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Why Homejoy Failed

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Re: Why Homejoy Failed

#331
post #233
post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not just paying commissions to the third party. If you are a good taxi driver, who keeps their car clean, provides bottled drinking water to customers, are punctual, polite, trustworthy etc you will get many people who would like to call you directly instead of going through a service like Uber. And along the way you would have met many customers who are exactly like you- polite, trustworthy and nice. It becomes…

Taxi services are different though - you might be nowhere near your valued customer when they call. And they might be more inclined to take an "OK" driver rather than wait 30 minutes for you to get to them.

>>you might be nowhere near your valued customer when they call

Traveling adhoc without planning is only for single 20 year olds start up techies. People with families, elderly etc generally have to plan in advance if they decide to do something.

Re: Why Homejoy Failed

#332
post #331
post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxi services are different though - you might be nowhere near your valued customer when they call. And they might be more inclined to take an "OK" driver rather than wait 30 minutes for you to get to them.

>>you might be nowhere near your valued customer when they call Traveling adhoc without planning is only for single 20 year olds start up techies. People with families, elderly etc generally have to plan in advance if they decide to do something.

And even then there's an advantage to getting a ride from an app. You can track your driver.

I can't count the times cabs just no showed when I was living in DC. Nearly missed a few flights.

Re: Why Homejoy Failed

#333
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Semi-related reminder: tip your hotel housekeepers. Wait, what? What's the semi-relation there? I really hope it's not going to be another variant of "it's a hard job, therefore the tipping model obviously makes more sense there than a pure wage model".

They're grossly underpaid and they clean up your shit. Leave them cash.

Lots of people are underpaid. That doesn't mean I should set out to rectify every such instance that I come in contact with.

Is there some actual self-consistent, generalizable model behind what you're saying that improves my ability to think about ethical obligations, correctly rejecting or accepting some of them, or were you just signaling there?

Re: Why Homejoy Failed

#334
post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're grossly underpaid and they clean up your shit. Leave them cash.

Lots of people are underpaid. That doesn't mean I should set out to rectify every such instance that I come in contact with. Is there some actual self-consistent, generalizable model behind what you're saying that improves my ability to think about ethical obligations, correctly rejecting or accepting some of them, or were you just signaling there?

Every time a rug is micturated on in this fair city, you have to compensate the owner.

Re: Why Homejoy Failed

#335
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Semi-related reminder: tip your hotel housekeepers. Wait, what? What's the semi-relation there? I really hope it's not going to be another variant of "it's a hard job, therefore the tipping model obviously makes more sense there than a pure wage model".

They're grossly underpaid and they clean up your shit. Leave them cash.

Here here

Re: Why Homejoy Failed

#336
post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're grossly underpaid and they clean up your shit. Leave them cash.

Lots of people are underpaid. That doesn't mean I should set out to rectify every such instance that I come in contact with. Is there some actual self-consistent, generalizable model behind what you're saying that improves my ability to think about ethical obligations, correctly rejecting or accepting some of them, or were you just signaling there?

One person's life is not lived at scale. Stay in right relationship with the people you come into contact with, and the world will be a much more rewarding place for you and everyone you know.

Re: Why Homejoy Failed

#337
post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're grossly underpaid and they clean up your shit. Leave them cash.

Lots of people are underpaid. That doesn't mean I should set out to rectify every such instance that I come in contact with. Is there some actual self-consistent, generalizable model behind what you're saying that improves my ability to think about ethical obligations, correctly rejecting or accepting some of them, or were you just signaling there?

The wages housekeepers make are offset by the expectation that guests will tip them --- the same is true of every tipped job, and it's unavoidable. You benefit directly from their low wages by paying less for your room. Hit the ATM, pull out some cash, and leave it on the desk in your room when you leave.

Or don't, but don't pat yourself on the back for not doing it.

Re: Why Homejoy Failed

#338
post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of people are underpaid. That doesn't mean I should set out to rectify every such instance that I come in contact with. Is there some actual self-consistent, generalizable model behind what you're saying that improves my ability to think about ethical obligations, correctly rejecting or accepting some of them, or were you just signaling there?

Every time a rug is micturated on in this fair city, you have to compensate the owner.

Rug-peers did not do this. Look at it. He owes money all over town.

Re: Why Homejoy Failed

#339
post #151
post #57

But on this particular holiday, a booking had slipped through unnoticed, due to a website malfunction, according to a former employee. Rather than cancel an appointment at the last minute, Homejoy’s cofounder and CEO Adora Cheung grabbed a toilet brush and a vacuum cleaner. Then she headed to San Francisco’s Mission Dolores neighborhood and scrubbed. “The customer had no idea,” said Arjun Naskar, one of the earliest…

>Semi-related reminder: tip your hotel housekeepers. Wait, what? What's the semi-relation there? I really hope it's not going to be another variant of "it's a hard job, therefore the tipping model obviously makes more sense there than a pure wage model".

http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/16/pf/travel-tipping-guide/

Re: Why Homejoy Failed

#340
post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of people are underpaid. That doesn't mean I should set out to rectify every such instance that I come in contact with. Is there some actual self-consistent, generalizable model behind what you're saying that improves my ability to think about ethical obligations, correctly rejecting or accepting some of them, or were you just signaling there?

The wages housekeepers make are offset by the expectation that guests will tip them --- the same is true of every tipped job, and it's unavoidable. You benefit directly from their low wages by paying less for your room. Hit the ATM, pull out some cash, and leave it on the desk in your room when you leave. Or don't, but don't pat yourself on the back for not doing it.

I know how the tipping expectation dynamic works, and I know how to obtain cash. Was the condescension really necessary?

The question was how the random point about maids relates to the rest of your original comment, and why I'm supposed to throw cash at everyone I come into contact with who's doing their job (as suggested by the original responder), not "how does tipping affect wages?" or "how do I get cash?"

It didn't answer my question to tell me that they're underpaid. [1]

Second, the existence of the tipping expectation dynamic does not "seal the deal" here: it's well known that there is a large group of people who have no idea that "it's a thing" that maids get tipped. If you want to fight against the tipping system, this is exactly the situation where you should do it, where tips aren't reliable anyway -- just like tipping for takeout or at food trucks.

Finally, I really dislike helping people evade taxes at my expense.

I entered this thread thinking that people who confidently gave advice were familiar with the relevant dynamics and that I could learn from hearing their worldmodel. As it turns out, the responses are just repetition of what I already know (with condescension and moralizing), in a way that doesn't answer my questions. Fool me twice, shame on me. It was really too much to expect that someone who told me that I should tip "too be nice" actually has a self-consistent, scalable model to back that up.

[1] Remember, "underpaid" is not the same thing as "paid less in expectation of getting tips"; lots of jobs are characterized as underpaid irrespective of tips. You're not supporting the original responder's argument by repeating the obvious tipping dynamic; you're making a different argument.

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