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> If you’ve ever wondered why there are such vast differences in quality between Uber rides you’ve taken, this is why: Beyond customer ratings and warnings, Ube

> If you’ve ever wondered why there are such vast differences in quality between Uber rides you’ve taken, this is why: Beyond customer ratings and warnings, Uber can’t tell drivers what to do. The author is implying that if Uber drivers were employees, then they'd behave better and the experience would be more consistent. That's just bullshit. There's nothing special about the employee status, the only difference being that the employment law applies. But there's always a contract in place when hiring contractors and if anything Uber can demand much more from contractors than they can from employees. And if you want proof to the contrary, you only need to look at taxi drivers, many of which are employees of bigger taxi companies. Then there's also the issue that the article is comparing cab drivers with highly skilled professionals, the kind that end up working in startups.

pmorici 11y ago
I think you are mistaken. Most taxi drivers are not employees they rent the taxi from the company on a per shift basis.
- bad_user 11y ago
  It depends on where you live. In my city many of them are employees, I know because I've got some acquaintances in the business. And we're still having the same poor service just like everywhere else.
  - jegutman 11y ago
    Yea, employees provide great customer service. Totally explains Time Warner Cable.
NoMoreNicksLeft 11y ago
He's not necessarily implying that. He's saying that the "set of employees" would behave better than the "set of contractors" that they'd have as an alternative. It does not mean that these sets would be identical, people-wise. The first set would contain different people, possibly with little overlap. That alone makes it possible to have a vastly different culture. We could argue about why the two sets wouldn't be identical, but some mechanisms seem obvious enough that I don't see the point in that.

pmorici 11y ago

I think you are mistaken. Most taxi drivers are not employees they rent the taxi from the company on a per shift basis.

bad_user 11y ago
It depends on where you live. In my city many of them are employees, I know because I've got some acquaintances in the business. And we're still having the same poor service just like everywhere else.
- jegutman 11y ago
  Yea, employees provide great customer service. Totally explains Time Warner Cable.

NoMoreNicksLeft 11y ago

He's not necessarily implying that. He's saying that the "set of employees" would behave better than the "set of contractors" that they'd have as an alternative. It does not mean that these sets would be identical, people-wise. The first set would contain different people, possibly with little overlap. That alone makes it possible to have a vastly different culture. We could argue about why the two sets wouldn't be identical, but some mechanisms seem obvious enough that I don't see the point in that.