Amazon "expert installation"

[Letgomyleghoe]

What is this "expert installation" on Amazon and how TF do I hop on this money train and have someone pay me 86 bucks for adding 2 ram sticks to a system, hell for that price I would overclock that ram right there in front of you. 

 

Is there positions available for this? 

 

And why is this sooo expensive, I'd get someone paying 86 bucks for like replacing a Mobo and configuring drivers but for installing 2 sticks of ram!?

[Trinopoty]

If you find out, let me know too. I want to get on that money making wagon.

[GDRRiley]

1 minute ago, doertedev said:

Want to explain to the rest of the class what the frick it is you're talking about?

on amazon you can have "expert" instillation of a lot of PC parts or building stuff. the OP just wondering a bunch about it.

[mariushm]

It's just an extra service

Think of it like this...

 

If you want them to add ram to a computer, they need to have an employer go and take the computer out of the warehouse, open the box, take out the computer, unpack all the foam and protective materials from the case, install the ram sticks, start the pc, maybe do a memtest or something to make sure the memory doesn't have errors, then turn off the pc, package it again and close the box and all that.

Even if it sounds like a 5 minute job to you, it can turn into a 30m-1h job.

 

They make money by automating as much as possible, they have robots that pick and place parts in the warehouse, they have cheap pickers who get the products from warehouse to fulfill your orders... this service can't be automated and you also can't use the moron that picks products from warehouse shelves to install the stick, the guy installing the stick has to be trained and would ask for more than minimum wage for this job.  They probably also have a second guy checking the job of the first guy, just so they won't end up with memory sticks in pci-e slots or some other stupid crap like that.

 

So Amazon has to pay an employee maybe 15-20$ an hour (maybe more) just to be around for when someone requests you install a part, and they also have to make some profit out of doing this for you, they don't make it out of the goodness of their hearts or charity...

Consider the percentage of people that actually ask for something like this... if the employee doesn't do nothing for half the day (or is moved to packaging boxes or something) then Amazon has to recover that money by charging more for each service.

 

[harryk]

4 hours ago, mariushm said:

<snip>

Not quite. OP is referring to Amazon Home Services. If you order a memory set and choose to pay for "Expert Installation", Amazon will hire somebody to come to your house and actually install the memory into your computer. It should be noted that these installers are not Amazon employees. Amazon outsources this work to local contractors.

 

As for why it costs so much? There is some minimum cost with having someone drive to your house and spend time doing something even as simple as installing memory. $86 dollars is not unreasonable for what is realistically 1-2 hours of time + overhead. Granted I wouldn't pay that, nor do I expect many people are.

 

If you're interested in getting this kind of work you can apply here. Though only existing businesses can apply to provide their services via Amazon. Amazon is not hiring freelance individuals. 

 

 

[solarflare]

amazon may charge that but they would never pay you that to do it for them. keep that in mind

[Mira Yurizaki]

Wanted to add to what @harryk said.

 

Looking at Amazon is offering, a lot of it isn't the face value of the service. For example, let's pick on "Game Console Setup" for an estimate of $67 in my area. Judging by the reviews, it's not simply hooking up a few cables and maybe making sure the thing connects to the internet, but it looks like the technicians communicated with the client about how the setup works and whatnot. i.e, it's a "teach how to fish" kind of service rather than a "give a fish" kind of service. At least, that's what it's looking like at face value. So $67 for what may amount to maybe 2 hours of work which not only is making sure that the system is up and running, but that I might be educated on the matter so that I don't have to call them again? Yeah I'd say that might worthwhile if I were a clueless individual.

 

I've also noticed that some that don't really need an explanation, like say TV mounting, doesn't seem that much more costly than home wi-fi setup or one that struck me, wireless printer setup. TV mounting is a one and done deal and you don't really care about it after it's done. But networking setup not only would involve making sure every device the client wants to connect at the time can connect, but it may include teaching them how to do the basics or whatnot.

 

But in any case, costs like these remind me of a "joke" I was told: Scientist builds a robot for a company. Robot breaks down and the company can't figure out why. Company hires the scientist to look at it. Scientist looks at it for about 10 minutes and marks where on the robot the problem is. Company fixes robot. Scientist later invoices the company for $10,000. Company complains about the bill. Scientist says "$1 was for the marker, the rest was knowing where to put the mark"

[Zusafek]

The Amazon expert installation for the tv mount is actually interesting. My father in law did this service while I was out of town. The local contractor showed up and looked at where he wanted the tv mounted. Then he went back to his truck and brought his tools in and spools of electrical wire, outlets, hdmi, dv sockets and mounting plates. He took his time and ran all the cables into a dedicated wall socket he set up and mounted the tv after. Then he set up all the other things as well. At the end it wound up costing him $115 bucks for all the work. Amazon got 40 bucks. The rest was the contractors. And that contractor picked up a client from my father in law as well.