Solving Baumol's cost disease by psychologically separating the labor from the labor market, kinda makes sense! I think part of the problem here is many people never even bother to check how much it would cost to hire out some of these services. When I moved out of my last apartment we hired a cleaner to do a big deep clean (on the theory we'd be more motivated to find a cheap cleaner than our landlord spending OPM), and it came out to $100/ a head. Not saying that's someone I'd hire every week, but once a quarter? Definitely. I'd just never considered it because having a cleaner feels extravagant.
I have a friend who worked in BigLaw in NYC, and he said on his first day they sat all the new associates down and said something to the effect of "starting today you will hire a house cleaner, you will send your laundry to the fluff and fold, you will order your groceries on instacart. It's going to feel wrong but trust you me you won't last ten minutes trying to do this job and keep up with household chores." Maybe more workplaces should have some version of "the talk" for all of their new employees who have moved from "person living on ramen and debt" to "burgeoning yuppy" in the space of, like, two weeks.
The cultural impacts are real! I do think splitting meaningfully changes the psychology of hiring help - I saw more maids when my friends lived with roommates than I do now.
Love that story from BigLaw - when I was in consulting I heard they gave a similar talk when you reached the engagement manager (or PL or equivalent) level. I actually think there's probably a business in bundling all of those chores into a single package and providing it as an employee benefit for those high-intensity professional services. If you don't find a cleaner before things really take off, I imagine it's hard to take a step back and find one you trust?
Also, this tangentially reminds me of how my mom ran our sibling disputes like a courtroom. We’d do opening statements, call witnesses (our friends), cross examination, present evidence (broken toys, whatever), and then closing statements and a ruling.
It wasn’t perfectly fair but it did help us feel like there was an actual process.
I would recommend to you the classic science fiction short story "And Then There Were None", by Eric Frank Russell (atrociously reprinted here https://www.abelard.org/e-f-russell.php -- reader mode is helpful), for a fictional portrayal of a society built on chore/obligation trading. Plus, the story is funny as hell.
Solving Baumol's cost disease by psychologically separating the labor from the labor market, kinda makes sense! I think part of the problem here is many people never even bother to check how much it would cost to hire out some of these services. When I moved out of my last apartment we hired a cleaner to do a big deep clean (on the theory we'd be more motivated to find a cheap cleaner than our landlord spending OPM), and it came out to $100/ a head. Not saying that's someone I'd hire every week, but once a quarter? Definitely. I'd just never considered it because having a cleaner feels extravagant.
I have a friend who worked in BigLaw in NYC, and he said on his first day they sat all the new associates down and said something to the effect of "starting today you will hire a house cleaner, you will send your laundry to the fluff and fold, you will order your groceries on instacart. It's going to feel wrong but trust you me you won't last ten minutes trying to do this job and keep up with household chores." Maybe more workplaces should have some version of "the talk" for all of their new employees who have moved from "person living on ramen and debt" to "burgeoning yuppy" in the space of, like, two weeks.
The cultural impacts are real! I do think splitting meaningfully changes the psychology of hiring help - I saw more maids when my friends lived with roommates than I do now.
Love that story from BigLaw - when I was in consulting I heard they gave a similar talk when you reached the engagement manager (or PL or equivalent) level. I actually think there's probably a business in bundling all of those chores into a single package and providing it as an employee benefit for those high-intensity professional services. If you don't find a cleaner before things really take off, I imagine it's hard to take a step back and find one you trust?
Mommy as a service - nice old lady comes while you’re at work, cleans, does the laundry, restocks the fridge, and puts something in the crockpot
Isn’t this basically Fiverr?
Also, this tangentially reminds me of how my mom ran our sibling disputes like a courtroom. We’d do opening statements, call witnesses (our friends), cross examination, present evidence (broken toys, whatever), and then closing statements and a ruling.
It wasn’t perfectly fair but it did help us feel like there was an actual process.
Maybe Fiverr adjacent spiritually, but Fiverr actually charges money! It's against the spirit of the chore trading.
Also I am totally stealing sibling courtroom. Did you get time to prepare or was it all improvised opening and closing statements?
Kind of like in actual law, some cases went almost immediately to adjudication, and some required a discovery period.
Speaking of evidence, we ALSO observed rudimentary rules of evidence! No hearsay, etc.
I would recommend to you the classic science fiction short story "And Then There Were None", by Eric Frank Russell (atrociously reprinted here https://www.abelard.org/e-f-russell.php -- reader mode is helpful), for a fictional portrayal of a society built on chore/obligation trading. Plus, the story is funny as hell.
I love your point about how it has to be an exchange or many ppl who would otherwise be interested won't do it. This is a great idea