4 ms·
Yes, I very much do want to go back to a world without Uber. They're part of a huge step backwards for employee's rights. They might have a good app, but from
by rvense 9y ago
Yes, I very much do want to go back to a world without Uber.
They're part of a huge step backwards for employee's rights. They might have a good app, but from all the people I know who've used Uber, they use them primarily because they're cheap. They're cheap because their drivers aren't paid well enough and because they evade taxes. Their appropriation of the phrase "sharing economy" is in my opinion spin to avoid the responsibility any employer has towards their employees.
- ng12 9y agoI don't understand this -- what's to prevent an Uber driver from just quitting if he's underpaid? Do you also avoid stores that pay their employees minimum wage?
- rvense 9y agoDo Uber drivers even have an expectation to earn a minimum wage? But to answer your question, yes, I do avoid stores and businesses that are known to treat their employees poorly and e.g. block unionization. As for "Uber drivers can just quit", I think that's a very simplistic argument. Uber are pricing competitors out of the market (using venture capital!), turning what used to be a fairly decent job into something that's barely enough to scrape by on. The people likely to driver for Uber likely don't have as many options, and probably fewer by the day as jobs that don't require are lot of skills are increasingly being turned into temporary jobs and platform gigs. I'm from Scandinavia, which has a very high degree of social cohesion and low economic inequality, and I see it very mch as a regression and a danger to society.
- ng12 9y ago> turning what used to be a fairly decent job into something that's barely enough to scrape by on That hasn't been true in the US. In NYC Uber drivers make $30/hr and don't have to work under the existing exploitative Taxi system where they could actually lose money on an unprofitable day. Also, Uber has brought car service to smaller cities (e.g. Mountain View) where there used to be no Taxi system at all (in fact airport taxis would price gouge you for going SFO -> South Bay). Maybe Europe is different but I don't think you can make blanket statements like that.
- rvense 9y agoGranted, I can only speak from the perspective of my own country.
- icebraining 9y agoYeap. Here's NYT report from '95 (so, way too early to be a PR piece for Uber): "Driving a Taxi, Difficult in Best of Times, Gets Tougher" http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-difficult-in-best-of-times-gets-tougher.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-di...
- takeda 9y agoPerhaps those people are unemployed, and all they need to be an Uber driver is a driver's license and a car? Another likely possibility is that people often think their cost to drive someone is just gas ignoring cost of of car registration, insurance, car maintenance etc. Ignoring other costs the Uber's pay seem attractive.
- ithinkinstereo 9y agoHere's an example: https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/04/24/one-uber-drivers-story-how-he-was-trapped-by-auto-loan-program/ https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/04/24/one-uber-drivers-story-... This part in particular: > When Brunelle got home, he realized he had signed a loan with a 22.75 percent interest rate. That means he will end up paying around $49,000 on a Kia Optima that normally retails for about $25,000.
- mootothemax 9y agoWhich is beyond scandalous when Uber are also trying to do self driving cars ASAP and remove the need for drivers entirely. It really makes me question the morals of the person or people who signed off on both of these. Edit: I mean, the loans are terrible enough, and then they try to make the same drivers redundant? Disgraceful.
- ithinkinstereo 9y agoBut it's so _convenient_ and something something Taxi cartel!
- rhino369 9y agoWell nothing prevents it. [1] In fact they do. The churn rate for Uber is insane. They sign people up and wait for them to realize that after hidden costs (like depreciation and repair) they aren't making much money at all. They are mostly monetizing people's inability to account for expenses. [1] well some of their car lease deals seem sorta like locking people people in. But I don't know enough about them.
- vidarh 9y agoOne of the things preventing an Uber driver from just quitting is that Uber drives down price expecations across the board, and so makes it harder for others to pay their drivers a reasonable wage. You might think that's ok, but in societies where we have agreed that having people go without healthcare or housing, or letting people starve is unacceptable, predatory employers end up in effect subsidised by the state, and those subsidies hurt both tax payers and more ethically run competitors.
- Tloewald 9y agoThe worst features of Uber are more of a testament to the lack of labor protection in the US than anything wrong with Uber per se. If we had single payer health care, automatic employee protections without ridiculous loopholes, and so forth, then Uber would be fine. Amazon, Walmart, etc. are all built on the ability of US companies to avoid paying people a living wage.