Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California • Hacker News Board

Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California

#101

Post by senkora » Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 4:17 PM UTC

jeffbee wrote: post #80

mayneack wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's surely what they're doing. Of course, they probably chose a bad time for this. If those customers are social distancing, probably fewer of them will be inconvenienced than before. I share one car with two people, so used uber a lot pre-pandemic, but haven't needed one at all since March.

Uber is already effectively shut down in the East Bay. I idly wondered the other day and it was going to be 20 minutes before a car got to my origin in Berkeley.

Is that not normal? That’s been my typical experience with using Uber/Lyft outside of urban centers.

Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California

#102

Post by gruez » Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 4:17 PM UTC

akiselev wrote: post #82

TuringNYC wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm conflicted about this because i believe drivers deserve benefits but also uber should not be forced to pay full benefits for someone who drives just a bit on a weekend night. Where is the line of hours driven until you get benefits? I dont know, but I think that is the wrong question. The right question is -- why is this forced onto Uber rather than being a question of national healthcare. If we offered national…

> Where is the line? I dont know, but I think that is the wrong question. 40 hours according to the California Department of Industrial Relations and 30 hours according to the Affordable Care Act. > The right question is -- why is this forced onto Uber rather than being a question of national healthcare. It's not just healthcare. It's also about unemployment insurance, paid time off, 401k contributions/matching, how…

>40 hours according to the California Department of Industrial Relations and 30 hours according to the Affordable Care Act.

So uber can avoid this requirement by only allowing drivers to work for 40/30 hours per week?

Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California

#103

Post by gamblor956 » Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 4:18 PM UTC

TuringNYC wrote: post #68

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #2

Seems like a fair outcome to me. If they can't operate within the law, they shouldn't operate.

I'm conflicted about this because i believe drivers deserve benefits but also uber should not be forced to pay full benefits for someone who drives just a bit on a weekend night. Where is the line of hours driven until you get benefits? I dont know, but I think that is the wrong question. The right question is -- why is this forced onto Uber rather than being a question of national healthcare. If we offered national…

The right question is -- why is this forced onto Uber rather than being a question of national healthcare.

Because one political party has spent the last 4 decades fighting to prevent "national healthcare," forcing states and businesses to deal with it.

Hell, they've spent the last 10 years trying to demolish a law that the overwhelming majority of voters support, including those within their own party.

Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California

#104

Post by KKKKkkkk1 » Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 4:18 PM UTC

The Uber situation seems to be echoing the deregulation of the CA energy market [0]. First, hopes of new efficiencies through unleashed market forces, then bad-faith actors (Enron), then clusterfuck, then taxpayers left worse off.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_electricity_crisis

Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California

#105

Post by typest » Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 4:19 PM UTC

senkora wrote: post #101

jeffbee wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber is already effectively shut down in the East Bay. I idly wondered the other day and it was going to be 20 minutes before a car got to my origin in Berkeley.

Is that not normal? That’s been my typical experience with using Uber/Lyft outside of urban centers.

Well, this IS an urban center, so no, it’s not normal.

Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California

#106

Post by ianleeclark » Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 4:20 PM UTC

XMPPwocky wrote: post #56

ghaff wrote: post #43

Maybe I'm cynical but "temporarily shut down" sounds like a formula to: - Inconvenience a certain class of urbanites who have grown accustomed to being driven around in the hopes that they - Complain loudly to their representatives and other governmental officials in the hope that - The state will reverse this judgement

Which is, of course, something Uber's done several times before. It's hardly cynical.

I lived through this in Austin. It's happening again.

Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California

#107

Post by michaelt » Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 4:20 PM UTC

ericmay wrote: post #17

ceejayoz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Uber hasn't been preparing internally for the possibility of losing this suit, they've been irresponsible in the hopes that California would go "oh shit, they're gonna shoot the hostage".

Well, I'm sure they have. They fundamentally disagree with the outcome, and so they will just not operate in California. Nobody will because the business model won't allow you to pay people enough money without charging too much. I also fundamentally agree with Uber and others here. They created a platform for someone to make a few bucks. If I sell something on Etsy they don't have to all of a sudden pay for my healt…

> Nobody will because the business model won't allow you to pay people enough money without charging too much.

Do you mean to say that, after expenses and benefits are taken into account, an Uber driver working 40 hours a week makes less than minimum wage?

Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California

#108

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 4:20 PM UTC

aqme28 wrote: post #91

ghaff wrote: post #43

Maybe I'm cynical but "temporarily shut down" sounds like a formula to: - Inconvenience a certain class of urbanites who have grown accustomed to being driven around in the hopes that they - Complain loudly to their representatives and other governmental officials in the hope that - The state will reverse this judgement

Uber isn't the only company who provides this commodity. If Lyft continues to operate, that certain class of urbanites will switch to Lyft before they complain to their reps.

[deleted]

Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California

#109

Post by 8jy89hui » Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 4:20 PM UTC

schalab wrote: post #94

Just make the whole service distributed. Cut out Uber. Connect me directly to a driver through open source software. Person A exists who is willing to drive from point a to point b for x price. I am willing to pay x price. An open source software exists to connect us both in real time. Who will the government regulate in this scenario?

I think that you’re underestimating just how much infrastructure goes into running something like Uber. A friend of mine does ML work at Grab (South East asia ride hailing company) and the amount of data processing that goes into getting a good fast and cheap ride is incredible.

It might be possible to somehow distribute it and pay people at home for spare compute time, but it would still run into latency and spike problems.

Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California

#110

Post by ianlevesque » Wed, Aug 12, 2020, 4:20 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #102

akiselev wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Where is the line? I dont know, but I think that is the wrong question. 40 hours according to the California Department of Industrial Relations and 30 hours according to the Affordable Care Act. > The right question is -- why is this forced onto Uber rather than being a question of national healthcare. It's not just healthcare. It's also about unemployment insurance, paid time off, 401k contributions/matching, how…

>40 hours according to the California Department of Industrial Relations and 30 hours according to the Affordable Care Act. So uber can avoid this requirement by only allowing drivers to work for 40/30 hours per week?

I see you’re familiar with retail jobs.