4 ms·

My summary of where all the money goes: -- Every on-demand service struggles with the problem of peaky demand, variation of >50% in peak to average traffic / d

My summary of where all the money goes: -- Every on-demand service struggles with the problem of peaky demand, variation of >50% in peak to average traffic / demand -- Peaky demand is inherent in our consumer / passenger / people behavior, not going to change any time soon -- think of the daily hours typical for commuting, eating, etc. -- These services make their money / entire value prop on serving peaky demand quickly, but you need labor willing to match those times, otherwise people are sitting around underutilized -- Until you have automated cars / labor, you have a really hard time recruiting people who are happy only to be paid part-time -- Drivers / labor have to be paid pretty much on a full time basis to keep people working for you (whether overtly or implicitly through promotions, marketing, sign up bonuses), otherwise they sign up with hopes of steady income, and then quit. ("I love being able to set my own hours", etc is the exception, not the imaginary bulk of people working for a living) As long as these conditions prevail, this is where those companies' cash is hemorrhaging to.

doctorpangloss 8y ago
The trends in future of work, particularly remote / non-office work, would favor people being more economical and de-peaking usage. Working at home saves you daycare. It takes a commuter off the road and off public transport. It lets people eat lunch at 11am or 2pm. It lets you build houses instead of empty office buildings. It lets you spend a lot more time with your partner. It keeps you cleaner and healthier. It makes you care about your local community a lot more. Peaky demand will still exist for longer cycles, like school enrollment, housing, vacations, entertainment. It will settle down a lot for our office day. This is the condition where subsidizes can decrease and the way our time is squeezed will change favorably for everyone.
- moorhosj 8y ago
  Lots of claims in this comment I'd love to see backed up. ==Working at home saves you daycare.== Is this true? Most people I know who work remotely don't have enough free time to also watch their kid, they are doing their job. It does save the 1-2 hour round trip of commuting each day. ==It lets people eat lunch at 11am or 2pm.== Can't most people in an office environment already do this? I do. ==It keeps you cleaner and healthier.== How does it do this? I see very few overweight people on my daily train commute. I figured that the walking involved in commuting plays a role in health, but maybe the stress of commuting is a net negative. On the flip side, my wife works from home and although she likes it, the lack of human interaction frequently has a negative impact on her. ==It makes you care about your local community a lot more.== In what ways?
  - aeorgnoieang 8y ago
    > maybe the stress of commuting is a net negative Commuting is considered one of the _most_ negative parts of a person's day, such that common advice is to seriously consider living closer to work at the expense of other amenities.
    - moorhosj 8y ago
      ==Commuting is considered one of the _most_ negative parts of a person's day== I think depends on the method of commuting. I do a combination of walking and train each day and it is one of the best parts of my day. I get exercise and free time to read, watch videos, or just space-out. I think people who bike or walk to work have a similarly positive perspective. If I was driving on a gridlocked highway for 2 hours a day, I would hate it.
- onemoresoop 8y ago
  I am quite happy to get out of the house and into an office, even though am not enamored with offices per see. I would probably go crazy being with my partner all the time. I feel that at work, while I don't have much privacy, I have some kind of privacy from my partner. Does that ring a bell? Also the daycare.. I probably couldn't do remote work with my kid crawling and giggling all day long.
- nkrisc 8y ago
  > Working at home saves you daycare. Wow. Do you have kids? I guess it depends on your job but I have a hard time imagining this being possible with a kid under 5. Mine is 18 months and with my job this would not be possible to pull off and not end up getting fired.
- luckydata 8y ago
  There's no way I can do any work with my 4yo around the house, daycare is simply not going away.

doctorpangloss 8y ago

The trends in future of work, particularly remote / non-office work, would favor people being more economical and de-peaking usage. Working at home saves you daycare. It takes a commuter off the road and off public transport. It lets people eat lunch at 11am or 2pm. It lets you build houses instead of empty office buildings. It lets you spend a lot more time with your partner. It keeps you cleaner and healthier. It makes you care about your local community a lot more. Peaky demand will still exist for longer cycles, like school enrollment, housing, vacations, entertainment. It will settle down a lot for our office day. This is the condition where subsidizes can decrease and the way our time is squeezed will change favorably for everyone.

moorhosj 8y ago
Lots of claims in this comment I'd love to see backed up. ==Working at home saves you daycare.== Is this true? Most people I know who work remotely don't have enough free time to also watch their kid, they are doing their job. It does save the 1-2 hour round trip of commuting each day. ==It lets people eat lunch at 11am or 2pm.== Can't most people in an office environment already do this? I do. ==It keeps you cleaner and healthier.== How does it do this? I see very few overweight people on my daily train commute. I figured that the walking involved in commuting plays a role in health, but maybe the stress of commuting is a net negative. On the flip side, my wife works from home and although she likes it, the lack of human interaction frequently has a negative impact on her. ==It makes you care about your local community a lot more.== In what ways?
- aeorgnoieang 8y ago
  > maybe the stress of commuting is a net negative Commuting is considered one of the _most_ negative parts of a person's day, such that common advice is to seriously consider living closer to work at the expense of other amenities.
  - moorhosj 8y ago
    ==Commuting is considered one of the _most_ negative parts of a person's day== I think depends on the method of commuting. I do a combination of walking and train each day and it is one of the best parts of my day. I get exercise and free time to read, watch videos, or just space-out. I think people who bike or walk to work have a similarly positive perspective. If I was driving on a gridlocked highway for 2 hours a day, I would hate it.
onemoresoop 8y ago
I am quite happy to get out of the house and into an office, even though am not enamored with offices per see. I would probably go crazy being with my partner all the time. I feel that at work, while I don't have much privacy, I have some kind of privacy from my partner. Does that ring a bell? Also the daycare.. I probably couldn't do remote work with my kid crawling and giggling all day long.
nkrisc 8y ago
> Working at home saves you daycare. Wow. Do you have kids? I guess it depends on your job but I have a hard time imagining this being possible with a kid under 5. Mine is 18 months and with my job this would not be possible to pull off and not end up getting fired.
luckydata 8y ago
There's no way I can do any work with my 4yo around the house, daycare is simply not going away.