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Homejoy says goodbye

blog.homejoy.com

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Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#161

Post by mkagenius »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #92
ivankirigin wrote: post #79

Cofounder Adora Cheung is worth following. The story is a great example for founders. Check out her lecture at Sam Altman's startup class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP176MBG9Tk

This was a good talk but I can't help to think that she should have spent more time working on the business than doing these types of speaking engagements (because she had done quite a lot of them, not just this one). Though the time spent doing these engagements and preparing, maybe that was worth it for the advertising? Not sure but they don't sit right with me.

The story and message was almost same in all those lectures. So, i doubt she put lot of time just preparing for it and moreover it was her story that she was telling, so even less preparation is required.

For people working in christmas, its a good break to have. And i doubt those hours spent otherwise on the startup can could have changed the outcome.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#162

Post by why-el »

ylhert wrote: post #46

Is this the beginning of the end of the on-demand bubble?

There is a qualitative difference between this and other on-demand services such as Uber in that you will never see the "here is my phone number" phenomenon in Uber.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#163

Post by Animats »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #83
fraXis wrote: post #7

I used Homejoy and I liked it's ease of use. But after the cleaning lady they sent me was done, she offered me her direct phone # and told me I could contact her directly for any future cleaning needs. I always wondered how this business model was going to work if Homejoy's contractors could just give out their phone # at the end of their first service and the customer could just contact them directly for any future…

> But after the cleaning lady they sent me was done, she offered me her direct phone # and told me I could contact her directly for any future cleaning needs. All companies that contract to contractors have this issue and it probably isn't solvable using the same model. For instance Home Depot and Lowes will contract out service to contractors and I've had them, on every single occasion, give me their information to…

For Home Depot and Lowes, lead generation for contractors is just a way for them to sell more building materials that need installation. They don't care if you call the contractor directly for your next installation job, as long as the materials come from them.

That model does not work for HomeJoy.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#164

Post by acdha »

dragonwriter wrote: post #19
acdha wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming it's related to the legal minefield of trying to avoid compensating their workers as employees: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/03/startup-workers-s...

That's probably part of it, but also, to the extent that they were bona fide contractors, the cost of actually policing them to prevent direct contracting with and referrals from the people they were matched with through Homejoy was probably a problem. Contracts may theoretically restrict this behavior, but actually policing them is non-trivial.

Yeah, I think that's part of the general cost breakdown here: something like house cleaning is already very competitive so there's a pretty narrow range where you can convince workers to give you a cut without pricing the service out of consideration. Successful attempts to do that rely on high volume, which is completely incompatible with the kind of things you mention or even basic customer service and quality review.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#165

Post by npizzolato »

krstck wrote: post #68
smt88 wrote: post #4

No surprise there. Tone-deaf marketing and there was a horror story a few years ago about the culture.

Was this the company that posted their ad directly onto HN talking about how happy they were to be working on Christmas eve (or whatever holiday it was)?

Yes. Someone else linked it earlier in the comments, so here you go.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8794956

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#166

Post by theorique »

markonthewall wrote: post #152
jasonwilk wrote: post #129

I wanted HomeJoy to work and tried to use the service a few times. What the failure came down to: 1. The cleaners were not professionals. It felt like they were just recruiting anyone who wanted a job. You could really feel this with the lack of passion from the cleaners and the severe lack of quality cleaning. Most of the people complained and were quite rude sometimes. Cleaning is very much a skill as much as it is…

> the lack of passion from the cleaners I doubt cleaning other people's shit is anyone's passion.

One of the things you're paying for is for the service provider to "act as if".

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#167

Post by jonknee »

sholanozie wrote: post #18
fraXis wrote: post #7

I used Homejoy and I liked it's ease of use. But after the cleaning lady they sent me was done, she offered me her direct phone # and told me I could contact her directly for any future cleaning needs. I always wondered how this business model was going to work if Homejoy's contractors could just give out their phone # at the end of their first service and the customer could just contact them directly for any future…

I feel this way about AirBnB as well.

AirBnB goes to a lot of lengths to make sure you at least have to book through them the first time. They filter out phone numbers and email addresses in messaging, even if you try and get clever (like spelling out phone numbers).

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#168

Post by toomuchtodo »

joslin01 wrote: post #158
markonthewall wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the lack of passion from the cleaners I doubt cleaning other people's shit is anyone's passion.

Just as much as I doubt checking me out in a check-out line is anyone's idea of "passion", but it's still rude and unprofessional to not show me courtesy. You don't get a moral blank-check just because you don't like your job.

> You don't get a moral blank-check just because you don't like your job.

Whether someone can "feel" your passion about a job isn't about morality. I can do my job well, even if I feel its the equivalent of shoveling horse shit, and have zero passion for it. Whether someone is doing their job well is never a moral question. If someone didn't do the job you agreed to, its contractual; don't pay or pay a reduced rate based on the agreement and move on.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#169

Post by conductr »

dkasper wrote: post #94
product50 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have it wrong here. The fact that HomeJoy was actually playing in a market which required skill labor was responsible for their downfall. Think about it - if there is an HomeJoy operator who's actually good and did her job very well (and thus is skilled), next time I will want to deal with her directly (to save on cost) and not deal with HomeJoy at all. I certainly did this. In fact, many HomeJoy operator…

You think cleaning is skilled labor and driving isn't? Uber drivers better not be unskilled. You're putting your life in someone's hands every time you ride in an Uber (as with any car). There's almost no skill to scrubbing toilets and vacuuming rugs, and if you mess it up you get fired but no one dies. The only skill required is attention to detail and caring enough to do a good job.

Driving is a common skill. Most people with a license can drive a car safely. This isn't heavy equipment.

Cleaning, being good at cleaning, is an uncommon skill. I've gone through my fair share of housekeepers. When you find a good one that you trust with the keys to your home, you want to hold on to them.

Re: Homejoy says goodbye

#170

Post by jonknee »

fraXis wrote: post #7

I used Homejoy and I liked it's ease of use. But after the cleaning lady they sent me was done, she offered me her direct phone # and told me I could contact her directly for any future cleaning needs. I always wondered how this business model was going to work if Homejoy's contractors could just give out their phone # at the end of their first service and the customer could just contact them directly for any future…

Humorously this is in their FAQ about the close:

> We hope that you are able to continue your relationship with your current cleaner, independently of Homejoy.

http://blog.homejoy.com/faqs/

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