Lean platforms only profit from frequent, low-skill, non-trainable tasks
Evidence
The low margins of the business model indicate that services that rely on infrequent tasks (grocery shopping, home cleaning, etc.) are poised to suffer, as they simply do not generate frequent enough revenue to survive. Uber, rather uniquely, has the sweet spot, since so many people need to travel at any point in time. The evidence also suggests that high-skill personal jobs are unlikely to be successful on a lean platform, as they require training (and therefore employees) and they are subject to workers setting out on their own (rather than remaining in an exploitative relationship with a platform). Independent house cleaners, for instance, can often make more than the platforms can profitably offer, and this was ultimately one of the reasons why Homejoy collapsed. — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 94
Categorization
- SEED: Article angle: the structural conditions that doom gig-economy startups — task frequency and skill transferability as the hidden filters nobody screens for.
- XREF: connects to: Lean platforms are unprofitable ventures sustained mainly by venture capital welfare — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 75; Lean platform economies are an outlet for surplus capital, not capitalism’s revival — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 77; Herd attention results from profit logic, not algorithms themselves — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 223 (+1 more)
Related
- Lean platforms are unprofitable ventures sustained mainly by venture capital welfare (similarity 0.87)
- Lean platforms outsource non-tradable jobs globally and shift capital costs onto workers (similarity 0.84)
- Lean platform economies are an outlet for surplus capital, not capitalism’s revival (similarity 0.82)
- Lean platform workers are highly educated yet forced by unemployment into gig work (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Herd attention results from profit logic, not algorithms themselves
#responds-to(0.72) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 223