Kind of disappointed that the author neglected to discuss how the $9.34/hr she earned as an Uber driver compares to her salary as a "senior staff writer".
I was an undercover Uber driver
101–110 of 170 posts
Re: I was an undercover Uber driver
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
the neoliberal project as organized by the various branches that sprouted from the mont pelerin society have had much more concrete impact on policy for the last 30 years than rand's acolytes alone. they're from the same tradition as many of rand's beliefs but they're the apparatus that engineered the neoliberal order.
Yeah, I was probably over-broad in what I said, in the following sense. Ayn Rand has been the only moral defender of capitalism. On Mount Pelerin: > Its founders included Friedrich Hayek, Karl Popper, Ludwig von Mises, George Stigler, and Milton Friedman. How many of those guys come up on TV and in politics today? None of them.
The only reason Ayn Rand ever comes up is because she has vague name recognition and the Democrats use her to take easy cheap-shots. They do the same thing with Koch Industries. In reality, Koch Industries' alleged influence is greatly exaggerated. The economists listed above are all academic giants compared to Rand.
In most parts of Latin America, the names Friedman and Hayek are far more likely to be recognized than Rand. And rightfully so. Unlike Rand, they advised governments. Brutal dictatorships mostly.
Re: I was an undercover Uber driver
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
>The way they treat the drivers is pretty horrendous I keep hearing this, and it's ... confusing. I mean maybe Uber's really nasty to drivers, I guess, but if it is, then what are all these Uber drivers doing ? It takes all of ... what, like 45 seconds to download Lyft? If Uber is so bad, why don't all the drivers just switch? I don't know enough about the economics of any particular driver's situation to know how ma…
i'd bet most uber drivers would quit if they hadn't financed vehicles they can't afford without driving for uber
That's a pretty interesting point, and one that could be material. Does anybody have any data on the percentage of Uber drivers that have financed their cars through Uber, or what the "oops, I need to get out of this mess now" terms are in those financings?
I don't have any and am curious - my mind might change depending on what those numbers look like. If it's all a big bait-and-switch and then you're stuck to it because you can't get out of the car you just bought, well, that's a different story than the way I've seen it to date. Anybody with info on this?
Re: I was an undercover Uber driver
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
> you can't deny that drivers get absolutely shafted Actually you can. I think the simplest argument is the best one: They choose to do this voluntarily, every single day they drive.
Just like workers in sweatshops and factories in countries like Indonesia and China have a choice to not work for a few dollars per day in dangerous conditions producing textiles for your $200 sneakers and smartphone components for your $1000 iPhone or Android device? The people working in those deplorable conditions are doing so voluntarily, right? Just like the homeless guy digging through the trash on Market St in…
> The people working in those deplorable conditions are doing so voluntarily, right?
They actually are, and if you ask them then can explain why they chose it. These factory jobs are usually very sought after, and has lifted millions from extreme poverty. I suspect you have little idea how harsh third world poverty actually is.
This is a good overview: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15kristof.html?_r=...
> Just like the homeless guy digging through the trash on Market St in San Francisco has the choice to not be homeless
That's very different. He can choose whether to dig for trash, but not directly whether to be homeless. You can choose your actions, but not end results.
He is also fairly likely to be mentally incapable to make rational decisions. Meanwhile, the Asian factory workers you mention are quite capable and responsible adults. As are the vast majority of American Uber drivers.
Re: I was an undercover Uber driver
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
The entire economic system is built around people trying to get the best deal possible for themselves. You can try and paint that as inhumane and abusive... Wow -- you're so damn close to the moment of insight, and yet so far.
And the irony is that people like yourself, chasing phantoms of unfairness in the free market, support the extension and entrenchment of coercive governments, an institution which is and always will be eminently corruptible, an institution whose history is a litany of abuse and overreach.
Absolutism in any direction here is folly. Without antitrust law capitalism becomes oligarchy.
Re: I was an undercover Uber driver
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
> you can't deny that drivers get absolutely shafted Actually you can. I think the simplest argument is the best one: They choose to do this voluntarily, every single day they drive.
I disagree. Uber employs extremely deceptive advertising to recruit drivers and encourages them to do things like buy new cars then turns around and cuts the amount drivers get paid. This has the effect of totally screwing them over. It's a pretty exploitative situation for people who actually rely on it for income to pay their living expenses.
Can you show some examples of this advertising?
Re: I was an undercover Uber driver
#107A few months ago when I was in Seattle for work, I caught Uber everywhere. I had so many conversations with Uber drivers about why they drove for Uber, how much money they made and why they weren't doing something else. Needless to say, unless I felt legitimately fearful for my life (which rarely ever happened) I would always rate 5 stars. I realised a lot of these Uber drivers (usually migrants with broken English)…
> Aside: Anyone else find the article sporadically refresh? Made it very difficult to read the article. Yes. It did for me in Firefox on the desktop, but not on mobile safari. I thought I was crazy when it did it the first time but the second time, I knew it was the citypaper site.
Came here to the comments to ask the same question about the page refresh. At one point the page even completely blanked out and served me an error message directly from the server. It wasn't anything particularly sensitive, but an information leak none-the-less.
Re: I was an undercover Uber driver
#108While I like the improvements to regular taxi service that the competition has brought, I don't like Uber. They're just shady all around. The "We're not a taxi service, we just sell software" is a load of crap. How many apps take a piece of the gross? Purchase a license? Ok. A monthly fee for ongoing service? Sure. A chunk of all the money made from using it? I don't think so.
Doesn't the App Store take a cut of in-app purchases?
If it's a 'digital' product by Apple's definition they get 30%. If it isn't there is no cut.
Re: I was an undercover Uber driver
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
The entire economic system is built around people trying to get the best deal possible for themselves. You can try and paint that as inhumane and abusive... Wow -- you're so damn close to the moment of insight, and yet so far.
And the irony is that people like yourself, chasing phantoms of unfairness in the free market, support the extension and entrenchment of coercive governments, an institution which is and always will be eminently corruptible, an institution whose history is a litany of abuse and overreach.
You sound like someone who's never actually gotten involved in politics.
Try getting in at the local level--volunteer for a state representative's campaign, or a local city/county commissioner. Get to know people, talk to them, see what it's really like.
What you're characterizing as "eminently corruptible" and full of "abuse and overreach" actually makes a lot more sense when you step out from behind the keyboard (and its steady supply of anti-government, libertarian websites) and get involved.
Re: I was an undercover Uber driver
#110A few months ago when I was in Seattle for work, I caught Uber everywhere. I had so many conversations with Uber drivers about why they drove for Uber, how much money they made and why they weren't doing something else. Needless to say, unless I felt legitimately fearful for my life (which rarely ever happened) I would always rate 5 stars. I realised a lot of these Uber drivers (usually migrants with broken English)…
> I realised a lot of these Uber drivers (usually migrants with broken English) probably didn't have many other options to earn money.
This is just such a perfect observation. What we are seeing here is an end-run around the minimum wage. The so-called "1099 economy" is increasing employment of unskilled workers who would otherwise be unemployable at the mandatory minimum.
Where else are people going to find a job they can set their own hours, work 12-hours a day, 80 hours a week, making $5/hour sitting down? If the minimum wage weren't so damn high there might be competitive alternatives.
Keep in mind, the goal isn't to "make" $80k, or even $60k, and then lose over half of it to taxes and phased-out benefits. If you're supporting your wife and two kids, the goal is to make about $32k, which on a 1099 will work out to just about maximize your EITC, food stamps, Medi-Cal, etc. and in the end your net value is equivalent to about $100k fully loaded (the employer's fully loaded cost) of regular W-2 employment.