Show HN: Soothe – Uber for Massages
soothe.com
soothe.com
You can still build loyalty to both the middleman and the service provider at the same time this way for many services - I will stick with Homejoy because I like the ease of not dealing with cash/checks and phone scheduling.
The situation for Uber is that Uber's business model has nothing to offer to people that want to schedule a specific driver, rather than a convenient pickup at a good price.
I get my haircut by the same person every single time not because I think they are the best hair-cutter in the world but because I don't have to explain to them how I like it, they already know and I know they can do it that way, so going to them eliminates 5-10 minutes of explanation and a lot of uncertainty as to what the end result will look like.
For the same reasons I agree with crazypyro that "Uber for Massages" (local massages being something people tend to find one provider and stick with them for consistency) is not nearly as compelling as Uber for transportation where all I care is that the driver gets me to where I'm going in a relatively short timeframe and relatively safely.
I've heard a lot of "HomeJoy is meh but they are cheap. "
Here in NYC, there are several "Uber for" maid/massage/anything else you can think of services, and apart from the design of their sites and sometimes the pricing scheme, it's hard to tell what's actually different.
Maybe the same thing could be said about Lyft, Uber, etc., but I do wonder what kind of competitive advantage these services are going for.
Unlike cars, maids and masseuses don't waste 90% of their time doing nothing and there's also not going to be a population reduction by matching supply and demand for these verticals a little bit better for iphone users.
that's an assumption
"AAA for Massage" is very meaningful - I just book "a massage", I don't care from whom as long as they are qualified, and this company makes sure someone good shows up.
Its a new idea because these services are not usually commoditized, in the way a tow-truck or an oil change is. This company is betting that for enough buyers, massages are actually a commodity service versus a personal service requiring a lot of trust.
Services with existing brands will not like it, but new businesses without a customer base will probably love it. I think it has legs.
> Gratuity is on us. No need to tip
Is alarming.
The success model for startups these days is deceit and breaking laws. If a startup is claiming to be the "Uber of <blah>", I interpret that as a company which thinks being disruptive means breaking laws and screwing people over for the sake of growth and attempting to make good on the outrageously high investments they receive.
What I'm looking for is concrete proof that over the long run, not just in a recruitment surge, therapists end up making a living as good as or better than when they're employed by a spa. If that's not the case, then this is simply another widener of the wealth gap in this country.
Tips are entirely optional. Official payroll isn't.
My point is that those wages Soothe pays probably won't be as high as a typical tip-based wage one could earn without Soothe, because Soothe will want to minimize its costs as much as possible. Why pay high tips if it doesn't have to? You're not okay with that? Well fine, you can leave, because in this environment, there are plenty of other people who will work for less generous tips.
Not only does it probably degrade the client experience (the provider doesn't need to go above and beyond because it's not his brand being impacted by his service), but it commoditizes an otherwise vibrant and special service into a dull, grey blob of robots all doing the same thing.
That's my expectation for the long term.
In the short-term, I'm sure their rates will be appealing enough to attract good massage therapists, and I'm sure Soothe will do what it can to make sure its clients feel special. That's what venture capital is for.
But again, isn't that how almost every job works? I mean, the vast majority of us are working for companies which want to minimize their costs as much as possible. Message therapists just happened to join the other 90% of us. Why the special concern?
This may be a cultural issue, since where I come tipping is much less common.
In a traditional job, there's no subjectivity in what you're paid. You have a rate or a salary and are paid according to that. It's pretty straight-forward.
With Soothe or any tip-driven service (in the US, that includes waiting tables, cab driving, barbers, and a host of other service jobs), there's a significant amount of subjectivity that determines your income.
If you do well, you're tipped well. On just a regular $50 dinner here in the States, I can tip anywhere from $5 to $15 depending on how satisfied I am with the waitress' service.
But what if the restaurant took responsibility for the waitress' tips? It wants to maximize its profits. Chances are it's not going to pay $15 or even $10 for each table...it's going to pay a lot less.
How much less? I contend it will pay the least it can before it starts running into talent problems.
That rate, whatever it is, assuming the waitress is good, MUST be less than the average customer would pay in tips. The restaurant sees all its waitresses as good, so it can't pay any one more than the other. That would be unfair and illegal.
Customers can. And they would pay more for good service. That's why, I think, on average, at least here in the States, a tipped employee does worse when working for a company like Soothe.
I'd love to see a study on this topic for Uber et al to see what's really happening.
If this wasn't the case, Soothe is lying to me, the customer, and not providing what I paid them for. That's deceit.
A profit-seeking corporation is going to minimize expenses as much as it can.