4 ms·
Regarding #2, that's just generally not how the law works. There may be some cases where legal technicalities are successfully argued, but in general the legal
by baddox 6y ago
Regarding #2, that's just generally not how the law works. There may be some cases where legal technicalities are successfully argued, but in general the legal system doesn't put up with someone sticking their finger a millimeter from its face and saying "technically I'm not touching you."
- dnautics 6y agookay, let's make the price higher. Let's make it $150/mo. Now we're about 10 centimeters away from your face, and not too far off from what taxicab companies do.
- saurik 6y agoYeah. I pay PayPal to process payments for me: I don't work for them. Hell: I pay Apple to publish apps to the App Store on my behalf, and they even decide whether my app is "OK" or not: when they tell me to make a change to my app, I must do that or I lose my ability to collect revenue. They even require I use certain tools that I have to purchase from the company store to do my work. I have no direct relationship with the customer. They collect all of my money, and then pay me. Am I somehow an employee of Apple? Supposedly I am Apple's customer, but it sometimes doesn't feel like that ;P.
- nl 6y agoYou set the price that the customer pays (via Apple) though. That isn't the case for Uber drivers.
- eru 6y agoYou think, if Uber let drivers bid on customer fares, they could classify the drivers as contractors again?
- himinlomax 6y agoNot sure about California, but here in France it's the kind of difference that would change the nature of the relationship. Although it would be evaluated as a whole, and would be under a lot of scrutiny to determine whether this change wasn't meaningless for practical purposes.
- eru 6y agoI suspect that in practice there seems to be a political consensus in Californian that Uber is evil. The rest is just trying to find ways to punish them. If the existing laws can be interpreted to punish them, they will be used. If not, the coalition against Uber will look into getting new laws passed. (As they already have.) Thus rendering any discussion about whether existing laws can justify punishment somewhat moot. (Of course, even a moot discussion can be interesting. Just like people can have fun arguing whether the Stark Trek Enterprise would beat a Star Wars Destroyer. The legal discussion is also very important to Uber lawyers. Even if they lose in the end, any delay is worthwhile.)
- aflag 6y agoI think giving the ability for one driver to promote their services over other drivers is also a key feature. Each driver needs to be able to differentiate themselves and not be essentially interchangeable.
- eru 6y ago> Each driver needs to be able to differentiate themselves and not be essentially interchangeable. Is that an opinion on the legal situation, or meant as a suggestion for how to build a better business?
- aflag 6y agoThat's the a key difference for me to consider it a contractor/client relationship rather than a employer/employee relationship. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know what the law says in each country Uber operates.
- aflag 6y agoAnd, perhaps more importantly, the user sees your app and branding in the end and they can choose to pick you again. Which is not the case for uber either.
- Firehawke 6y agoThey already do it. I've spoken to several drivers who rent their vehicles through the ride sharing company just like a Taxi driver does, and the price per day is about the same as the local cabs.