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So if you were running Uber, would you increase your prices to pay a more fair wage even if it makes you more expensive than competitors? Would you expect to st

So if you were running Uber, would you increase your prices to pay a more fair wage even if it makes you more expensive than competitors? Would you expect to stay in business if you offered a commodity like transport at 20% higher prices than competitors?

smileysteve 10y ago
If it weren't for the contractor lawsuit, I think Uber should have kept it's anti-tipping policy. The 'Premium' image was black cars, inspected cars, and no need to tip.
IanCal 10y ago
Is it a particularly ethical standpoint to say "I don't pay my driver's a fair wage, but if I did then I wouldn't make money!"? I would rather have companies be forced to pay a reasonable minimum wage and compete by improving the service or efficiency, not just pushing the employees to work for less and less.
- lightcatcher 10y ago
  > Is it a particularly ethical standpoint to say "I don't pay my driver's a fair wage, but if I did then I wouldn't make money!"? Not very ethical, but rational, profitable, and prevalent. Cost is a large area to compete in, and people are expensive. It would be nice if companies acted ethically, but that isn't their reason for existence (especially in fast growing or large companies). If it's not surprising to me when companies act unethically, can I honestly say that I expect them to act ethically? Not if expect means "assign high probability to". I agree that regulation is needed. It seems that often basic economics (people want to move around as cheaply as possible) lead to unethical situations (paying people as little as possible to move people around). I'm far from an expert of economics, but it seems like regulation is a way to change the rules of the game to have more ethical/fair/uniformly distributed equilibriums at some cost in net efficiency.
  - IanCal 10y ago
    I think this comes back to the original statement of "It's always reasonable to expect companies to pay their people a fair wage." This is a bit ambiguous, and perhaps it's a different reading of it that's the contention. Expect can either mean I think it's likely, as in I expect the sun to rise tomorrow, or a requirement. I am not surprised that uber try and pay their drivers so little, but I am disappointed and want better from them. > I'm far from an expert of economics, but it seems like regulation is a way to change the rules of the game to have more ethical/fair/uniformly distributed equilibriums at some cost in net efficiency. I agree. Safety regulations are a good example of this.
- gm-conspiracy 10y ago
  Contractors, not employees. I assume these drivers are all cutting checks to the IRS?
  - IanCal 10y ago
    In the UK at least they're workers (based on the outcome of a fairly recent ruling), despite Uber trying to say they're all self-employed.

smileysteve 10y ago

If it weren't for the contractor lawsuit, I think Uber should have kept it's anti-tipping policy. The 'Premium' image was black cars, inspected cars, and no need to tip.

IanCal 10y ago

Is it a particularly ethical standpoint to say "I don't pay my driver's a fair wage, but if I did then I wouldn't make money!"? I would rather have companies be forced to pay a reasonable minimum wage and compete by improving the service or efficiency, not just pushing the employees to work for less and less.

lightcatcher 10y ago
> Is it a particularly ethical standpoint to say "I don't pay my driver's a fair wage, but if I did then I wouldn't make money!"? Not very ethical, but rational, profitable, and prevalent. Cost is a large area to compete in, and people are expensive. It would be nice if companies acted ethically, but that isn't their reason for existence (especially in fast growing or large companies). If it's not surprising to me when companies act unethically, can I honestly say that I expect them to act ethically? Not if expect means "assign high probability to". I agree that regulation is needed. It seems that often basic economics (people want to move around as cheaply as possible) lead to unethical situations (paying people as little as possible to move people around). I'm far from an expert of economics, but it seems like regulation is a way to change the rules of the game to have more ethical/fair/uniformly distributed equilibriums at some cost in net efficiency.
- IanCal 10y ago
  I think this comes back to the original statement of "It's always reasonable to expect companies to pay their people a fair wage." This is a bit ambiguous, and perhaps it's a different reading of it that's the contention. Expect can either mean I think it's likely, as in I expect the sun to rise tomorrow, or a requirement. I am not surprised that uber try and pay their drivers so little, but I am disappointed and want better from them. > I'm far from an expert of economics, but it seems like regulation is a way to change the rules of the game to have more ethical/fair/uniformly distributed equilibriums at some cost in net efficiency. I agree. Safety regulations are a good example of this.
gm-conspiracy 10y ago
Contractors, not employees. I assume these drivers are all cutting checks to the IRS?
- IanCal 10y ago
  In the UK at least they're workers (based on the outcome of a fairly recent ruling), despite Uber trying to say they're all self-employed.