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Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

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Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#151

Post by ardy42 »

School-Cotton wrote: post #14
fiblye wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people turn to jobs like Uber because they can't easily find a job. There are many people who desperately try for weeks or months to find employment. Companies like Uber love to prey on such people.

I don't really understand this argument. Uber didn't create the conditions causing these people not to be able to find better jobs. If Uber stopped "preying on" these people, would they be better off? It seems like they'd just be unemployed.

> I don't really understand this argument. Uber didn't create the conditions causing these people not to be able to find better jobs. If Uber stopped "preying on" these people, would they be better off? It seems like they'd just be unemployed.

Uber didn't necessarily create the conditions, but it does knowingly exploit them. That kind exploitation is not value neutral and can be wrong.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#152

Post by AnthonyMouse »

_cs2017_ wrote: post #135

I can't quite understand the economics of this rate drop (which happened only in the LA market, btw). Here's my analysis, please let me know if you see anything wrong with it. Uber makes 25% commission from the per-mile fee, so the total revenues to Uber and to the drivers is moving in the same direction. I assume Uber wouldn't drop the rate unless their revenue increased. So they must know that (1) the lower fee wil…

You're overcomplicating it somewhat by separating things out that could reasonably just be averaged together.

The real question is what the supply and demand curves look like. It's possible for everyone to make more money by reducing prices and making it up on volume, if that's what happens.

If you're a driver and you currently spend a lot of time sitting around waiting for riders, and the lower prices reduce that wasteful idle time, you can end up making more money, even working the same number of hours, by driving more miles in the same number of hours.

But that's assuming the lower prices spur sufficient additional demand to compensate for the lower rate per mile, which is going to depend on the specifics of the local market.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#153

Post by woah »

burger_moon wrote: post #140
chii wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So would the tech workers cut 10% of their salary and gift it to those working for low pay in other roles? I think it's overwhelmingly no. The option where the company shareholders take less profit is not even on the table - and that's what needs tackling, and the only way to tackle that is via a mix of govt welfare and unions. But the cultural narrative has shifted to the right so much that even mentioning the word…

If I gave up 10% of my salary and someone else making much less got to raise of the equivalent of my 10%, I'd do it in a heart beat.

Couldn't you easily do exactly that any time you want?

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#154

Post by gjs278 »

tylerhou wrote: post #134
robertAngst wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the thought on these types of people? They are stupid/lazy, but its their genetics and they can't help it. So what is it, that society should do with these people. Curious solutions.

Working like a dog for 12-14 hours a day is lazy?

it might not be lazy but if I just dig ditches in my backyard for 12 hours i’m not lazy. I might be stupid.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#155

Post by siedes »

cdoxsey wrote: post #97

Lyft and Uber allow you to tip your driver. If you feel like they're not payed a sustainable wage, why not voluntarily give them more money? I suspect a significant number of riders are pretty well off. Why not be exceedingly generous? Tip the driver 10 or 20$.

Tipping is horrible and incentivizes the worker to prioritize people who tip/ are likely to tip and underperform for people who do not/or are likely not to.

You can see this play out in the food service industry and it is horrible and only contributes to a culture of soft-discrimination.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#156

Post by _cs2017_ »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #152
_cs2017_ wrote: post #135

I can't quite understand the economics of this rate drop (which happened only in the LA market, btw). Here's my analysis, please let me know if you see anything wrong with it. Uber makes 25% commission from the per-mile fee, so the total revenues to Uber and to the drivers is moving in the same direction. I assume Uber wouldn't drop the rate unless their revenue increased. So they must know that (1) the lower fee wil…

You're overcomplicating it somewhat by separating things out that could reasonably just be averaged together. The real question is what the supply and demand curves look like. It's possible for everyone to make more money by reducing prices and making it up on volume, if that's what happens. If you're a driver and you currently spend a lot of time sitting around waiting for riders, and the lower prices reduce that wa…

I agree with you. I guess I'm asking how likely is the (quite appealing) scenario you describe?

The volume increase will more than offset the price drop -- otherwise Uber would have no incentive to drop the price in the first place. What else do we need to know to predict the outcome on drivers pay?

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#157

Post by fiblye »

School-Cotton wrote: post #121
Forge36 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not following your logic, are you suggesting you wouldn't ask for a raise? There are a lot of moving pieces. The abolishment of slavery didn't end slavery and it's conditions. It changed the name and the rules. Many slaves became trapped in indentured servitude without enough pay to cover the cost of housing. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servitude Eventually this became illegal as well, another tact…

> given that service is insufficient to meet basic needs, improvements are needed Sure, and why is it Uber's responsibility to make those improvements?

Is your argument that companies have zero responsibility to pay their employees reasonably?

What is even the purpose of a company? Make unicorn valuation through low wages, write a couple blog posts, then dip?

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#158

Post by megablast »

remote_phone wrote: post #5

These people are complaining that they’re not being paid enough. Isn’t the proper solution to find another job? If more people stopped driving for ridesharing companies the prices would rise to attract them back. I don’t see why they are complaining when unemployment is at an all time low and they can find a job easily elsewhere. It sounds stupid.

Yes, and if you don't like something you leave the country.

And if your partner does something annoying you leave them and get a new one.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#159

Post by School-Cotton »

fiblye wrote: post #157
School-Cotton wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> given that service is insufficient to meet basic needs, improvements are needed Sure, and why is it Uber's responsibility to make those improvements?

Is your argument that companies have zero responsibility to pay their employees reasonably? What is even the purpose of a company? Make unicorn valuation through low wages, write a couple blog posts, then dip?

> Is your argument that companies have zero responsibility to pay their employees reasonably?

Yeah, that sums it up. Companies have a responsibility to keep the agreements they make, and to not harm anyone. They don't have a positive responsibility to improve people's lives -- they're not charities.

> What is even the purpose of a company?

To make some people better off than they were before, by way of voluntary exchange, without hurting anyone.

If they're not doing that, if they're actually making people worse off than they would be otherwise, then that should of course be stopped.

Re: Uber is dropping rates for drivers down from 80 cents/mile to 60 cents/mile

#160

Post by 14 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #132
SN76477 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My company was bleeding money so I had to close it down over this past fall. Spent all of my savings and had to start making money asap. I turned to uber eats, grubhub, and doordash. None of the companies value the drivers. If anything it feels like the companies are trying to milk the drivers so that the company can profit. If the drivers are happy the customer will be happy and profits can be made. Raising rates fo…

> If anything it feels like the companies are trying to milk the drivers so that the company can profit. That's probably particularly true of those companies, but it's also endemic to capitalism more generally.

I feel capitalism is such a bad thing for our earth. If I had a reset button that would equally distribute all the worlds wealth I would push it.
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