I'm going to go ahead and assume there's an app that aggregates Uber/Lyft/whatever and just gets you the closest driver regardless of network. Uber's service goes from being a premium product to a replaceable commodity in a blink.
Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions
31–40 of 196 posts
Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions
#32The really interesting story here is that if drivers are so willing to switch networks for better opportunities, there isn't a compelling reason for Uber to have the valuation that they do. The value of Uber isn't really in the tech or the app - it's in the networks of riders and drivers in each city. If each of those can be aggregated into some other kind of service, where Uber, Lyft, etc. are just providers of paym…
> if drivers are so willing to switch networks for better opportunities, there isn't a compelling reason for Uber to have the valuation that they do. There are two sides to the story: If customers are so enamored with Uber that they wouldn't consider Lyft or the other services, Uber will still be in control. EDIT TO CLARIFY: Did not mean to suggest that customers are indeed enamored with Uber. Only wanted to point ou…
There is absolutely a large chunk of the rides-for-hire passenger population that is entirely mercenary in its affections. Some people are loyal Uber passengers or loyal Lyft passengers or whatever, but a lot of people are happy to go where the bargains are.
Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
And anti-statists should take notice of how many improvements in working condition did require regulation, and how the Uber/Lyft market has special features (particularly, the fact that the primary service being provided to the end customer is provided entirely by one worker using their own capital and that the fact that what Uber/Lyft provide is essentially a matchmaking service where there is very low friction for…
What's happening right now to Uber and Lyft is a metaphor for how the free market works. You've touched on a few interesting points yourself: "provided entirely by one worker" : this is like admitting that the problem comes from injecting hierarchy into the system, which in a free market can only happen voluntarily if both parties benefit from it, but in a statist society is imposed or restricted by the economy plann…
> every market is a matchmaking service between the seller and the buyer
No, markets are not matchmaking services. Markets are places where people make matches, matchmaking services are a service that is sold in the market. Notably, its the core of the service Uber and Lyft provide, and its low friction to switch, as a user or supplier, between them. This is a special characteristic of the kind of service Uber and Lyft are selling.
> "which is not true in many other industries" : how can we know?
Because we can readily observe that what many other industries are selling is not matchmaking services between single-worker-provided services and purchasers of those services with low switching friction for workers because local competition exists which can readily absorb additional workers because there is little capital dependency for the service being provided that isn't carried with the worker and there is low friction for consumers to switch between service providers.
> You're saying deregulation doesn't work in other industries because they're already regulated.
No, I'm not saying either that deregulation doesn't work in other industries, or that to the extent it doesn't its because they're already regulated. I'm saying the specific features of the market in which Uber and Lyft are operating which provide significant leverage to their drivers to improve their labor conditions by leveraging competition among potential employers does not exist in most other markets, and so is not simply generalizable into "improvement in working conditions come through competition not regulation" (and that, additionally, history provides plenty of examples of improvement in working conditions that came through regulation.)
It certainly illustrates how workers can, in certain market conditions, leverage competition between services through which their labor is marketed to improve labor conditions, and its certainly worth understanding for that value.
Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions
#34I almost hope that Lyft is orchestrating all of this behind the scenes. It would be such an Uber-move.
BuzzFeed is almost entirely "sponsored" content so it wouldn't be too surprising if this article was a PR move.
Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions
#35Statists, take notice of how improvements in work conditions come from competition and not from regulation. They're better off now than through the monopoly of taxi medallions.
Why am I being modded down?
"Statist" is usually a derogatory term among libertarians/ancaps, so that's not a great way to open up a productive discussion.
Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions
#36Statists, take notice of how improvements in work conditions come from competition and not from regulation. They're better off now than through the monopoly of taxi medallions.
Wake me when they drive on privately owned roads instead of capitalizing on a taxpayer-funded asset.
Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions
#37Statists, take notice of how improvements in work conditions come from competition and not from regulation. They're better off now than through the monopoly of taxi medallions.
Why am I being modded down?
Because you're making a brazen libertarian point in a thread on a tech discussion board where it's not all that warranted. If this were a discussion of public policy it could be different. I chimed in with that stuff when Net Neutrality came up, for instance. Otherwise it just gets overbearing. That said, I also got voted down there, I think libertarians are losing ground on HN.
Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
> if drivers are so willing to switch networks for better opportunities, there isn't a compelling reason for Uber to have the valuation that they do. There are two sides to the story: If customers are so enamored with Uber that they wouldn't consider Lyft or the other services, Uber will still be in control. EDIT TO CLARIFY: Did not mean to suggest that customers are indeed enamored with Uber. Only wanted to point ou…
There is absolutely a large chunk of the rides-for-hire passenger population that is entirely mercenary in its affections. Some people are loyal Uber passengers or loyal Lyft passengers or whatever, but a lot of people are happy to go where the bargains are.
This, exactly. And more critically, because of the non-mediated nature of the interaction (that is, Uber is an absent middleman for the actual customer experience), drivers themselves can push passengers to other services. For example, a new arrival to the space could offer drivers a promotion for each new passenger-customer they recruit with a code. Driver is driving for Uber, hands passenger a card with the new service info and a $20-off code so they try it. No stickiness at all.
Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions
#39I'm going to go ahead and assume there's an app that aggregates Uber/Lyft/whatever and just gets you the closest driver regardless of network. Uber's service goes from being a premium product to a replaceable commodity in a blink.
Well, Uber, Lyft, and whoever will fight such an aggregator for obvious reasons, and attempt to prevent them from accessing their APIs.
Re: Uber Drivers “Strike” and Switch to Lyft Over Fares and Conditions
#40I'm going to go ahead and assume there's an app that aggregates Uber/Lyft/whatever and just gets you the closest driver regardless of network. Uber's service goes from being a premium product to a replaceable commodity in a blink.
Not sure about an app, but there's a cool site that does it - http://www.whatsthefare.com/