5 ms·

Employers can provide benefits for cheaper due to economies of scale buying a lot of them from big insurance orgs. Individual contractors, even if they weren’t

Employers can provide benefits for cheaper due to economies of scale buying a lot of them from big insurance orgs. Individual contractors, even if they weren’t already being pushed into possibly-exploitative relationships with companies like Uber et al., don’t get those discounts. Life on the other side of the API layer ain’t so rosy.

zip1234 9y ago
Is there not some kind of organization that one can join to increase buying power?
- dabockster 9y ago
  Not in software apparently.
ttoinou 9y ago
I don't agree at all, and even if having an employer is better for economies of scale this doesn't mean we should force employers to give benefits (employers could negotiate deals and propose them to their employees). The economies of scale argument is not always a good argument because you need to specify where does the deal cut comes from. I think it comes from the fact that the overhead in negotiating a huge amount of contracts is more amortized. So we could have this kind of good deals if independents find a way to reunite themselves. Otherwise the economies of scale argument could basically be the answer to everything ("We need a worldwide government because of economies of scale"). Who knows what we people will find to address this issue. Maybe we'll have coworking space packages with benefits ?
- lovich 9y ago
  How are you independent if you have to band together with other people to get the same benefits other groups have? You cant rely on a group and be independent at the same time!
  - ttoinou 9y ago
    How could you be independent if you all buy the same brand of smartphone ? Why couldn't independent unite themselves voluntarily ?
    - eppsilon 9y ago
      If only all the people in a given country were united under some common organization that could negotiate on their behalf....
      - ttoinou 9y ago
        Negotiate with who ? They set the rules
    - lovich 9y ago
      Coordinating activities is different from happening to act the same way. the act of uniting is literally antithetical to being independent. I can't even understand why you would ask that question. Why can't red be blue, makes about as much sense as asking why independent people couldn't unite and still be independent
      - ttoinou 9y ago
        I'm sorry English is not my mother tongue, does unite mean to syndicate oneself ?
        lovich 9y ago
        Unite means to join together. You could say you united two pieces of Lego when you snap them together, or when people join in a group it can be called uniting them. The USA is the United States of America because the different states joined together into one nation. My apologies if there was a misunderstanding over language. Your English is good enough that I had assumed you were a native speaker

zip1234 9y ago

Is there not some kind of organization that one can join to increase buying power?

dabockster 9y ago
Not in software apparently.

ttoinou 9y ago

I don't agree at all, and even if having an employer is better for economies of scale this doesn't mean we should force employers to give benefits (employers could negotiate deals and propose them to their employees). The economies of scale argument is not always a good argument because you need to specify where does the deal cut comes from. I think it comes from the fact that the overhead in negotiating a huge amount of contracts is more amortized. So we could have this kind of good deals if independents find a way to reunite themselves. Otherwise the economies of scale argument could basically be the answer to everything ("We need a worldwide government because of economies of scale"). Who knows what we people will find to address this issue. Maybe we'll have coworking space packages with benefits ?

lovich 9y ago
How are you independent if you have to band together with other people to get the same benefits other groups have? You cant rely on a group and be independent at the same time!
- ttoinou 9y ago
  How could you be independent if you all buy the same brand of smartphone ? Why couldn't independent unite themselves voluntarily ?
  - eppsilon 9y ago
    If only all the people in a given country were united under some common organization that could negotiate on their behalf....
    - ttoinou 9y ago
      Negotiate with who ? They set the rules
  - lovich 9y ago
    Coordinating activities is different from happening to act the same way. the act of uniting is literally antithetical to being independent. I can't even understand why you would ask that question. Why can't red be blue, makes about as much sense as asking why independent people couldn't unite and still be independent
    - ttoinou 9y ago
      I'm sorry English is not my mother tongue, does unite mean to syndicate oneself ?
      - lovich 9y ago
        Unite means to join together. You could say you united two pieces of Lego when you snap them together, or when people join in a group it can be called uniting them. The USA is the United States of America because the different states joined together into one nation. My apologies if there was a misunderstanding over language. Your English is good enough that I had assumed you were a native speaker