The Shut-In Economy
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The Shut-In Economy
1–10 of 348 posts
Re: The Shut-In Economy
#2Van Ekert’s answer: “It’s more to dedicate more time to working.”
With the arrival of every functionary serving as a reminder of what could happen if you slow down your pace on the treadmill.
This article makes me glad I don't live in SF any more.
Re: The Shut-In Economy
#3The Albert service seems ripe for abuse. People unknown entering your home? At least a full time maid is a traceable person... Seems like the opportunities for an airbnb-style break-in are rampant.
Re: The Shut-In Economy
#4> “We’re trying to remove the taboo and the guilt that you should have to do it,” says Alfred’s CEO
every time i use one of these services i feel a bit guilty. twofold; guilty that i have someone literally serving me, and that i'm too lazy to do it myself.
i still use them occasionally though. laundry every 2 weeks because i don't have in-unit, and occasional food delivery when i'm feeling especially lazy - i try to just call local restaurants directly though. i also stopped using homejoy because quite frankly it felt too weird to have someone cleaning my tiny place for me.
> When signing up, customers can choose the option of not seeing their Alfred
haha. wow. i guess that's one way of dealing with it.
Re: The Shut-In Economy
#5> “We’re trying to remove the taboo and the guilt that you should have to do it,” says Alfred’s CEO every time i use one of these services i feel a bit guilty. twofold; guilty that i have someone literally serving me, and that i'm too lazy to do it myself. i still use them occasionally though. laundry every 2 weeks because i don't have in-unit, and occasional food delivery when i'm feeling especially lazy - i try to…
I do too, although there is no reason to really. You outsource when you pay for anything - from tax to broccoli!
The only way to escape is to learn how to go money-free and feral!
Re: The Shut-In Economy
#6As a Current Alfred customer in NYC I can say that the service has been a huge help, and not in the "shut in" way suggested by this article.
Having my laundry, groceries and packages taken care of for me allows me to maximize my weekends.
I think one of the other reasons Alfred is so useful is that it removes 100% of the cognitive load of chores. Services like flycleaners and instacart are actually only marginally helpful since the user still needs to think about laundry and groceries.
Re: The Shut-In Economy
#7I don't have the historical knowledge to do it myself, but it would be fascinating to read an in-depth comparison between these services and the economy of servants in the 19th or early-20th century.
The image in my head (from movies and books and reading [about] Piketty) is that the wealthy in earlier eras were more idle, living off rents rather than incomes. I imagine servants would have been more of a status symbol for them, whereas today's upper-middle-class strivers see them as more of a necessity "to dedicate more time to working." I wonder, is that as close as we get to progress, under capitalism? I.e., if we're going to have servants, the people employing them today have a somewhat less dubious reason for doing so than their ancestors?
Re: The Shut-In Economy
#8As a Current Alfred customer in NYC I can say that the service has been a huge help, and not in the "shut in" way suggested by this article. Having my laundry, groceries and packages taken care of for me allows me to maximize my weekends. I think one of the other reasons Alfred is so useful is that it removes 100% of the cognitive load of chores. Services like flycleaners and instacart are actually only marginally he…
This is such a glowing review that it almost seems like an advertisement. If/when I get customers, I hope they are this positive about my business.
Re: The Shut-In Economy
#9The Albert service seems ripe for abuse. People unknown entering your home? At least a full time maid is a traceable person... Seems like the opportunities for an airbnb-style break-in are rampant.
As I understand it, these are actual employees of Alfred. No different from any other person you let into your home to do work.
Re: The Shut-In Economy
#10I don't have the historical knowledge to do it myself, but it would be fascinating to read an in-depth comparison between these services and the economy of servants in the 19th or early-20th century. The image in my head (from movies and books and reading [about] Piketty) is that the wealthy in earlier eras were more idle, living off rents rather than incomes. I imagine servants would have been more of a status symbo…
I don't think servants were just status symbols. Cooking, cleaning and laundry without appliances was a very time consuming job which probably occupied the days of the wife and daughters of a family with no servants. Add to that inconvenient shopping, clothes mending, child care.