How much is convenience worth to you? That's the question that a lot of the on demand apps coming out of Silicon Valley are asking. Whether it's a driver, laundry or food on demand, you're probably going to pay a premium for a service that you'd be able to get for a whole lot cheaper if you just got off the couch and walked down the street.
But what fun is that? That's the question that I asked myself this week, when I dug into my piggy bank to test out a few on demand apps that are apparently going to make my life much more awesome.
1) Soothe - massage on demand
As an amateur cyclist who wants to indulge his fantasies of getting post ride massages, like a pro, I went with the sports massage. It involved a little stretching, a lot of deep rubbing and it was legitimately the best massage that I've had.
While the app was a little buggy, the overall service was excellent. It's pretty straight forward. Choose a massage style you want (sports, deep tissue or Swedish), what gender you prefer your masseuse to be, book the appointment at least an hour ahead of when you want someone at your home, and they show up, with a table, ready to go.
What do you pay for this relaxing, in home convenience? $100 an hour.
2) Surge Protector - to protect yourself from Uber's surge pricing
Uber's price surge policy is not without controversy. Whether the company doubles or triples its normal prices because a car shortage is real, or invented, on a busy night, the increase in cost can catch a lot of costumed drunk people by surprise.
This app wants to help you get around paying that extra cash. It lets you know where you can go to avoid the surge pricing and it'll book a car for you in that area, through the app. The downside? You've got to walk or hitch a ride with someone else to get outside of Uber's "surge zone." Buzzfeed interviewed the creator and he said that Uber seems OK with the app... so far. But, it's up to you to decide if it's worth the hassle.
3) Handy - on demand home cleaners, plumbers, handymen and electricians
I only had the chance to test out the on demand home cleaners. I'm a bit particular about how my tiny one bedroom apartment is cleaned if I'm going to pay more than $100 dollars for the service. I want my floor mopped, with some attention paid to the baseboards. The stove needs a good scrubbing, and I'd like things, like the shades, dusted.
But most of this stuff was overlooked. However, after complaining to the company they sent one of their skilled cleaners. It was a bit better, but not amazing. And for the $100+ dollars that I spent on the service, I would've been better off hiring cleaners through somewhere else. Or I could've saved a whole lot of money and done everything on my own.
Of course you can't mention these on demand services without also talking about their controversial employment policies that've left plenty of workers angry. Uber drivers are mad about how much they're earning. And former workers employed by Handy have filed a class action lawsuit against the company, accusing them of violating labor laws.
Kevin Roose over at New York Magazine wrote a piece detailing the intricacies and controversy surrounding workers in what he calls the 1099 economy.
For start-ups trying to make it in a competitive tech industry, the benefit of opting for 1099 contractors over W-2 wage-earners is obvious. Doing so lowers your costs dramatically, since you only have to pay contract workers for the time they spend providing services, and not for their lunch breaks, commutes, and vacation time. Contract workers aren’t eligible for health benefits, unemployment insurance, worker's compensation, or retirement plans. And contractors don’t have to be fired if they mess up, since they were never employed in the first place. Instead, they’re simply removed from the network, and life goes on.
In other words, the 1099 economy is almost perfectly calibrated to serve the needs of fast-moving start-ups — lower costs, less liability, the ability to grow and shrink the labor pool quickly — but is it good for the people doing the work?