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The Dumbest Task I Ever Outsourced

5 points by mtlynch 7y ago

mtlynch 7y ago
Author here. Happy to answer any questions or hear any feedback about this post.
- jaclaz 7y ago
  Questions: >Bill >The final cost for Jaclyn’s three and a half hours of keyboard cleaning: $95.55. But you miss to state what the offer was, it seems to me you knew from the start you were going to pay US $ 95.55 for 3.5 hours of "house cleaning" at 26,00 each. Or was the offer (say) 1 hour and it took 3.5 hours? Or was the offer only stating the rate of 26,00 per hour? Feedback: 1) It is IMHO that dumb 2) the first two "lessons" you learned from the experience are wrong. Namely, if you decide to outsource something, you should outsorce it to a professional, which will charge you - say - 90 US$ per hour to do professional keyboard cleaning (in one hour time) and won't have you around during the process.
  - mtlynch 7y ago
    Thanks for reading! >But you miss to state what the offer was, it seems to me you knew from the start you were going to pay US $ 95.55 for 3.5 hours of "house cleaning" at 26,00 each. >Or was the offer (say) 1 hour and it took 3.5 hours? >Or was the offer only stating the rate of 26,00 per hour? It's the latter. Each TaskRabbit contractor charges a different hourly rate and you pay them for however long the job takes. >Namely, if you decide to outsource something, you should outsorce it to a professional, which will charge you - say - 90 US$ per hour to do professional keyboard cleaning (in one hour time) and won't have you around during the process. I'm not sure I understand this feedback. As far as I'm aware, there are no professional keyboard cleaning services that deliver turnaround time of less than one hour and costs only $90. I don't think there are even professional keyboard cleaning services period.
    - jaclaz 7y ago
      >It's the latter. Each TaskRabbit contractor charges a different hourly rate and you pay them for however long the job takes. Without having an (even if approximate) estimation of the time needed? So - in theory - the cleaner could have taken another 3.5 hours (or another 35 for the sake of the reasoning) and you would have paid her for that time? > As far as I'm aware, there are no professional keyboard cleaning services that deliver turnaround time of less than one hour and costs only $90. I don't think there are even professional keyboard cleaning services period. Well, maybe not in NY, if you were living in Calgary you could even have had your keyboard professionally cleaned for free: http://www.onsitecomputercleaning.ca/freekeyboardcleaning.php http://www.onsitecomputercleaning.ca/freekeyboardcleaning.ph...
      - mtlynch 7y ago
        >Without having an (even if approximate) estimation of the time needed? >So - in theory - the cleaner could have taken another 3.5 hours (or another 35 for the sake of the reasoning) and you would have paid her for that time? If neither the client nor the contractor stops it, it can go on indefinitely. There are probably limits in the app for how many continuous hours a worker can bill. But she finished at midnight, and I was probably 30-60 minutes from asking her to wrap it up. >Well, maybe not in NY, if you were living in Calgary you could even have had your keyboard professionally cleaned for free: >http://www.onsitecomputercleaning.ca/freekeyboardcleaning http://www.onsitecomputercleaning.ca/freekeyboardcleaning Oh, neat. I think that's actually for companies though. They say it's so you can decide whether you like their services enough to clean all of your equipment. I imagine they wouldn't agree to give away free cleanings to private residences.

5 points by mtlynch 7y ago

mtlynch 7y ago

Author here. Happy to answer any questions or hear any feedback about this post.

jaclaz 7y ago
Questions: >Bill >The final cost for Jaclyn’s three and a half hours of keyboard cleaning: $95.55. But you miss to state what the offer was, it seems to me you knew from the start you were going to pay US $ 95.55 for 3.5 hours of "house cleaning" at 26,00 each. Or was the offer (say) 1 hour and it took 3.5 hours? Or was the offer only stating the rate of 26,00 per hour? Feedback: 1) It is IMHO that dumb 2) the first two "lessons" you learned from the experience are wrong. Namely, if you decide to outsource something, you should outsorce it to a professional, which will charge you - say - 90 US$ per hour to do professional keyboard cleaning (in one hour time) and won't have you around during the process.
- mtlynch 7y ago
  Thanks for reading! >But you miss to state what the offer was, it seems to me you knew from the start you were going to pay US $ 95.55 for 3.5 hours of "house cleaning" at 26,00 each. >Or was the offer (say) 1 hour and it took 3.5 hours? >Or was the offer only stating the rate of 26,00 per hour? It's the latter. Each TaskRabbit contractor charges a different hourly rate and you pay them for however long the job takes. >Namely, if you decide to outsource something, you should outsorce it to a professional, which will charge you - say - 90 US$ per hour to do professional keyboard cleaning (in one hour time) and won't have you around during the process. I'm not sure I understand this feedback. As far as I'm aware, there are no professional keyboard cleaning services that deliver turnaround time of less than one hour and costs only $90. I don't think there are even professional keyboard cleaning services period.
  - jaclaz 7y ago
    >It's the latter. Each TaskRabbit contractor charges a different hourly rate and you pay them for however long the job takes. Without having an (even if approximate) estimation of the time needed? So - in theory - the cleaner could have taken another 3.5 hours (or another 35 for the sake of the reasoning) and you would have paid her for that time? > As far as I'm aware, there are no professional keyboard cleaning services that deliver turnaround time of less than one hour and costs only $90. I don't think there are even professional keyboard cleaning services period. Well, maybe not in NY, if you were living in Calgary you could even have had your keyboard professionally cleaned for free: http://www.onsitecomputercleaning.ca/freekeyboardcleaning.php http://www.onsitecomputercleaning.ca/freekeyboardcleaning.ph...
    - mtlynch 7y ago
      >Without having an (even if approximate) estimation of the time needed? >So - in theory - the cleaner could have taken another 3.5 hours (or another 35 for the sake of the reasoning) and you would have paid her for that time? If neither the client nor the contractor stops it, it can go on indefinitely. There are probably limits in the app for how many continuous hours a worker can bill. But she finished at midnight, and I was probably 30-60 minutes from asking her to wrap it up. >Well, maybe not in NY, if you were living in Calgary you could even have had your keyboard professionally cleaned for free: >http://www.onsitecomputercleaning.ca/freekeyboardcleaning http://www.onsitecomputercleaning.ca/freekeyboardcleaning Oh, neat. I think that's actually for companies though. They say it's so you can decide whether you like their services enough to clean all of your equipment. I imagine they wouldn't agree to give away free cleanings to private residences.