Earlier quoted context omitted.
The real issue for Uber and Lyft may be the fact that fingerprinting puts them closer to needing to classify drivers as employees instead of contractors. They could surely solve any friction around fingerprinting, but requiring drivers to be classified as employees would put them out of business. Fingerprinting through a government clearinghouse is typically reserved for employees. IMO, they spent $8M on this local v…
Isn't one of the main questions (from the IRS) regarding an employee vs contractor the substitutability of the person? If you delegate work out, but must perform it yourself, then that's a major strike against being a contractor. Same for if you are told exactly how to do something v just what result is needed? Search IRS 20 questions. Here a non PDF result: https://daf.csulb.edu/admin_guidelines/guidelines/independe…
Lyft and Uber to Halt Operations in Austin After Voters Reject Proposal
131–140 of 206 posts
Re: Lyft and Uber to Halt Operations in Austin After Voters Reject Proposal
#132Less people voted for Prop-1 than signed the petition to create it (39k vs 65k). Uber and Lyft spent over $8m and lost. Sources: https://www.texastribune.org/2016/01/19/austin-group-gathers... , http://kxan.com/election-results/ , http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/ube...
Examples of the Prop. 1 campaign: http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/32038/truthiness-abou...
Re: Lyft and Uber to Halt Operations in Austin After Voters Reject Proposal
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
The real issue for Uber and Lyft may be the fact that fingerprinting puts them closer to needing to classify drivers as employees instead of contractors. They could surely solve any friction around fingerprinting, but requiring drivers to be classified as employees would put them out of business. Fingerprinting through a government clearinghouse is typically reserved for employees. IMO, they spent $8M on this local v…
That doesn't sound right at all. Contractors are finger-printed, background checked, etc, all the time.
Re: Lyft and Uber to Halt Operations in Austin After Voters Reject Proposal
#134Less people voted for Prop-1 than signed the petition to create it (39k vs 65k). Uber and Lyft spent over $8m and lost. Sources: https://www.texastribune.org/2016/01/19/austin-group-gathers... , http://kxan.com/election-results/ , http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/ube...
Re: Lyft and Uber to Halt Operations in Austin After Voters Reject Proposal
#135The real story here is how Lyft and Uber harrassed their supporters away from the polls. I got 7 flyers in the mail, 3 unsolicited phone calls, multiple push notifications and texts, and a visitor at my door all over a 4 day time period. It can sure make you indifferent to them not getting their way. Their aggressive marketing campaign turned attention away from the issues on the ballot and they came off as an enormo…
I take it you prefer to be more subtly influenced into voting the way others want? Because either way you are being influenced by others to vote the way they want you to.
Looks like I'm not alone:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/comments/4id9vf/why_prop_one...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/comments/4iacif/uber_and_lyf...
Re: Lyft and Uber to Halt Operations in Austin After Voters Reject Proposal
#136As an Austin resident I think the real lesson to learn is how poor of a job Uber did of gaining supporters. I went from being a vocal supporter to an almost hostile opponent based on their behavior. They spent a reported $8 million in very confusing ads. They sent text messages and push notifications to customers. All of this felt very disingenuous and deceptive. I will be sad to see them go but they are their own wo…
Yet others, I believe, were furious that those two generously funded companies were attempting to insert themselves into local politics and override a regulatory scheme enacted by the local elected government. And if Uber and Lyft could buy this election, what next? It's been said that Uber and Lyft needed to make an example out of Austin, but the reverse is true, too: Austin needed to make an example out of Uber and Lyft.
[1] - $500,000. Source: https://www.texastribune.org/2016/05/07/early-voting-austin-...
Re: Lyft and Uber to Halt Operations in Austin After Voters Reject Proposal
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
The real issue for Uber and Lyft may be the fact that fingerprinting puts them closer to needing to classify drivers as employees instead of contractors. They could surely solve any friction around fingerprinting, but requiring drivers to be classified as employees would put them out of business. Fingerprinting through a government clearinghouse is typically reserved for employees. IMO, they spent $8M on this local v…
> Fingerprinting through a government clearinghouse is typically reserved for employees. Source? Financial services corporations fingerprint both their employees and contractors. I've never seen a distinction in the process for either.
Re: Lyft and Uber to Halt Operations in Austin After Voters Reject Proposal
#138I worked on the Prop 1 campaign, and I'm not happy with this result. At first, I thought Prop 1 would pass by a good margin, but I wasn't sure once we started hitting the outer parts of the city, where public transportation was clearly not an option. In contrast, the closer one lived to downtown, the more likely it seemed to me that they were for Prop 1. In fact, many residents in downtown don't even own a car. I fel…
Maybe "every petition is backed by money", but never this much, or so blatantly from a single source. That's what bothered me about it. That, and the dishonest way some ads spun it so that it looked like Prop 1 was actually something you should vote for if you WANT more regulation for Uber and Lyft. Yuck.
Re: Lyft and Uber to Halt Operations in Austin After Voters Reject Proposal
#139Don't forget who the biggest victims of background checks will be. Unemployable ex-cons. Anyone who's been convicted at any time in their life will have yet another door to employment shut in their face. Maybe 10 or 20 years ago, New Zealand decided to ban anyone with a record of sexual offending from being a taxi driver. That sounds good and safe to the average Joe but one poor man, in his 50's I think, lost his job…
There are lots of jobs besides jobs where strangers get into an automobile alone with you. I am against vindictive employment and voting restrictions on felons, and I'm open to having my mind changed by statistics like the recidivism rate, but I think if you commit a sex crime you don't get to be a taxi driver any more.
Re: Lyft and Uber to Halt Operations in Austin After Voters Reject Proposal
#140Less people voted for Prop-1 than signed the petition to create it (39k vs 65k). Uber and Lyft spent over $8m and lost. Sources: https://www.texastribune.org/2016/01/19/austin-group-gathers... , http://kxan.com/election-results/ , http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/ube...