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I saw an article a few days ago that I just can't seem to find again, that pointed out that many low-wage employers like Wal-Mart or Starbucks use sophisticated

I saw an article a few days ago that I just can't seem to find again, that pointed out that many low-wage employers like Wal-Mart or Starbucks use sophisticated scheduling software to schedule a large amount of part-time workers such that they never work more than 29 hours a week (which would make them entitled to full-stime benefits), while making sure that staffing meets demand. Schedule changes can be very short notice, and if you as an employee can't bend yourself to fit the the company's demands, they'll simply fire you. In contrast, the Uber model also mobilizes a large amount of low-wage workers, but never forces people to work when they don't want to, they simply use market incentives to make sure supply and demand gets balanced. And people who are in these jobs vastly prefer the Uber model, because they are real people with real schedules, and working when it suits them best gives them agency and control over their lives, which is worth much, much, more than an increase in minimum wage.

henrikschroder 11y ago
Found it: https://medium.com/the-wtf-economy/workers-in-a-world-of-continuous-partial-employment-4d7b53f18f96 https://medium.com/the-wtf-economy/workers-in-a-world-of-con... This must have been posted here?
- henrikschroder 11y ago
  Indeed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10147912 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10147912
stvswn 11y ago
It's almost as if businesses react to economic incentives in predictable ways. I'm starting to think that well-intentioned policies may sometimes backfire.
tzs 11y ago
Walmart part time workers generally get benefits [1]. Walmart did drop benefits for about 30k workers who were working under 30 hours a week, but it turns out that was actually to benefit those employees [2]. Walmart's health benefits (for both full-time and part-time employees) are in the form of cheap insurance that the employee can purchase. For those 30k workers, the cheap Walmart plan still cost considerably more than the subsidized plans they could get on the ACA exchange if they were not covered by an employer plan. [1] http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/working-at-walmart/benefits http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/working-at-walmart/be... [2] http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/10/08/3577404/walmart-part-time-coverage/ http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/10/08/3577404/walmart-p...
vacri 11y ago
However, Uber just needs a pool of drivers. They're all completely interchangeable for a given location. This is not the same as a department store - you can't just pull an assistant off the floor and turn them into a cashier, for example. Nor does a department store have the luxury of saying "There are a lot of customers in today, so we're charging three times as much for our goods, in order to get more cashiers in to service them".

henrikschroder 11y ago

Found it: https://medium.com/the-wtf-economy/workers-in-a-world-of-continuous-partial-employment-4d7b53f18f96 https://medium.com/the-wtf-economy/workers-in-a-world-of-con... This must have been posted here?

henrikschroder 11y ago
Indeed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10147912 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10147912

stvswn 11y ago

It's almost as if businesses react to economic incentives in predictable ways. I'm starting to think that well-intentioned policies may sometimes backfire.

tzs 11y ago

Walmart part time workers generally get benefits [1]. Walmart did drop benefits for about 30k workers who were working under 30 hours a week, but it turns out that was actually to benefit those employees [2]. Walmart's health benefits (for both full-time and part-time employees) are in the form of cheap insurance that the employee can purchase. For those 30k workers, the cheap Walmart plan still cost considerably more than the subsidized plans they could get on the ACA exchange if they were not covered by an employer plan. [1] http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/working-at-walmart/benefits http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/working-at-walmart/be... [2] http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/10/08/3577404/walmart-part-time-coverage/ http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/10/08/3577404/walmart-p...

vacri 11y ago

However, Uber just needs a pool of drivers. They're all completely interchangeable for a given location. This is not the same as a department store - you can't just pull an assistant off the floor and turn them into a cashier, for example. Nor does a department store have the luxury of saying "There are a lot of customers in today, so we're charging three times as much for our goods, in order to get more cashiers in to service them".