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Uber Eats removes delivery fee for Black-owned restaurants

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Re: Uber Eats removes delivery fee for Black-owned restaurants

#61

Post by Nextgrid »

bww wrote: post #32

Setting aside the obvious PR opportunism, how would something like this actually work? Does Uber currently collect data on the race of the people who own restaurants they deliver from? Is data like this publicly available somehow? Is this data something they're going to start collecting to facilitate this feature? Does that sound like data it would be good for Uber to have? Knowing what we know about Uber this all se…

I wonder how this will work from a legal point of view. This is a blatant, obvious example of racism, they aren't even attempting to be subtle about it.

Re: Uber Eats removes delivery fee for Black-owned restaurants

#62

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

jacobush wrote: post #51
SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And responsible managers do. Unfortunately, many others conceptualize legal as a department to help them fight the law rather than a department to help them follow it.

I don't think their move here is illegal. I think it's ill-advised, bad PR, will backfire and probably predatory on the group they are ostensibly trying to help. (Maybe even without them even understanding why.) That all said, I was almost going to downvote your comment, but it made remember how much Uber actually has made a business model out of breaking the law in every country they are active in. Move fast and bre…

Can you go into more detail? I've seen other people hint at that perspective elsewhere in the thread, and I want to understand it, because right now it's just completely mystifying to me. Uber Eats is now charging people extra to order from some restaurants depending on the race of their owners; how is that not a straightforward violation of antidiscrimination law?

Re: Uber Eats removes delivery fee for Black-owned restaurants

#63

Post by tmpz22 »

Nextgrid wrote: post #23

This is disgusting virtue-signaling from an awful company. If Uber really wanted to help the Black community (and other minorities) how about actually treating their delivery drivers (a lot of which come from low-class backgrounds and part of minorities) fairly with decent wages and benefits? How about a fair, transparent fee structure? As others have pointed out, the delivery fee is just one of many fees, the rest o…

I recommend all users of Uber eats and co read some of the large subreddits for gig economy and uber eats workers on reddit. It’s pretty telling just how awful these companies are... and though it’s still relatively new these announcements for affirmative action are leading to a lot of pushback that some would identify as hurting the cause rather then helping it.

Re: Uber Eats removes delivery fee for Black-owned restaurants

#64

Post by derrick_jensen »

HaloZero wrote: post #6
lucasyvas wrote: post #2

While a wonderful gesture, something about this feels a bit... tangential to the real issue to me in a way that's distracting. Am I off base here? It feels like it's leaning toward opportunistic.

It's virtue signaling 100% from a corporation. But w/e. I won't consider Uber to be "good corporate citizen" for it. But it helps a bunch of small restaurants in a time period where margins are tight so net positive maybe? At least they're putting money down on it vs just issuing some statement.

Killer Mike had a documentary on Netflix (?) about black life in America, and mentioned that money flows out of the black community far faster than any other minority in America. If we assume that Uber is acting in good faith, which I have no reason not to believe, then what else can they do?

Re: Uber Eats removes delivery fee for Black-owned restaurants

#66

Post by ikeyany »

atlantacrackers wrote: post #46
berdario wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't write inflammatory comments that spread misunderstanding and disinformation. I'm very skeptical of this move, its sustainability in the medium term, and I overall really dislike Uber as a business, but equality is NOT the point. Society is already unequal, you cannot wish it away with a magic wand. The way to address inequality, is to think in terms of equity: http://betterbikeshare.org/2019/10/24/equity…

Seems like Uber is thinks black businesses are not capable of competing in a free market without a handout. Based on your definition, it is explicit racism.

How do we live in a free market? Corporations get bailed out all the time for poor business decisions.

Re: Uber Eats removes delivery fee for Black-owned restaurants

#67

Post by Fargren »

atlantacrackers wrote: post #57
Kaze404 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason you think that is because you're assuming the free market is 1) free and 2) treats everyone equally, which is not the case.

Treated equally in a food ordering service? Show me where it says “restaurant owned by a black person” in the Uber app allowing people to discriminate when ordering food.

Quoting a message from this thread:

> If you are black, you are less likely to get a small business loan, and if so you are likely to get worse rates [1]. They also are encountering more resistance to accessing COVID-19 bailout funds [2]. These are just two examples specific to being a business owner, not to mention the systemic racism they face as individuals.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/16/black-owned.... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/business/minority-busines....

Re: Uber Eats removes delivery fee for Black-owned restaurants

#68

Post by Orou »

jacobush wrote: post #51
SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And responsible managers do. Unfortunately, many others conceptualize legal as a department to help them fight the law rather than a department to help them follow it.

I don't think their move here is illegal. I think it's ill-advised, bad PR, will backfire and probably predatory on the group they are ostensibly trying to help. (Maybe even without them even understanding why.) That all said, I was almost going to downvote your comment, but it made remember how much Uber actually has made a business model out of breaking the law in every country they are active in. Move fast and bre…

> I don't think their move here is illegal.

This seems illegal to me, but I really don't know. What are the laws surrounding race-based company promotions/discounts?

Re: Uber Eats removes delivery fee for Black-owned restaurants

#69

Post by jmull »

Comments here show a lot of people don’t really know what racism is.

Now is an important time to learn, so please read.

Racism if the belief that race is the basis for determining that one group of people is superior to another group.

Specifically, it is NOT acknowledging that their are differences in the circumstances and opportunities people have based on race. Nor, necessarily, treating people differently based on acknowledging those differences.

Regarding Uber Eats... this policy isn’t racist simply because it treats black-owned restaurants differently.

Lesson over. The rest is just my opinion.

Uber eats’ policy it is divisive. It’s also tone-deaf (how does this help black people in their struggle to be treated like everyone else?). And —- I can’t know for sure from the information I have —- but I suspect racism lead to this poorly conceived policy, because of how divisive it is and how condescending it feels.

Re: Uber Eats removes delivery fee for Black-owned restaurants

#70

Post by [deleted] »

kepler1 wrote: post #11

Well, this is somewhat meaningful in that they do something that actually costs something. But the principle is wrong. And, will they do this for other minorities when they suffer discrimination at the hands of the state? How about poor people? "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

[deleted]
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