Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've had Uber drivers pick me up and refuse to go to the part of the city I wanted to go to... complete pain in the ass (and also racist in this specific case). Uber offered me $5 for my trouble each time, which is... very Uber.
How is an area racist?
Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California
681–690 of 887 posts
Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California
#682Earlier quoted context omitted.
But was Uber unfair and unsafe? That's very hard to argue, especially when compared to the prior reality rather than a theoretical perfection.
Safe and maybe fairer for consumers yes, not so much for the employees. That's why they are getting ruled against with employment law. I can think of quite a few other businesses who would love to toss out all employee protections and benefits. I'm sure it would slightly lower prices and improve efficiency here and there. Is that worth the cost though?...
The taxi industry has existed for a long time with a lot of the regulations that people are trying to force onto Uber. But drivers flocked from taxis to Ubers as soon as that option became available. That suggests that at least for those who've opted into Uber, Uber is preferable. Reducing the availability of that option (which is what these rules will cause) is going to hurt them, because the fact that they're doing Uber means that it was their best available choice.
Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California
#683Earlier quoted context omitted.
We're just regressing back to black people not being able to get a taxi.
Does Uber show a picture of the rider before they accept or just the location?
If the location is a low-income, racially segregated neighborhood, it's functionally the same thing (at least when it comes to not being able to get a cab). This was an issue before Uber even existed, since you'd need to get a cab dispatched to you if you lived in one of those places.
Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California
#684Earlier quoted context omitted.
It takes some seriously bizarre mental gymnastics to call Uber/Lyft "marketplaces" when they don't provide any of the hallmarks of a marketplace, such as the option to select between multiple "stores" (aka drivers) or let drivers compete by offering their own prices. Even more importantly, with an actual marketplace, you don't transact with the marketplace--you transact with the stores. And with respect to your Apple…
No, the Apple analogy is entirely accurate. Apple is in the music business. But it's not in the business of making music, it's in the business of selling music. Apple is in the music business in the same vein that a record shop is in the music business. Uber is in the personal transportation business, at a broader high level. It's in the business of operating a market for rides. Just like how a record store doesn't a…
We agree that Apple is just selling music, not making it. We disagree on how analogy that applies to Uber.
On its 10K, Uber identifies "gross bookings" as its primary revenue stream. Not "net bookings" or "commissions" or "marketplace fees." Gross bookings. Meaning that it treats all of the income from a ride as its own income, meaning that it's primary business activity is providing transportation services. The same is true for Lyft.
If they want to claim to be technology companies that only make their money from marketplace fees/commissions, they're free to do so but they'll need to change their financial and legal filings to match (and possibly their fare structures as well, since there's a mismatch between what riders pay and what drivers actually get). The reason they haven't done so is because that amount would be a lot smaller than the gross bookings number, but they can't have it both ways.
Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California
#685Earlier quoted context omitted.
I want to point out, it is possible for government to over-regulate a business model out of financial viability. Employees can and often will push for unreasonable compensation or protections. You may argue the model can regress to essentially taxis. But realize that taxis work due to artificial supply side restrictions generally using a medallion system and strict limits on numbers. This is fundamentally different f…
I do agree, it’s not an easy problem. But I think in the case of Uber it’s beyond debate that drivers, as an overall class, are not better off “having the freedom” to work under Uber’s (or other firm’s) poor conditions. I’d say the same thing of Amazon warehouse workers too. The conditions of these employment agreements should become legally not possible, so that workers don’t become effectively indentured servants t…
Beyond debate by whom? Are you a driver? It is highly debatable whether the conditions are poor or that drivers do not want this kind of job vs. say, working at McDonald's.
Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California
#686Maybe 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
At this point, Uber is acting childish. They refuse to play by the rules, and opt to take their ball and go home. What is it with SV companies and petty schoolyard tier drama like this? Just follow the damn law.
Seems entirely reasonable to me. Uber and Lyft pulled out of Austin for more than a year until Texas overturned the regulations Austin put in place.
Business have the right to decide if playing a market is worth it or not.
Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California
#687Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's going to depend by area. The last time I tried to use Uber to get a ride from the airport, I had several drivers accept, then call me - "I'm all the way in midtown, it'll take me 45 minutes to get to you, you probably want to cancel this." The incentives for drivers have always been fucked. I'd rather the drivers not accept my ride than try to play a weird game of chicken to get me to cancel when I'm try…
I never had that at the airport but my contingency plan for the times when drivers decided not to show in an obvious attempt to get me to cancel was to pull up the other ride sharing app and then use that, and leave the original one running.
Have you ever had them both eventually show up?
Re: Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California
#688Earlier quoted context omitted.
AB5 imposes an ABC test on businesses after the precedent set by Dynamex [1]. The specific point of contention the judge has is the B of the ABC - that is whether drivers 'perform work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business'. Uber argues it is a technology company first, and drives/delivers second, whereas the judge argues the opposite. Convincing arguments can be made for both sides. The mo…
So if Adorama sells on amazon.com, does adorama the corporation become an employee of amazon? If the separation on that mindfuck is 'register a corp / LLC', then what prevents drivers making an LLC to drive for uber?
I think you might mean this as a "gotcha" but it is the correct way to move forward, for both individuals and the nation. Incorporation allows the kind of formalization that the government prefers, and that point the government is much more willing to recognize an independent supplier.