Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2: Assignment 9

There is an opportunity for a service that allows people to hire short-term workers that are specialized in natural disaster preparations. 

I interviewed five people: a Florida business owner, an “older” Florida homeowner (69 years old), 2 UF students, and someone who already shops for hire with Instacart. I chose these five people because the business owner and homeowner would be potential customers, the college students would be potential helpers, and the person that shops for Instacart and provide inside on what it’s like shopping for someone else during a pandemic. They all seemed to like the idea. While the potential employees disliked that the job would be unreliable and only get paid if there is a natural disaster. The business owner and homeowner said it would be a nice option. The business owner said: “let’s be honest, ideally during times of crisis, your friends and neighbors should be there to help”. But my argument to that is what if they’re busy doing their own preparations? I was interested in what the older homeowner had to say about my idea because there are a lot of older people living in Florida that may require special help. He said his kids have grown and moved away, so it’s just him and his wife living in their home built in the 1930s (aka not ready for a disaster). He was considered about the price of the service, but I assured him that if people needed help and couldn’t pay, that they would still get help. The Instacart person said that it can get a little hectic shopping for things that aren’t even on the shelves anymore. But they’ve been unable to work because of the pandemic so they said that even a little extra cash right now was better than nothing. Overall, I think that everyone I interviewed seemed to like the concept. 

Inside the boundary
Outside the boundary
Who is In: older people without nearby relatives to help, busy employed people that don’t have time to prepare for themselves 
Who is Not: people with relatives or friends to help, people that can prepare for themselves
What the Need Is: it’s a need for help to prepare for a natural disaster
What the Need Is Not: it’s not a need for medical care or medical advice
Why the Need Exists: natural disasters are hard to prepare for, especially if it’s your first time
Alternative Explanations: people might just not want to prepare themselves

Comments

  1. Sophia PinedaJune 7, 2020 at 8:27 PM

    Hey Chaplin, this opportunity is really good, and very overlooked. There are places that are more prone to natural disasters as well, where your solution can help a lot, and even for hurricanes. Many elderly people will benefit from using this opportunity. I think this is great, you can also include help for taking down shutters in addition to putting them up. This is one of the examples but there are many more depending on the natural disaster.

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  2. Maria PivaralJune 7, 2020 at 10:24 PM

    Hi Chaplin, this is a really interesting opportunity and solution. I think that disaster preparedness is so important, especially if you don't have anyone that is helping you out. I remember when I was a freshman at UF I had not really experienced a hurricane nor did I know how to prepare for one either. It was pretty scary when I got the warning for the first one, My family was in another country and my roommates left Gainesville to be with their family. My parents helped me out as much as they could as well as some friend but it was still a pretty scary thing to prepare for a hurricane on my own. If there was a service that could have helped me out I would have definitely used it. I think that this service is a great opportunity, especially for people that lack experience or people, like the elderly, that need a little extra help while preparing for natural disasters .

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