HN Explorer

Do gig economy products eventually become worse than their predecessors?

1 points by rakeshgoyal ↗ HN
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?

7 comments

[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 11.4 ms ] thread
downrightmike
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
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?
ggm
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
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
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.

rakeshgoyal
There are glamping spots that are priced similar to airbnbs in a given area. The glamping spots don't require you to do chores.

Assuming both cost the same (sometimes glamping spots cost more) - people will likely choose the glamping spot because of better experience.

Yes AirBnB created more options to stay than before. I will be curious to see how the next airbnb fixes the problems created by airbnb.

oxff
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.