Do gig economy products eventually become worse than their predecessors?

1 points by rakeshgoyal 3 years ago | 7 comments

Gig economy marketplaces start with a really strong promise but overtime they become worse than the problem they tried to fix.

Is this the fate for all such companies given that it’s now highly regulated & they are dependent on suppliers that are hard to control? Or is there an opportunity to further disrupt the current gig economy marketplaces?

Case in point: AirBnb: You select a place that is $250 and by the time you reach checkout page - the actual price you pay is > $450!

Doordash: When you order, the delivery time shows as 40 mins but by the time it arrives it's actually 1hr 40mins.

Uber: To travel 2 miles, you need to fork out $30!

Thoughts?

ggm 3 years ago |

AirBnB: emerging "yea i was cheap to rent, but you won't like the cleaning fee" -the cost basis here being "... is cheaper than hotel" rapidly becomes un-true when extra fees are added.

I see an analogy to LCC in flying. Its "better" for a specific subset of people who never wanted a full service outcome. As soon as you add full service deliverables like ticket change, luggage, it can be cheaper to go direct to full service.

With house/room rentals/short-term let, it can be cheaper to go to traditional travel accommodation, once extra fees are taken into account.

rakeshgoyal 3 years ago | |

true but it's not just about the price here. The expectation at an AirBnb is to also do chores on top of the extra fees. I expect some fees but AirBnb charges as much as 60-70% of the base room rent.

ggm 3 years ago | | |

no disagree. I am going to a simpler model of worse == cost. You're in a different plane of what is better or worse. Before AirBnB there was only hotels. I can't think of a basis that you can go non=financial and compare them.

But, it has gotten worse. So judged against itself ab initio, its getting worse. Uber, is worse now. For both drivers and pax. For drivers there is much less profit and for clients, its still better than most taxi services, but it isn't as much better than it used to be and some gaming of the system has emerged.

oxff 3 years ago |

They never had the profits to compensate for their capex/opex from it, ie. Uber / food delivery slavery, so yes unless they hike the prices.

downrightmike 3 years ago |

yes. Disruption to undercut and starve workers in the current industry, then when you're a monopoly, or near enough, you jack up prices.

rakeshgoyal 3 years ago | |

yes. then did it even matter to humanity if we end up in the same place? It does seem like there is some overall progress. But wonder if there is a better way?