How to Hack the Line for the iPhone 5
It’s no secret that we love apples and iPhones… and of course, Apple’s newest iPhone, the iPhone 5. On the flip side, we’re also huge advocates of saving time. Like most of our generation, we’re multi-taskers who are always looking for a way to do multiple things in the shortest amount of time possible.
As a crazy Apple fanatic (I used to work there and totally drank the Kool-Aid), I always try to get the latest iPhone on the day it goes on sale. To do this, you can’t just order one online, you must physically go to the store to pick one up. Thus, I’ve wasted many hours of my life standing outside of the Apple store on the opening day just to get the newest, coolest iPhone. How many hours? Too many hours. Too much time. Waiting in a line is definitely not efficient living, if you ask me (or if you ask these folks waiting outside the rainy NYC store).
TaskRabbit
a new campaign that lets you skip the line for the iPhone 5. Here’s how it works: One dedicated TaskRabbit will wait up to 4 hours in line for you. Once he or she gets close to the front, you’ll come swap out places so that you can complete your purchase and get your phone set up. The total out of pocket cost is $55 — that’s $13.50/hour. It sounds like a lot, but if you get paid more than that per hour, it seems more valuable to pay someone to wait for you.
If you know how crazy some people are about their Apple products, you can probably see why a lot of Americans will be interested in something like this. These TaskRabbits are serious about their jobs, too — in fact, there is already one at the very front of the line in Union Square in San Francisco. His name is Charlie and you can read more about how he’s spending his week in line here.
Though TaskRabbit is only available in select cities nationwide right now, you can bet that the service will continue to expand across America and maybe even globally over the coming years. Could you imagine never having to wait in a line again? I tremble at the thought.
Though they typically help with more basic and regularly-occuring tasks like errands and grocery shopping, we recently found all kinds of other novel uses for a TaskRabbit. Here are a few of our favorite out of the box ideas. Do you know of any we should add?
Would you pay someone to wait in a line for you? Why or why not? Leave us a note in the comments below or find us on Twitter.
