Hunting Task Wabbits
December 4, 2014 8:54 AM Subscribe
Ok let's call it the Peer-to-Peer economy. Wait, what?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:06 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:06 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
jacobin had a really excellent piece on this, against sharing
posted by p3on at 9:07 AM on December 4, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by p3on at 9:07 AM on December 4, 2014 [7 favorites]
Maybe I need to go buy a lightbox, but t be honest, I'm having a hard time conceiving of a future that isn't terrible.
It's like something someone once said.
posted by entropicamericana at 9:08 AM on December 4, 2014 [11 favorites]
It's like something someone once said.
posted by entropicamericana at 9:08 AM on December 4, 2014 [11 favorites]
This would be a much better article if I could turn off the animated gifs.
posted by alms at 9:09 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by alms at 9:09 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
The future is an animated .gif of a taskrabbit tweeting on a human face, forever.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 9:10 AM on December 4, 2014 [25 favorites]
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 9:10 AM on December 4, 2014 [25 favorites]
This "they aren't employees, they are partners" stuff has got to be stopped in its tracks before it becomes the scourge on the worker that internships already are. Both concepts have their place, but need to be strictly defined and tightly regulated. Otherwise, we get a bunch of rentiers gutting the service market the way that capitalism has already destroyed industry....
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:16 AM on December 4, 2014 [27 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:16 AM on December 4, 2014 [27 favorites]
Thank you for this post. I knew something bad had happened to Task Rabbit but hadn't seen a succinct description until now. This is very helpful.
Are any of the alternatives as good as Task Rabbit used to be?
posted by alms at 9:18 AM on December 4, 2014
Are any of the alternatives as good as Task Rabbit used to be?
posted by alms at 9:18 AM on December 4, 2014
last year Bloomberg Businessweek declared that “in the future, we’ll all be TaskRabbits.”
Well, those of us who don't matter, anyway.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 9:21 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
Well, those of us who don't matter, anyway.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 9:21 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
It's called capitalism because there are owners, and there's us.
Owners and managers will always be placed over workers. Otherwise, why have owners? After the US decided this whole slavery thing wasn't a good idea, our society started getting rid of many owners and (largely) replaced them with corporations. But the structure was never changed.
It's now about getting rid of management. But swapping out management with algorithms and databases doesn't change much if you've put databases in charge of workers, who work for corporations.
VC-fueled hostile takeover of social spaces, in order to create new "markets," is a right-wing hell on earth.
Allowing Silicon Valley to rhetorically erase the public history of the gift economy is also a horrible idea.
“I did this stuff for friends for free for 20 years,” he says.
Exactly. This isn't sharing, this is extracting from social relationships, mining your social time.
Welcome to having no friends!
posted by eustatic at 9:29 AM on December 4, 2014 [19 favorites]
Owners and managers will always be placed over workers. Otherwise, why have owners? After the US decided this whole slavery thing wasn't a good idea, our society started getting rid of many owners and (largely) replaced them with corporations. But the structure was never changed.
It's now about getting rid of management. But swapping out management with algorithms and databases doesn't change much if you've put databases in charge of workers, who work for corporations.
VC-fueled hostile takeover of social spaces, in order to create new "markets," is a right-wing hell on earth.
Allowing Silicon Valley to rhetorically erase the public history of the gift economy is also a horrible idea.
“I did this stuff for friends for free for 20 years,” he says.
Exactly. This isn't sharing, this is extracting from social relationships, mining your social time.
Welcome to having no friends!
posted by eustatic at 9:29 AM on December 4, 2014 [19 favorites]
Couchserfing
posted by oceanjesse at 9:34 AM on December 4, 2014 [53 favorites]
posted by oceanjesse at 9:34 AM on December 4, 2014 [53 favorites]
When Uber starts using Taskers as its drivers that will signal that the End is Nigh.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:38 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:38 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
“Please know that it is our policy that all journalists work through TaskRabbit Corporate for these requests. We’d be happy to coordinate interviews.”
HAHAHA! That makes me want to flood the world with articles about Taskrabbit. Maybe they have an algorithmn they want to use to match journalists, employees and contractors.
posted by michaelh at 9:38 AM on December 4, 2014 [5 favorites]
HAHAHA! That makes me want to flood the world with articles about Taskrabbit. Maybe they have an algorithmn they want to use to match journalists, employees and contractors.
posted by michaelh at 9:38 AM on December 4, 2014 [5 favorites]
TaskRabbit is basically taking the idea of a community bulletin board where a handyman or plumber can pin up his card FOR FREE, mixing the concept with 37 million dollars of venture capital (THIRTY SEVEN MILLION) for advertising and a big website, and then taking a quarter of the handyman's fee to pay back the [redacted][redacted] investors?
Does seem like an open source bulletin board funded by the workers would make a lot of sense. That 37 million buys a lot of lawyers to shut down something like that.
posted by sammyo at 9:38 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
Does seem like an open source bulletin board funded by the workers would make a lot of sense. That 37 million buys a lot of lawyers to shut down something like that.
posted by sammyo at 9:38 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
From the article:
Adam recently moved to the Bay Area to be an architect.
There's something so depressing about someone who set out to be an architect but makes their money as an odd-job handyman.
Remember in the olden times when you didn't need a "day job" to get just a regular job like architect?
posted by Sara C. at 9:38 AM on December 4, 2014 [8 favorites]
Adam recently moved to the Bay Area to be an architect.
There's something so depressing about someone who set out to be an architect but makes their money as an odd-job handyman.
Remember in the olden times when you didn't need a "day job" to get just a regular job like architect?
posted by Sara C. at 9:38 AM on December 4, 2014 [8 favorites]
That Jacobin article makes me wonder if unions will evolve into organized DDOS groups. That seems like an effective way to protest when your boss is literally a computer.
posted by a dangerous ruin at 9:40 AM on December 4, 2014 [12 favorites]
posted by a dangerous ruin at 9:40 AM on December 4, 2014 [12 favorites]
Owners and managers will always be placed over workers.
Not always. Not often, but not always.
Adam recently moved to the Bay Area to be an architect.
Should have gone here first.
posted by IndigoJones at 9:44 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
Not always. Not often, but not always.
Adam recently moved to the Bay Area to be an architect.
Should have gone here first.
posted by IndigoJones at 9:44 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
Welcome to having no friends!
Please, in the future, you will be assigned TaskFriendstm by iFriend, LTD. Youmaintain a minimum of four FunEvents within one month, or your iFriendship will be dissolved. Of course, minor processing fees will be charged, and creating social relations outside of the iFriend network will incur severe penalties.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:47 AM on December 4, 2014 [6 favorites]
Please, in the future, you will be assigned TaskFriendstm by iFriend, LTD. Youmaintain a minimum of four FunEvents within one month, or your iFriendship will be dissolved. Of course, minor processing fees will be charged, and creating social relations outside of the iFriend network will incur severe penalties.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:47 AM on December 4, 2014 [6 favorites]
TaskRabbit is basically taking the idea of a community bulletin board where a handyman or plumber can pin up his card FOR FREE, mixing the concept with 37 million dollars of venture capital (THIRTY SEVEN MILLION) for advertising and a big website, and then taking a quarter of the handyman's fee to pay back the [redacted][redacted] investors?
Does seem like an open source bulletin board funded by the workers would make a lot of sense. That 37 million buys a lot of lawyers to shut down something like that.
Am I missing something, or is this a service already provided by something like Craigslist Jobs? What is TaskRabbit bringing to the equation? I've never used it, and given all the negative press I've seen from TaskRabbit, Lyft, Uber, et al I probably will continue to avoid using it--but I'm a little hung up on what actually makes it all that innovative. I feel like there's got to be something I'm not seeing here.
posted by sciatrix at 9:54 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
Does seem like an open source bulletin board funded by the workers would make a lot of sense. That 37 million buys a lot of lawyers to shut down something like that.
Am I missing something, or is this a service already provided by something like Craigslist Jobs? What is TaskRabbit bringing to the equation? I've never used it, and given all the negative press I've seen from TaskRabbit, Lyft, Uber, et al I probably will continue to avoid using it--but I'm a little hung up on what actually makes it all that innovative. I feel like there's got to be something I'm not seeing here.
posted by sciatrix at 9:54 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
What is TaskRabbit bringing to the equation?
Vetting and past history of the people doing the jobs.
I'm not about to use TaskRabbit, because F them, but I'm really, really not about to use Craiglist Jobs for anything I care about.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:58 AM on December 4, 2014 [5 favorites]
Vetting and past history of the people doing the jobs.
I'm not about to use TaskRabbit, because F them, but I'm really, really not about to use Craiglist Jobs for anything I care about.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:58 AM on December 4, 2014 [5 favorites]
Sara C.: Remember in the olden times when you didn't need a "day job" to get just a regular job like architect?No, because "architect" has never in history been a "regular job". More people want to be one than there are buildings being built.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:59 AM on December 4, 2014 [8 favorites]
How to make a Real Sharing Economy:
Imagine you buy the world's most awesome lawnmower.
Your neighbor buys the world's most awesome hedge trimmer
Both idle 98% of the time. So you agree to share them with each other.
Soon more neighbors get in on the action, sharing their leaf blowers, drain cleaners, slip & slides.
Eventually the network becomes large enough that the shared property is no longer being evenly used, with some people hogging things. Rather than shut down, you decided to implement a points system. Share something, get 1 Sharing Point. Use something, use 1 Sharing Point.
A new neighbor moves in and doesn't have anything durable to share, but she does bake really great cakes. You agree that you will give her 1 Sharing Point in exchange for 1 cake.
Another neighbor moves in and doesn't have anything durable to share, but is a great babysitter. You agree to give him 1 Sharing Point in exchange for 1 hour of babysitting.
Crongratulations, you've just invented money.
posted by the jam at 10:00 AM on December 4, 2014 [43 favorites]
Imagine you buy the world's most awesome lawnmower.
Your neighbor buys the world's most awesome hedge trimmer
Both idle 98% of the time. So you agree to share them with each other.
Soon more neighbors get in on the action, sharing their leaf blowers, drain cleaners, slip & slides.
Eventually the network becomes large enough that the shared property is no longer being evenly used, with some people hogging things. Rather than shut down, you decided to implement a points system. Share something, get 1 Sharing Point. Use something, use 1 Sharing Point.
A new neighbor moves in and doesn't have anything durable to share, but she does bake really great cakes. You agree that you will give her 1 Sharing Point in exchange for 1 cake.
Another neighbor moves in and doesn't have anything durable to share, but is a great babysitter. You agree to give him 1 Sharing Point in exchange for 1 hour of babysitting.
Crongratulations, you've just invented money.
posted by the jam at 10:00 AM on December 4, 2014 [43 favorites]
Am I missing something, or is this a service already provided by something like Craigslist Jobs? What is TaskRabbit bringing to the equation? I've never used it, and given all the negative press I've seen from TaskRabbit, Lyft, Uber, et al I probably will continue to avoid using it--but I'm a little hung up on what actually makes it all that innovative. I feel like there's got to be something I'm not seeing here.
The idea is that these services are more secure than the Wild West of Craigslist Jobs for both parties - the intermediary serves as a verifier. Of course, the reality is that they do no such thing - in fact, they actively shift liability off of themselves to both parties through a number of means.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:00 AM on December 4, 2014 [5 favorites]
The idea is that these services are more secure than the Wild West of Craigslist Jobs for both parties - the intermediary serves as a verifier. Of course, the reality is that they do no such thing - in fact, they actively shift liability off of themselves to both parties through a number of means.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:00 AM on December 4, 2014 [5 favorites]
They actually used to essentially just be a community oriented Bulletin Board with reviews. At least as far as I could tell when i recommended them on AskMe 400 times. If they had just NOT taken VC funding, they would probably beat CL eventually. Now, they will be doomed. DOOM THESE GREEDY RABBITS
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:05 AM on December 4, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:05 AM on December 4, 2014 [3 favorites]
something this article didn't get into is that "handyman" is a very much a gray-market service in much of the US. many of the jobs you would hire a "handyman" to do require a permit and inspection, which most 'handymen' aren't licensed to do, there are no labor standards, and payment is in cash and thoroughly off the books. just adding in proper social security taxes would add 15% to most jobs, although I'm sure TaskRabbit pays everyone as an independent contractor.
basically, 'handyman' is an illegal occupation that is tolerated because it is useful, like drug dealing.
posted by ennui.bz at 10:09 AM on December 4, 2014 [7 favorites]
basically, 'handyman' is an illegal occupation that is tolerated because it is useful, like drug dealing.
posted by ennui.bz at 10:09 AM on December 4, 2014 [7 favorites]
Congratulations, you've just invented money.
Except that your "Just So" story doesn't correspond to any human society ever studied, except maybe prison economies or some other crisis situations. In most societies, the neighbor who doesn't share their lawnmower, which no one else has, is called an "asshole," is ignored or shunned and eventually starves to death when they get unlucky hunting or farming, or is abandoned when everyone else decides to move away to greener pastures....
posted by ennui.bz at 10:16 AM on December 4, 2014 [7 favorites]
Except that your "Just So" story doesn't correspond to any human society ever studied, except maybe prison economies or some other crisis situations. In most societies, the neighbor who doesn't share their lawnmower, which no one else has, is called an "asshole," is ignored or shunned and eventually starves to death when they get unlucky hunting or farming, or is abandoned when everyone else decides to move away to greener pastures....
posted by ennui.bz at 10:16 AM on December 4, 2014 [7 favorites]
(Crongratulations, you've just invented money.
Just so that everyone is clear on this point - in theory this is how one "invents" money; historically this is not how money developed. If you were using a sharing system on the historical model, you'd basically lend your neighbor with the cakes your leafblower and have the social relation/informal debt of a cake. (Although I think one sharing point for a cake or an hour of baby-sitting sounds like typical devaluation of "feminine" labor.))
posted by Frowner at 10:16 AM on December 4, 2014 [11 favorites]
Just so that everyone is clear on this point - in theory this is how one "invents" money; historically this is not how money developed. If you were using a sharing system on the historical model, you'd basically lend your neighbor with the cakes your leafblower and have the social relation/informal debt of a cake. (Although I think one sharing point for a cake or an hour of baby-sitting sounds like typical devaluation of "feminine" labor.))
posted by Frowner at 10:16 AM on December 4, 2014 [11 favorites]
This sounds like a niche opportunity the people at Angie's List should step in to replace. The functionality was lost and would provide an excellent opportunity for those in the realm. Even if CL was to move more heavy-handed into vetting poster account histories, they could capture a lot of this business.
posted by msbutah at 10:20 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by msbutah at 10:20 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
It's "share" as in "timeshare" people -- it's not share as in what they teach you to do in kindergarten.
And as a business movement it is INSANELY powerful. What poverty is is the under-utilization of capital (human or otherwise).
Using technology to facilitate the increased utilization of labor (TaskRabbit, which gets provider a gig and client extra time to do something else with his or her labor) or real estate (AirBnB) or personally-owned cars and their owners (UberX) is remarkably constructive.
posted by MattD at 10:24 AM on December 4, 2014 [4 favorites]
And as a business movement it is INSANELY powerful. What poverty is is the under-utilization of capital (human or otherwise).
Using technology to facilitate the increased utilization of labor (TaskRabbit, which gets provider a gig and client extra time to do something else with his or her labor) or real estate (AirBnB) or personally-owned cars and their owners (UberX) is remarkably constructive.
posted by MattD at 10:24 AM on December 4, 2014 [4 favorites]
Thumbtack is actually better for a lot of services I think because you (the business) pay to answer quotes rather than charging the customer a service fee. That sounds more arduous but it does mean that the company's real customers are the businesses rather than the customers trying to get cheap labor. There's a set cost for each "lead" but you have total control over which inquiries you reach out to.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:25 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:25 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
What poverty is is the under-utilization of capital (human or otherwise).
LOL
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:26 AM on December 4, 2014 [12 favorites]
LOL
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:26 AM on December 4, 2014 [12 favorites]
Mr./Ms. the jam
Read Debt by Graeber.
That is all.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 10:28 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
Read Debt by Graeber.
That is all.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 10:28 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
What poverty is is the under-utilization of capital (human or otherwise).
Oh, yes, please take me to the Glorious Paradise where my human capital is 100% utilized and I don't have a fucking free hour of the day to myself, yes please, thank you INSANELY powerful capital gods!
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 10:30 AM on December 4, 2014 [15 favorites]
Oh, yes, please take me to the Glorious Paradise where my human capital is 100% utilized and I don't have a fucking free hour of the day to myself, yes please, thank you INSANELY powerful capital gods!
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 10:30 AM on December 4, 2014 [15 favorites]
Using technology to facilitate the increased utilization of labor (TaskRabbit, which gets provider a gig and client extra time to do something else with his or her labor) or real estate (AirBnB) or personally-owned cars and their owners (UberX) is remarkably constructive.
It's using technology to skim money off person-to-person interactions by using people as employees while giving them none of the benefits or protections due to employees by law, dumping all costs (transport, insurance, equipment) onto the employees, and at the end of the day more or less guaranteeing that these employees are making less than minimum wage.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:31 AM on December 4, 2014 [15 favorites]
It's using technology to skim money off person-to-person interactions by using people as employees while giving them none of the benefits or protections due to employees by law, dumping all costs (transport, insurance, equipment) onto the employees, and at the end of the day more or less guaranteeing that these employees are making less than minimum wage.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:31 AM on December 4, 2014 [15 favorites]
No, because "architect" has never in history been a "regular job". More people want to be one than there are buildings being built.
Not... really? Architects are kind of like librarians, in that it's a practical sounding job that you decide to do if you're a gifted kid from the middle class who is getting a lot of pressure along the lines of "but what are you going to Do With That Major" from your small-town middle class (or blue-collar) authority figures. Which is why there's a glut of people with architecture degrees.
But it's a regular job. I grew up in a small town, and there were two architecture firms based there. One of my childhood friends -- again, in a small mostly rural/blue-collar town -- had a father who was an architect. Being an architect is not like being a rock star or a poet or something, where that's just not a thing people make money at. Before the economy completely tanked and we got to a place where it's just assumed nobody can ever get a job doing anything, yes, people did grow up to become architects.
A big part of the problem of the TaskRabbit Economy is that all the practical jobs your parents wanted you to go into are now out of reach or nonexistent. So you drudge away as a servant for hedge fund managers. (Yes, this is literally something that happened to me when I was a TaskRabbit, and it's part of the reason I got disillusioned with it and stopped using the site.)
posted by Sara C. at 10:35 AM on December 4, 2014 [8 favorites]
Not... really? Architects are kind of like librarians, in that it's a practical sounding job that you decide to do if you're a gifted kid from the middle class who is getting a lot of pressure along the lines of "but what are you going to Do With That Major" from your small-town middle class (or blue-collar) authority figures. Which is why there's a glut of people with architecture degrees.
But it's a regular job. I grew up in a small town, and there were two architecture firms based there. One of my childhood friends -- again, in a small mostly rural/blue-collar town -- had a father who was an architect. Being an architect is not like being a rock star or a poet or something, where that's just not a thing people make money at. Before the economy completely tanked and we got to a place where it's just assumed nobody can ever get a job doing anything, yes, people did grow up to become architects.
A big part of the problem of the TaskRabbit Economy is that all the practical jobs your parents wanted you to go into are now out of reach or nonexistent. So you drudge away as a servant for hedge fund managers. (Yes, this is literally something that happened to me when I was a TaskRabbit, and it's part of the reason I got disillusioned with it and stopped using the site.)
posted by Sara C. at 10:35 AM on December 4, 2014 [8 favorites]
More people want to be one than there are buildings being built.
I don't think that is strictly true so much as most buildings that get built do not have an architect (at least a project-specific one).
But architecture is one of those careers that still, in the public mind, has status [Cracked; ArchDaily], judging by Hollywood anyway [I just watched 21 Grams, wherein the deceased Danny Huston was portrayed as an architect able to support a family on one income and afford a nice house], and yet it's falling victim to much of the same bleeding out that's affecting a lot of high-skill service jobs, which themselves are now subject to mechanization and other economic efficiencies.
posted by dhartung at 10:40 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
I don't think that is strictly true so much as most buildings that get built do not have an architect (at least a project-specific one).
But architecture is one of those careers that still, in the public mind, has status [Cracked; ArchDaily], judging by Hollywood anyway [I just watched 21 Grams, wherein the deceased Danny Huston was portrayed as an architect able to support a family on one income and afford a nice house], and yet it's falling victim to much of the same bleeding out that's affecting a lot of high-skill service jobs, which themselves are now subject to mechanization and other economic efficiencies.
posted by dhartung at 10:40 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
I know some architects and it's the same as everything else now: a handful of rockstars at the top making millions and everyone else scraping by however they can.
posted by colie at 10:48 AM on December 4, 2014
posted by colie at 10:48 AM on December 4, 2014
How to make a Real Sharing Economy:
Everyone puts in a fiver for BBQ materials, then we eat a 'sharing economy' start-up owner.
posted by biffa at 10:49 AM on December 4, 2014 [13 favorites]
Everyone puts in a fiver for BBQ materials, then we eat a 'sharing economy' start-up owner.
posted by biffa at 10:49 AM on December 4, 2014 [13 favorites]
Architects can make money touring and by selling merch at their TED talks
posted by thelonius at 10:51 AM on December 4, 2014 [22 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 10:51 AM on December 4, 2014 [22 favorites]
More towards the article itself, I find it odd that TaskRabbit seems to be trying to specialize more in things like handymen, cleaners, and the like. Because, as the article says, there are existing licensed professionals who do that, and companies that exist just to refer people to professionals who do that.
When I was a Rabbit, I specialized in weird one-off gigs that didn't have an easy description and that aren't related to specific real-world jobs. I had a regular weekly gig where I'd count the number of patrons at a particular Starbucks during the morning rush, for a market research firm. I waited in line for iphones and Shakespeare In The Park tickets. I did some cat-sitting. I stuffed packages for one of the early startups specializing in monthly delivery boxes. I beta-tested some apps for startups. I worked some events. I created digital photo archives of people's family snapshots. It was great because I didn't have to categorize myself in any particular capacity, and I could do whatever sounded interesting whenever I felt like picking up some extra cash.
I'm not sure why TaskRabbit decided to specialize in a thing there isn't any real need for in the market, in a way that destroyed everything that was useful about the service they offered.
posted by Sara C. at 11:11 AM on December 4, 2014 [7 favorites]
When I was a Rabbit, I specialized in weird one-off gigs that didn't have an easy description and that aren't related to specific real-world jobs. I had a regular weekly gig where I'd count the number of patrons at a particular Starbucks during the morning rush, for a market research firm. I waited in line for iphones and Shakespeare In The Park tickets. I did some cat-sitting. I stuffed packages for one of the early startups specializing in monthly delivery boxes. I beta-tested some apps for startups. I worked some events. I created digital photo archives of people's family snapshots. It was great because I didn't have to categorize myself in any particular capacity, and I could do whatever sounded interesting whenever I felt like picking up some extra cash.
I'm not sure why TaskRabbit decided to specialize in a thing there isn't any real need for in the market, in a way that destroyed everything that was useful about the service they offered.
posted by Sara C. at 11:11 AM on December 4, 2014 [7 favorites]
Just call it The Renting Economy and be done with it.
posted by kerplunk at 11:18 AM on December 4, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by kerplunk at 11:18 AM on December 4, 2014 [8 favorites]
INT. BUCK'S OF WOODSIDE - NIGHT
Throughout the room, entrepreneurs and investors ignore the menu and order the Soylent special for dinner.
Travis Kalanick: "Shouldn't the unwashed masses tithe to us?"
Marc Andreesen: "Of course they should! We're the OverMen! For example, my favorite TV show was Deadwood, and with my pasty complexion, soft midsection, and finely manicured hands I'm certain I would have thrived in its frontier West setting!"
Kalanick: "Right on, A-Bomb! You're so badass! So how do we convince 'em to pay us tribute?"
Andreesen: "For this kind of question, I always ask, What would Ayn do?"
Peter Thiel: "She'd tell 'em they're 'sharing,' when what they're really doing is selling a service and only really sharing with her! That's what we should do!"
Kalanick: "Peter, you're a fucking genius!"
Thiel: "True. And while we're at it, we tell 'em monopolies are good!"
Andreesen: "Thiel, you beautiful bastard!"
Thiel: "Of course, the real coup would be to convince 'em that government is bad while getting rich off their tax dollars, like I'm doing with Palantir!"
Kalanick: "Would Ayn really do that? She hated government!"
Andreesen: "Of course she would!"
Kalanick: "I don't see how we're gonna swing that with Uber. Governments hate us."
Andreesen: "Don't fret, Trav-dude! All you gotta do is spray the right politico with Benjamins and you'll be all set!"
A man overhearing the conversation from the next table interrupts.
Dick Costolo: "True dat, bro-dreesen! And I've got Ed Lee on speed dial!"
Thiel (to himself): "Maybe smoking pot isn't such a bad idea after all..."
FADE TO BLACK.
posted by Lyme Drop at 11:26 AM on December 4, 2014 [11 favorites]
Throughout the room, entrepreneurs and investors ignore the menu and order the Soylent special for dinner.
Travis Kalanick: "Shouldn't the unwashed masses tithe to us?"
Marc Andreesen: "Of course they should! We're the OverMen! For example, my favorite TV show was Deadwood, and with my pasty complexion, soft midsection, and finely manicured hands I'm certain I would have thrived in its frontier West setting!"
Kalanick: "Right on, A-Bomb! You're so badass! So how do we convince 'em to pay us tribute?"
Andreesen: "For this kind of question, I always ask, What would Ayn do?"
Peter Thiel: "She'd tell 'em they're 'sharing,' when what they're really doing is selling a service and only really sharing with her! That's what we should do!"
Kalanick: "Peter, you're a fucking genius!"
Thiel: "True. And while we're at it, we tell 'em monopolies are good!"
Andreesen: "Thiel, you beautiful bastard!"
Thiel: "Of course, the real coup would be to convince 'em that government is bad while getting rich off their tax dollars, like I'm doing with Palantir!"
Kalanick: "Would Ayn really do that? She hated government!"
Andreesen: "Of course she would!"
Kalanick: "I don't see how we're gonna swing that with Uber. Governments hate us."
Andreesen: "Don't fret, Trav-dude! All you gotta do is spray the right politico with Benjamins and you'll be all set!"
A man overhearing the conversation from the next table interrupts.
Dick Costolo: "True dat, bro-dreesen! And I've got Ed Lee on speed dial!"
Thiel (to himself): "Maybe smoking pot isn't such a bad idea after all..."
FADE TO BLACK.
posted by Lyme Drop at 11:26 AM on December 4, 2014 [11 favorites]
From that Andreesen piece Lyme Drop linked:
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 11:50 AM on December 4, 2014 [5 favorites]
But clearly you don’t think everything’s going to work.Such depth of historical vision!
No. But there are people who are wired to be skeptics and there are people who are wired to be optimists. And I can tell you, at least from the last 20 years, if you bet on the side of the optimists, generally you’re right.
On the other hand, if there’d been a few more skeptics in 1999, people might have kept their retirement money. Isn’t there a role for skepticism in the tech industry?
I don’t know what it buys you. Let me put it this way. If you could point to periods of time in the last hundred years when everything just stabilized and didn’t change, then maybe yes. But that never seems to actually happen. The skeptics are wrong all the time.(emphasis mine)
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 11:50 AM on December 4, 2014 [5 favorites]
For a nice dark picture of the future of the sharing economy, I'd read Zero Hours by Tim Maughan.
posted by zabuni at 1:03 PM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by zabuni at 1:03 PM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
No, because "architect" has never in history been a "regular job". More people want to be one than there are buildings being built.
How do you define a regular job? By steadiness of custom? By repetitiveness of output?
Anyway, building buildings from scratch is only a portion of what architects do. Remodeling and additions are a large part of the trade in the built up areas, and that .
Though true enough, the alleged romance of the field and the cache does attract more to the field than can find gainful employment. I blame globalization and the internet and the loose money policies of the Federal Reserve.
posted by IndigoJones at 1:10 PM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
How do you define a regular job? By steadiness of custom? By repetitiveness of output?
Anyway, building buildings from scratch is only a portion of what architects do. Remodeling and additions are a large part of the trade in the built up areas, and that .
Though true enough, the alleged romance of the field and the cache does attract more to the field than can find gainful employment. I blame globalization and the internet and the loose money policies of the Federal Reserve.
posted by IndigoJones at 1:10 PM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
It seems like maybe when people think 'architect' they're thinking of the Gehrys and Calatravas and Hadads of the world, and not J Average Architect who designed the houses in the new subdivision.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 1:18 PM on December 4, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 1:18 PM on December 4, 2014 [4 favorites]
I got reminded of an old comment of mine:
The opening setpiece that Bioshock Infinite uses to introduce you to the Fink Industries area is of a job auction in the main square there, where workers bid each other down for jobs listed on a large mechanical board.
Whenever I read about places like TaskRabbit, I think back to that scene.
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:56 PM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
The opening setpiece that Bioshock Infinite uses to introduce you to the Fink Industries area is of a job auction in the main square there, where workers bid each other down for jobs listed on a large mechanical board.
Whenever I read about places like TaskRabbit, I think back to that scene.
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:56 PM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
Owners and managers will always be placed over workers.
Not always. Not often, but not always.
I've read a few papers from when my old roommate was in business school, about corporate ethics in governance. These papers posited that CEOs ruled over shareholders most, if not all of the time, and that conflicts usually go the way of the CEO. so, i'm agreeing with you, it's incredibly marginal to hold up shareholder democracy as a solution. If those papers were correct, (sorry no references) that only works with a benevolent CEO dictator in place.
posted by eustatic at 1:59 PM on December 4, 2014
Not always. Not often, but not always.
I've read a few papers from when my old roommate was in business school, about corporate ethics in governance. These papers posited that CEOs ruled over shareholders most, if not all of the time, and that conflicts usually go the way of the CEO. so, i'm agreeing with you, it's incredibly marginal to hold up shareholder democracy as a solution. If those papers were correct, (sorry no references) that only works with a benevolent CEO dictator in place.
posted by eustatic at 1:59 PM on December 4, 2014
Not to mention the employees in those businesses with stock ownership plans still are very much at the whim of management. Owning a couple shares doesn't change that one bit.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 2:06 PM on December 4, 2014
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 2:06 PM on December 4, 2014
Using technology to facilitate the increased utilization of labor (TaskRabbit, which gets provider a gig and client extra time to do something else with his or her labor) or real estate (AirBnB) or personally-owned cars and their owners (UberX) is remarkably constructive.
posted by MattD at 10:24 AM
americans are overworked and underpaid, were the heck does the increase in "increasing utilization" of labor come from?
And what steps are these companies taking to rectify, and take affirmative action, against the racial caste system in the United States? Because there is the aching economic need that is tearing the country apart.
there's definitely a need to employ people in the US, but these tech solutions don't seem to do anything to solve those actual problems. If anything, they just lower the municipal tax base and provide services with lower accountability.
Take Uber (please.) Great sounding idea. I can't get a cab to come to my home, in a majority black neighborhood. the municipally licensed, union cabs just don't come to my block. the cabs suck--i'd taken to get to know individual cabbies so that someone will actually come when i call.
is Uber a solution? not for me. same racism, different task queue, same problem of no service. And someone is California is now taking a cut, instead of the City i live in. great.
now, i'm white. i'd be very interested in whether Uber could solve the problem of black folks never catching a cab. I highly doubt there's any push to go there, but now we've got Uber, it's a cab service that is probably taking revenues away from the city that funds the Bus program that we know will transport black folks.
Let's pretend Uber was actually planning on solving an economic problem, rather than generating rent. For 5 years, the VC pumps money into this cab service that actually services neighborhoods that have been left out. wouldn't that be cool.
But whether it's year 5, year 6, year 15, VC is always going to want that company to "pivot" into extraction mode, and the thing falls apart--facebook and google have followed this pattern, and now this taskrabbit thing smells the same. it's not Big Oil capitalism out of Dallas, that starts wars; nor Wall Street real FIRE capitalism, that crashes the banking system; it's this touchy feely Silicon Valley brand of exploitation that people haven't totally cottoned to yet, perhaps because shoes haven't dropped.
posted by eustatic at 2:33 PM on December 4, 2014 [14 favorites]
posted by MattD at 10:24 AM
americans are overworked and underpaid, were the heck does the increase in "increasing utilization" of labor come from?
And what steps are these companies taking to rectify, and take affirmative action, against the racial caste system in the United States? Because there is the aching economic need that is tearing the country apart.
there's definitely a need to employ people in the US, but these tech solutions don't seem to do anything to solve those actual problems. If anything, they just lower the municipal tax base and provide services with lower accountability.
Take Uber (please.) Great sounding idea. I can't get a cab to come to my home, in a majority black neighborhood. the municipally licensed, union cabs just don't come to my block. the cabs suck--i'd taken to get to know individual cabbies so that someone will actually come when i call.
is Uber a solution? not for me. same racism, different task queue, same problem of no service. And someone is California is now taking a cut, instead of the City i live in. great.
now, i'm white. i'd be very interested in whether Uber could solve the problem of black folks never catching a cab. I highly doubt there's any push to go there, but now we've got Uber, it's a cab service that is probably taking revenues away from the city that funds the Bus program that we know will transport black folks.
Let's pretend Uber was actually planning on solving an economic problem, rather than generating rent. For 5 years, the VC pumps money into this cab service that actually services neighborhoods that have been left out. wouldn't that be cool.
But whether it's year 5, year 6, year 15, VC is always going to want that company to "pivot" into extraction mode, and the thing falls apart--facebook and google have followed this pattern, and now this taskrabbit thing smells the same. it's not Big Oil capitalism out of Dallas, that starts wars; nor Wall Street real FIRE capitalism, that crashes the banking system; it's this touchy feely Silicon Valley brand of exploitation that people haven't totally cottoned to yet, perhaps because shoes haven't dropped.
posted by eustatic at 2:33 PM on December 4, 2014 [14 favorites]
i'd be very interested in whether Uber could solve the problem of black folks never catching a cab.
I use Lyft rather than Uber, but this is not a problem I've encountered in my predominantly hispanic bad-reputation neighborhood in LA. There aren't as many cars near me as there are for my friends who live in Silverlake or West Hollywood, but it's all perfectly workable.
However, it's not like I live in Compton or something. Also, I see enough cabs in my neighborhood to assume that Los Angeles cab companies will serve shitty East LA. In fact I most often see cabs idling at the entrances to supermarkets, which to me implies that people in East LA who don't have cars call taxis to do their grocery shopping.
My guess that, since "no way I'm not going to that neighborhood" is a subjective thing, if the city can't legislate it out of existence, and the preexisting cab companies can't get their drivers to stop doing this, there's no real way for the "sharing economy" to address this problem.
(Also, I see from your profile that you're in New Orleans, which has the WORSTTTTTTTTTTTT cab drivers ever who are notorious for being picky about where they're willing to take passengers. If you're not going to the airport, they're not interested. I've never understood why, unique among all cities on the fucking planet, New Orleans cab drivers are allowed to be total divas about destinations. Because it's something I've never experienced anywhere else. And I'm a white person mostly going to predominantly white parts of town.)
posted by Sara C. at 2:47 PM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
I use Lyft rather than Uber, but this is not a problem I've encountered in my predominantly hispanic bad-reputation neighborhood in LA. There aren't as many cars near me as there are for my friends who live in Silverlake or West Hollywood, but it's all perfectly workable.
However, it's not like I live in Compton or something. Also, I see enough cabs in my neighborhood to assume that Los Angeles cab companies will serve shitty East LA. In fact I most often see cabs idling at the entrances to supermarkets, which to me implies that people in East LA who don't have cars call taxis to do their grocery shopping.
My guess that, since "no way I'm not going to that neighborhood" is a subjective thing, if the city can't legislate it out of existence, and the preexisting cab companies can't get their drivers to stop doing this, there's no real way for the "sharing economy" to address this problem.
(Also, I see from your profile that you're in New Orleans, which has the WORSTTTTTTTTTTTT cab drivers ever who are notorious for being picky about where they're willing to take passengers. If you're not going to the airport, they're not interested. I've never understood why, unique among all cities on the fucking planet, New Orleans cab drivers are allowed to be total divas about destinations. Because it's something I've never experienced anywhere else. And I'm a white person mostly going to predominantly white parts of town.)
posted by Sara C. at 2:47 PM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
americans are overworked and underpaid, were the heck does the increase in "increasing utilization" of labor come from?
Certanly, some Americans are overworked and underpaid. However, I know more than a few who are underutilized. Been there myself. Some are probably what you'd consider underpaid, too, though that could be a pretty subjective judgment. Interestingly, the few UberX drivers I've met I think would also have been described as underutilized, and as a result, took jobs as UberX drivers. Which seemed pretty well suited to their situations. FWIW, the UberX drivers I've met have been pretty open about the situation, and good conversationalists.
As far as money not going to taxi medallion schemes, boo-fucking-hoo. If taxi companies have any smarts whatsoever, they'll start providing improved service to compete with Uber and Lyft. Figuring out how to use apps, or even just responding to calls in a timely, courteous fashion, could go a long way. Is that really such an awful concept?
posted by 2N2222 at 3:53 PM on December 4, 2014
Certanly, some Americans are overworked and underpaid. However, I know more than a few who are underutilized. Been there myself. Some are probably what you'd consider underpaid, too, though that could be a pretty subjective judgment. Interestingly, the few UberX drivers I've met I think would also have been described as underutilized, and as a result, took jobs as UberX drivers. Which seemed pretty well suited to their situations. FWIW, the UberX drivers I've met have been pretty open about the situation, and good conversationalists.
As far as money not going to taxi medallion schemes, boo-fucking-hoo. If taxi companies have any smarts whatsoever, they'll start providing improved service to compete with Uber and Lyft. Figuring out how to use apps, or even just responding to calls in a timely, courteous fashion, could go a long way. Is that really such an awful concept?
posted by 2N2222 at 3:53 PM on December 4, 2014
As long as the technology platforms siphon off as big a percentage of gross revenue as Uber and Airbnb do, and use the power they aggregate from the platform users to push costs and liabilities to those users wherever possible, it's without question a race to the bottom for the many, if a boon for the platform owners. Whenever someone tells me, "Airbnb helps people who'd have to leave otherwise to keep living in San Francisco," I answer, "For a few extra years, sure. Then even they'll be pushed out -- by the very people they're giving a cut." The only way this becomes a remotely sustainable future is if the workers organize to get their fair cut. Meanwhile, please, please cut the "sharing" bullshit. You want technology-enabled sharing? Give your shit away on Craigslist.
posted by Lyme Drop at 4:12 PM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Lyme Drop at 4:12 PM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
basically, 'handyman' is an illegal occupation that is tolerated because it is useful, like drug dealing.
This strolls into rantworthy territory on all sides.
It seems a common thread of all the sharing dingbats is the monetization of the difference between regulated and unregulated vendors.
You can be a handyperson and have a license, bond, and liability insurance. Please don't call it an illegal occupation and put it on par with a drug dealer. It is offensive.
posted by Pembquist at 4:30 PM on December 4, 2014 [8 favorites]
This strolls into rantworthy territory on all sides.
It seems a common thread of all the sharing dingbats is the monetization of the difference between regulated and unregulated vendors.
You can be a handyperson and have a license, bond, and liability insurance. Please don't call it an illegal occupation and put it on par with a drug dealer. It is offensive.
posted by Pembquist at 4:30 PM on December 4, 2014 [8 favorites]
My family for years and years called the same guy to do handyman kind of work, and it was all definitely within the realm of what could be contractor work because he was the one who knew what he was doing, but he always said right out whenever there was something that really required a licensed expert (I've seen my stepdad do his own electrical work, and that was completely off the table with the handyman for very good reason) or a permit. I guess it depends on who you're hiring, and for what. If you need an electrician, you should be hiring an electrician. The idea that there's something shady about hiring people for odd jobs seems a bit odd, though. I think in the end there's something here about how we're increasingly separated from our communities. You used to just know someone who lived a few blocks away who'd be able to come over to help you deal with your wobbly basement step. Now you're kind of stuck asking strangers, and places are profiting off of promising to make that safer--often without actually delivering.
posted by Sequence at 5:05 PM on December 4, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Sequence at 5:05 PM on December 4, 2014 [4 favorites]
Not to mention that, in big cities -- especially for the types of uses TaskRabbit is intended for -- most people are hiring a handyman to hang shelves, install window unit ACs, build flat-pack furniture, fix a leaky faucet, etc. I suppose it's possible that one might want a licensed contractor for that level of work (I mean what if the person you hire destroys your plumbing or something), or that some people use TaskRabbit Handyfolk for more complex home renovation tasks.
But, at least originally, the whole point of the site was to hire competent non-axe-murderers to take care of mundane tasks you'd rather not deal with yourself. It's not Angie's List. Or at least it wasn't intended to be when I was active on the site a couple years ago.
posted by Sara C. at 5:43 PM on December 4, 2014
But, at least originally, the whole point of the site was to hire competent non-axe-murderers to take care of mundane tasks you'd rather not deal with yourself. It's not Angie's List. Or at least it wasn't intended to be when I was active on the site a couple years ago.
posted by Sara C. at 5:43 PM on December 4, 2014
You know, after reading this, can anyone give an example of one of these "sharing economy" services that hasn't midway in, once it was popular "pivoted" in a way that causes money to flow more smoothly through the system(and into the pockets of the owners/investors) but fucks over the "employees"?. That seems to be some kind of predetermined endgame here and it's like ugh seriously?
uber did it, taskrabbit did it, i'm sure i coul think of several others.
posted by emptythought at 7:07 PM on December 4, 2014
uber did it, taskrabbit did it, i'm sure i coul think of several others.
posted by emptythought at 7:07 PM on December 4, 2014
Uh...Craigslist, I guess.
posted by LogicalDash at 7:24 PM on December 4, 2014
posted by LogicalDash at 7:24 PM on December 4, 2014
That article was right on the (very little) money. As of this moment I'm still signed up as a TaskRabbit tasker despite these changes, but seeing everything in black and white has spurred me to finally delete my account. Mind you, pre-VC Taskrabbit kind of sucked too - constant underbidding by other rabbits, no vetting of clients - but I got to deliver a singing telegram, do app testing and clean up a tiki-themed backyard.
This on-call thing sucks. I have to keep up this constant monitoring of my available/not available calendar because I am supposed to answer an "invitation" within 30 minutes of receiving it, and if I don't accept this "invitation" it's a mark against me. Too many marks and I get kicked off the site. I've started wincing every time my phone alert goes off.
The job categories are so wide that it's impossible to set proper hourly rates (I would charge a lot less for certain kinds of "writing/editing" or "organizational" jobs, but you can only set one rate for the category), the virtual tasks have seemingly disappeared, and upping the service charge to 20% is really crappy. Oh, and the hourly rates you say you'll do a task for are what the client pays, so if you indicate you'll walk a dog for $20 an hour, you'll get $16 of that.
My current client (I've had so little work since this change) isn't happy with the site either. She has to re-post requests a lot and can't book me for a same-day task. I'm sure she has other issues as well.
I could go on and on, but I have some account-deleting business to attend to. Thanks for the kick in the pants, Kitteh, and thanks for the Buck's Of Woodside guffah, Lyme Drop.
posted by queensissy at 7:40 PM on December 4, 2014 [3 favorites]
This on-call thing sucks. I have to keep up this constant monitoring of my available/not available calendar because I am supposed to answer an "invitation" within 30 minutes of receiving it, and if I don't accept this "invitation" it's a mark against me. Too many marks and I get kicked off the site. I've started wincing every time my phone alert goes off.
The job categories are so wide that it's impossible to set proper hourly rates (I would charge a lot less for certain kinds of "writing/editing" or "organizational" jobs, but you can only set one rate for the category), the virtual tasks have seemingly disappeared, and upping the service charge to 20% is really crappy. Oh, and the hourly rates you say you'll do a task for are what the client pays, so if you indicate you'll walk a dog for $20 an hour, you'll get $16 of that.
My current client (I've had so little work since this change) isn't happy with the site either. She has to re-post requests a lot and can't book me for a same-day task. I'm sure she has other issues as well.
I could go on and on, but I have some account-deleting business to attend to. Thanks for the kick in the pants, Kitteh, and thanks for the Buck's Of Woodside guffah, Lyme Drop.
posted by queensissy at 7:40 PM on December 4, 2014 [3 favorites]
the alleged romance of the field and the cache does attract more to the field than can find gainful employment.
Does it? It's a bloody difficult profession that requires eight(?) years of training that's so gruelling and persnickety people regularly give up in favour of an easier life. There are stages in the training where people can opt out for a lesser, though still professional, qualification; but they are still responsible for structures not falling down and killing anyone. Which is a heavy responsibility. I mean, you can't just decide it would look good on you and therefore you'll be an architect. If you're not precise, thorough, conscientious and pretty intelligent there's no way you'll get through the training. And it's not just book learning you need either - you have to be good in a team and practical.
I'm not understanding the attitudes to architects here at all - don't you have building regs where you guys are? Don't you have health and safety legislation? Don't you have BARN CONVERSIONS??
posted by glasseyes at 5:35 AM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Does it? It's a bloody difficult profession that requires eight(?) years of training that's so gruelling and persnickety people regularly give up in favour of an easier life. There are stages in the training where people can opt out for a lesser, though still professional, qualification; but they are still responsible for structures not falling down and killing anyone. Which is a heavy responsibility. I mean, you can't just decide it would look good on you and therefore you'll be an architect. If you're not precise, thorough, conscientious and pretty intelligent there's no way you'll get through the training. And it's not just book learning you need either - you have to be good in a team and practical.
I'm not understanding the attitudes to architects here at all - don't you have building regs where you guys are? Don't you have health and safety legislation? Don't you have BARN CONVERSIONS??
posted by glasseyes at 5:35 AM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
don't you have building regs where you guys are? Don't you have health and safety legislation?
Give us time, and we'll get rid of them.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 5:43 AM on December 5, 2014
Give us time, and we'll get rid of them.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 5:43 AM on December 5, 2014
If taxi companies have any smarts whatsoever, they'll start providing improved service to compete with Uber and Lyft. Figuring out how to use apps, or even just responding to calls in a timely, courteous fashion, could go a long way.
They are! I used Flywheel last time I was in San Francisco and was really impressed.
posted by naoko at 11:12 AM on December 5, 2014
They are! I used Flywheel last time I was in San Francisco and was really impressed.
posted by naoko at 11:12 AM on December 5, 2014
2N2222: If taxi companies have any smarts whatsoever, they'll start providing improved service to compete with Uber and Lyft. Figuring out how to use apps, or even just responding to calls in a timely, courteous fashion, could go a long way.Well, that's exactly why Lyft and Uber have found legs in the market - they fulfilled a market desire that the existing taxi services weren't. And, exactly as you suggest, if the existing businesses adapt in time, they can push the newcomers back out of business, or at the very least preserve their marketshare.
See: newspapers & magazines vs blogs and web news aggregators, record companies vs indie distributions channels online (from "our own website the drummer's brother put together" to Patreon), book stores vs Amazon, and so forth.
It's not because the newcomer is smaller and therefore more agile (see: Amazon!); it's because the established industry is so entrenched that it simply cannot imagine changes in technology affecting their marketshare (see: Encyclopedia Britannica 26-volume sets on the installment plan).
Once the older companies fall behind, however, it becomes exponentially harder for them to catch up. Instead of gradually adapting, they clearly have change-resistant decision makers throughout their structure that will impede the process. If you think film could have saved Kodak... you might just have been a Kodak manager in the 1990s.
Older companies aren't doomed to fall behind - IBM has had ups and downs, but they're still a major corporation. The company famous for making walkman radios now is famous for flat-screen TVs. I assume the difference is not how much the market changed, but how willing to recognize and react to the change the company's decision-makers were. And I'm saying "decision-makers", not "managers" or "executives", because I've been at industry-leading companies where the aging engineering force disdained GUIs (in Windows 3.1 days), or the aging drafting department refused to design in metric (so you start seeing a lot of 0.0254" measurements, because they just convert everything at the end). And guess what? None of those companies lead their industries anymore. Some of them are little more than trademark-holding shell companies.
Taxis, of course, are far from being tech companies. Nonetheless, they can seize the moment and move forward, or spend their remaining strength trying to make Uber and Lyft illegal in the local municipality.
Regardless, in 10 years someone will be offering taxi services of some sort, that are at least as reliable as what we have now.
posted by IAmBroom at 11:42 AM on December 5, 2014
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Reminds me of Michael Moore's Roger & Me follow up, Pets or Meat.
A TaskRabbit future seems pretty much terrible to me.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 9:05 AM on December 4, 2014 [13 favorites]