Samuel Powell was excited to celebrate the New York Knicks N.B.A. championship at the parade in Lower Manhattan on Thursday, and he was also excited to make a few hundred bucks before those festivities.
Mr. Powell, 30, channeling the entrepreneurial New Yorker spirit, was among those who were being paid to wait in line to secure a good view for a different person to watch the parade.
“It’s witnessing history, but at the same time getting paid makes it even better,” Mr. Powell said.
He was enlisted to wait in line for about $600, starting at midnight until about 7 a.m., he said. He was hired after offering his line-waiting services on Airtasker, a platform that helps people hire others to do odd jobs for them.
“I compare it to like making money in my sleep because I don’t really have to do too much,” Mr. Powell said. “I’m just holding down an area.”
Mr. Powell, who lives in New Jersey, said he would wait in line with his friends, who could hold his spot if he had to use the restroom. He said he would pass the time by working on his phone.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said millions of people were expected to descend on Lower Manhattan on Thursday and that the department would deploy 10,000 officers. As the viewing areas fill with parade-watchers, officers may turn people away.
Mr. Powell said he would be in constant communication with his clients in case the police start to limit how many people will be in a section. The parade begins at 10 a.m., and officers began allowing people into viewing areas starting at 6 a.m.
Robert Samuel, the chief executive of Same Ole Line Dudes, a company that provides people to wait in line, has coordinated his team to wait in queues for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Halloween parades and Pride parades. But they have never worked a ticker-tape parade, which he said introduced some uncertainty on when and where the best places to wait should be.
“This is all an experiment,” Mr. Samuel said.
Mr. Samuel charges a $25 flat rate per hour, with a $15 overnight fee. But on some platforms that allow line sitters to set their own fees, listed rates reached $1,000 for two people on Wednesday. The advertisements on AirTasker offer services including hourly text messages and photos verifying a person’s desired location.
Mr. Samuel planned for his staff to wait in line until 5:30 a.m., and then his clients could take their spots to enjoy the celebration.
“We’re hoping that works,” Mr. Samuel said on Wednesday. “We don’t know how dense the crowd will be at 5:30 a.m.”
The post While You Were Sleeping, They Made Money Saving Spots at the Knicks Parade appeared first on New York Times.
