The world of startups can sometimes teeter dangerously close to self-parody. For years now, “Uber, but for ____” has worked as shorthand for hundreds, if not thousands, of upstart tech companies. Over the summer, an app allowing swimming pool owners to rent out their pools by the hour got plenty of coverage; a year earlier, that’s the kind of thing that might have popped up in a satirical novel or television show.
Where do we go from here? A new article at Vice offers one suggestion: a startup called Civvl. As author Ashwin Rodrigues describes it, Civvl is “essentially, Uber, but for evicting people.” As apps go, that sounds like something that would’ve been cut from Sorry to Bother You for being a little too on-the-nose.
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The Vice article chronicles Civvl’s growth: it’s been posting ads on Craigslist for work all over the country, citing the pandemic and the damage it’s done to the nation’s economy as an explanation for why its services are in demand. “There is plenty of work due to the dismal economy,” one ad states. Among the gigs offered: process servers and furniture movers.
The article goes into even more detail about Civvl’s origins, including the fact that it’s part of a larger gig economy-based company called OnQall — and that people who have downloaded the app have posted angry reviews about being charged a $35 fee to use it. A startup charging people money to find work evicting other people sounds like the stuff of satire; instead, it’s just another sign of 2020 being 2020.
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