South Korea’s Instead-Men

For people too busy (or lazy) to do a task, an all-purpose helper is dream and in South Korea that dream is a business –a booming business. The service industry has taken off in the country as more people gain disposable income and society shifts to a more individualistic community.

Companies hire an army of men and women who are available around the country for almost any odd job and charge based on the complexity or difficulty of each task.  These “instead-men” as they are called, get jobs ranging from hanging out with grandparents and killing bugs to simple food delivery or dropping off forgotten school supplies.

The globalpost examines the trend in South Korea:

Already there were plenty of motorcycles delivering all sorts of items usually guaranteed to arrive at their destination in less than an hour. And there are more than enough “substitute drivers” offering drunk car owners rides back home in their own vehicles 24 hours a day.

But Yoon thinks these services are not enough to tend to the needs of the so-called “can’t-botherists,” who, of course, are those suffering from “can’t-botherism” (both are popular words in Korea). Hence, the arrival of the instead-man.

“This is a market that the consumers have created, and there are almost no limits to what products can be marketed and those who can supply it,” Yoon said.

[via globalpost]