>But I've also come to see there's actual value in only spending your own time just prepping/waiting/managing rather than having to physically and mentally exert yourself during that time.

To me, having to deal with people I don't trust one iota is a huge mental exertion too, that more than compensates for any physical or mental exertion needed for just doing the damn thing myself. And that's on top of all the time/effort needed to research places, compare prices, travel time, waiting time, etc.

Sure, if I had Alfred, my trustworthy hyper-competent butler, to take care of more mundane things for me, I'd let him do a lot of this stuff instead. But I don't, and the people that work these jobs (at least in the US) are usually anything but competent.