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In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

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Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#201

Post by dnautics »

timthelion wrote: post #163

This is a kind of categorical thinking, which is sometimes misatributed as being "autistic". You have a clear logical distinction, I'll grant you that. You have a declaration of your opinion, which on its face seems resonable. But you fail to examine the details of the situation. You are reducing your morality to a few simple and rigid rules. Those rules can be seen as something akin to a computer program. If your mo…

it's not even categorical! A true categorical distinction requires a formal trigger to make such distinctions, what is the underlying factor that makes one public and the other not besides "the speaker says so"; otherwise it's arbitrary binning, not categorization.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#202

Post by monksy »

wopwopwop wrote: post #149
feelix wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the gig has gotten harder for longtime drivers. In 2012, Uber Black cost riders $4.90 per mile and $1.25 per minute in San Francisco, according to an old version of Uber's website. Today, Uber charges $3.75 per mile and $0.65 per minute. Black car drivers get paid less and their business faces far more competition from other Uber services. Considering that he did change the price from under the driver, and that…

> The fact that the CEO just screams out "BULLSHIT" He's a bro. You're clearly not a bro.

That's hardly a quantifier of being a bro.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#204

Post by dnautics »

pjwal wrote: post #102
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, while it's perfectly okay for the driver to tell Travis what his concerns or pain points are, it's rather rich of him to assume that he has any context to tell Travis what business decisions make sense. As if Uber won't have charged higher prices if they could get away with it. The CEOs being disconnected with the masses is bad, but so is the masses assuming that somehow THEY know just the right thing the CEO s…

Right, the driver didn't even know what the current Uber Black fair was...falsely claiming it was $2.75. Anyone would get annoyed when someone was telling you that you were essentially doing your job wrong but didn't even know the basic facts. In this case, these facts have a direct impact on the driver, which makes it all the more inane that he doesn't know them.

$2.75 a mile.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#205

Post by frgtpsswrdlame »

1_2__3 wrote: post #173
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where else should he grind it? Kalanick is the CEO. He made a decision which affects this mans livelihood. Kalanick certainly gets paid enough to face up to people like this. And if he wants to stop facing up to it, maybe he can do something about their pay.

> He made a decision which affects this mans livelihood. You don't get to challenge everyone in your life who makes decisions that directly or indirectly affect you.

Hypothetically, don't you think a world where you could do that would be better? Besides this isn't exactly indirect. There is a direct line from Kalanick's decisions to this mans paycheck.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#206

Post by vpndonttrackme »

wopwopwop wrote: post #110
unityByFreedom wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think releasing the video was right. Regarding Uber black, another HN user points out, > Travis is right on a technicality they did not lower Uber Black prices much if any. What they did instead was coerced Uber Black drivers to take Uber X request. Yes drivers can reject Uber X request, but if you reject a certain amount of Uber rides, they kick you off their system. Probably why the driver is complaining ab…

> Travis is right on a technicality they did not lower Uber Black prices much if any. What they did instead was coerced Uber Black drivers to take Uber X request. That seems like semantics to me. The pay was lowered.

Why are you both unaware that the rate itself was in fact lowered. Straight from the article:

> In 2012, Uber Black cost riders $4.90 per mile or $1.25 per minute in San Francisco, according to an old version of Uber's website. Today, Uber charges $3.75 per mile and $0.65 per minute.

Nip arguments in the bud, not at the leaf.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#207

Post by alphonsegaston »

matt4077 wrote: post #172
seertaak wrote: post #46

This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but I actually thought the driver was exceedingly rude. He clearly took advantage of Kalanick being in the public eye, and thus a "target". Filming him without acknowledging it was totally immoral, it should reduce any fair person's bayesian priors as to the credibility of the driver. I'm no fan of Kalanick, but I thought he comported himself reasonably, taking the time to…

Kalanick's opinions and behaviour are obviously of interest to the public right now. There are quite a few anecdotes that, taken together, paint the picture of a thoroughly chauvinistic CEO with a bit of social darwinism thrown in for good measure. His comments here further that impression: he throws around jingoism in his awkward attempt to impress his companions ("every year is hard for Uber...") and is either unin…

It's amazing that someone who tried to deceive poor people into taking subprime loans in pursuit of his monopolistic dumping scheme, chooses to scream "personal responsibility" at a bankrupted immigrant.

And the first thing people do is debate the ethics of recording him.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#208

Post by rhizome »

stagbeetle wrote: post #61
placeybordeaux wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Travis is the CEO that is responsible for the flow of money into the driver's paycheck.

So is Jamie Dimon if I'm a janitor at JPMorgan Chase. But he isn't my boss.

JP Morgan doesn't hire their own janitors. They use a service.

Re: In Video, Uber CEO Argues with Driver Over Falling Fares

#209

Post by dnautics »

coralreef wrote: post #193
acchow wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I lost $97,000 because of you." This is exactly how entrepreneurship works - you take risks, sometimes enormous risks with huge capital investments, and it doesn't pan out. Sometimes it does work out and you reap great rewards for a long time. The driver signed up for this and the gamble didn't work out... now he's blaming Uber?

I agree that you don't really have a right to complain when willfully you join a platform you don't control. But driving for Uber isn't entrepreneurship. You don't control your marketing, brand, you don't acquire your own customers, no control over price or business model, etc. Drivers are really just cogs in the service, provide a car, drive the routes, get paid.

driving for Uber is definitely entrepreneurship (source: Uh, I did Uber and Lyft for a year and a half, and did quite well, too). And it's also totally okay to complain about shitty contracting relationships. For example, the entrepreneurs of company X contracts a company Y to make some hardware, and the job is totally botched, but they can't do anything because a lawsuit is not worth the time/money.... I don't think it's unreasonable for X to bitch about Y since that provides a useful signal to others to not make the same mistake.

Not identifying with Uber drivers as entrepreneurs is a very classist attitude.

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