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Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

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

#331

Post by dragonwriter »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #301
dragonwriter wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Honestly I wish they wouldn't try to compete on price. Waze Carpool is more targeted at actual ridesharing (and designed specifically to support to/from work carpooling), not a taxi service using "ridesharing" as a misleading name. Its not really trying to compete with price as it is offering a slightly different service (its kind of like UberPOOL, except its really focusing on -- though not strictly limited to --…

Waze Carpool is fantastic... for the 0.26% of the US that lives in the Bay area.

The Bay Area is about 2.24% of US population, not 0.26%.

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

#332

Post by kylec »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #314
kylec wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Tipping isn't obligatory" -- yes, it kind of is. Uber used to bar drivers form asking, but they recently lost a lawsuit over that rule and so now Uber drivers will occasionally ask for tips (which will cause it to slowly become the norm). I'm pretty sure I was recently given a low rating by a driver on Uber because I didn't tip. From my perspective the ride went perfectly fine, and I wasn't even asked for a tip, but…

Drivers rate passengers? Where can I see my rating?

https://help.uber.com/h/e9302f73-8625-427f-abf7-dbe7ab25af7d

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

#333

Post by sethhochberg »

Pyxl101 wrote: post #324
williamscales wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it strange that the same tipping norms exist in Canada as in the US, since, if I'm not mistaken, Canadian waitstaff are paid at least minimum wage. In the US, the fact that waiters are paid less than minimum wage and expected to make it up on tips is often cited to explain why it is so bad to not tip at all.

> In the US, the fact that waiters are paid less than minimum wage and expected to make it up on tips is often cited to explain why it is so bad to not tip at all. Waiters always earn minimum wage in the US regardless of what tips they get. A waiter who earns $0 in tips must still be paid minimum wage by the restaurant that employs them. See the Fair Labor Standards Act per the United States Department of Labor: http…

By "less than minimum wage", the poster was referring to tipped wage - this is the lower, $2.13 per hour federal minimum which can be paid out to employees who make at least $30 per month in tips.

Since it is expected that tips make up the difference between the tipped minimum wage and the regular minimum wage, yes, tipped employees are actually paid less by their employers than regular minimum wage in the vast majority of cases. This is a large part of why tipping remains in practice - tips effectively subsidize the employer's payroll.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipped_wage_in_the_United_Stat...

A waiter who earns $0 in tips is likely an awful waiter and won't remain employed long. His employer does not want to have to make up the difference on a regular basis.

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

#334

Post by jedberg »

2bitencryption wrote: post #326
williamscales wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it strange that the same tipping norms exist in Canada as in the US, since, if I'm not mistaken, Canadian waitstaff are paid at least minimum wage. In the US, the fact that waiters are paid less than minimum wage and expected to make it up on tips is often cited to explain why it is so bad to not tip at all.

> In the US, the fact that waiters are paid less than minimum wage and expected to make it up on tips is often cited to explain why it is so bad to not tip at all. Where in the world did you hear that?

The federal minimum wage for a food server in the US is $2.13/hr. The employer only has to pay more if their tips don't average out to $7.25 an hour.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipped_wage_in_the_United_St...

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

#335

Post by Pyxl101 »

sethhochberg wrote: post #333
Pyxl101 wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the US, the fact that waiters are paid less than minimum wage and expected to make it up on tips is often cited to explain why it is so bad to not tip at all. Waiters always earn minimum wage in the US regardless of what tips they get. A waiter who earns $0 in tips must still be paid minimum wage by the restaurant that employs them. See the Fair Labor Standards Act per the United States Department of Labor: http…

By "less than minimum wage", the poster was referring to tipped wage - this is the lower, $2.13 per hour federal minimum which can be paid out to employees who make at least $30 per month in tips. Since it is expected that tips make up the difference between the tipped minimum wage and the regular minimum wage, yes, tipped employees are actually paid less by their employers than regular minimum wage in the vast major…

I'm not entirely sure if I understood your first paragraph, but it seems like you might have overlooked this quote from the page I linked:

> If an employee's tips combined with the employer's direct wages [...] do not equal the Federal minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference.

In other words, the employer always needs to pay federal hourly minimum age. Paying a waiter less than minimum wage would be breaking the law regardless of what tips they get.

> tipped employees are actually paid less by their employers than regular minimum wage in the vast majority of cases

Edit: OK, I think I understand what you mean. I agree that because most waitstaff receive tips, the amount their employers pay can be less than minimum wage. However the amount that the waitstaff receive is always at least minimum wage.

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

#336

Post by hueving »

jedberg wrote: post #334
2bitencryption wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the US, the fact that waiters are paid less than minimum wage and expected to make it up on tips is often cited to explain why it is so bad to not tip at all. Where in the world did you hear that?

The federal minimum wage for a food server in the US is $2.13/hr. The employer only has to pay more if their tips don't average out to $7.25 an hour. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipped_wage_in_the_United_St...

Right, so even if they don't receive any tips they get paid minimum wage. It's a bit disingenuous to suggest they make less than minimum wage if they receive no tips.

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

#337

Post by abrbhat »

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.…

In India, the concept has taken off because of Uber and Ola subsidizing the fares by paying the difference from VC money. The moment they stop subsidizing and start raising prices to make them par with what drivers get paid, the consumers will shift back to auto-rickshaws. If they start dropping prices, the drivers will shift back to inter-city routes.

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

#338

Post by ChuckMcM »

euyyn wrote: post #279
ChuckMcM wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I understand, are you saying this is some tit-for-tat move after Uber acquired Otto? Sounds a bit Machiavellian even for Uber and Google. Would love to hear the actual back story if that is the case.

Absolutely not saying that. You're trying to portrait him as some kind of spy, waiting to see if Uber turned out to be a good idea to get out of the board. What I'm saying is you can only construct an argument like that by omitting the obvious reason he stepped out.

Not a spy, just not aligned well with the companies they partner with. Google is doing its level best to find additional markets it can expand into. And it has a history of expanding into the markets of people that it invests in. Your typical VC won't generally invest in a second startup going after the same market as one they are already invested in, and Google Ventures is nominally "separate" from Google, but they seem to jump in when without their partner from time to time. Once, maybe twice, can be a fluke but one of the things startups always worry about is Google (or Apple or Microsoft or Facebook) jumping into their space with infinite marketing dollars and hundreds of idle staff members. One could be forgiven to think that if they were investing in you they wouldn't do that, but this sort of behavior should make startups think long and hard about taking a GV deal over an investor who wants them to be successful.

I wonder if that impacts GV's ability to participate in future deals. It seems like it should but business can be funny that way.

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

#340

Post by pfarnsworth »

speg wrote: post #7
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.…

I took an Uber home from the train station last week and it was less than $15. I'm not sure how much a taxi would've been, probably at least $25. I don't feel good about it. How can someone provide good service if they're taking home so little? I fear that soon Uber will be overrun with poor service because all the quality drivers have been driven out by low costs.

So little? They got $15 for presumably a 15 min ride? They will probably do several trips just in that hour, and most full time drivers do 25+ trips a day. It adds up.
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