\n\n\n\nWhen you first sign up for the service, you\u2019ll be assigned an \u201cAlfred.\u201d The app shows you this person\u2019s picture and some general information, as well as the verification for the person\u2019s background checks. You\u2019ll then choose a specific day for this person to deliver your goods each week, and you\u2019ll compile a grocery list to get them started.
\nAfter that, the app works on its own in the background. You don\u2019t really\u00a0have to open the app again after you\u2019ve signed up unless you need to make adjustments to your weekly grocery list.
\nAfterward, your \u201cAlfred\u201d will head over weekly to drop off your clean laundry, put it in the closet, drop off your household supplies, and replace supplies as needed \u2013 like putting new paper towels on a towel holder, for example. He or she will also put your groceries away and make sure\u00a0the house is spotless. The idea is not only to cut into the 30 average hours per week that people spend on household chores and related tasks, but also to make using the variety of apps and services in the shared economy even easier.
\nSo apparently the best new tech startup of the year is an app that connects you to your own personal servant. Said servant drops off your groceries and laundry and does various other chores once per week. Amazingly it only costs $25 per week\u00a0so for that to be profitable after overhead you\u2019re almost definitely looking at a sub-minimum-wage servant.
\nThe obvious narrative here is the one about how Silicon Valley startups no longer pursue big new technology ideas. Instead they\u2019re mostly just figure out how to offer new luxury services to highly-paid tech workers wanting to signal their status via conspicuous consumption. However there\u2019s more going on here.
\nThe labour market has now diverged to the point where there are plenty of people making hundreds of dollars an hour and even more people who are desperate for any form of gainful employment whatsoever. The market of performing basic tasks for very low pay for rich people is going to be a huge growth industry. Services like Uber (which treats its drivers terribly) have already done very well, and full-on domestic servitude seems like the next logical step in this direction.
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that’s cute, that’s cute. Every year that goes by, the Batman canon gets that much closer to supplanting the biblical one as our cultural touchstone.
\nIn olden days (black) Pullman porters were by convention addressed as \u201cGeorge\u201d and Irish servant girls as \u201cBridget\u201d.
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