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The Drivers Cooperative

drivers.coop

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Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#41

Post by TaylorAlexander »

gonehome wrote: post #31
tomdell wrote: post #2

It’s encouraging that initiatives like this seem to be popping up more often - co-operatives of workers looking to cut out corporate middlemen. It will be an uphill climb, but I hope this is the future. The technical moats of a lot of recently minted tech companies don’t seem to be so great that they can’t be overcome with time and open source work. The inertia and efficiency that comes with scale will be harder to c…

Do others have better experiences with co-ops than I do? I know people love REI, but whenever I go in there to buy anything that requires someone (ski boots, skis, work on skis) - it sucks. There's never anyone available, it often takes up to an hour or more to get helped or waiting in line. Sometimes I have to leave and come back later. Last time I gave up and ordered everything online. It's not like it's crazy pack…

I've not had any trouble finding help at REI, but it sounds like perhaps you go more often than I do.

The point of the co-op is that it is much better for the worker. There's no inherent reason why a co-op would need to have any different level of customer service than a corporation. My personal worst customer service experience is at Home Depot for example. I had to wait 45 minutes to get a 4 foot length of hose cut, something that would have been under 5 minutes at my local hardware store (and so I go to the local shop now).

Ideally many stores would be co-ops and they could compete on price, quality, customer service etc like any other business.

Perhaps you're satisfied with the customer experience at Uber, but the situation for drivers seems pretty exploitative. If I can get similar service and the workers get a fair deal, I'd be much happier choosing that.

Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#42

Post by dbuder »

CameronNemo wrote: post #6
tomdell wrote: post #2

It’s encouraging that initiatives like this seem to be popping up more often - co-operatives of workers looking to cut out corporate middlemen. It will be an uphill climb, but I hope this is the future. The technical moats of a lot of recently minted tech companies don’t seem to be so great that they can’t be overcome with time and open source work. The inertia and efficiency that comes with scale will be harder to c…

Is Uber still operating at a loss? Hard to compete with that, even accounting for the 20% tax.

Only from spending big on marketing and lobbying.

Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#43

Post by hkt »

CameronNemo wrote: post #23
mannerheim wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber invested a lot of money into self-driving cars. Presumably a coop isn't spending money on automating away their workers.

That is actually an interesting point. Why would I, as a driver, fund research and development aimed at making my skills worthless?

Drivers don't have an incentive, but car manufacturers do. The dream for Uber was a robofleet of driverless cars, which can still happen; it'll be General Motors getting into the taxi trade if such a thing ever became feasible.

Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#44

Post by SergeAx »

xiphias2 wrote: post #13
beefield wrote: post #8

One of the most amazing things to me is that a couple of large hotel chains can't come up with a hotel reservation coop that would compete/throw out with bookin.com et al. If you worry about competition, just found two or three competing coops and be member of them all. SEO? If most hotels are nowhere but in the coop platforms, how can google not display them at top?

Mariott Bonvoy chain has member rates for a reason, and they are great, although they could be more predictable so that I could search on booking.com and know the member pricing.

I never saw any "great" member rates via Bonvoy, they are typically just 5% lower than the street price. And in exchange I should surround my ability to choose from all other competitors. Also, they will not allow mw to reclaim any points/benefits for stays booked via agents. It's understandable, but looks extremely cheap.

Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#45

Post by xiphias2 »

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #16
xiphias2 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mariott Bonvoy chain has member rates for a reason, and they are great, although they could be more predictable so that I could search on booking.com and know the member pricing.

Can you tell us a bit more about your experience with them? And costs?

My favourite hotel with them with value/price with member rate was this Ritz Carlton in Portugal (less than 200 USD/night for standard room):

https://www.ritzcarlton.com/es/hotels/europe/penha-longa#HOT...

If you use their site, they give you some money that you can use to eat at their pricey, but amazing restaurants (also 2 of the hotel's restaurants has Michelin star, but I haven't tried those yet).

Their swimming pool / jacuzzi is bad, but the nature, the castle and the room is great.

Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#46

Post by rPlayer6554 »

fshbbdssbbgdd wrote: post #32
VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #25

I'm going to give this a real try. I live in Brooklyn Heights, NYC. My GF is having a birthday party/gala in Harlem at 140th and Broadway. I'm going to try this for traveling to Kerri's birthday party.

Yo, why are you broadcasting these details, how many strangers do you want to show up at her party?

Should I bring drinks? Or should I bring my C manual signed by Dennis Richie for some fun party discussion?...never mind I'll bring both. I can't wait for an engaging discussion on the pros and cons of ANSI C!!!!

Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#47

Post by xiphias2 »

SergeAx wrote: post #44
xiphias2 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mariott Bonvoy chain has member rates for a reason, and they are great, although they could be more predictable so that I could search on booking.com and know the member pricing.

I never saw any "great" member rates via Bonvoy, they are typically just 5% lower than the street price. And in exchange I should surround my ability to choose from all other competitors. Also, they will not allow mw to reclaim any points/benefits for stays booked via agents. It's understandable, but looks extremely cheap.

Sure, I understand it, I also first look at the hotels to go, but I go to a lot of reserves, and the best ones are quite often Ritz Carlton or Four Seaons. Four Seasons don't have member rates though.

Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#48

Post by anticristi »

beefield wrote: post #8

One of the most amazing things to me is that a couple of large hotel chains can't come up with a hotel reservation coop that would compete/throw out with bookin.com et al. If you worry about competition, just found two or three competing coops and be member of them all. SEO? If most hotels are nowhere but in the coop platforms, how can google not display them at top?

I always wondered why airlines are not pilot-owned.

Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#49

Post by afarrell »

gonehome wrote: post #31
tomdell wrote: post #2

It’s encouraging that initiatives like this seem to be popping up more often - co-operatives of workers looking to cut out corporate middlemen. It will be an uphill climb, but I hope this is the future. The technical moats of a lot of recently minted tech companies don’t seem to be so great that they can’t be overcome with time and open source work. The inertia and efficiency that comes with scale will be harder to c…

Do others have better experiences with co-ops than I do? I know people love REI, but whenever I go in there to buy anything that requires someone (ski boots, skis, work on skis) - it sucks. There's never anyone available, it often takes up to an hour or more to get helped or waiting in line. Sometimes I have to leave and come back later. Last time I gave up and ordered everything online. It's not like it's crazy pack…

Was that true pre-pandemic?

Re: The Drivers Cooperative

#50

Post by throwaway2a02 »

> While Uber and Lyft make their money for Wall Street and Silicon Valley investors, we will be a co-operative. So any profits will go back to the drivers.

Can't they set it up as a non-profit? What almost always happens in these cases is that most of shares are owned by the first few workers, and ultimately a small group will control the whole business (at which point they will obviously won't drive for the app anymore). So it will inevitably turn into another Uber/Lyft this way.

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