Looks like Uber is at it again. Yesterday they gave the gift of playing with puppies to people in 10 cities throughout the US. Yes, they technically gave the gift of paying $30 for 15 minutes of playing with puppies but focus on the big picture people. Puppies delivered to your door! And if you fall in love with one you can adopt it on the spot. No doubt stress levels were at an all time low in offices yesterday.
As I’ve said before, this is just Uber dipping their toes in the business-to-consumer side of the surplus economy (shout out to Suvrat Dhanorkar, PhD student at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, for introducing me to the term “surplus economy”). However, these small tests are a great way to see how their system responds to increases in demand. They can work out the kinks of the business side of delivering items to your door while getting good PR for helping people stay happy and getting some puppies a new home.
Finally, apologies for not getting this to you in time to do anything about it. If it’s any consolation the people I know who tried to use this service were left disappointed; Uber’s usually beautiful app told them “ALL PUPPIES ARE PLAYING! KEEP TRYING!” The caps seem to add to the pain of knowing that there are puppies out there but you can’t have any. Tough luck.