First there were Uber drivers who would come to your door at the push of a button. Now there are people who will bring you a packet of biscuits and some ibuprofen.

It is easy to see the appeal of the new glut of ultrafast delivery apps, which promise to bring groceries to customers in as little as 10 minutes. One investor in the sector was won over after ordering some pistachios and a can of coke that arrived in seven minutes.

To have people at your beck and call is not a new idea. In countries like Britain, it used to be commonplace for affluent households to have servants. Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, published in 1907, said a household with an income of ￡1,000 a year should keep two or three servants, while even one on ￡200 a year should have a “young girl for rough work”. In some highly unequal countries such as India, wealthy households still have servants.