It never stops with this charming company, does it? This cavalcade of illegal and unethical behavior at Uber is what happens when the founder and untouchable CEO of a company is a bad person.
Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC Drivers
121–130 of 234 posts
Re: Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC Drivers
#122This company is absolutely astounding. The objects you hold up as ideals says a lot about the culture of your environment and its values. It is extremely disappointing that Uber is considered a crown jewel of Silicon Valley.
After being an early supporter I did a complete 180 on them. If all the various allegations against them (basically: lying to everyone about everything) are true then I think the firm should be shut down and its assets sold off. A person who did what Uber is accused of doing would go to prison for a Long Time. Uber has become the Bernie Madoff of SV imho.
Re: Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC Drivers
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is extremely disappointing that Uber is considered a crown jewel of Silicon Valley The common refrain I hear is "they're better than taxis" and more and more evidence is mounting against them (at the corporate level) that suggests: no, they really aren't.
This isn't directly related to your comment, but it's odd to me, grammatically, that people say Uber isn't a taxi service. It's like saying Amazon isn't a retailer--certainly it's different than the pre-internet model, but fundamentally they're providing the same service as the traditional businesses.
It depends on what you mean by the term, as there are different senses of "taxi service". In many cases, the law has long differentiated (for non-flaky reasons) between taxi services and limo services[1]. A taxi service is allowed to pick up street hails (i.e. arranged on the spot, by line-of-sight), while a limo service had to be booked and paid for through a third party.
In a way, that makes regulatory sense -- there are many issues that arise with taxis (in this sense) that don't with limos -- unnamed randos getting into a stranger's car, large amounts of cash floating around, clogging up pickup points, fighting for fares, dubious upcharges. In that sense, Uber has functioned more as a limo service than a taxi service (except for this historic association between limo services and expensive cars).
OTOH, I agree that it's ridiculous for them to claim it's "not a taxi service" in the sense of "just a technology company, bro!". It's certainly a ride service of some kind, for which safety/insurance regs are applicable and reasonable (or at least, not outrageous).
(Ditto for the claim of "we just match people up!" -- they obviously are functioning more as a service provider with tight control of the product than some kind of marketplace or matchmaker.)
[1] Despite it's name, that doesn't necessarily mean "stretch limo"; it could be a sedan.
Re: Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC Drivers
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can't strike without a union, and Uber is fighting hard against drivers unionizing.
> You can't strike without a union This is absolutely, completely false. Both legally and practically.
Small groups who can identify and contact each other can strike without a union. Uber drivers can't because Uber is the only party who can identify all of them.
Furthermore, scabs might sign up without even knowing they're scabs, or drivers might refuse to strike.
There would have to be some legal/organizational mechanism to force all current drivers to strike.
Re: Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC Drivers
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is extremely disappointing that Uber is considered a crown jewel of Silicon Valley The common refrain I hear is "they're better than taxis" and more and more evidence is mounting against them (at the corporate level) that suggests: no, they really aren't.
Uber did the world a favor by breaking the back of the taxi monopoly. But now they need to either clean up their act or go away.
You're talking like the taxi monopoly was a global monolith when in fact it was a local uncoordinated model that jurisdictions just copied from each other. IOW there was a taxi monopoly in most cities, but they're not all part of one big TaxiCorp.
Re: Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC Drivers
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can't say I've ever been treated to the sexual non-history of my taxi driver, but last weekend we grabbed a NYC cab with a driver who had no GPS, and no smart phone - we had to give him turn-by-turn directions to our destination in the Bronx. I don't expect my cabbies to have The Knowledge, but it would be nice if I didn't have to have my phone out the whole time, watching for upcoming turns and highway exits. At lea…
Was this one of the green cabs that service the outer boros? If not, normal cabs usually concentrate on Manhattan and have only basic knowledge of everywhere else. It's helpful if you know the name of the neighborhood you are going to as well.
It was a yellow cab, but you make a good point - we were going to the Bronx, a bit east of the Zoo, which is probably not a very typical destination.
Re: Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC Drivers
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amazon? Spotify? Square? Grubhub? Robinhood? And probably lots more. You can have respect for people and laws and still succeed.
One could argue not all laws are moral and that following immoral laws is emphasising your own interests over those of humanity. If abiding by the law was people's only priority, there would be no widespread usage of public key cryptography (it was extremely illegal in the early 1990s, and only gained legal acceptance after cypherpunks pushed back against the laws and proliferated its use), which would have prevented…
You could, and I often do. But the laws you should break in the interests of humanity are ones that permit things like slavery or other mistreatment of people.
If you're engaged in commerce, don't conflate your commercial interests with those of humanity at large. It's possible that you're serving both at once, but not probable, and when you are in it for the money your objective assessment of such things is severely compromised.
Re: Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC Drivers
#128This company is absolutely astounding. The objects you hold up as ideals says a lot about the culture of your environment and its values. It is extremely disappointing that Uber is considered a crown jewel of Silicon Valley.
I have absolutely no respect for Travis Kalanick; he's the personification of a "the rules don't apply to me" attitude, and he's been rewarded for it time and time again.
My opinion of him plunged and never recovered after seeing him present at a YC demo day some years ago. He threw up this slide of a heroically ascending curve and proclaimed 'This is what exponential growth looks like!' to huge applause from the packed house, while I wondered why there were no numbers on the Y axis. OK, that wasn't the only thing that bothered me, but if someone insults my intelligence then I see no reason to put any trust in them.
Re: Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC Drivers
#129This company is absolutely astounding. The objects you hold up as ideals says a lot about the culture of your environment and its values. It is extremely disappointing that Uber is considered a crown jewel of Silicon Valley.
> It is extremely disappointing that Uber is considered a crown jewel of Silicon Valley.
To be honest, I'm not sure many hold them up as the crown jewel of Silicon Valley. All I hear with regard to Uber is derision.
Re: Uber Plans Millions in Back Pay After Shortchanging NYC Drivers
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can't strike without a union, and Uber is fighting hard against drivers unionizing.
The drivers are vendors, not employees, so there's no way for them to form a union or go on strike. But there's also nothing stopping a group of drivers from getting together and collectively agreeing to stop driving for Uber.
So form an 'association' or something. If you're dealing with a company that reflexively breaks rules you're under no obligation to worry about niceties like union certification requirements and procedures. there is no moral obligation to play fair with a known cheater.