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Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

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51–60 of 90 posts

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#51
post #15
post #9

Welcome to Silicon Valley: where everyone has somehow bamboozled themselves into believing that working in a cramped parking space is more valuable than buying office real estate in LITERALLY any other state... Remember kids: you don’t HAVE to live in California.

Can’t tell if you’re serious but this was a joke/stunt. The point being to show how poor of a use of space it is to have street parking lining every street in an expensive and crowded city.

Ironically, the pictures of one of the #wepark offices in the article was literally directly in front of empty commercial real estate for lease. What does this stunt prove, aside from being slightly silly? Should all the buildings be expanded by ~6',and the sidewalk moved directly adjacent to the road? Because even if personal automobiles are entirely eliminated, roads will still be necessary for access. As a tounge-in-cheek protest against high prices it works, but I think the grandparent is making a more salient point than the wepark group. If your job can be done from a temporary office environment (and many of the people interviewed already worked from their homes) then a far better solution to expensive real estate is to move, especially if you are already working remotely.

How much space can actually be reclaimed from on-street parking in a feasible manner? Likely not enough to make a significant difference in the price of real-estate.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#52
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony is that all the companies and startups work on internet companies which could happen anywhere with internet access. It's not like there is a gold mine under San Francisco streets that requires on site mining. And before you say "the people are the gold mine", those people could be interacted with remotely quite easily.

I don't understand the push for remote work. I have been a part of remote teams for over 11 years of my career (16 yrs). I have worked from home more days than I can count. It has enough drawbacks that I'd avoid it at any given opportunity. Here are a few reasons: - You are not part of the hallway conversations / decision changes / fly by meetings / face-memory / kitchen run ins and every other benefit of having peop…

Any team that spans several locations is going to have some/all of those issues anyway. Why make people suffer though living in a particular place on top of that?

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#53
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other side of the coin is that a lot of very talented people congregate in places like Silicon Valley, so you rule out the potential of hiring/working for/working with them.

There are a lot of very talented people in places like Seattle and Boston, too, and yet the VCs and companies out in SF/SV are stuck in their little bubble.

Let them stay in their bubble. Every time CA vomits out a substantial number of upper-middle/upper class people it ruins another city, sometimes a whole state.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony is that all the companies and startups work on internet companies which could happen anywhere with internet access. It's not like there is a gold mine under San Francisco streets that requires on site mining. And before you say "the people are the gold mine", those people could be interacted with remotely quite easily.

I saw 'San Francisco' and rolled my eyes. This is the dumbest idea I have seen in a while. What if someone runs you over trying to back into a spot? What if something falls from the sky (besides rain)? Or someone runs off with your equipment because your weren't looking? Or even, its a busy day and someone didn't reserve a parking spot. Putting your workers at risk because you're trying to save some dough is highly i…

Read the article. The primary point is activism. This isn't about money or saving costs at all. In fact the only mention of price was to pay the hourly parking rate, there's no mention of anyone collecting or making any other money on it. There's no formal system here, just some inspired activism to make a point about how much space is devoted to parking.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#55
post #35
post #23

$2.25/hr for 8 hours is $18. I don't know about the SF prices but in Manhattan you can get a "hot desk" for $30/day at some fairly nice places. I'd guess in Brooklyn you can probably find/negotiate something comparable to $18/hr.

I was just going to say the same - and $18 / day * 21-ish working days per month is...$400 / month. Hey, that's roughly what a coworking office space costs! Except sitting in a parking spot, you don't get free wifi, coffee / tea, bathrooms, networking events, shelter from the elements, facilities security / maintenance... So: I'm not sure how coworking fits into the larger point they're trying to make. Yes, residenti…

The best part of co-working spaces is that the cost scales completely linearly without signing multi-year leases and deposits and all the other logistics of having an office.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#56
post #23

$2.25/hr for 8 hours is $18. I don't know about the SF prices but in Manhattan you can get a "hot desk" for $30/day at some fairly nice places. I'd guess in Brooklyn you can probably find/negotiate something comparable to $18/hr.

$18 for a workday is bargain pricing for parking in the Boston area.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#57
post #23

$2.25/hr for 8 hours is $18. I don't know about the SF prices but in Manhattan you can get a "hot desk" for $30/day at some fairly nice places. I'd guess in Brooklyn you can probably find/negotiate something comparable to $18/hr.

You can get a hot desk for $30/person/day. This parking spot is only $2.25 for as many people as you can fit in it.

What confusese is that anytime the open-office concept is mentioned it seems that nearly nobody is in favor of it, yet that is the model employed by most coworking spaces. I can't imagine trying to actually be productive in most of those environments.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#58
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony is that all the companies and startups work on internet companies which could happen anywhere with internet access. It's not like there is a gold mine under San Francisco streets that requires on site mining. And before you say "the people are the gold mine", those people could be interacted with remotely quite easily.

I don't understand the push for remote work. I have been a part of remote teams for over 11 years of my career (16 yrs). I have worked from home more days than I can count. It has enough drawbacks that I'd avoid it at any given opportunity. Here are a few reasons: - You are not part of the hallway conversations / decision changes / fly by meetings / face-memory / kitchen run ins and every other benefit of having peop…

The only remote meetings that work are ones where everybody is remote. Even if you are sitting next to someone in the same meeting, your both have your headphones on so that you only hear each other via the call. As soon as there is a room there is a struggle in my experience: it is too easy talk to the people in the room.

There is on type of in room meeting that works: the all employee meeting. The agenda is preset (first Joe will talk about goals, then Carla will go over financials, then Fred will update us on United way...).

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#59
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Met a guy in DC that actually lived inside a warehouse storage unit. He had installed lights, walls for multiple bedrooms, a kitchen/bar, and a lot of cool art. I'm awful at estimating distances but I'd guess the main room was about 800sqft and the bedrooms/bathrooms were divided from another 400sqft. With a little love, any place can become a home.

I haven't ever seem a storage unit with plumbing before...

I think he meant rented warehouse space, not an actual storage unit. Storage units rarely have more than a single electrical outlet and many lower end ones don't even have that.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#60
post #9

Welcome to Silicon Valley: where everyone has somehow bamboozled themselves into believing that working in a cramped parking space is more valuable than buying office real estate in LITERALLY any other state... Remember kids: you don’t HAVE to live in California.

The irony is that all the companies and startups work on internet companies which could happen anywhere with internet access. It's not like there is a gold mine under San Francisco streets that requires on site mining. And before you say "the people are the gold mine", those people could be interacted with remotely quite easily.

If you're a techie, young with no family, and you want good culture, good climate, good outdoors, and good job prospects...the valley is hard to beat.

Yes I know about droughts, we can debate all day if the culture is good or terrible, all these tech people are ruining the parks, yadayadayada. Point still stands, the san fran area has a unique and sought after position.

And to address your point about gold mine of people, not every company does the whole remote thing. I mean I agree remote shouldn't be hard but it's a legitimate position to prefer onsite employees.

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