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It’s not an issue of social class. It’s an issue of the gig economy being a race to the bottom that cannot afford (legally or monetarily) to hold workers to pro
by dcrazy 1y ago
It’s not an issue of social class. It’s an issue of the gig economy being a race to the bottom that cannot afford (legally or monetarily) to hold workers to professional standards.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> an issue of the gig economy being a race to the bottom that cannot afford (legally or monetarily) to hold workers to professional standards They absolutely can. Uber just prizes availability above service while Lyft perplexingly fails to differentiate itself. To the extent Waymo is cracking the market, it’s not by being an AV provider. It’s by being higher quality. New York had Juno and then Revel that similarly targeted quality. The former was bought by Uber and ruined. The latter switched from employed drivers to a gig model.
- noAnswer 1y agolol. Remember when Uber was cracking the market? Taxis where bad bad. Uber was cool cool. One "monopoly" got exchanged for another. Now Waymo is cool cool. In 10 years or so Waymo will be bad because they will play loud ads or some shit.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> Remember when Uber was cracking the market? Taxis were bad bad. Uber was cool cool Yes. My Brown-educated perpetually suit-wearing black roommate couldn’t get a hail on 5th Avenue and the credit-card machines never worked.
- dcrazy 1y agoI’m not convinced enshittification of the Waymo experience is inevitable. It’s possible there’s a price point at which they can produce a profit while remaining a premium experience. Uber chose to expand into the mass market, which every lay person already knew was not full of producer surplus. Taxis weren’t famous for shitty service and bad employment practices because they were a monopoly, they were famous for it because it’s a cutthroat, low-margin business.
- Zigurd 1y agoIt seems like Google will tolerate small money pits, but not ones that are scaling up. I'd bet Waymo is at or approaching breakeven. If they stop expanding coverage, then I'd worry about the lines diverging. Google also still has the scars from buying Motorola and acquiring a huge number of employees. They aren't going to bloat their headcount expanding Waymo.
- rurp 1y agoYep, Waymo turning into a terrible exploitative experience 5-10 years after locking up the market will be the least surprising business story ever.