Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 486 posts

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#181

Post by euyyn »

SamChoi wrote: post #48
mmanfrin wrote: post #3

Honestly I wish they wouldn't try to compete on price. Maybe I'm alone with this, but I'd rather not feel obligated to tip a driver because the ride is so cheap. Pay them a living wage, let me pay the exact fee, and let me not have to carry goddamn cash like I used to in the era of Taxis. e: Addressing common replies: "This is for people commuting already" -- okay, point taken; my point about Uber/Lyft still stands.…

If you've had a nice ride than it makes sense to tip but no one should feel pressured out of obligation.

Just rate the guy extra well. Tip him with publicity so he gets more business.

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#182

Post by relaytheurgency »

serge2k wrote: post #134
TheOneTrueKyle wrote: post #94

When I was younger and financially unstable, I had a decision to make. Take a crappy restaurant job or live out of my car. I chose to live out of my car. Every time I hear the argument that people in the restaurant industry are getting unfair pay, I ask myself, "I wonder who made that decision to work there in the first place" Stop this bullshit tipping. These people made a choice and then chose to complain about it.…

They are getting unfair pay in some places, thanks to bullshit laws that give them a truly ridiculous minimum wage.

No they aren't. Read the law. A server's hourly wages with tips will always be at least the federal minimum wage.

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#183

Post by euyyn »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #144

Ok, not unexpected given that Drummond stepped back from being a board member, of course they got that seat by buying nearly 7% of the company[1]. Which if they had sold it to the other investors who came in on $62.5B round[2] they could have taken about $900M out which they could use to start their own ride sharing service. Sort of like drinking the Unicorn's blood to create a spell that will kill the Unicorn. The i…

You're saying all that as if, right before Drummond stepping back, Uber hadn't announced that they'd start doing self-driving cars, pretty much forcing him to step down out of conflict of interest.

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#184

Post by amyjess »

dragonwriter wrote: post #116
nikkun wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In every Uber ride I've been in recently, my driver's used Waze for navigation.

Waze has been owned by Google and shared data -- both mapping and traffic, etc. -- with Google Maps for years. Using Waze, in a very real sense, is using Google Maps, and vice versa. Heck, the new Google service at issue in this thread is Waze Carpool .

Waze does not use the same data as Google Maps.

Google Maps always gives perfectly-accurate directions to where I live. Waze does not give accurate directions to where I live. It goes out of its way to force drivers to enter a gated community that's adjacent to my complex. What's even worse is that the entrance to my complex and the entrance to that gated community are on separate arterials [0], and if you try to enter my complex through the main entrance, Waze will instruct you to make a U-turn out of my complex and go into the gated community. Google Maps does not do that.

As such, I text every driver picking me up at my place to tell them to use Google and only Google and to not use Waze (and I tell the name of the street they need to enter my complex from). I watch them on the map, and if I see that they have disregarded my message and do things that only Waze would instruct them to do (like pass by the entrance to my complex, and/or turn onto the arterial the gated community is on), I cancel the ride and call another.

[0] Here's a map, just to show you how terrible Waze is:

           ROAD A              |
    ---|---------------------------
       |  ...G.........        |
     R |  . GATED     .        | R
     O |  . COMMUNITY .        | O
     A |  .   .................| A
     D |  .   .      MY       .| D
       |  .   G      COMPLEX  .|
     D |  .....               =| B
       |      .               .|
       |      ..||.............|
    ---|---------------------------
           ROAD C              |
Without fail, no matter what direction you are coming from, Waze will insist you turn onto Road A and go through the gated community. Google actually knows that the main entrance to my complex is on Road A (and sometimes, on rare occasion, it'll pick up the side entrance on Road C, but I don't count on it) So if I see a Lyft or Uber driver, after I text them telling them both not to use Waze and to only enter my complex from Road B, a) pass by the entrance on Road B when driving northbound on Road B, b) turn right on Road A when driving southbound on Road B, c) fail to turn left on Road B when driving westbound on Road A, or d) turn left on Road D when driving eastbound on Road C, I just cancel on them and request another driver.

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#185

Post by relaytheurgency »

panglott wrote: post #106
imgabe wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There should never be an obligation to tip. The whole point of tipping is that it's not obligatory. I get that we've messed that up for a lot of professions, like restaurant servers, but Uber et al have a chance to reset the social norms at least around taxi-esque services and they should take it.

The ultimate problem with tipping restaurant service workers is that servers are legally allowed to be paid sub-minimum wage. The restaurant offloads their obligation to pay their employees onto the customer, and if the customer doesn't tip then the server will not be paid anything for the work. Under these conditions, customers have a moral obligation to tip servers, but that doesn't mean the system isn't a mess. Se…

That is not true at all. Read the law. In a situation where a server's tips do not boost their hourly wage to the federal minimum wage, the employer is obligated to compensate them up to that level. So in a situation where, say, a server was never tipped, the employer would have to pay them $7.25 an hour just like any other food service worker who makes minimum wage.

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#186

Post by bluejekyll »

> Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., began a pilot program around...

So, basic question, What is the difference between Alphabet and Google again? It seems like everything is still being branded as Google. I know it's slightly off topic, but I am honestly confused as to when something is not Google.

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#187

Post by jonknee »

nikkun wrote: post #57
jonknee wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet Uber still uses Google Maps.

In every Uber ride I've been in recently, my driver's used Waze for navigation.

OK so they used another Google product, but the Uber app itself uses Google Maps which is what I was referring to.

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#188

Post by michaeldunworth »

Google is emphasizing for low prices and people not to make careers from this for one reason, automation. This is a pilot for them, and will be replaced by autonomous cars in a few years. They don't want to be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of jobs and fight that moral fight. Uber is about to have a huge amount of people displaced from the jobs they created, and Google doesn't want to share that reputational hazard imo. Good call for Google.

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#189

Post by TheOneTrueKyle »

lsc wrote: post #170
Amezarak wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very interesting. I worked in restaurants for many years and I never knew a server who made less than the back staff - usually they made several multiples of their pay in a night. I assume it's because servers (and I was one!) feel generally more empowered when it comes to their pay; they think complaining will accomplish something (strengthen social norms to tip), while kitchen staff know that what they get is…

This is what I find interesting about the situation, and why I see tipping as a cultural rather than ethical imperative. If it was about poverty or social justice, it is a terribly inefficient way to go about fighting those battles. If instead you theorize that Tipping is largely about smoothing interactions between those of a higher economic class and the people who immediately serve them, the whole thing makes more…

Is there a possibility for smoothing out this social awkwardness that didn't involved monetary value?

Is there a way for society to make these jobs appear simply as a job and not some exchange of money for this psuedo caste system I am placing on you while I eat my salmon?

I am generally curious. I don't eat at restaurants for this reason. I have no interest in being involved with this human interaction. Which is a shame because food is my life...

Post reply on HN