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Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

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Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#31

Post by grecy »

fucking_tragedy wrote: post #10
remote_phone wrote: post #5

These people are complaining that they’re not being paid enough. Isn’t the proper solution to find another job? If more people stopped driving for ridesharing companies the prices would rise to attract them back. I don’t see why they are complaining when unemployment is at an all time low and they can find a job easily elsewhere. It sounds stupid.

> Isn’t the proper solution to find another job? If more people stopped driving for ridesharing companies the prices would rise to attract them back. Instead of assuming stupidity on one party's end, why not consider that there is a rational explanation for people's behavior? A very rational explanation is that for many people, driving for Uber beats not being able to pay bills, going hungry or being homeless.

> for many people, driving for Uber beats not being able to pay bills, going hungry or being homeless.

So then nothing here is Uber's fault, and Uber shouldn't get any blame.

The problem is the the country that make people unable to pay bills, get food or housing, right?

I wish Americans would lampoon their own government/country as much as they lampoon big businesses.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#32

Post by alistairSH »

adamio wrote: post #21

This must impact quality at some point. Either driver competence will decline or vehicle maintenance will be dangerously put off.

That’s a scary thought. My experience with Uber has already shown both terrible driving and crappy cars (for normal rides - Uber black has been fine).

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#33

Post by ars »

fiblye wrote: post #7
remote_phone wrote: post #5

These people are complaining that they’re not being paid enough. Isn’t the proper solution to find another job? If more people stopped driving for ridesharing companies the prices would rise to attract them back. I don’t see why they are complaining when unemployment is at an all time low and they can find a job easily elsewhere. It sounds stupid.

A lot of people turn to jobs like Uber because they can't easily find a job. There are many people who desperately try for weeks or months to find employment. Companies like Uber love to prey on such people.

> Companies like Uber love to prey on such people.

Offering someone a job is preying? Either they want it or they don't. Either it makes them money or they don't.

You're talking like they are better off if Uber didn't offer them the job.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#34

Post by xiphias2 »

School-Cotton wrote: post #22
xiphias2 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main problem is that when the drivers accept work from Uber, they plan ahead to have the same pay years later, often buying car from mortgage. At that point the drivers have no choice but to work their ass off to be able to pay back the mortgage for lower and lower hourly net rates.

Okay, that is a fair point and perhaps there should be regulations to require Uber to disclose prominently to prospective drivers that their rate is not guaranteed. (Certainly it's already in fine print somewhere, but I'm not sure how clearly it's made to people). However, that is not the point being made by the people quoted in this article, who are instead framing it in much more general terms that I might sum up a…

My personal belief is that the most unethical thing is the banks driving up asset prices with freely printed money. With sound money workers wouldn't have to work so much to be able to afford rent.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#35

Post by Dylan16807 »

School-Cotton wrote: post #22
xiphias2 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main problem is that when the drivers accept work from Uber, they plan ahead to have the same pay years later, often buying car from mortgage. At that point the drivers have no choice but to work their ass off to be able to pay back the mortgage for lower and lower hourly net rates.

Okay, that is a fair point and perhaps there should be regulations to require Uber to disclose prominently to prospective drivers that their rate is not guaranteed. (Certainly it's already in fine print somewhere, but I'm not sure how clearly it's made to people). However, that is not the point being made by the people quoted in this article, who are instead framing it in much more general terms that I might sum up a…

Requiring a living wage can benefit employees a lot more than it hurts employers. Stopping a race to the bottom does not leave everyone unemployed. But it takes collective action to do so, because yes on an individual basis it would leave that individual unemployed. Group dynamics are different from one-on-one dynamics between one entity with power and one without.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#36

Post by b_tterc_p »

School-Cotton wrote: post #15
fucking_tragedy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Isn’t the proper solution to find another job? If more people stopped driving for ridesharing companies the prices would rise to attract them back. Instead of assuming stupidity on one party's end, why not consider that there is a rational explanation for people's behavior? A very rational explanation is that for many people, driving for Uber beats not being able to pay bills, going hungry or being homeless.

I think that's the point of the argument you're replying to. Assuming Uber drivers are rational, it means they're better off driving with Uber than they would be otherwise. In which case, why does Uber attract so much criticism? I'd understand if you criticized the general economic/social system that causes shitty jobs to be people's best option, but why criticize specific actors within it that (1) didn't create it,…

uber tends to imply greater earnings and less work than is actually required, encourages people to accumulate fixed costs in car investments, and then requires heavy hours to get the full benefits of the system.

Information is hard to organize. It’s easy to say that everyone has the potential to be economically rational but practically weighing decisions is hard.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#37

Post by ars »

fiblye wrote: post #17
School-Cotton wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really understand this argument. Uber didn't create the conditions causing these people not to be able to find better jobs. If Uber stopped "preying on" these people, would they be better off? It seems like they'd just be unemployed.

A slave owner gives an otherwise hungry man food and housing. That doesn't mean slavery is at all justifiable. Uber pays people who otherwise might not have a job at all. That doesn't mean paying them incredibly low wages is something that should be free of criticism.

> A slave owner gives an otherwise hungry man food and housing. That doesn't mean slavery is at all justifiable.

Slave by its very definition implies lack of choice by the other person.

> Uber pays people who otherwise might not have a job at all. That doesn't mean paying them incredibly low wages is something that should be free of criticism.

Yes, actually, it does mean that. That's the nature of choice.

If someone is offering you something you otherwise would not have, you don't get the right to complain that they are not giving you more.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#38

Post by b_tterc_p »

currymj wrote: post #28
School-Cotton wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's the point of the argument you're replying to. Assuming Uber drivers are rational, it means they're better off driving with Uber than they would be otherwise. In which case, why does Uber attract so much criticism? I'd understand if you criticized the general economic/social system that causes shitty jobs to be people's best option, but why criticize specific actors within it that (1) didn't create it,…

people who haven't studied economics tend to think in moral terms that employees deserve a fair wage, and that it's wrong to exploit a desperate person. there may be lots of underlying reasons for these moral intuitions.

People who have studied economics know that insufficient wages lead to violent revolution.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#39

Post by Dylan16807 »

xiphias2 wrote: post #34
School-Cotton wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, that is a fair point and perhaps there should be regulations to require Uber to disclose prominently to prospective drivers that their rate is not guaranteed. (Certainly it's already in fine print somewhere, but I'm not sure how clearly it's made to people). However, that is not the point being made by the people quoted in this article, who are instead framing it in much more general terms that I might sum up a…

My personal belief is that the most unethical thing is the banks driving up asset prices with freely printed money. With sound money workers wouldn't have to work so much to be able to afford rent.

Huh? For most people the delay from paycheck to rent payment is weeks to months, and the inflation suffered on that money is less than one percent. How would locking the amount of money affect that in any notable way?

And a housing bubble can still happen in a deflationary economy. Money can still move from the workers to the rich. The effective price goes up even if the dollar amount doesn't.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#40

Post by koolba »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #9

If I were Uber, or any ridesharing service, I'd be optimizing to pay driver's as much as possible. But that's just me.

In what world would that make business sense?

Apparently they already lose money (counting marketing costs and incentives) per ride, how can they expect to operate a going concern by striving to increase expenses?

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