7 ms·

I don't think these particular examples are that exciting. Rich people can already get this type of concierge service from existing places, like a personal ass

by birken 11y ago

I don't think these particular examples are that exciting. Rich people can already get this type of concierge service from existing places, like a personal assistant, virtual personal assistant [1], or a credit card concierge (you probably have one [2]). If you are spending enough money, getting somebody to help you isn't hard. I still don't understand how the service would apply to the average person, or how it could apply enough to make lots of money. Average people really try to be efficient with their money, and don't pay money for that many things they can do themselves. With annoying tasks like laundry, there are economies of scale so you can actually provide consumers with better service for less money, which is a win/win. But with a concierge, you are always going to have to pay the concierge money, and will they really be able to provide enough expertise to be worth it? I'm skeptical. 1: https://www.zirtual.com/ https://www.zirtual.com/ 2: http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/putting-concierge-service-to-test-1433.php http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/putting-concierg...

Swizec 11y ago
As a person who grew up poor-ish [1] but is now reasonably well off [2], I have developed a little theory on why the market of make-your-life-slightly-easier-by-hiring-a-human-through-an-app services is booming so much right now. Everything from Uber to Washio, Handy, and Task Rabbit falls into this market for the purposes of my theory. We are lazy. Very lazy. We think we're busy, and to an extent we are. We've been brought up by frugal parents.[3] As a result, we don't know how to get things done for us. We feel bad hiring somebody to do something for us. We don't know how to handle the idea that we can afford to have people working for us. Using an app makes this easier. It reduces the emotional impact of it all. You're just using an app after all, you're paying a company to hire a person to do something. You're offloading your bad feelings onto a company. To top it off, we don't even know where to get someone to do things for us. We didn't grow up with an infrastructure of hired help, we grew up with an infrastructure and worldview of working for others. The idea of having people work for us is fundamentally alien. Apps help. [1] low middle class single parent kind of poor where you'd rather spend two days painting your own apartment poorly than pay a professional to do it. And by poorly I mean, have your high school age son do it (me). [2] software engineer in San Francisco [3] either because we used to be poor, or because we weren't the rich kind of middle class (here I'm making the distinction that upper class are people who don't need cashflow to support their lifestyle)
- guynamedloren 11y ago
  By your standards, I'm super poor, because I've painted my own apartment(s) plenty of times. Software engineer in LA.
  - Swizec 11y ago
    That was just an example. It depends. Maybe you value the relaxation of painting higher than having professionally painted walls. Maybe you don't value your time higher than what a professional in LA charges. Maybe you're just one of those people who would drive 5 minutes out of their way to save 10 cents on gas. (https://xkcd.com/951/ https://xkcd.com/951/) My point was in the general idea, not in the specifics of my examples. And it just felt more interesting to mention the wall painting bit rather than the bit about my mum shuffling money around various credit cards so we could afford groceries without having any cards canceled. shrug
joshuapants 11y ago
> Average people really try to be efficient with their money, and don't pay money for that many things they can do themselves. Are those actually "average people" or are they "ideal people?"

by birken 11y ago

Swizec 11y ago

As a person who grew up poor-ish [1] but is now reasonably well off [2], I have developed a little theory on why the market of make-your-life-slightly-easier-by-hiring-a-human-through-an-app services is booming so much right now. Everything from Uber to Washio, Handy, and Task Rabbit falls into this market for the purposes of my theory. We are lazy. Very lazy. We think we're busy, and to an extent we are. We've been brought up by frugal parents.[3] As a result, we don't know how to get things done for us. We feel bad hiring somebody to do something for us. We don't know how to handle the idea that we can afford to have people working for us. Using an app makes this easier. It reduces the emotional impact of it all. You're just using an app after all, you're paying a company to hire a person to do something. You're offloading your bad feelings onto a company. To top it off, we don't even know where to get someone to do things for us. We didn't grow up with an infrastructure of hired help, we grew up with an infrastructure and worldview of working for others. The idea of having people work for us is fundamentally alien. Apps help. [1] low middle class single parent kind of poor where you'd rather spend two days painting your own apartment poorly than pay a professional to do it. And by poorly I mean, have your high school age son do it (me). [2] software engineer in San Francisco [3] either because we used to be poor, or because we weren't the rich kind of middle class (here I'm making the distinction that upper class are people who don't need cashflow to support their lifestyle)

guynamedloren 11y ago
By your standards, I'm super poor, because I've painted my own apartment(s) plenty of times. Software engineer in LA.
- Swizec 11y ago
  That was just an example. It depends. Maybe you value the relaxation of painting higher than having professionally painted walls. Maybe you don't value your time higher than what a professional in LA charges. Maybe you're just one of those people who would drive 5 minutes out of their way to save 10 cents on gas. (https://xkcd.com/951/ https://xkcd.com/951/) My point was in the general idea, not in the specifics of my examples. And it just felt more interesting to mention the wall painting bit rather than the bit about my mum shuffling money around various credit cards so we could afford groceries without having any cards canceled. shrug

joshuapants 11y ago

> Average people really try to be efficient with their money, and don't pay money for that many things they can do themselves. Are those actually "average people" or are they "ideal people?"