Ask HN: Why is Pave legal? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#491

Post by failuser » Thu, Sep 12, 2024, 8:24 PM UTC

insane_dreamer wrote: post #248

failuser wrote: post #89

Uber and AirBnb are essentially illegal taxi and illegal hotel services. Remember taxi medallions? Remember zoning laws? Being illegal is not a showstopper for a startup because they are under a radar, being illegal is not a problem for a large business because they have enough power to not get prosecuted.

> essentially illegal taxi and illegal hotel services I don't know about Uber, but Airbnb deflects this by saying they are not in fact a hotel service. Rather hosts are hotel services, and Airbnb is simply a discovery platform matching buyers and sellers. It's up to an individual host to make sure they are complying with local laws including whether their city or district allows an individual to rent out their house…

I’m pretty sure an assassination marketplace would not fly under the same legal pretense. The platform won’t do the killing, right?

If hotel or taxi lobby was more powerful or caught the threat early on AirBnB and Uber would have been destroyed.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#492

Post by failuser » Thu, Sep 12, 2024, 8:38 PM UTC

whimsicalism wrote: post #190

failuser wrote: post #89

Uber and AirBnb are essentially illegal taxi and illegal hotel services. Remember taxi medallions? Remember zoning laws? Being illegal is not a showstopper for a startup because they are under a radar, being illegal is not a problem for a large business because they have enough power to not get prosecuted.

uber: mostly not technically because the key thing is that they are not soliciting rides from the street, was my understanding. airbnb had a much more legally tenuous start

Uber even had a whole program to thwart law enforcement attempts to investigate them called “greyball”. They knew what they are doing. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/technology/uber-greyball-...

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#493

Post by fastball » Thu, Sep 12, 2024, 8:40 PM UTC

cryptonym wrote: post #448

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glassdoor exists.

So... Pave shouldn't exists as "Glassdoor exists" and is already providing data?

Eh? Glassdoor is for the other party, which you were implying was being kept in the dark.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#494

Post by fwip » Thu, Sep 12, 2024, 9:33 PM UTC

yonran wrote: post #146

fwip wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many things a government does would be illegal if private companies did them. For example, prison, the draft, and taxes. The government is allowed to do it because we (as a society) believe it's better for the government to do these things than private individuals or companies.

Can you give examples of the topic at hand, price fixing, that are justified? There are a handful of progressive forms of price fixing (e.g. minimum wage laws), but many others should be added to the Niskanen Center’s list of bad regulations in the Captured Economy.

Sure, zoning and taxi medallions are two examples of justified "price fixing."

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#495

Post by RGamma » Thu, Sep 12, 2024, 9:35 PM UTC

Kon-Peki wrote: post #214

dsr_ wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make an excellent argument here for tight regulation of the industry.

… and the usage? Most highly-paid people have no idea how much privilege this affords them. You wonder why so many businesses are nice to you? It’s because they’ve already looked you up and know you’ve got a high income and are a millionaire. Write a personal check for your next automobile? Sure thing, you can drive it off the lot a few minutes later. They won’t even bother cashing the check for a week or two. Try do…

I can almost smell the concentrated capitalism in this comment.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#496

Post by ghaff » Thu, Sep 12, 2024, 11:27 PM UTC

RHSeeger wrote: post #436

FactKnower69 wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's a "dick move" to not give the guy who owns your local dealership a 3% tip when you buy a car??

1. The guy who owns the dealership doesn't get the credit card fee 2. If they charge you extra for using a credit card, they're breaking even 3. If they _don't_ charge you extra for using a credit card, they're paying 3% of the purchase cost to the credit card company (so, $1,000+) So yes, it's a dick move to pay via credit card for any purchase in the thousands of dollars, if you have the option to pay by check or d…

I'd just add that I routinely book flights, hotels, and so forth in the thousands of dollars range on credit cards and I doubt they would want anything different as a payment type.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#497

Post by steve_adams_86 » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 2:44 AM UTC

kstrauser wrote: post #483

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literally the worst experience of my life. I don’t even mention it on my resume or LinkedIn or anything. I suppose it was a success and the product is still doing fine. I just never want to do that again unless it’s for myself.

Were you ever at Crittercism by chance?

No, this was a sort of AI assistant before AI thing. It was a whole bunch of state machines and decision trees and NLP. It actually worked fairly well.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#498

Post by kstrauser » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 12:53 PM UTC

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #497

kstrauser wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were you ever at Crittercism by chance?

No, this was a sort of AI assistant before AI thing. It was a whole bunch of state machines and decision trees and NLP. It actually worked fairly well.

Gotcha. Your name looked awfully familiar and I was going to be very happy if you were another person with it.

Not that I’m not happy with you, the OG and clearly greatest of the name!

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#499

Post by santiagobasulto » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 1:18 PM UTC

consteval wrote: post #232

santiagobasulto wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which makes total sense for consumers as well. If the startup succeeds is because consumers are finding value in it. Uber is the best example. Uber is ilegal only in countries with deep corruption where taxi unions can make legislators ignore their constituents. Uber (and any other car sharing app) is the best solution for me as a consumer compared to the traditional old school taxi service.

Uber is objectively worse for every single party involved. Driver makes less, customer pays more, Uber has to coordinate a huge system. Uber "won" because they cheated. They operated at a loss for almost 15 years, on the welfare of investors. Guess what, mom and pop running a taxi can't live on a negative wage.

I prefer Uber everywhere I go. Even if I pay more, I know it upfront. I have their safety in place, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#500

Post by santiagobasulto » Fri, Sep 13, 2024, 1:19 PM UTC

talldatethrow wrote: post #171

santiagobasulto wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which makes total sense for consumers as well. If the startup succeeds is because consumers are finding value in it. Uber is the best example. Uber is ilegal only in countries with deep corruption where taxi unions can make legislators ignore their constituents. Uber (and any other car sharing app) is the best solution for me as a consumer compared to the traditional old school taxi service.

Totally. I propose we start a brothelBnB next door to your home. Home owner wins, customer wins, worker wins, startup wins! Score! Market has spoken! I also recommend HoboSleepinCar Driveway as a service next to your home. The consumer has spoken!

Really good argument, congrats