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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

#91

Post by jonathanyc »

chrisseaton wrote: post #88
jonathanyc wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please read up on the NLRA and the history of unions in the US before continuing to comment. EDIT: I wonder now if the core of this misunderstanding is the difference between “to join a union” and “to unionize”? See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_unions_in_the_United_S...

Have you got any specific points? Is that article wrong? You're just repeatedly saying you think I'm wrong without saying why.

Ok, I see now—I think I was talking past you because I assumed you were also from the US. See my explanation in the comment.

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

#92

Post by sadris »

xiphias2 wrote: post #20
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.

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.

People sometimes take a loan to purchase a restaurant, only to have regulations change and make the business non-profitable.

Life is full of disappointment.

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

#93

Post by qudat »

quadcore wrote: post #48
frotak wrote: post #23

My girlfriend tried out the Instacart gig for a while as she finally got her chronic low energy and fatigue addressed through B12 shots and wanted something to occupy her and give her a little extra spending money outside of what's budgeted. That experience was absolutely demoralizing in terms of what she was able to actually make. Granted we live in a lower density city in the southeast so that result makes sense. B…

I guess they should form a union and strike.

Or just don't work for Instacart. The market will raise rates when they cannot find any runners for food.

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

#94

Post by tomjakubowski »

pishpash wrote: post #79
pmorici wrote: post #26

The IRS deduction for business vehicle use in 2019 is 58 cents per mile. So they have effectively reduced the per mile payment to the cost of operating the vehicle. Seems like they are on the verge of turning driving for Uber into a reverse mortgage for your car.

Which is what it should be no? Drivers are still paid by the minute on top of that, which in LA is 21 cents/minute according to the news, working out to $12.6/hour. Not quite $15 minimum wage, but close.

21 cents per minute that you have a passenger in your car. With Uber, but not Lyft, you might get paid a bonus to drive some distance to pick up a passenger. But time you spend adding value to the company by working as slack capacity (and slowly burning down the value of your vehicle) isn't directly compensated.

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

#95

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

tunesmith wrote: post #54

So many parallels to the music industry here. You have a vc-funded company, operating at a loss, commoditizing the "talent" (drivers/musicians), thereby conditioning the audience (passengers/listeners) to expect an unsustainable cost for the service, using that loss leader mentality to drive other solutions out of business, until they argue or take action that the talent should expect even lower rates than they've hi…

They aren't profitable because they're burning money on crap outside of matchmaking riders with drivers.

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

#96

Post by remote_phone »

ars wrote: post #90
intopieces wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're assuming that the people taking the job are fully informed, rational actors, not acting under financial duress. This is not a reasonable assumption for a near-permanent economic underclass. Your rationale could be extended outward to every adverse outcome for poor: "Well, poor people have higher rates of obesity and cancer because of their poor life choices in eating fast food and smoking." It's a convenient o…

> You're assuming that the people taking the job are fully informed, rational actors, not acting under financial duress. This is not a reasonable assumption for a near-permanent economic underclass. Sorry-not-sorry, for assuming people are not idiots. Either they have money to pay bills or they don't. It's not that complicated, and people are not idiots. > "Well, poor people have higher rates of obesity and cancer be…

Exactly. They can turn on and off the app whenever they want. There’s no contract. If they want to stop driving they can. If they want to drive for Lyft and Uber at the same time, they can. If they don’t want to drive for 6 months, they can. They can drive one trip a day and turn it off, and they can. There is complete freedom.

The only thing these people are complaining about is that they want the freedom to drive for Lyft but they want to get paid more. That’s all it is. There’s no exploitation.

But if the wages are too low, find a better job. It’s really that simple.

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

#97

Post by cdoxsey »

Lyft and Uber allow you to tip your driver. If you feel like they're not payed a sustainable wage, why not voluntarily give them more money?

I suspect a significant number of riders are pretty well off. Why not be exceedingly generous? Tip the driver 10 or 20$.

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

#98

Post by lawrenceyan »

cdoxsey wrote: post #97

Lyft and Uber allow you to tip your driver. If you feel like they're not payed a sustainable wage, why not voluntarily give them more money? I suspect a significant number of riders are pretty well off. Why not be exceedingly generous? Tip the driver 10 or 20$.

Sounds like a pretty unsustainable business model to me.

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

#99

Post by chii »

cdoxsey wrote: post #97

Lyft and Uber allow you to tip your driver. If you feel like they're not payed a sustainable wage, why not voluntarily give them more money? I suspect a significant number of riders are pretty well off. Why not be exceedingly generous? Tip the driver 10 or 20$.

I do not like the idea that tipping is required for sustainable pay.

tipping should be a bonus, for a job well done. Tipping is meant to be a reward for extra-mile service. Tipping is NOT for just merely doing the job.

By making tipping part of sustainable wage, you're just subsidising the wages that the employer should be paying. It's both unfair and unethical.

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

#100

Post by Forge36 »

empath75 wrote: post #56
tunesmith wrote: post #54

So many parallels to the music industry here. You have a vc-funded company, operating at a loss, commoditizing the "talent" (drivers/musicians), thereby conditioning the audience (passengers/listeners) to expect an unsustainable cost for the service, using that loss leader mentality to drive other solutions out of business, until they argue or take action that the talent should expect even lower rates than they've hi…

Unlike the music industry, there aren’t a whole lot of people who would just be a cab driver for free in their spare time even if there was no money in it.

I've heard many stories of drivers who do it to help keep drunk drivers of the road. There was a German Rideshare website I used (8+ years ago) that had decent popularity without requiring payment within the website. In this case I think we'd need to define "a whole lot" to try and compare the two.
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