While reading the newspaper this morning (which is how you know I’m 45+), I saw two articles that further proved to me that we are living in what I call the “Lazy” economy.
Instacart is a new service that uses an app to allow consumers to “hire” a person to do their grocery shopping for them – rather than using one of the many current delivery services. Shyp’s new app lets you take a picture of what you need shipped and then will pick it up and ship it for you, for a fee.
Essentially, new jobs are being created to service a wealthy class of people who no longer wish to waste their time on tasks most of us assume are part of our daily lives. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
The ability for the everyday person to become their own business overnight – think Uber, Lyft, AirBnB and the above two examples and quickly you realize how decentralized our economy is becoming.
So, why is a publication focused on efficient local government writing about this topic? Very simply, the public sector tends to lag the private sector. With that in mind, can municipal officials engage the “Lazy” trend to offer services that can positively impact their taxpayers?
Most cities and towns allow you to pay bills online, as well as permitting, housing information, etc.
Maybe officials can start thinking about their residents as consumers, creating apps or services helping to build the community:
- A carpooling app enabling parents to share information about after-school classes to reduce the amount of trips each family incurs daily
- If coastal, a recreation app that allows boatowners to rent boats to local residents during off hours
- Tool sharing booths at the weekly farmers market would allow residents to swap or rent tools from neighbors, after reserving online
- The 21st century lemonade stand – allow residents (teens) to take advantage of town defined business opportunities, like a coffee stand at the weekend soccer clinics, or a lemonade/hot dog stand at the beach. Cultivate these opportunities by listing them online
On one hand, Gov1 preaches leaner government, but on the other we seek ways to offer enhanced services. The role of government, especially at the municipal level, should be to engage residents in as many ways as possible – to stimulate community and as a result create a higher quality of life. Additionally, all of these services could generate revenue (transaction or licensing fees) for the city or town that offers them.
The lazier people get and the more time they want to spend at home (or simply away from other people), the more government needs to find ways of bringing them together. As consumerism thrives, tying it to civic engagement and technology is just common sense. And, if a municipality can add to the bottom line at the same time, it’s a win across the board.