{"id":6601,"date":"2015-03-23T06:45:33","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T13:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/add-vodka.com\/?p=6601"},"modified":"2015-03-20T11:57:41","modified_gmt":"2015-03-20T18:57:41","slug":"why-i-may-drop-out-of-the-sharing-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/add-vodka.com\/why-i-may-drop-out-of-the-sharing-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I May Drop Out of the Sharing Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>I started the year with a fun goal: To partake more in the sharing economy<\/a>. I wanted to try travelling, food delivery, car sharing, unique gifts and dog sitting, among other things, in this new economy that has so much potential.<\/p>\n I not only wanted to spend this year as a consumer exploring services from individuals that were previously only offered by businesses, but to sell my services too. Heck, I’ve watched friends’ dogs for free for years, why not make some extra money at it as a dog sitter<\/a>?<\/p>\n The extra cash isn’t worth the time, for the most part.<\/p>\n While I don’t consider myself an expert as a service provider in the sharing economy, peer-to-peer, collaborative or whatever else this area is called, I have used it plenty and have an idea of what to expect as someone on the selling end. I’ve used Lyft, Webvan, DogVacay and have sold or given away a few things on Craigslist.<\/p>\n I’ve worked for DogVacay.com and Rover.com as a dog sitter for a year, and I’ve come to realize that it’s not the money-making story I thought it would be. I’m not saying that the sharing economy leads to income inequality<\/a>, or that it is the best way for anyone to make some extra money. But for me, it comes down to the payout versus my time.<\/p>\n Here are some numbers from my workload in the sharing economy: I charge $45 a night for boarding a dog for a night. Of that, I get $38.25 per night and DogVacay gets $6.75.<\/p>\n I don’t begrudge DogVacay its cut. That’s fine and acceptable. Their online booking process is fantastic and leads to some gigs every few months.<\/p>\n The $38.25 a night that I collect, however, isn’t always worth it in the long run. I haven’t dropped out of DogVacay yet, but getting up in the middle of the night to deal with a barking dog that misses its owner is a hassle I’d rather not deal with. It makes for a long, tiresome day the next day, when I’m supposed to be writing for someone and not taking a nap.<\/p>\n And I don’t expect to charge more than $45 per night, based on what other dog sitters charge in my area. As a dog owner myself, I see how crazy it is to even charge that much. I might as well rent a motel room for my dog.<\/p>\nSharing economy numbers<\/h2>\n
Could I earn $4,800 a month?<\/h2>\n