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Coinbase is closing their SF office
- encryptluks2 6y agoIts not like they have customer service anyway. If you message them about an issue, good luck getting a response.
- rafale 6y agoDepends on how much volume you trade with them.
- MattGaiser 6y agoGiven that tons of tech companies have just given up on customer service, I wonder if they have all done the math and found that customers who need help are just not worth keeping.
- viraptor 6y agoThey're in a bit different situation. If some SaaS breaks for someone that's one thing worth a few $. Coinbase issues requiring support are in thousands and could be reasonably chased in court. Support is cheaper than lawyers.
- dangrossman 6y agoThere was a period in PayPal's early history where there was no support. Nobody checking email, no support tickets, no phone number. They took the phones in their office off the hook after customers start figuring out their numbers. They hired security once customers started showing up in person. This was the period when they were growing exponentially, too fast for their staff to keep up with the support needs, but before their first inbound call center was up and running.
- ornornor 6y agoTo be fair, what passes for customer support at PayPal nowadays is a joke. PayPal is far from being the only one but yeah... Still better than “community forums run by volunteers” but not much. I also wonder what drives all these volunteers to answer on the companies community forums. They can’t do much because they have no access to any of the internal systems, they aren’t getting paid... what’s the point? Is the customer service industry so competitive that you need “side projects” there as well in the form of volunteering to be an unpaid CSA?
- ArtTimeInvestor 6y agoThat implies that customers who do not get support leave. In my experience, the amount of support is not what makes people decide on a service. If they did it right, they A/B-tested different amount of support and optimized for life time value. Or they simply cannot scale up support faster because more lucrative tasks are on the roadmap.
- arcticbull 6y agoThat implies that customers who do not get support can leave. My understanding is a lot of them have their money locked up in Coinbase and can’t get it out. Not really sure why anyone would need support from them otherwise. Coinbase is kind of like the money hole at a blackjack table in Vegas. Putting money in to get chips is never really an issue.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- devin 6y agoI don't really see how having "customer service" is inextricably tied in any way to a physical, permanent company location.
- rawtxapp 6y agoYour mileage may vary, but I always get quick answers and had all my problems solved fairly efficiently. Though I'm not surprised that with 56 million users, there will definitely be people who will receive bad customer service I guess.
- KirillPanov 6y agoYeah Google is so much better at that...
- encryptluks2 6y agoI can get instant support with Google through Google One or my GSuite account.
- throwawaysea 6y agoReally impressed with how forward thinking Coinbase is. First with banning distracting and unproductive politics at work, and now embracing full remote work. They will do well in attracting talent while big tech companies linger on with their archaic commitment to physical workspaces and tiresome commutes in expensive places.
- gangstead 6y agoAre you conflating Coinbase with Basecamp? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26944192 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26944192 edit wish I could delete. I'm sorry for being one step behind on the HN treadmill. I had only read about Basecamp's announcement.
- Klonoar 6y agoI take it you missed when Coinbase did it first.
- gangstead 6y agoI did indeed. The only headline I had seen here on HN was about ~~Coin~~Basecamp and I have been thoroughly reprimanded. It really adds new perspective to Basecamp's announcement though because I thought some of their changes seemed unrelated or out of proportion to the "Best Names" list.
- fiddlerwoaroof 6y agoCoinbase did it first: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-is-a-mission-focused-company-af882df8804 https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-is-a-mission-focused-comp...
- rvz 6y agoCoinbase was first, then Basecamp followed.
- _keats 6y agoIts likely they are referring to [0] where Coinbase announced that they were going to be discouraging internal focus on "broader societal issues" and "political causes". [0] https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-is-a-mission-focused-company-af882df8804 https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-is-a-mission-focused-comp...
- seibelj 6y agoMost crypto companies are fully remote ("decentralized"). Kraken is an example of a major exchange that has been remote for many years. If you are interested in free-thinking, open-minded workplaces solving very interesting problems, go to coingecko.com and scan down the lists of major coins and exchanges. There is an enormous need for engineers and the pay is very high for remote work. In terms of startups, basically every engineer I know who stuck with crypto through the post-2017 bear market made a huge amount of money as their tokens appreciated. One benefit of working in crypto is you are liquid very quickly - you might get equity, but you almost always get tokens. Regardless of what the HN know-it-all crypto-haters say, in 2021 you are far more likely to make appreciable wealth in crypto as an individual contributor than you will in your average SaaS (excluding founders and high-level management). Of course, I think the problems being solved in decentralized platforms are extremely interesting compared to adtech or whatever AI-nonsense. But even barring the extremely interesting work, the renumeration, ethos, and company structure are very amenable to software engineers.
- dogecoinbase 6y agoAh yes, Kraken: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-court-authorizes-irs-seek-identities-taxpayers-who-have-used-cryptocurrency-2021-05-05/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-court-authorizes-irs-see... I would suggest that engineers looking to make huge amounts of money think carefully about potential liability and whether they'd like to be able to keep living in whatever country they're looking to work remotely from.
- seibelj 6y agoNot sure I follow. This also happened to Coinbase https://www.businessinsider.com/irs-hunting-anonymous-coinbase-traders-who-made-100-million-kraken-2021-4 https://www.businessinsider.com/irs-hunting-anonymous-coinba... And Circle https://www.coindesk.com/irs-circle-coinbase-repeat https://www.coindesk.com/irs-circle-coinbase-repeat
- tacosaretasty 6y ago“Citizens of a particular country who make money are required to pay taxes. News at 11” Really though are you implying that these employees are all unscrupulously avoiding taxes and trying to use remote work and cryptocurrency to relive their tax burden? Maybe some people enjoy the space as it’s bleeding edge, fully remote supported and well funded.
- 314 6y agoMuch easier to pull an exit scam without property.
- tacosaretasty 6y agoI really appreciate your comment, can you tell me how a multi billion dollar publicly traded company is trying to pull an exit scam? I know HN does not like the crypto community but at a minimum try to follow the community guidelines of productive conversation.
- riffraff 6y agoIt's interesting they announced this only after the IPO. I wonder if they planned to do it even before but didn't want to scare some more conservative investors.
- fergal 6y agoStatus quo on the lead up IPO is the way to go... yo!
- devin 6y agoCool, I might consider working with them now! To be clear, I don't really believe in "partially remote." Either it's a remote company, or it isn't.
- koheripbal 6y agoBe careful not to misinterpret this move. They may just be planning on opening a new main office elsewhere.
- ivanvanderbyl 6y agoTheir CEO has been pretty vocal about not having an office for a while now. I'd be surprised if opening a new office is their interpretation of remote-first.
- joelbondurant 6y agoFuck San Francisco.