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Uber, Lyft drivers manipulate fares at DCA causing artificial price surges
211–220 of 303 posts
Re: Uber, Lyft drivers manipulate fares at DCA causing artificial price surges
#212When low paid workers coordinate their efforts to increase their pay it's called an "artificial price surge" and allegations of fraud are thrown around. When highly paid executives, investors, and board members coordinate their efforts to increase their pay what does the media call it?
Indeed. I never understood how coordinated bargaining is "artificial" but the decisions about how much profit goes towards the workers versus executives is somehow... "natural"?
Re: Uber, Lyft drivers manipulate fares at DCA causing artificial price surges
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article clearly mentions that this is an artificial and concerted effort to increase prices. To me this does not seem different from taking a longer route to increase the fare. What you describe would probably be fine if that wasn't concerted. But here they all collude to artificially trigger surge pricing.
Not accepting a ride until an agreed (the rider can always cancel the ride) price is met is entirely different than taking a longer route after a job has started.
Also that's a bit more nuanced a topic because between the driver and the passenger they might agree to take a longer route which could cost more if it's faster, avoiding traffic or whatever.
Re: Uber, Lyft drivers manipulate fares at DCA causing artificial price surges
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it hard to agree. Hear me out... They are contractors because they do not have any set obligation for time. Rate of pay or overall pay has nothing at all to do with that. According to the IRS they do not have a set schedule and they are contractors (that is 1099, not W2). So they are contractors. What does that have to do with pay? Absolutely nothing. You want x and are willing to pay y. Maybe there’s an oppor…
> In this case Uber offered you $x. You agreed to $x. When did they agree on $X? There's no contract between the drivers and Uber stating they they will work for a given amount. The app sets rates based on supply and demand. Uber offers them $X. The drivers decide they don't want to work for less than $Y. If demand is sufficient, Uber eventually offers them $Y. Surge pricing is basically a negotiation between company…
Cartels colluding together to artificially reduce supply in a market is often considered illegal market manipulation. That lyft is acting as a middle-man to set market-clearing prices here doesn't change that.
Re: Uber, Lyft drivers manipulate fares at DCA causing artificial price surges
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
The thing about contracting is you don't have to take the job if they aren't willing to negotiate. If no one wants to build your website for $5, then the client is either going to have to pay more, or not make a website. All of the drivers around that airport incur roughly the same costs for gas, wear and tear, rent, etc. So while you might find someone halfway across the world to build your website for $5, you won't…
Drivers are free to stop accepting rides whenever they want.
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Re: Uber, Lyft drivers manipulate fares at DCA causing artificial price surges
#216News flash: if you go out of your way to classify your entire workforce as contractors, you don't get to decide when they work or not. It turns out this has consequences on both sides. If Lyft wants to decide when their drivers are working, there's a process for this: 1) Hire employees 2) Give them a schedule 3) Pay them hourly plus mileage
I find it hard to agree. Hear me out... They are contractors because they do not have any set obligation for time. Rate of pay or overall pay has nothing at all to do with that. According to the IRS they do not have a set schedule and they are contractors (that is 1099, not W2). So they are contractors. What does that have to do with pay? Absolutely nothing. You want x and are willing to pay y. Maybe there’s an oppor…
> In this case Uber offered you $x. You agreed to $x.
This is not true. Uber and drivers did not sign any contract specifying set rate.
Every ride that is offered to drivers has price based on supply/demand. Drivers are free to cancel jobs if they feel the offered rate is too low.
Re: Uber, Lyft drivers manipulate fares at DCA causing artificial price surges
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, Lyft drivers are supposed to be contractors, it's normal for contractors to set their rate so I don't see how this is fraudulent.
Contractors can set rates. They cannot make agreements with other contractors to not accept jobs for below a certain rate.
Musicians, actors, screenwriters, etc., belong to guilds which do exactly that. And, oh hey, it looks like there's already an independent drivers guild: https://drivingguild.org/
Re: Uber, Lyft drivers manipulate fares at DCA causing artificial price surges
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to mention that, as a contractor, they have to pay SS and Medicare payroll taxes, which total an additional 7.65%. So, that $20/hour, given the overall expenses, is probably not even equivalent to the new NYC minimum wage of $15/hour.
FICA tax rate for self-employed under $128k/yr is 15.3%. Effective tax rates for self-employed workers can reach close to 50%.
I think they meant this comparatively, as opposed to absolutely.
Re: Uber, Lyft drivers manipulate fares at DCA causing artificial price surges
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you ever done contract coding? You don't always get to set the rates, because the rate for the contract is posted, and the other side is not going to negotiate.
Contractor here. Well you are not obligated to accept the contract if the rate is too low. These Lyft / Uber drivers do the same thing, the rate offered by Lyft/Uber for a ride is too low so they decline and only accept if they get their preferred rate. The same as software engineer contractor does, I don't accept every contract opportunity when I am in between contracts.
Except if you decline too many within a short time period Uber punishes you, I believe.
Re: Uber, Lyft drivers manipulate fares at DCA causing artificial price surges
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can we please stop referring to these services as "sharing"? Lyft actually started as a company that coordinated the sharing of rides, i.e., no money was involved. But the "sharing" pretense has long since past for all of these companies.
We need a new word for "taxi companies with cute apps, unsustainable pricing/wages and lots of Silicon Valley venture capital propping them up" to distinguish them from old-school taxi companies if we're gonna quit saying "rideshare". Any suggestions?
I prefer unlicensed taxis.