They will work HARD for you. You cared about them for a minute. NO ONE DOES.
PS They can ALL PAINT. Thinner guys are better at ladders.