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Taylor Swift And $50 Tips: Inside The Competitive World Of Professional Line Standers
Standing in line for restaurant reservations, shows, and the Supreme Court has become a competitive — and lucrative — gig.
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The Lede
In major cities, standing in line has become all the rage, a "scene" unto itself; hours-long lines are now the price of entry to secure restaurant reservations, concert tickets, brand merch, bagels, and more. In order to beat the queues, professional line-standers have become a growing part of the gig economy. For people with more money than time, it's an easy way to save a few precious hours. For those who wait, it's not a bad deal.
Key Details
- bookings for professional standing line services on Taskrabbit experienced an 18% increase in the US in November and December.
- As lines get more time-consuming and competitive, more services have sprung up to help people save time. Startups like LineLeap allow people to pay to skip the line at bars, clubs, and concerts it has partnered with.
- Of course, the economics of line-skipping don't work out in favor of everyone who has to camp out in the cold. For that reason, some venues don't allow line skipping.
