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Magic

getmagicnow.com

451–460 of 558 posts

Re: Magic

#451
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…

idk man I just want to be able to order sushi

Re: Magic

#452

I do not understand the internet. This type of service has existed for ages. Why does this one attract so much attention?

via text? Name one.

Re: Magic

#453

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…

>"Yay! Another useless service that creates more low wage service jobs that cater to the wealthy."

... What.

This just doesn't compute. In what mindframe does this ever make sense as a complaint? If you're creating new jobs, even if they're low wage, you're just giving people more choice - they can now work at one more place than before, no one's forced into that, it literally can't do harm. And direct transfer of wealth from the wealthy to the poor is a positive, right?

I'm so confused.

Re: Magic

#454

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…

>>"Yay! Another useless service that creates more low wage service jobs that cater to the wealthy."

That sort of comment annoys me actually. Is it not great that "wealthy" people pay for all of those service jobs? Out of all things, I literally can't see any problems with this. Unless the wages are below living wage of course,but it looks like the commenter has a problem with service jobs in general?

Re: Magic

#455
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 marginally profitable with current setups will not exist, causing the people working there to lose their (low, but positive) income.

If you just want to help, it might be better to use whatever service exists, and spend a bigger amount on charity.

Re: Magic

#456

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…

>>"Yay! Another useless service that creates more low wage service jobs that cater to the wealthy." That sort of comment annoys me actually. Is it not great that "wealthy" people pay for all of those service jobs? Out of all things, I literally can't see any problems with this. Unless the wages are below living wage of course,but it looks like the commenter has a problem with service jobs in general?

I think a common sentiment about on-demand service startups is that it can lead to a dangerous situation for the lower-level employee, who is typically working as a 1099. Relatively low pay, and they're responsible for their own benefits, taxes, etc.

This is something I have a lot of interest in at the moment, so if anyone would like to chime in, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Re: Magic

#457
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 should be there regardless. The ACA was a step in that direction by requiring people self insure if the did not get that benefit from their employer. I think we need to go even further and separate safety net benefits from employers. Then people would be able to choose whether they want the job security of a W-2 position or if they prefer the flexibility of a 1099 position without having to sacrifice the safety net.

(Side note: I'm a 1099 contractor who self insures. I have a lot of difficulty imagining going back to a W-2 job.)

Re: Magic

#458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hardly ever watch product videos. I'm usually in locations where It would be rude and I don't want to put in earphones just to find out what's going on. But I'm a curmudgeon, and may be an outlier.

We should form a club! We can have meeting where we show videos that we all ignore, while we chat over drinks.

I thought that was this site. :)

Re: Magic

#459
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I used to use something like this with Amex's concierge service. Like getting a Wii on release day, or getting a gift somewhere. I stopped using them after this bad experience. I asked them to send about $100 of good chocolate as a gift, and they just sent a $10 bar, 10 times. Duh. Anyways, I felt a very good sensation looking over this. Probably because it's just such a PITA to do things like order pizza. Gotta t…

Probably because it's just such a PITA to do things like order pizza Is this sarcasm? I can't see how wrangling an order through an intermediary is easier than just ordering from the local pizzeria's website. Not to mention that it takes a non-trivial time to confirm - in exogen's example above, it was 69 minutes plus delivery time. Small questions about relatively trivial things really drag out that confirmation tim…

In your home town, it's probably not a big deal. But if you're travelling in random towns, I could definitely see this being useful. Bonus points if you can tie it into a 'what's cool to do around here right now' service. Or 'what's the best craft beer place near here'. That kinda thing.

Re: Magic

#460

    > We will send you a 128-bit encrypted HTTPS link via SMS that you can click to enter your credit card number. We do not store your credit card number. All payment processing is handled by Stripe.
What if one of your operators sends me a link to pay them instead and I never get what I asked for?

Also, for something people are wary is a scam, saying "be careful what you wish for" in your first reply is a little bit ominous!

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