San Francisco Startup Sees Big Demand for Sleeping Pods That Cost $700 a Month

https://gizmodo.com/san-francisco-startup-sees-huge-demand-for-sleeping-pods-that-cost-700-a-month-2000520007

163 points · 30 comments · view on lemmy.world

30 Comments

corroded@lemmy.world · 69 pts · 1y (8 replies)

If you're living in a place where renting a pod with less space than a prison cell costs nearly as much as a studio somewhere else... move.

bizarroland@fedia.io · 39 pts · 1y (5 replies)

I don't know. If I were young and single and fresh out of college with a six figure job offer at a San Francisco company, I would consider this, at least until I got my footing.

Sure, it might suck, but I could put up with a lot of suck in order to be able to pocket that much spare cash.

FLP22012005@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 1y (3 replies)

The post you are responding to is not judging the people that resort to this, but the housing market that leads to this. At least, I hope.

bizarroland@fedia.io · 17 pts · 1y (2 replies)

The final word of their post was move.

My response addresses a reason why you would choose not to move.

Besides, I have family that live in a low cost of living area and the downside of living in a low cost of living area is that the jobs aren't there.

Sure, a family of three can live on 45,000 a year in rural Alabama, with a stay-at-home parent, but it's not going to be a fun time.

leisesprecher@feddit.org · 2 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Six figures only sound good if you don't know what the costs of living are.

Essentially, you don't have much buying power so you could move somewhere else, earn less and still have a higher standard of living.

Unless you're one of the income millionaires or old money, the Valley is not a fun place. It's fueled by the ambition of young people who throw a few years away hoping for their gold rush.

Riven@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 1y

It also depends on what you like to do for fun. It's cheaper for me to go to Universal every weekend with my pass than to fly to Universal every weekend.

All the hate LA gets is warranted but I can also just do whatever I want whenever I want without much planning and I don't make that much money, yet at least. Lots of opportunities here, some of which have gotten me to where I am and I only have a HS degree making a smidge less than someone with a bachelor's.

corroded@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

I'm very far away from "young," but I was once. Even in my early 20s, this would have seemed terrible. Sure, you have access to an interesting city, but you have no space for anything you can call your own. Even a rented studio anywhere else gives you somewhere to have a home you can call yours.

HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club · 8 pts · 1y

I feel like the main draw is location.

Most of the people living in these pods are startup founders, so it makes sense for them to live in shitty pods next to their potential clients and investors.

phoneymouse@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y
[ removed ]
IndustryStandard@lemmy.world · 36 pts · 1y

with a privacy curtain

Sheesh what a deal

Mac@mander.xyz · 27 pts · 1y (3 replies)

My mortgage is $20 more. That's insane.

curiousaur@reddthat.com · 7 pts · 1y (2 replies)

In San Francisco?

Mac@mander.xyz · 4 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Dear god, no. I wish.
California is my true home and i hope to one day return.

curiousaur@reddthat.com · 6 pts · 1y

Oof, sorry kid. Leaving is a backslide you don't come back from, unless you took a California income with you.

TheTechnician27@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 1y

Oh man, I loved this part of Hengsha in DX:HR. Such an exaggerated and creative depiction of a hypercapitalist, dystopian hellhole.

ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 1y (2 replies)

I don't support this, but I could definitely have sex in one of those.

pinkystew@reddthat.com · 9 pts · 1y

That sounds like you support it

btw The positions you could use are pretty limited because of the small space. Would you support it from underneath? Missionary? Superman? And what do you do with the waste materials. Are you free later?

essell@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y

I bet almost everyone in them will

CptVimes@infosec.pub · 15 pts · 1y (1 reply)

700 a month !? It's cheaper to live in a cube hotel in cyberpunk red (the ttrpg), and the room is even bigger (I mean, not much, but at least the bed can fold and you can have a table, and even a chair, during the day)

glimse@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

Well they're less expensive than the housing pods in [another game] so it's a wash

Lexam@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 1y (2 replies)

What's stopping someone else from coming into your pod and accosting you?

InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 1y

That's included?

modus@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y

They got rules, man.

DrSleepless@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 1y

Imagine all the bed bugs

chuckleslord@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y

Wasn't this a part of "Sorry to Bother You"? Fucked up

PyroNeurosis@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Maybe they have really good services to justify the price? Cooked to order breakfast and valet service?

Probs not, but I'm kinda at a loss for what else the draw could be.

HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club · 4 pts · 1y

They are in San Francisco while working on their tech startups.

kambusha@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 1y (3 replies)

Based on that picture alone, there are 24 pods. So 24 x $700 = $168k per mo or over $2m a year.

Edit: oops! Tried to math too late at night.

24 x $700 = $16.8k per mo or over $200k per year

Railcar8095@lemm.ee · 9 pts · 1y

I think you have an extra 0 there

pinkystew@reddthat.com · 5 pts · 1y (1 reply)

24 * 700 is just over 16,000, not 168,000

jollyrogue@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 1y

It’s startup math.