5 ms·

15. Source: http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=piano+tuner&find_loc=New+York%2C+NY http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=piano+tuner&find_lo...

shanelja 13y ago
If this was Reddit this would pretty much be /thread, however I propose the following question: While this may be a good estimate, what about businesses not on Yelp? "Professional Piano tuner" doesn't seem the most technologically advanced profession, so I think it's safe to assume that there are several, if not dozens more in existence in the NY area.
- potatolicious 13y ago
  Yelp's database is largely user-driven - businesses do not have to be hip to technology to appear there. The presence of a business on Yelp speaks more to the technological savviness of its customer demographic than the business itself. That said, I actually know a piano mover in NYC and he's not on Yelp, or any website. His business is very much conducted via word of mouth and physical exchange of business cards.
- ambiate 13y ago
  This is correct. In my town, there are four used game stores. Two of these stores do not exist online in any shape or form (One locally owned, one a subsidiary of game exchange). Searching for a seamstress in my town turns up a few results for dry cleaners. A look on craigslist returns a much larger result.
tinco 13y ago
This is actually not a very good estimate. It has many inaccuracies, and those inaccuracies are harder to nail down than the original problem, so you made it harder on yourself. Some questions about your result: How many piano tuners work at any of those piano tuner companies? How many piano tuner companies are not on yelp? How many piano tuners are employees of instrument stores instead of working freelance/for a tuner company? Those are all harder to answer without industry information than the simple deductions the handout makes from common sense/knowledge. I have the feeling it is important that people understand the limits of technology. Even though we like to say something doesn't exist if it isn't on Google, things very often do irregardless.
- alanlewis 13y ago
  I always forget how difficult it is to convey sarcasm in written form. My bad.
msluyter 13y ago
Sweet! My guess was 6. I proceeded by estimating the number of pianos per person (my guess was 7000 in NYC), then by estimating the frequency of tuning. I came up with ~20 pianos/day needing tuning and guessing the average tuner could handle 3 pianos / day (when I was a kid I recall the tuner taking a couple of hours.) some edge cases like Carnegie Hall (where the piano is probably tuned quite frequently) probably skew the numbers somewhat. Also, I would guess that a city with mostly single family homes, say, Houston, has more pianos/capita than NY or Chicago, based on the pain in the assedness of moving a piano into an apartment, though that may be offset by the number of music schools and cultural institutions.

shanelja 13y ago

If this was Reddit this would pretty much be /thread, however I propose the following question: While this may be a good estimate, what about businesses not on Yelp? "Professional Piano tuner" doesn't seem the most technologically advanced profession, so I think it's safe to assume that there are several, if not dozens more in existence in the NY area.

potatolicious 13y ago
Yelp's database is largely user-driven - businesses do not have to be hip to technology to appear there. The presence of a business on Yelp speaks more to the technological savviness of its customer demographic than the business itself. That said, I actually know a piano mover in NYC and he's not on Yelp, or any website. His business is very much conducted via word of mouth and physical exchange of business cards.
ambiate 13y ago
This is correct. In my town, there are four used game stores. Two of these stores do not exist online in any shape or form (One locally owned, one a subsidiary of game exchange). Searching for a seamstress in my town turns up a few results for dry cleaners. A look on craigslist returns a much larger result.

tinco 13y ago

This is actually not a very good estimate. It has many inaccuracies, and those inaccuracies are harder to nail down than the original problem, so you made it harder on yourself. Some questions about your result: How many piano tuners work at any of those piano tuner companies? How many piano tuner companies are not on yelp? How many piano tuners are employees of instrument stores instead of working freelance/for a tuner company? Those are all harder to answer without industry information than the simple deductions the handout makes from common sense/knowledge. I have the feeling it is important that people understand the limits of technology. Even though we like to say something doesn't exist if it isn't on Google, things very often do irregardless.

alanlewis 13y ago
I always forget how difficult it is to convey sarcasm in written form. My bad.

msluyter 13y ago

Sweet! My guess was 6. I proceeded by estimating the number of pianos per person (my guess was 7000 in NYC), then by estimating the frequency of tuning. I came up with ~20 pianos/day needing tuning and guessing the average tuner could handle 3 pianos / day (when I was a kid I recall the tuner taking a couple of hours.) some edge cases like Carnegie Hall (where the piano is probably tuned quite frequently) probably skew the numbers somewhat. Also, I would guess that a city with mostly single family homes, say, Houston, has more pianos/capita than NY or Chicago, based on the pain in the assedness of moving a piano into an apartment, though that may be offset by the number of music schools and cultural institutions.