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> gouging workers and consumers Nice passion piece, looking to stir up some emotions with willful ignorance, and a prominent donation link. How are consumers b
by lend000 6y ago
> gouging workers and consumers
Nice passion piece, looking to stir up some emotions with willful ignorance, and a prominent donation link. How are consumers being gouged? They are arguably benefitting the most. Just because companies benefit from a law, doesn't make it evil.
You can argue that after expenses, most Uber drivers make less than minimum wage (depending on the political slant of the researchers), but then if these exploited workers are not stupid (which I hope the author is not arguing), why don't they get a minimum wage job?
Because A. those jobs don't exist and/or B. they prefer to work ride-share. The true minimum wage is zero. And virtually ever ride-share I've taken from my local airport over the last three years has been in a Prius, invalidating the cited study. The full-time drivers aren't stupid and helpless as the author would have you believe.
There are plenty of ills with our economic system and plenty of ways to address wealth inequality. As most people who understand economics better than the author will tell you, the minimum wage is not one of them. Better alternatives to be talking about: UBI, more graduated tax brackets, getting rid of things like CA Proposition 13 (property tax lock-ins), improving zoning, etc.
- lefrenchy 6y ago> How are consumers being gouged? The article states that Uber, Lyft, and others are already adding extra fees. That was part of their propaganda for prop 22 was to say it would keep prices low. > Just because companies benefit from a law, doesn't make it evil. Maybe if they didn’t create it and bankroll it by spending unprecedented amounts of money to get it to pass. > And virtually ever ride-share I've taken from my local airport over the last three years has been in a Prius, invalidating the cited study. Your own personal experience invalidates a study? Maybe drivers buy Priuses on credit so that they can save on gas in order to be able to walk away with more money?
- wavepruner 6y agoBefore the pandemic, you could make $15-30/hr AFTER expenses driving for Uber in my city. This includes gas, maintenance, depreciation, and cleaning. This was with a Honda Fit. But only for 10-15ish hours per week. And you had to know when and where to drive. You could find another 20 hours making above minimum wage. Any hours beyond that though were usually at or below minimum wage.