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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

#161

Post by akudha »

remote_phone wrote: post #72
fiblye wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The idea that Lyft and Uber prey on these “people who can’t find jobs” in record low employment is laughable. There are hundreds of thousands of drivers for Lyft and Uber in California alone. If these were only those poor victims that were preyed upon by Lyft then that would be a huge number. The fact is they aren’t victims or preyed upon. They know how much they get paid and if they want to take the job, they can. I…

If they don’t want, there are plenty of other jobs out there

Maybe there are lots of jobs there, but do these jobs give the flexibility of working whenever one wants, like Uber does? In life, nothing is as simple as that. Applying the same logic, we can say if a woman is mistreated by her husband/bf, she can simply leave him. If a manager is bad, find another job. If a country is hostile to immigrants, leave and move back home or to another country. And so on. The reality is somewhere in between "just pack up and go" and "stuck indefinitely".

Uber/Lyft/Instacart etc are in fact exploiting their drivers simply because they can. The drivers aren't unionized, they aren't getting much help from government regulations (it isn't illegal yet, just immoral and unethical), so they are at the mercy of these gig economy companies.

Here is an exercise. Can you name one gig economy company that is treating its workforce well? I am trying, and failing.

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

#162

Post by abernard1 »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #103
koolba wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

If you need drivers to stay on the platform, and acquiring drivers is extremely expensive, paying them less won't help with driver retention (unless you're making them so rich they retire). If you engage in a race to the bottom on rates with your competition, you'll end up having to spend more on driver acquisition and retention. If you take care of your drivers, they will want to drive for you more frequently, and y…

I'm going to put an alternative view here.

My guess is Uber has actually done enough legwork and figured out that contrary to these sob stories in the press, there are more than enough drivers that 1) have efficient vehicles that are cheaper to operate and 2) are willing to work for that profit in quantities to cover demand.

If the rates Uber is providing drivers are so dismal they're protesting in the street, frankly, they should quit. No one is forcing drivers into a money-losing proposition. I'm especially unsympathetic given that they're paid on a per-transaction basis and there are alternative ridesharing companies out there.

Those drivers can go work for a company that charges more for rides, and passengers who care about that can choose that option. The fact that passengers currently seem unwilling to pay for that (somehow we never consider it "socially responsible" that passengers are provided cheaper service...) makes me think that will be unlikely in the short term.

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

#163

Post by burlesona »

chii wrote: post #106
Barrin92 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same with canteen workers, janitors and so forth. It's the reality of this economy without any intervention. >my heart doesn't understand how such a thing needs to happen. That's why developers, who have the economic leverage, should stand up for everyone working at their companies, including staff that isn't involved in technical work.

So would the tech workers cut 10% of their salary and gift it to those working for low pay in other roles? I think it's overwhelmingly no. The option where the company shareholders take less profit is not even on the table - and that's what needs tackling, and the only way to tackle that is via a mix of govt welfare and unions. But the cultural narrative has shifted to the right so much that even mentioning the word…

The cultural narrative has shifted to the right?

All I hear from my red-state family is how basically the world is coming to an end because the country has veered so far to the left.

I live in SF and things here always seem to be drifting leftward as well, but of course this is probably left HQ so I guess that's not surprising.

That said, some of my farthest left friends in San Francisco are convinced that some kind of extremist right-win revolution is about to happen, and one of them literally moved to Canada in fear of it.

I don't say any of this to disagree with you. Rather, I say this because I feel like something weird is going on in the world. There doesn't seem to be much consensus about what's going on around us - like people aren't living in the same reality.

As for me it seems like mostly life is just going on like it always has - but I deleted social media a while back and quit watching cable news... I think unplugging from that made me realize it's all a giant circus and a lot of people are getting roped into various factional hallucinations and sort of losing touch with reality. But I just don't get how it's become so pervasive, and it leaves me questioning how you can even know if anything is true or not.

Okay, side tangent over... carry on...

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

#164

Post by burlesona »

burger_moon wrote: post #140
chii wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So would the tech workers cut 10% of their salary and gift it to those working for low pay in other roles? I think it's overwhelmingly no. The option where the company shareholders take less profit is not even on the table - and that's what needs tackling, and the only way to tackle that is via a mix of govt welfare and unions. But the cultural narrative has shifted to the right so much that even mentioning the word…

If I gave up 10% of my salary and someone else making much less got to raise of the equivalent of my 10%, I'd do it in a heart beat.

Isn't that just called charity?

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

#165

Post by gumby »

sausagebro wrote: post #136
mdorazio wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you actually have numbers to support that assertion? I have a hard time believing it.

Have you ever received a free uber or lyft ride? I was in college when they were blowing up, and me, and each of my friends, probably used around 500$ of free rides each..

Here in Palo Alto I get offered rides in the middle of the night for less than a dollar! (I do sometimes get a pass). I pay Uber less than they pay their driver.

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

#166

Post by akudha »

chii wrote: post #119
fucking_tragedy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So then nothing here is Uber's fault, and Uber shouldn't get any blame. Interesting that this is the line of thought that you decided to follow and refute, despite the fact that I never claimed that Uber was at fault for those particular problems a person may face. I'm not really a fan of engaging strawmen. It's entirely possible that for some people, driving for Uber is a rational choice. It is also entirely possi…

How can choosing uber rationally as a driver, and be taken advantage of by uber both be true at the same time? If a driver chose uber rationally, that means they have considered all their options, and this is their best one. Therefore, uber is not undervaluing their labour, nor is taking advantage (where 'taking advantage' means to trick or coerce through any means to lead to the person to choose uber rather than the…

How can choosing uber rationally as a driver, and be taken advantage of by uber both be true at the same time?

Someone might rationally decide to drive for Uber, not because that is their best option, but because that could be their least worst option, among a list of shitty options.

If Uber and Instacart are my only options, and I decide to go with Uber, I am still making a rational choice. But only because I think Instacart is worse than Uber. That doesn't mean these companies aren't taking advantage of me, it just means one is less shitty than the other.

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

#167

Post by djeikyb »

qudat wrote: post #93
quadcore wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's what a strike is! The workers stop until the bosses acknowledge market value.

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

#168

Post by shdh »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #103
koolba wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

If you need drivers to stay on the platform, and acquiring drivers is extremely expensive, paying them less won't help with driver retention (unless you're making them so rich they retire). If you engage in a race to the bottom on rates with your competition, you'll end up having to spend more on driver acquisition and retention. If you take care of your drivers, they will want to drive for you more frequently, and y…

Why did you assume it's expensive to obtain drivers?

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

#169

Post by ez76 »

BenjiWiebe wrote: post #149
nradov wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I take a Lyft or Uber ride the vehicle is frequently showing some sort of warning light or overdue maintenance indicator on the dashboard.

Speaking as a tire/lube shop technician, a large percentage of the general populace has a warning light of some sort on at any time... Maybe %20 (that we see, if course) in our coverage area, which is a 20k population city and the surrounding rural area.

How often, would you guess, is it a bad sensor vs. an actual vehicle operational issue?

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

#170

Post by mnm1 »

auber wrote: post #115

I did Uber driving a while ago. I just called Uber support and they told me that my pay in the Bay Area is now 68 cents per mile and 29 cents per minute. In November it was 99 cents per mile and 18 cents per minute. I’ve randomly pulled up a ride I gave in November in which I took a guy 3.8 miles taking 17 minutes. Back then I was paid 8.5 and if I did it today I would have been paid 9.1. Shorter trips would of cours…

I think the cancellation fees uber in particular charges are bullshit and I always dispute them with the credit card if uber doesn't give me credit. Every single one has been for a driver taking a trip that's way too far away, estimated wait time of two to three minutes becoming ten to fifteen minutes or more. If the driver who knows they are taking this trip and won't get there for over ten minutes but the eta is three minutes, why should I pay a cancellation fee when I finally cancel after waiting five minutes? That is total bullshit. Often the driver hasn't even finished his previous trip. I don't know whose fault it is, the driver's or uber's. The software should not allow a driver to take a trip with a short eta knowing that it'll take four or five times longer, sometimes before he even finishes his previous trip, but since it does, the driver should be aware of how far away he is and not take a trip he knows he's going to be way over the eta for. In this scenario, everyone loses.
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