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The biggest problem with Uber & Co to me is that drivers don't get to set their own rates. That makes it not a marketplace at all. They're so valuable because t
by acjohnson55 10y ago
The biggest problem with Uber & Co to me is that drivers don't get to set their own rates. That makes it not a marketplace at all. They're so valuable because they get to run a command driving economy, but without any obligations to their workers. Not to mention that they're buying market share with subsidized prices. Basically dumping. That's a lot different than AirBnB to me.
- danieltillett 10y agoExactly. I do think the independent contractor model (taxis) does not work well in provide a high quality transport option. There is room in the market for a employee-based model (such as what Uber is running in practice), but they should not get to don’t pretend that their employees are independent contractors just because they don’t like paying taxes and benefits. Uber is basically a heist of taxi medallions. Uber works best where regulation allow the owners of medallion to extract a large economic rent from their customers. Undercutting taxis in these markets is easy because the drivers don’t have to pay the medallion owners their cut. Uber has proven far less successful in markets (like Japan) where there is no economic rent to be extracted.
- coredog64 10y agoTaxi drivers don't get to set their own rates either.
- kyllo 10y agoThe city governments set them.
- acjohnson55 10y agoYeah, but as far as I can tell, at least in NYC, they are considered employees: http://www.wcb.ny.gov/content/main/onthejob/CoverageSituations/taxiCabs.jsp http://www.wcb.ny.gov/content/main/onthejob/CoverageSituatio...