[chjohasbrouck]

Maybe there are people who would be happier washing their clothes by hand, but I'm sure they're the exception rather than the rule.

Most people just don't like doing the shopping, cooking, and cleaning involved with daily meal preparation. Most people also don't like cleaning in general, and hate their commutes. Thinking of these as therapeutic tasks is as much a luxury of white collar life as unlimited access to maids and food delivery services is.

And the idea that you'd save time or money with proper knowledge of how to source and prep your own fruits and vegetables, or that time spent cleaning disappears because you consider it exercise, all seems like magical thinking to me.

As soon as you place a realistic dollar figure on the value of your time, for most of us, all of those calculations break down dramatically in favor of outsourcing most tasks related to food, cleaning, and transportation, not only as a matter of comfort, but also as a matter of economics.

It makes sense that it would work out this way, too. A single Uber driver with a single car can satisfy the transportation needs of a dozen people. An Instacart shopper can gather everything 3 families need in a single pass through the store. The driver can get those groceries to 3 homes in a single round trip instead of 3 separate round trips.

Outsourcing can seem wasteful and opulent, but in doing so you're often participating in a sharing economy or benefiting from economies of scale and division of labor that actually serve to reduce waste and inefficiency.

[Retric]

You are assuming the value of time spent on these activities is inherently negative therefore having someone else do them is a net gain. I disagree, you can enjoy them in poverty or as a billionaire.

While say playing video games seems more enjoyable than taking out the trash that's a subjective assessment. And you can alter your subjective perceptions.

[Deregibus]

You are assuming the value of time spent on these activities is inherently positive.

If you like cooking or cleaning or taking out the trash then by all means you should do those things. But, if you don't like doing those things then the threshold for when it makes sense to pay someone else to do them is lower than most would think.

[remline]

That is their theory, but I see a lot of trouble in their analysis.

A different take on their data is: Not doing things is becoming ignorant and in the short term ignorance of the negatives in life is bliss. In the longterm, not knowing how to do the things that are happening so you can survive is a larger stress for people. Consequently, people are happy when they are choosing to outsource, but it does not last and they choose to cycle back. The noveau rich outsource willingly and the other rich outsource more reluctantly as they are more familiar with the eventual costs of short term stress reduction.

[Retric]

I am arguing it's not not inherently positive or negative, but you can become someone that views it as a negative or a positive. Many people enjoy walking as a time for reflection and to de-stress. Other types of repetitive motion like folding clothing can fill the same void.

However a big part of this is simply how much space your keeping up. An efficiency can be kept clean though habitat, a 1,000 acre estate takes a staff.

PS: That's not to say having groceries delivered is a bad idea, just maximum productivity is simply a wasteful goal.

[nickik]

Yes, it is subjective but for most people cleaning toilets is not enjoyable and thus it makes sense to outsource it.

[maxwin]

Very well said. The parent is living in a bubble. If you are a retired millionaire or financially well off, doing those mundane tasks might be fun. Just like people paying to go to gym to spend energy. It won't be fun to spend energy for doing hard labor because you need to put food on the table.

[anigbrowl]

This assumes all quality can be expressed on a single scale of economic utility, which is an absurd premise.

[TeMPOraL]

It can, and has to, if you want to compare different qualities. That's kind of the whole point of putting a dollar figure on something.

[anigbrowl]

And more and more we're finding that that is a terrible basis for policy making, because it's only as good as our ability to quantify things. How much is the love of someone's parents worth, for example? Why can't you buy your dog's affection with money? Putting a dollar figure on everything is a terrible way to organize society.

[ranit]

How do you save time outsourcing transportation?

[Broken_Hippo]

1. I can use the ride to drink coffee and wake up, so I wake later and am more productive through the day. Plus I can use the time to generally relax, listen to music, listen to a book, read news, and so on.

2. I spend zero time at gas stations, washing the car, servicing it, warming it up, changing to winter tires, or cleaning the windshield off. I also spend zero time doing driveway snow removal in the winter.

3. I have to find parking with my own car.

4. I am more likely to use my feet as my primary mode of transportation. This means I am less likely to need to schedule separate exercise time. And I can still listen to music, news, or an audiobook.

5. Because it saves money, budgeting is a little easier (especially if you are poor) because you aren't as tight.

[kkleindev]

By reading a book while in an uber

[paganel]

I know it has been the fancy thing to say for at least the past 2-3 years, but I for myself get car-sickness at even the thought of reading in a car. I do not get any car sickness while riding the tramway or the trolleybus (even though I have to stand up). The billions of dollars spent on companies like Uber would have been much better spent trying to raise awareness about the benefits of public transport.

[seanp2k2]

This is our state of the art for public transit in the US: https://ny.curbed.com/2017/6/14/15801694/mta-nyc-subway-dela...

I still try to take public transit when I travel (Chicago is pretty good and Portland is OK when it goes close to where you want. Bay Area doesn't have enough tendrils to get you within a few miles of where you want to go unless you're in SF proper, and half my friends refuse to ride Muni even though it's totally fine compared to SMART busses in Detroit) but it's hard to convince most people that the train or the bus could ever be not disgusting and filled with people who exist to make your life miserable.

[posterboy]

darn that's pessimistic

[nickik]

Raising awareness of public transportation? It's not that people are not aware, the US political system is just a shit-show and thus it want happen. Even private public transportation is usually outlawed.

Uber style services is a market response to the problem of transportation, because public transit options have not grown form the market because the government is slow and outlaw most private public transportation.

[jlebrech]

so, listen to an ebook. you can also do that while you wait for an uber and walk to your office.

[viraptor]

By not driving to the petrol station, not doing scheduled car service, not dealing with insurance, not renewing driving license, and likely a few other things.

[eveningcoffee]

How long does it take for the car to arrive or how long does it take to schedule it?

I think these should be also included in the comparison.

[yoz-y]

This time is often recouped by not having to get out of the garage and find place to park. (of course parking on or close to the street at home and having a designated place at work mitigates that)

[viraptor]

It depends how much money you have to spend. From public bus to private limo idling outside.

[cromd]

I assume they're saying it's hard to read, type, etc while driving.