Billy Said:

Why do people think that 'online jobs to work from home' really exist?

We Answered:

Well, with the massive increase in communications technology, plus the increase in commute times and the increase in gas prices, plus the fact that most of us are overscheduled and low on free time, working at home is certainly a tempting prospect. Goodness knows that I HATE spending 11-12 hours of my day at the office, plus 2 hours in traffic... on the days when I can work at home, I can get twice as much work work done (due to fewer pointless interruptions), AND I can get housework done in between projects.

I doubt that most people who are legitimately able to work from home expect to never leave the house. My husband is in outside sales for industrial equipment. While he's able to do quite a lot of his work from home (reviewing engineering drawings, pricing and submitting bids, telephoning clients and suppliers, e.g.), he also has to put in face time with his customers.

I can work remotely from home, although my boss prefers me to be in the office. Even if I were allowed to work from home regularly, I would still have to leave the house for court appearances, client meetings, and to pick up and drop off files.

The real difficulty for would-be work-at-home candidates is that, while there ARE tons of legitimate opportunities, they tend to be of two types: (1) deals struck between employers and existing employees, and (2) entrepreneurs who are willing to take the risks of starting their own business. In most cases, employers who arrange for some work-at-home time do so because they value an existing employee and can trust them to do the work accurately without putting in as much face time. And entrepreneurship requires loads of time and effort.

What really boggles my mind are the "work at home" schemes where you get paid (maybe) for irritating thousands of people per day with junk mail and spam postings. I just can't see why anyone would believe that this sort of job pays well, let alone the lofty figures that are advertised by the purported employer.