The pitch may be a bit awkward and I can't attest to the quality of other contestants, but I have a good impression overall from Your Mechanic.
Car repair is heavily stuck in the 20th-century model of businesses. Individual shops open from 8am to 5pm, you want to find someone good? Without Yelp you're basically relying on word of mouth to not get ripped off, or Yellow Pages. The main form of contact is calling mechanics up, driving around the city at 8am before I go to work and then dropping it off.
Sometimes I get in to my favorite shop and they have too many cars and can't help me. My options are now come back another day, or heading to a random unknown shop if it's urgent - risking the cesspool of bad mechanics. Google offers onsite oil change and basic maintenance, which is a much better experience than taking an hour + off to run back and forth in business hours. I've had to go to the shop many times in the past 9 months, and overall the logistics have not been a great experience. The only thing is I don't really trust Your Mechanic to offer me a reliable/honest mechanic - I've been relying on referrals, reviews and Yelp to find places, some good experiences, some bad. I feel like Your Mechanic's system may or may not be good depending on how ratings and the network effects work out.
Overall I'm excited for Your Mechanic to start making some changes.
Wow, is there anything google doesn't offer as a benefit? Something strikes me as odd about a Corp that has it's tentacles involved in so many aspects of daily life. Why not just offer higher salaries? Seems like all the perks are designed to make you feel dependent on google, make it inconvenient to leave, and live a lifestyle that benefits google. That's probably just my tinfoil hat speaking though. Just seems a bit creepy to be dependent on your employer for so many everyday things.
The on-site oil changes aren't free. I'm not sure if Google even spends any money on it. They basically just let a mechanic set up shop in the parking lot one day a week. It's nice because it saves time, not because it saves money.
I'm sure all of the perks (and good salary, work satisfaction) are part of their efficiency optimization and retention play. If you don't have to leave for mundane daily things, perhaps you'll get more work done.
Car repair is heavily stuck in the 20th-century model of businesses. Individual shops open from 8am to 5pm, you want to find someone good? Without Yelp you're basically relying on word of mouth to not get ripped off, or Yellow Pages. The main form of contact is calling mechanics up, driving around the city at 8am before I go to work and then dropping it off.
Sometimes I get in to my favorite shop and they have too many cars and can't help me. My options are now come back another day, or heading to a random unknown shop if it's urgent - risking the cesspool of bad mechanics. Google offers onsite oil change and basic maintenance, which is a much better experience than taking an hour + off to run back and forth in business hours. I've had to go to the shop many times in the past 9 months, and overall the logistics have not been a great experience. The only thing is I don't really trust Your Mechanic to offer me a reliable/honest mechanic - I've been relying on referrals, reviews and Yelp to find places, some good experiences, some bad. I feel like Your Mechanic's system may or may not be good depending on how ratings and the network effects work out.
Overall I'm excited for Your Mechanic to start making some changes.