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This is not just about information asymmetry. If you want to do something well, you have to find someone that truly cares about doing it well. Price is almost i
by _1tem 2y ago
This is not just about information asymmetry. If you want to do something well, you have to find someone that truly cares about doing it well. Price is almost irrelevant, in fact, it may actually be a negative signal, because the best performers are often not motivated by money alone.
> So, in Korea, there's some service like Amazon where you can order an item and, an hour or two later, you'll hear a knock at your door. When you get to the door, you'll see an unlabeled box or bag and the item is in the unlabeled container. If you want to return the item, you "tell" the app that you want to return the item, put it back into its container, put it in front of your door, and they'll take it back. After seeing this shipping setup, which is wildly different from what you see in the U.S., he asked someone "how is it possible that they don't lose track of which box is which?". The answer he got was, "why would they lose track of which box is which?". His other stories have a similar feel, where he describes something quite alien, asks a local how things can work in this alien way, who can't imagine things working any other way and response with "why would X not work?"
This gem near the end of the article ties in with Marc Andreeson’s quote at the beginning of the article. The fact that he thinks hiring can’t be more efficient sounds to me like typical American head-in-sand insular thinking. He’s stuck in a cognitive frame, and in a particular system where people can’t imagine doing things differently, because they simply haven’t seen anything else. Try living somewhere else for an extended period of time, and you’ll realize that a lot of things you didn’t even think about could actually be better. The author gives the example of deliveries in Korea. I say the same about many things in Eastern Europe, including deliveries, payment systems, and just everyday services like dentists - a LOT of things work better than they do in the West, not because of monetary incentives, but because things are simply done differently here, and some things are done better.
- Suppafly 2y ago>a LOT of things work better than they do in the West, not because of monetary incentives, but because things are simply done differently here, and some things are done better. I'm not totally convinced though, because a lot of times when you investigate these "simply works better" claims, it's because the end users, either through culture or training, have been taught to accept bad service and not complain about it, which glosses over a lot of the real problems with some of these systems that we're told work better.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- _1tem 2y agoI'm directly comparing my personal experience as a consumer who grew up in Canada and then moved to Eastern Europe. There's a lot of stuff I didn't imagine could possibly "work better" but they do.
- Suppafly 2y agoWhat are some examples you've personally experienced to work better?
- _1tem 2y agoFurniture. Instead of buying fixed mass-SKU items from IKEA or Amazon, it is common to order custom-made furniture in Ukraine. I once ordered an office table in Ukraine on Rozetka (Ukraine's version of Amazon) and was surprised when the seller reached out and asked me what height I want it, at no additional cost. Dentists. For 10% of the cost you get the same (or usually better) service. I've been doing regular dental cleaning since I was a child. Delivery. Ukraine's delivery service Nova Poshta Shopping in Ukraine allows me to order from almost anywhere in the world, including Amazon in the USA (they have shipping addresses and warehouses all over the world). I recently ordered a spare part in the US and a book in the UK from different sellers in those countries, and both items reached me within 10 days in Ukraine at less than the cost of shipping within the original country. Much better the poor experience of international shipping in the US and Canada. Also another cool thing when ordering online in Ukraine is that the post office allows you try and return things in the post office itself. So you can order second-hand items on a market like eBay/Craigslist and you don't need to trust the seller. You can open the box, test to see if it the thing works, and send it back to seller if it's not to your satisfaction -- the post office itself takes escrow of the item for a minimal cost, and transfers money to the seller only if you got to try the item and are satisfied with it. This means you can easily buy second hand stuff online without organizing local meetup or needing to trust the seller. ATMs. You can withdraw cash from most bank ATMs without even having a bank card on you, just by scanning a QR-code from your phone using the banking app. Identity theft protection. All major dealings in the bank in Ukraine are photo-id'ed, i.e. the teller takes a picture of you when you make a request on your account. This really helps against identity theft, as a person with all your details would also have to fake your appearance to be able to open a mortgage or get credit.