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Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

businessinsider.com

31–40 of 113 posts

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#31

And people say that startups often operate not in line with market trends. In Europe such debt collectors are notorious for very direct intimidation. But people at least still call them gangs instead of startups.

You don’t just knock on people’s door and start putting their things out. There is a legal process and you have to get approval from the court. I’m assuming they are doing it legally.

I'm not sure why you'd assume they're operating legally. Violating the law was the USP for Uber, Airbnb and various other valley startups. It's a proven model.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t just knock on people’s door and start putting their things out. There is a legal process and you have to get approval from the court. I’m assuming they are doing it legally.

They do mostly. They also like to remind you of their intend with batons and knifes on their belt. Violence is implied, not enacted. They stay within the confines of the law.

When I was a landlord, rule 101 is that you don’t go near the tenant while the eviction process was winding its way through court. Also, police are monitoring the process on the day of the conviction.

Edit: Does someone care to share how the above statement is factually incorrect?

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#33
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I said below, when you do it legally, someone from the sheriffs department is involved. A clean out crew is often made up of day laborers anyway. You also don’t have to be gentle with the tenants stuff. You just throw it out on the curb. Edit: I usually don’t comment on downvotes. But why is a factually correct comment being downvoted? I was a landlord, this is exactly the process in my state.

[Sorry, I decided to not get involved in this discussion]

You have to schedule an eviction with the sheriff’s department. The police are there during the process. To get to the landlord, you have to go through the police first.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#34
post #27
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a long and storied tradition of members of lower classes being employed in jobs enforcing the will of the powerful against members of other lower classes.

Hey, it puts food on the table, and my kids are hungry. And it keeps the debt collector at bay. The implied expectation of class / race / ethnic / ... loyalty is fundamentally flawed, though. I'm friends with people of many groups who are unlike me, and conversely, there are many people in my demographic whom I dislike. Not all [insert race][insert socioeconomic class][insert religion][insert ethnicity][insert career…

But so often it happens that the working class and the owning class ally to reduce the power of the working class. They rarely seem to ally against members of the owning class.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#35

Here in Florid an eviction is a legal process fought in the courts, once the tenant is 'convicted' the landlord can use the police to evict. I don't understand how this could be better than the police other than the timing? This is going to end terribly, just some John Doe showing up to peoples homes?

The police aren’t “involved” they are present. The police aren’t actually doing the manual labor.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#36
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[Sorry, I decided to not get involved in this discussion]

You have to schedule an eviction with the sheriff’s department. The police are there during the process. To get to the landlord, you have to go through the police first.

[deleted]

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#37
post #11

Untrained gig workers. Angry tenants. I can't imagine what could go wrong here.

I wonder what kind of controls they have to ensure you actually have the right to evict tenants before hiring a crew. Or heck, that you even own the property.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#38
post #6

Who in their right mind would work this type of job? I suppose if you were going to get kicked out of your apartment, you might do this. Evicting people can be very dangerous, not to mention depressing.

Having regularly perused the uber drivers subreddit for a couple years back when I used to do that, the percentage of misanthropes commenting there seemed high.

Of course, it's a big leap from being willing to screw over strangers for a few bucks to being willing to throw them out of their homes on to the street, but I've got a feeling some would sadistically enjoy the transition. As long as it paid enough.

Honestly it seems to me like something out of a crappy, dystopian sci-fi B movie from the 90s. With everything else we've seen this year, though, I'm not even that surprised. People being horrible is normalized, and most of my outrage has been depleted. It's just expected now.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#39
post #11

Untrained gig workers. Angry tenants. I can't imagine what could go wrong here.

At least you have poor people fighting poor people over scraps--passing the blame, responsibility and sewing division.

It seems like the American way to me! /s

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#40
post #27
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a long and storied tradition of members of lower classes being employed in jobs enforcing the will of the powerful against members of other lower classes.

Hey, it puts food on the table, and my kids are hungry. And it keeps the debt collector at bay. The implied expectation of class / race / ethnic / ... loyalty is fundamentally flawed, though. I'm friends with people of many groups who are unlike me, and conversely, there are many people in my demographic whom I dislike. Not all [insert race][insert socioeconomic class][insert religion][insert ethnicity][insert career…

  > Hey, it puts food on the table, and my kids are hungry. And it keeps the debt collector at bay.
So does shovelling Jews into gas ovens and pulling out people's fingernails. I guess it just depends on where your internal "Do Not Cross" moral line lies.
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