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Amazon Takes Fresh Stab At $16 Billion Housekeeping Industry (bloomberg.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the new-kid-in-town dept.

PolygamousRanchKid shares a report from Bloomberg: Amazon is quietly hiring house cleaners in Seattle as direct employees. The online retailer is swapping the low cost of contract workers for the greater control of employing its own people. Doing so puts it on the hook for things like minimum wage, workers compensation and overtime pay. But it also lets Amazon determine how the workers are trained, which cleaning products they use and how they organize their schedules. Amazon's experiment signals it's concerned that saving money by using independent contractors can compromise the customer experience and make it just another online matchmaker. So it's conducting a trial to see if investing in its own housekeepers will differentiate its services by linking them more directly to the popular Amazon brand. The new housecleaning service, Amazon Home Assistants, offers home cleanings in Seattle that vary in price by the size of the home and frequency of visits. A weekly cleaning of a 1,500-square-foot home runs about $156.

70 comments

  1. It's got nothing to do with control by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    there have been several lawsuits over this. The independent contractors have more or less won the right to minimum wage. There's no point to hiring a contracting firm if they can't abuse their employees.

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    1. Re:It's got nothing to do with control by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

      No.

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    2. Re:It's got nothing to do with control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      only stupid millennial will hire amazon employee for 156$, pay that to Easter European or Asian in cash and they will make your hose shine like never before. mouth to mouth referrals are best, but wait millennia have no friends to talk to...

    3. Re:It's got nothing to do with control by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stop that, I've got to get home, and it's time for your nap.

    4. Re:It's got nothing to do with control by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      Just the house, I can shine my own hose.

      --
      Cheap storage VM.
  2. Enough already! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Amazon your brand is big enough, you don't need to have a death http on all markets.

  3. $16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by rmdingler · · Score: 2
    I suspect the housekeeping market is largely for unreported cash, and by independent contractors who don't need Amazon or another corporate behemoth pimping their gigs.

    If the figures are for the domestic industry, puntended, that's $16,000,000,000 / 325,000,000 (US population) for a total of $49 per person, per year... hogwash.

    --
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    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 1

      I honestly can't tell if you think it should be higher or lower.

    2. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      I honestly can't tell if you think it should be higher or lower.

      I can't tell either. About $49/person seems reasonable to me, since most people spend $0 on house cleaners.

      I pay $120 per month for a housekeeper. She comes once per month, and works for about 3 hours, dusting, vacuuming etc. That is $1440 per year, but there are 4 people in my family, so we are paying $360 each. If for every family like mine there are 8 more than pay $0, that will average out close to $50 per person spent on housekeeping services.

      Disclaimer: This is all on the books. I issue my housekeeper a 1099 at the end of the year.

    3. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey everyone, we have another Slashdot know-it-all here!

      Congrats fuckwit!

    4. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by Cederic · · Score: 1

      I'm getting the feeling I'm getting a bargain on my cleaner.

      She comes in for 90 minutes every week (but only does half the house each week) and I'm paying her £11/hour.

      It's all on the books, but it's her books not mine. She runs her own company, I merely hire her services. She has right of substitution too (although we never discussed that) which means I've had her husband, her son and her daughter in cleaning at various times.

      There's nothing wrong about a 14 year old girl in school uniform cleaning your house for you. Honest.

    5. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Seems like you're getting a lot less service than I do. We're in the northern VA, DC suburbs, and using a major housecleaning firm (bonded and insured, which came in handy when one had a fall on our staircase) every two weeks at a monthly cost of $125. They don't bill us extra for the extra for the months with three visits, so that's $1750/yr. They typically show up with 2-3 workers, and stay for 2-3 hours.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    6. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I suspect the housekeeping market is largely for unreported cash, and by independent contractors who don't need Amazon or another corporate behemoth pimping their gigs.

      If the figures are for the domestic industry, puntended, that's $16,000,000,000 / 325,000,000 (US population) for a total of $49 per person, per year... hogwash.

      According to your ignorant math here, there are no billionaires in the US because the concept of wealth concentration doesn't exist. News flash: There are people who likely spend thousands per month on shit like house cleaning, gardening, lawn maintenance, and pool maintenance. $16 billion probably isn't far off at all.

    7. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      That's pretty decent, and comparable to what we pay. We had a cleaner come for 4 hours every 2 weeks (we don't have a huge house) and paid her €60 per session (€15 per hour). But that's all off the books, which is the way pretty much everyone here runs these services. There have been various attempts to turn these ubiquitous illicit cleaning gigs into proper jobs, but if I want to pay my cleaner fully above board and still have her end up with €15 an hour in her pocket, I'd have to shell out close to €30 / hour and do an ungodly amount of paperwork. If she does the paperwork and registeres as a one-man firm, things are simpler for me and she can just bill me for services like any company, and charge slightly under €30 in order to get her €15. But raising the cost to €30 doesn't mean cleaners now get an honest wage with all taxes properly paid up, it means people will instead choose to clean their own homes.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    8. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      If it's only 3 hours per month, then I would have to wonder why you would have a cleaner at all, especially with 4 people in your family. Even if the kids are to young to clean, that still means that you're paying almost $1500 a year for something that would amount to no more than about half an hour a week for each adult. Over 20 years with 6% interest and assuming your payments increase with inflation at 1%, if you invested all that money you would have $60,000. Over 40 years, assuming you needed a cleaner for your entire working life, you would have saved over $270,000. Or you could just use the money on something fun or whatever. Either way, it doesn't seem like you are getting much value for your money.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    9. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      If it's only 3 hours per month, then I would have to wonder why you would have a cleaner at al

      She works much faster than me, so it would likely be 6 hours instead of 3 if I did it myself. I hate housework, and my time is worth way more than hers. So financially, it makes sense for me to pay her and spend my time on what I am good at and what I enjoy.

      By hiring a housecleaner, I am redistributing my income, reducing inequality, and providing her family with a living. Doing your own housework is selfish.

    10. Re: $16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol poor people like you donâ(TM)t understand that time is money.

    11. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by mysidia · · Score: 1

      $120 per month for a housekeeper. She comes once per month, and works for about 3 hours

      Wait... 3 hours a month, for $120 that month? Something fishy about that.
      That $40/hour you're paying is more than skilled professionals get around here....

      This is all on the books. I issue my housekeeper a 1099 at the end of the year.

      In my experience that's very unusual; from most people who have housekeepers: I hear they're hired and paid in cash the same day of service,
      just like babysitters, so even if there's an understanding that they are coming by regularly, there's no formal relationship -- no employee paperwork, no unemployment insurance --- the payment is always immediately made in cash at the time of service; no payroll done at specified intervals, and no records kept
      of previous or future dates.

    12. Re: $16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait... 3 hours a month, for $120 that month? Something fishy about that.
      That $40/hour you're paying is more than skilled professionals get around here....

      Over here in Sweden I would be very happy to hire cleaning staff at $40 pre-tax. Skilled workers run more than $150/hr.

    13. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Wait... 3 hours a month, for $120 that month? Something fishy about that.

      That $40/hour you're paying is more than skilled professionals get around here....

      OP is presumably just showing off how rich he is. It's like casually mentioning that your Bugati gets 4mpg and costs more to insure than the average teacher's annual salary.

      "$4 an hour? $400 an hour? It's all the same to me, I earn $1.8million a day in interest on my investments alone".

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    14. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      I don't employ a cleaner, but I do get a few fliers for cleaning agencies through my door periodically. About £11/hour seems about right for the reputable-looking ones, one was £8.50/hour. I did pay a cleaner when I was a PhD student, because it was far cheaper to split the cost of an hour of someone's time per week between four of us than to argue about who was responsible for cleaning. The agency there was quite up front that most of their customers use them as a finder service, pay them for a few months, and then engage the cleaner on a private basis, splitting the difference between what they pay the cleaners and what you pay them.

      If you take £11/hour as normal, then that works out at about $15/hour in the USA then that works out to around 550,000 people employed full time cleaning houses. That seems like a trifle high, though plausible.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    15. Re:$16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      What's the point of money? Generally, the point of acquiring money is to allow you to spend your time doing things that you enjoy. Unless you really enjoy housework, paying someone else to do it means that you have more free time and less time doing something that you don't want to do. If you save the money, what would you do with it? Over 40 years, if it's saving you an average of 6 hours a month, that's a cumulative 120 days of free time. Can you buy an extra 120 days of free time with $270,000?

      That said, paying $40/hour for a cleaner seems a little odd, unless the cleaner is bringing some very expensive equipment along.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    16. Re: $16 Billion, my glow-in-the-dark-ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL. Classic bill. Hop on your high horse bill. Your mail order bride won't stay for long if that money runs out. Gotta keep up the appearances.

      Here's a tip:
      Get your lazy ass wife or kids to do the house work. Jesus Christ. Your time isn't worth that much. I bet while she is cleaning the house for 3 hours, you are probably looking at porno hoping she tries to seduce you.

      TLDR: you are pitiful.

  4. You know what this means... by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Funny

    Housecleaners on demand, descending from the sky from drones like a futuristic Mary Poppins!

    Or possibly more like a Starship Trooper drop suit...

    The great thing is, if someone in your house mentions how messy your place is a housecleaner just shows up! No need to let her in thanks to Amazon Key.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:You know what this means... by mentil · · Score: 1

      Wrong film. Precogs predict when your house is going to be dirty, and troopers descend from a dropship.
      They can also be summoned by saying 'Alexa, clean my house'. You don't even need an Echo, the Precogs KNOW.

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    2. Re:You know what this means... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hispanic chicks...err..I mean "Miss Housekeeping".

      First it was milkman, now it's the house cleaners. Everyone's gotta be fucking strangers in the home....sheesh! Maternity is going to be a problem for Amazon I think.

    3. Re:You know what this means... by Lab+Rat+Jason · · Score: 1

      But if you want to speak to them you have to call them all "Alexa"

      --
      Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
  5. The Business Model - Maybe by turp182 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Schedule based on Amazon orders in a given area (with cleaning requests as well),. Send an Amazon delivery truck with 2-3 teams of cleaners and packages for that area. Cleaners clean, delivery people deliver.

    I think the key is geographic consolidation, but cleaners being able to deliver could be a reasonable part of it (I'm not sure if that would be legal, not sure why it wouldn't...).

    --
    BlameBillCosby.com
    1. Re: The Business Model - Maybe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Send in the poor to deliver nice things to the rich and wipe their asses at the same time.

    2. Re:The Business Model - Maybe by turp182 · · Score: 1

      Further thinking.

      Make custom buses (delivery and other service storage in back/available from the sides, seating for crews up front) and then add yard work, pool maintenance (probably not in Seattle much), dog poo pickup services, etc. (if they buy into house cleaning they might want cat box maintenance). How about LAUNDRY! (that shit never stops).

      Vary buses/vans/cars for crews by demand for whatever on a given day. Multiple vehicles could visit an area if needed (to optimize time spent which = $ spent on people time).

      Computer schedules crews, services, and deliveries.

      I had a delivery almost every 3 days last year (with Prime we just order one offs). Ancillary services would be easy to implement, although being in the house is certainly more complicated (I would have recommended several outside-of-house options initially, but trusted cleaners are certainly deliver and I would never use their lock/entry system - even though I've lost several packages to theft in the last year).

      It's Manna Stage #1. But computers are good at optimizing thing like this.

      --
      BlameBillCosby.com
  6. Another Way In by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I fully expect Amazon to start 3D mapping your house and everything in it. They'll do it for your security, cameras on the cleaners to prove they aren't stealing anything. Then they'll use the videos for profiling the types of things you like. Then they'll offer a virtual furniture makeover. And finally a percentage of your house sale when you list it through Amazon and use their virtual walk-through.

    Guess what. These cleaners can deliver your and your neighbor's Amazon purchases when they visit too. They can even pick up things you're selling through Amazon.

    1. Re:Another Way In by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

      I fully expect Amazon to start 3D mapping your house and everything in it. They'll do it for your security, cameras on the cleaners to prove they aren't stealing anything. Then they'll use the videos for profiling the types of things you like. Then they'll offer a virtual furniture makeover. And finally a percentage of your house sale when you list it through Amazon and use their virtual walk-through.

      Guess what. These cleaners can deliver your and your neighbor's Amazon purchases when they visit too. They can even pick up things you're selling through Amazon.

      Insightful comment. I have no mod points left, so I'm replying to it just to increase its visibility.

      --
      'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    2. Re:Another Way In by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      These cleaners can deliver your and your neighbor's Amazon purchases when they visit too. They can even pick up things you're selling through Amazon.

      Why not? I'm sure it's not the first time someone had a trusted housekeeper pick up their mail.

    3. Re:Another Way In by jbmartin6 · · Score: 1

      I assumed they were going to make the cleaners wear full body monitoring suits so Amazon could apply Deep Machine AI Learning© to analyze their efficiency and eventually program drones to replace them.

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  7. Cleaning as a pretext ? Why not ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If certain entities want a house checked out inside, just send people who pose as cleaners and they can inspect the house thoroughly while
    a couple of genuine house cleaners clean up.

    I'm surprised no one has posted the above scenario as a possibility.

    Google and Facebook are both almost certainly linked to the NSA ( Palantir, anyone ? )and perhaps Bezos wants a piece of that action.

    Call me paranoid today, but a few years from now you might instead call me prescient.

  8. Bezos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look, Jeffrey, for the last time, I am NOT letting you in my house. Okay?

    OKAY???!

  9. They Took My Job! by Templer421 · · Score: 0

    Seriously, this is what Mexico does.

    1. Re:They Took My Job! by Scarletdown · · Score: 0

      They took his job!!!

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      This space unintentionally left blank.
  10. loose lips by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    I don't hire a house cleaner until they've signed a non-disclosure agreement.

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    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:loose lips by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Arnold Schwarzenegger, is that you?!

    2. Re:loose lips by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      I don't hire a house cleaner until they've signed a non-disclosure agreement.

      I didn't know Stormy did windows. Oh, nevermind, you said house cleaner, not pipe cleaner.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
  11. Front Door Access by omnichad · · Score: 1

    Well they've already got the keys to the front door. Now they're just letting more people in.

  12. $156 for a 1,500 sq.ft. home? what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    US$156 to clean a 1,500 sq. ft. home, when minimum wage is US$15/hour in Seattle? That's a lot of overhead, or a very slow cleaner.

    Minimum wage in my location is similar in Canuck dollarettes, and house cleaning is about C$100 for 2 to 2.5 hours. I thought that was bad.

  13. $700 a month by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    Do people really spend that kind of money just to get their house cleaned once a week?

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:$700 a month by Shados · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and honestly, its a bargain. Keeping a fairly large place squeaky clean (not just kind of clean, but ACTUALLY nicely clean) is a lot of work. My place is a little larger than the example, at 2000~ sqft, but between the kitchen (especially the kitchen appliances like the grill, cooktop and oven), the floor (there's, well, 2000 sqft of it on 2 floors plus the stairs), the bathroom, the entrance, the shelves, the furniture, etc, along the fact that I'm getting old, it would easily take me 5-8 hours a week to keep everything looking good.

      If we use the bottom bound of that, so about 20-25 hours a week, that comes up to thousands of dollar of my time AND its boring as hell. I'll happily pay 500+/week if I have to.

      I actually haven't pulled the trigger on a cleaning service yet (and my place looks it), but I will probably soon. It's just a no-brainer. I can easily get more money. I don't have an easy way to make more time.

    2. Re:$700 a month by tgeek · · Score: 1

      I'm happy that you're willing and able to pay $26k/year for housecleaning ($500/week * 52) . ., . but I can safely say you don't represent the typical American household. I might even risk saying the typical American family isn't even paying $26k/year for the house PAYMENTS (especially not for 2000 square feet)

    3. Re:$700 a month by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have. 300sqm house that I keep clean myself (and I have 2 acres of property) and it doesn't take me 8 hours a week to keep it all pretty much perfect. If it takes you 5 - 8 hours a week to clean 185 sq metres, you must be very, very messy.

    4. Re:$700 a month by Shados · · Score: 1

      Well, yes. The post I was replying to wasn't saying "Do everyone pay this much money to get their house cleaned?!". It was "Do [some] people pay this much to get their house cleaned?"

      I was giving an example of why, yes, some (A LOT!) of people do. It's still only a tiny percentage of household. But that's true of a lot of things. The vast majority of people will never go through a kitchen renovation. There's still an entire industry around it.

    5. Re:$700 a month by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Every two weeks, I have a team of 2-3 that show up for 2-3 hours, and cost me $125/month. It's worth every penny, not to have to clean my own toilets, or the mildew in my shower. They're legal, bonded, and insured.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    6. Re:$700 a month by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not, but the kids are.

    7. Re:$700 a month by tazan · · Score: 1

      I've had cleaners in the past and probably will again. I agree it's a great trade-off of time for money. I'm just not excited about a new group of random sketchy people wandering around my house every week.

    8. Re:$700 a month by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A lot of it is people fall behind on the cleaning and let it pile up. If they were to do incrementally, the problems would be much lesser

  14. This is a whole 'nother ball game by mnemotronic · · Score: 1

    To my mind, providing an on-site service staffed with real people who make real mistakes is way different than collecting money for marketing someone else's product. I can see how Amazon will face the same lawsuit challenges that doctors in America current endure. A client will sue claiming that something got damaged or stolen. And talk about going after deep pockets; none deeper.

    On the other hand, we know that Amazon is getting into the health-care biz. Perhaps this is a foot-in-the-door to at-home nursing services for the soon-to-be-senile baby boomers. Now there's a market waiting for exploitation.

    --
    The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
    1. Re:This is a whole 'nother ball game by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 1

      Yeah but don't forget they get to write the ToS you agree to. I think Amazon will be ok.

  15. Why did they try contractors in the first place? by Solandri · · Score: 1

    This seems like a poor business for using contractors. Outsourced contractors usually works best if they're the sole contractor, or (for multiple contractors) when the customer needs a one-off product or service. If someone needs a database interface rewritten and the data ported over, or you need a broken pipe under the sink fixed, a contractor is fine.

    Contractors usually don't work well for repeated and word-of-mouth businesses like housekeeping. Here, consistency becomes an important characteristic. And you can't have consistency if the housekeeper that comes to your house each week is a different person using different cleaning products and different tools, who emphasizes cleaning different things. And word-of-mouth advertising doesn't work if the quality of service you get will be completely different from the quality of service the person who gave you the recommendation got. You need the control that hiring people as employees gives you, so you can create the consistency that your customers expect.

  16. So, In addition to... by dcw3 · · Score: 1

    So now, in addition to collecting and tracking our virtual trash, they'll also have access to our physical garbage. What could go wrong?

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
  17. Same day by jbmartin6 · · Score: 1

    Will the cleaners also bring my orders for same day delivery?

    --
    This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
  18. Anti-trust? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Amazon is sooooooo overdue to be busted up....why hasn't it happened?

  19. Re:My house cleaner is mine not yours by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Think it's well over due that Amazon actually start paying more in taxes"

    Of course, why aren't they

  20. Trusting your housekeeper by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't want some random Amazon employee showing up at my house twice a month to clean it. I know about 10 families that have housekeepers and it takes a long time to find one that a) does a good job and b) you can trust. Unless of course you don't mind following them around your house to make sure they're not snooping in drawers etc.

    Then you pay them cash and you both win. (Tax reporting etc). The house keepers in this area (LA) are mostly low income immigrants. They work hard, do a good job. They don't need Amazon taking a cut of their income. They buy cleaning supplies at Walmart/Costco. If they raise their rates, they'll lose out to the independent cleaners.

  21. Amazon Takes Lemon Fresh Stab by epine · · Score: 1

    Headline almost imported some humour there from the lemons department.

  22. Re: Obama's cell will clean itself with Child Porn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't get this. Trump legit won't say one bad thing about the KKK or neo nazis. But Hilary is KKK President?

    Oh never mind it's the classic trump rebuttal. Deflect, blame, point fingers.

    Works every time.

    Trump for KKK president. The one true white leader.

  23. Re: My house cleaner is mine not yours by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Another trumptard we can safely ignore.

    If you guys wanted to tax the rich, you would have when you had the chance. Instead you gave them tax breaks. Fucking hypocrites.

  24. Feedback by jtgd · · Score: 1

    So if Alexa overhears you mutter to yourself, "Dang, I need to clean this place up" you suddenly get a prompt from Amazon about their house cleaning services? And I'm sure there's NO WAY that the Amazon employee is going to be feeding back your preferences and interests to the company, right? Right?

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    J