Magic • Hacker News Board

Re: Magic

#461

Post by bbayles » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 10:17 PM UTC

tghw wrote: post #457

gmisra wrote: post #440

Do you know what would really be magical? An on-demand service that provided a guarantee that all of the humans involved were beneficiaries of living wages, unemployment and workers comp protection, health insurance etc. I really enjoy the convenience these services provide, but ultimately that's all it is - convenience. To me, no convenience is worth watching an entire class of people get 1099-ed into poverty, at th…

I think this sentiment comes from the notion that employers should be the basis of the social safety net, which I find odd. Employers will never fully serve this role. It's relying on organizations (corporations usually) to make the trade off between profit and employee well being, two things that are almost always at odds. It seems to me that it shouldn't matter where your income comes from, the social safety net sh…

Right on. If we as a society want to help those whose skills don't command a high monetary value in the market, we should pay for that help as a society (through taxes)!

Re: Magic

#462

Post by dsuth » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 10:18 PM UTC

Anderkent wrote: post #455

gmisra wrote: post #440

Do you know what would really be magical? An on-demand service that provided a guarantee that all of the humans involved were beneficiaries of living wages, unemployment and workers comp protection, health insurance etc. I really enjoy the convenience these services provide, but ultimately that's all it is - convenience. To me, no convenience is worth watching an entire class of people get 1099-ed into poverty, at th…

Any such service would immediately be outcompeted by one which doesn't provide all that - it's trivial to clone an on-demand service, and if you have lower costs you can be cheaper. If you want all that, you should move to a country where all that is required by law, or lobby towards these laws being implemented in your country. However, you must realise that all that has very real costs; and businesses that are only…

> Any such service would immediately be outcompeted by one which doesn't provide all that - it's trivial to clone an on-demand service, and if you have lower costs you can be cheaper.

In other words, it's the classic 'race to the bottom' problem, which is exactly what the OP is talking about. It's not helpful at a societal level to out-compete each other into the ground.

I don't agree that companies should become safety nets, but there absolutely should be a liveable minimum wage, that companies are expected to adhere to.

Re: Magic

#463

Post by dsuth » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 10:20 PM UTC

LeoPanthera wrote: post #236

peteretep wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a UK service called AQA that would answer questions for £1 back in the mid 2000s. They started off super super useful, but quality degraded enough as they scaled that it was no longer worth it. Used to be able to say "which shops in a 20 mile radius have xus in stock", or "who should I complain to about the service in xyz bar" and get great answers, but as they automated it more and more you'd just get back…

I was briefly an AQA employee. You were paid per question, so all you really cared about was how quickly you could send an answer and move onto the next question. The quality of the answer didn't matter, unless the customer complained and got a refund, which virtually never happened.

Poor metrics win again!

Re: Magic

#464

Post by Anderkent » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 10:28 PM UTC

dsuth wrote: post #462

Anderkent wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any such service would immediately be outcompeted by one which doesn't provide all that - it's trivial to clone an on-demand service, and if you have lower costs you can be cheaper. If you want all that, you should move to a country where all that is required by law, or lobby towards these laws being implemented in your country. However, you must realise that all that has very real costs; and businesses that are only…

> Any such service would immediately be outcompeted by one which doesn't provide all that - it's trivial to clone an on-demand service, and if you have lower costs you can be cheaper. In other words, it's the classic 'race to the bottom' problem, which is exactly what the OP is talking about. It's not helpful at a societal level to out-compete each other into the ground. I don't agree that companies should become saf…

Sure. But asking for a company that doesn't race to the bottom doesn't actually help here; you need to prevent the race from occuring in the first place, rather than ask for companies to stop trying to race.

Re: Magic

#465

Post by vacri » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 10:32 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #413

vacri wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh, if you're going with that argument, then their service covers the globe. Not to mention that while the service might be Magic, pizza bags aren't, and a pizza that takes over an hour to get to you isn't going to be hot. I don't think "here's a ridiculously expensive, late, cold pizza" answers the spirit of "I'd like a pizza".

> I don't think "here's a ridiculously expensive, late, cold pizza" answers the spirit of "I'd like a pizza". It does for someone in a town that doesn't have pizza.

No, it answers the letter of the request, not the spirit of it.

And if you think that's good enough (consumers won't), then just change the request to "I'd like a hot pizza in the next hour, because I'm hungry now and have an appointment".

Re: Magic

#466

Post by jsmeaton » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 10:32 PM UTC

jmilloy wrote: post #436

jsmeaton wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Credit/Debit card offers concierge service but I've never used it. I'd have to find the number (or put it in my phone..), then speak to an operator, and then trust that they could deliver on what I expect. This service is based on SMS though, and I'd presume they hold all the pertinent info (address, credit card etc) so that I wouldn't have to keep repeating it. I'd still have to trust that I get what I want, but…

I don't follow you > My Credit/Debit card offers concierge service but I've never used it. I'd have to find the number (or put it in my phone..), then an operator, and then trust that they could deliver on what I expect. > This service is based on though, and I'd presume they hold all the pertinent info (address, credit card etc) so that I wouldn't have to keep repeating it. I'd still have to trust that I get what I…

My Credit Card company doesn't do text based concierge service. I would have to call them. The making a phone call is the bit I don't like. I haven't used the service so I have no idea what to expect with regards to storing details etc.

The landing page for Magic shows me exactly what I could expect, and it's based on SMS.

What's not to follow?

Re: Magic

#467

Post by Springtime » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 10:39 PM UTC

gosmart4u wrote: post #446

I discovered this through a Facebook thread that has a ton of comments on it from non HN or techie peeps. Thought you might want to know what normal non-techies think. "I think it is a great idea that has potential but I personally wouldn't use them because I can't find anything about them on the website. Looks like a scam." "They need to re-design their website so it doesn't look like it was slapped together in 10 m…

> "They need to re-design their website so it doesn't look like it was slapped together in 10 minutes and add an about page so we know who they are."

It's interesting the contrast of first impressions. HN is often fortunate to receive a behind the scenes look into projects. Here we have a first-hand discussion with the creators commenting and answering questions, such as their previous businesses [1] and general updates [2], which helps us gauge the business more than perhaps a general user encountering the site. From the top-rated posts it also appears many here are so used to typical design choices that there's an appreciation for the more straight-forward approach.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9087931

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9088208

Re: Magic

#468

Post by mod » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 10:55 PM UTC

inyourtenement wrote: post #259

rlander wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, love that show. "Shit is just business, String. Buy for a dollar, sell for two. That’s all it need be." Proposition Joe

I know a guy who buys cheap cars, fixes them, and resells them. All through craigslist. But whenever he buys a car, even one he plans to keep for himself, he immediately lists it with a huge markup. Just today he got an offer for $3200 on a motorcycle he bought last week for $2000.

I often think that would be a great gig.

I like fixing things.

But I don't know how to work on cars. So there's that...

Re: Magic

#469

Post by marcusgarvey » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 10:59 PM UTC

nzp wrote: post #405

cmikec wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great question. We are still trying to figure this out right now. Our vision is to be a service that handles everything - and that means everything from ordering food, to ordering clothes, to booking a one week's vacation in St. Thomas. The fees obvioulsy vary. Any ideas you have about doing this in a more straightforward way would be welcome. For now what we are doing is thinking about what would be reason…

My bold suggestion would be to not do what other posters are suggesting about making pricing clear and itemized. As I've said in another comment, I think this service mainly fulfills an emotional need, not a rational one (and that's not bad for a business at all), so make your customers feel luxurious. Bean counting isn't luxurious. Do exactly what you do now, just handle the request and state the price. Getting peop…

Excellent advice and goes back to the basic rule of know exactly who your customers are.

Re: Magic

#470

Post by gosmart4u » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 11:07 PM UTC

Springtime wrote: post #467

gosmart4u wrote: post #446

I discovered this through a Facebook thread that has a ton of comments on it from non HN or techie peeps. Thought you might want to know what normal non-techies think. "I think it is a great idea that has potential but I personally wouldn't use them because I can't find anything about them on the website. Looks like a scam." "They need to re-design their website so it doesn't look like it was slapped together in 10 m…

> "They need to re-design their website so it doesn't look like it was slapped together in 10 minutes and add an about page so we know who they are." It's interesting the contrast of first impressions. HN is often fortunate to receive a behind the scenes look into projects. Here we have a first-hand discussion with the creators commenting and answering questions, such as their previous businesses [1] and general upda…

I understand what you are saying and agree with a lot of it. Not saying I completely agree with all of the comments, instead simply pointing out what your average non techie/HN people think.

The "general user encountering the site" will most likely be the users using this service so imo they are just as important as the HN crowd.