3 ms·

Uber is still not making profits. So where is this money coming from? You can't raise prices and expect the same level of demand from consumers. So once demand

Uber is still not making profits. So where is this money coming from? You can't raise prices and expect the same level of demand from consumers. So once demand goes down, the # of drivers needed will go down. So you raise prices by restricting supply of drivers. It's not that complicated. Uber is not keeping prices low as part of some scheme to rip off drivers and hoard profits in some bank vault like a cartoon villain - they're what the supply / demand of the market dictate. If you disagree, I'm happy to look at concrete data to change my mind.

Broken_Hippo 6y ago
Perhaps if you cannot pay your employees minimum wage - regardless of the sort of work they are doing, perhaps you shouldn't be in business. I don't care if Uber is making money or not. If there is need for more adequate public transportation and taxis, perhaps we should work on that issue. If the system is robust enough, merely having a personal driver (uber/lyft/taxi/limo) should be a luxury and a choice. This has nothing to do with data, but principle. And it isn't like Uber has been a good player in all of this: I truly don't agree with their attitude towards laws, and do truly believe they are in business because they exploit people and eschew their responsibility as employers both by offering gig-only employment and refusing to classify drivers as employees: Their business obviously relies on the drivers.
- chillacy 6y ago
  That sounds nice on principle but I'm not sure I liked the world where Taxis were a monopoly and did things like "not pick you up if you weren't in the city" and "not pick you up if you were nonwhite." So, I'm hoping there is a universe where drivers get paid more (maybe even set their own prices, that makes them more like business owners and the apps more like payment providers) and rideshare can exist.
- s3r3nity 6y ago
  > Perhaps if you cannot pay your employees minimum wage - regardless of the sort of work they are doing, perhaps you shouldn't be in business. I don't care if Uber is making money or not. So instead of hiring 1000’s of workers who _voluntarily_ chose to work there for those wages, (not just drivers)...principles say they should ALL be out of work? Absurd.
- 908B64B197 6y ago
  Posted it in an other thread [0] but do we really want to go back to the medallion system? Pre-Uber, either the driver rented the car to a middleman who rented the medallion from a rich owner, or said owner was selling and financing (most banks won't touch these medallions!) a medallion at a ridiculous interest rate to a driver that planned to use it as his retirement savings (an extremely volatile asset and not very liquid). The more I spoke to cab drivers the more it seemed their industry was a pyramid scheme aimed at helping established rent-seeker take advantage of often poor new immigrants. Uber brought a breeze of fresh air: Someone could simply buy a car, calculate the depreciation and it's value on the market (since unlike medallions cars are relatively liquid assets!) do rideshare and calculate their profits or loss. They can get out of the game at anytime, and they know exactly how much they are going to get for the car they have should they sell it. Also, the argument on Uber/Lyft drivers not being contractors since they can't set their own rates and decide which ride they take strikes me as weird since medallion drivers were contractors, had to charge the price set by the city and could only pick-up customers in the (arbitrary) zones covered by their medallions. And I'm not even touching the usual pain points and often discriminatory practices of medallion drivers (refusing card payments, refusing rides to non-white passengers and to non-white neighborhoods...). [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24225648 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24225648
deleted 6y ago
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Broken_Hippo 6y ago

Perhaps if you cannot pay your employees minimum wage - regardless of the sort of work they are doing, perhaps you shouldn't be in business. I don't care if Uber is making money or not. If there is need for more adequate public transportation and taxis, perhaps we should work on that issue. If the system is robust enough, merely having a personal driver (uber/lyft/taxi/limo) should be a luxury and a choice. This has nothing to do with data, but principle. And it isn't like Uber has been a good player in all of this: I truly don't agree with their attitude towards laws, and do truly believe they are in business because they exploit people and eschew their responsibility as employers both by offering gig-only employment and refusing to classify drivers as employees: Their business obviously relies on the drivers.

chillacy 6y ago
That sounds nice on principle but I'm not sure I liked the world where Taxis were a monopoly and did things like "not pick you up if you weren't in the city" and "not pick you up if you were nonwhite." So, I'm hoping there is a universe where drivers get paid more (maybe even set their own prices, that makes them more like business owners and the apps more like payment providers) and rideshare can exist.
s3r3nity 6y ago
> Perhaps if you cannot pay your employees minimum wage - regardless of the sort of work they are doing, perhaps you shouldn't be in business. I don't care if Uber is making money or not. So instead of hiring 1000’s of workers who _voluntarily_ chose to work there for those wages, (not just drivers)...principles say they should ALL be out of work? Absurd.
908B64B197 6y ago
Posted it in an other thread [0] but do we really want to go back to the medallion system? Pre-Uber, either the driver rented the car to a middleman who rented the medallion from a rich owner, or said owner was selling and financing (most banks won't touch these medallions!) a medallion at a ridiculous interest rate to a driver that planned to use it as his retirement savings (an extremely volatile asset and not very liquid). The more I spoke to cab drivers the more it seemed their industry was a pyramid scheme aimed at helping established rent-seeker take advantage of often poor new immigrants. Uber brought a breeze of fresh air: Someone could simply buy a car, calculate the depreciation and it's value on the market (since unlike medallions cars are relatively liquid assets!) do rideshare and calculate their profits or loss. They can get out of the game at anytime, and they know exactly how much they are going to get for the car they have should they sell it. Also, the argument on Uber/Lyft drivers not being contractors since they can't set their own rates and decide which ride they take strikes me as weird since medallion drivers were contractors, had to charge the price set by the city and could only pick-up customers in the (arbitrary) zones covered by their medallions. And I'm not even touching the usual pain points and often discriminatory practices of medallion drivers (refusing card payments, refusing rides to non-white passengers and to non-white neighborhoods...). [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24225648 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24225648

deleted 6y ago

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