6 ms·

I remember feeling that way the first time I used Uber (in SF where getting a taxi was difficult and unreliable). A few taps on my phone and a car shows up to

by Reedx 8y ago

I remember feeling that way the first time I used Uber (in SF where getting a taxi was difficult and unreliable). A few taps on my phone and a car shows up to my exact location in 2 minutes?! And that's it? No calling dispatch and hoping they'd show up eventually (sometimes they didn't). No fumbling with cash or tip or anything. It was like magic.

emodendroket 8y ago
My first experience with Uber made me so annoyed I e-mailed them to demand they delete my account, although I eventually tried it again.
- chrisfinazzo 8y ago
  Uber charges you for "wait time" after you request a car...which is insane. Not that Lyft is much better, but I've never seen that kind of nonsense with them.
  - bluecalm 8y ago
    How is it nonsense? Someone is using their time and fuel to get to your location. It's only natural you pay for it.
    - chrisfinazzo 8y ago
      It feels like they're double dipping. Unpopular as it might be, I'd guess people would be more than willing to pay extra so that they could shitcan this "feature".
      - pavel_lishin 8y ago
        So you want to pay extra to not pay extra?
        chrisfinazzo 8y ago
        Yes. Paying extra for the service itself, not an arbitrary charge that could vary greatly at any time seems worth it.
        drewmol 8y ago
        I don't think it's arbitrary. You're paying for the (vehicle, driver) time and distance and the closer your are to vehicle the shorter the trip. If the vehicle is far enough away to make it vary greatly just cancel. The seemingly arbitrary charges and price volatility are not supposed to start until after you're in the vehicle. This may just be a bug.
  - emodendroket 8y ago
    In my case I stood there in the rain for 15 minutes waiting for a car that never came and eventually canceled, so I walked around till I got to a taxi stand. A little less than magical.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
Cthulhu_ 8y ago
A shame that uber and the whole gig economy is so shit, circumventing basic employment rights and both minimum and living wages. I mean I like the basic idea and I agree that the taxi business needed the disruption, but it's opened the gates to people working well below a living wage because there's nothing else. That is, there's plenty of people that are willing to work below minimum wage because it's the only thing they have left. And companies - including Uber - are more than happy to offer that kind of work.
- icebraining 8y ago
  Taxi drivers were already considered contractors and working for shitty wages. Uber just followed the existing model. In fact, it was worse, as drivers had to pay to work, by renting the cars with medallions, rather than being able to use their own. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-difficult-in-best-of-times-gets-tougher.html https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-d... The change for taxi drivers has only started to come after Uber was already making it big, e.g.: "For what the union involved says is the first time ever, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) declared taxi drivers are legally “employees”" http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/nlrb-declares-taxi-drivers-are-employees-can-vote-to-unionize/ http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/nlrb-declares-taxi-drive... (2015)
  - Mediterraneo10 8y ago
    Not all countries have the medallion system (or that system the way it works in parts of the USA), and in some places drivers felt they were paid pretty adequately the way things were, and so they reacted very negatively to Uber drivers showing up and undercutting them.
    - stormbrew 8y ago
      In places where medallion or similar systems were in place, most of the protesters tended to be medallion owners. Who may or may not themselves be drivers, but even if they were were probably still deriving significant income from non-owner drivers renting their cars and medallions. They're more like landlords than employees.
dang 8y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18066897 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18066897 and marked it off-topic.

by Reedx 8y ago

emodendroket 8y ago

My first experience with Uber made me so annoyed I e-mailed them to demand they delete my account, although I eventually tried it again.

chrisfinazzo 8y ago
Uber charges you for "wait time" after you request a car...which is insane. Not that Lyft is much better, but I've never seen that kind of nonsense with them.
- bluecalm 8y ago
  How is it nonsense? Someone is using their time and fuel to get to your location. It's only natural you pay for it.
  - chrisfinazzo 8y ago
    It feels like they're double dipping. Unpopular as it might be, I'd guess people would be more than willing to pay extra so that they could shitcan this "feature".
    - pavel_lishin 8y ago
      So you want to pay extra to not pay extra?
      - chrisfinazzo 8y ago
        Yes. Paying extra for the service itself, not an arbitrary charge that could vary greatly at any time seems worth it.
        drewmol 8y ago
        I don't think it's arbitrary. You're paying for the (vehicle, driver) time and distance and the closer your are to vehicle the shorter the trip. If the vehicle is far enough away to make it vary greatly just cancel. The seemingly arbitrary charges and price volatility are not supposed to start until after you're in the vehicle. This may just be a bug.
- emodendroket 8y ago
  In my case I stood there in the rain for 15 minutes waiting for a car that never came and eventually canceled, so I walked around till I got to a taxi stand. A little less than magical.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

Cthulhu_ 8y ago

A shame that uber and the whole gig economy is so shit, circumventing basic employment rights and both minimum and living wages. I mean I like the basic idea and I agree that the taxi business needed the disruption, but it's opened the gates to people working well below a living wage because there's nothing else. That is, there's plenty of people that are willing to work below minimum wage because it's the only thing they have left. And companies - including Uber - are more than happy to offer that kind of work.

icebraining 8y ago
Taxi drivers were already considered contractors and working for shitty wages. Uber just followed the existing model. In fact, it was worse, as drivers had to pay to work, by renting the cars with medallions, rather than being able to use their own. https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-difficult-in-best-of-times-gets-tougher.html https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-d... The change for taxi drivers has only started to come after Uber was already making it big, e.g.: "For what the union involved says is the first time ever, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) declared taxi drivers are legally “employees”" http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/nlrb-declares-taxi-drivers-are-employees-can-vote-to-unionize/ http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/nlrb-declares-taxi-drive... (2015)
- Mediterraneo10 8y ago
  Not all countries have the medallion system (or that system the way it works in parts of the USA), and in some places drivers felt they were paid pretty adequately the way things were, and so they reacted very negatively to Uber drivers showing up and undercutting them.
  - stormbrew 8y ago
    In places where medallion or similar systems were in place, most of the protesters tended to be medallion owners. Who may or may not themselves be drivers, but even if they were were probably still deriving significant income from non-owner drivers renting their cars and medallions. They're more like landlords than employees.

dang 8y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18066897 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18066897 and marked it off-topic.