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Aside from food (and beer§), Maid service, perhaps just on the one-room level. (Much easier to justify the high price if you're paranoid and busy and can't be

Aside from food (and beer§), Maid service, perhaps just on the one-room level. (Much easier to justify the high price if you're paranoid and busy and can't be sure when you'll be home to supervise). Repair/handyman service, auto detailing, yard service, waste removal. Massage and acupuncture. Also, definitely, medical services including phlebotomy. Finding the sort of business where the current providers are already in the area working and can drop everything and high-tail it over to the impatient client's place on an infrequent basis is what you want here. Success of another taskrabbit or iamexec with a really short timetable would be easier if it had an easy automated system to predict availability without interrupting the service providers' other tasks (i.e. where is their smartphone, is it jostling, and are they ready to work). § This is probably constrained by a patchwork of antiquated laws enough to make it a loser financially. Still, I bet you could even find volunteers who'd rather enable alcoholics by getting them another case of Steel Reserve, Mickey's, or Bud Light when they run out, given that they'd probably get behind the wheel to perform the task themselves. The life you save could be mine.

debacle 14y ago
I think your answers are specious. You would pay a premium for on-demand phlebotomy?
- mchannon 14y ago
  The author didn't ask for ones proven to work; everything's specious until a successful startup makes it obvious. And I would definitely pay for on-demand on-site phlebotomy for a number of reasons, if I was to need one, and I bet you would too. People get blood drawn when their body isn't working right and nobody's sure why. Whether you're coughing up blood, can't see straight, or can't walk, getting your butt into that clinic is a major pain point. Maybe you have a high-stress low-skill job like at a package sorting facility, where you come in late, you get canned. Doesn't matter that you'd have to blow a day's wages to save two hours' working time- that's just how the economics work for some people (talk to cabbies and you'll find many of their clients are very poor, even though cabs are ridiculously expensive). And as far as the time premium, it's downright scary when your health takes a sudden turn. Hours count when you have what could be fast-advancing cancer, or an aggressive bacterial infection. An extra $30 to shave a day off the time until I get results? Easily justified.

debacle 14y ago

I think your answers are specious. You would pay a premium for on-demand phlebotomy?

mchannon 14y ago
The author didn't ask for ones proven to work; everything's specious until a successful startup makes it obvious. And I would definitely pay for on-demand on-site phlebotomy for a number of reasons, if I was to need one, and I bet you would too. People get blood drawn when their body isn't working right and nobody's sure why. Whether you're coughing up blood, can't see straight, or can't walk, getting your butt into that clinic is a major pain point. Maybe you have a high-stress low-skill job like at a package sorting facility, where you come in late, you get canned. Doesn't matter that you'd have to blow a day's wages to save two hours' working time- that's just how the economics work for some people (talk to cabbies and you'll find many of their clients are very poor, even though cabs are ridiculously expensive). And as far as the time premium, it's downright scary when your health takes a sudden turn. Hours count when you have what could be fast-advancing cancer, or an aggressive bacterial infection. An extra $30 to shave a day off the time until I get results? Easily justified.