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Are we the baddies?

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Re: Are we the baddies?

#341

Post by BenjiWiebe »

surgical_fire wrote: post #250
nosianu wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though, that too only works if it is not adopted by the majority :) The actual strategy is not that you are last, but that you choose to be part of the smallest group.

That's true. It's almost like the prisoners dillema. I think that in a world with no priority queueing, I would still not care about the only queue and show up at the gate at the last possible time. Problems would arise if everyone behaved like me. You would have everyone showing last minute and chaos would be the result. I wonder how the system would adapt to that.

The thing is, not everyone is like you. So it would work better than the pathological case, at least.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#342

Post by greyface- »

Y-bar wrote: post #315
nilamo wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now that tips are tax free in the USA, they are unlikely to be going away.

If tips are no longer taxed, does that mean that they no longer count towards medicare, sick pay, pensions and such?

It's structured as a federal income tax deduction, capped at $25k, and does not reduce reportable payroll or gross income.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/te...

Re: Are we the baddies?

#343

Post by justin66 »

alecco wrote: post #253
protocolture wrote: post #46

>But eventually the market will fix this, right? People will feel sick of being manipulated and move elsewhere? You can literally go outside and talk to people. There's no moat around dating apps. Human beings continue to exist in meatspace. I am yet to see a dating app contract that prevents you from being casually approached by strangers. Heck matchmakers still exist.

> You can literally go outside and talk to people. Only in small towns with high trust societies, sadly.

Otherwise you’ll be assaulted by roving gangs. Or young people who will mock you for wearing your trousers too high.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#344

Post by georgehotz »

mhb wrote: post #8

"Price discrimination is not okay" Isn't this a reasonable way to achieve many desirable results? Hardcovers/paperbacks, watch a movie right away or after a few weeks, etc.

That's not price discrimination, like hardcover vs paperback if you have two versions of something and people can choose which they want. That's totally fine and actually something that makes capitalism great. The rich usually end up covering more of the costs here cause they are less price sensitive, like business vs economy on airplanes.

Price discrimination is when two people visit a site to buy a book, the algorithm computes an estimate of what they are barely willing to pay, and then shows the two of them different prices for the exact same book based on who they are.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#345

Post by wellthisisgreat »

Y-bar wrote: post #280
cainxinth wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber and Lyft are expensive but anyone who says they are worse than what they replaced doesn’t remember well the heydays of taxis. Sure, people in big towns like NYC could always get one fairly easily, but everyone else was stuck dealing with whatever potentially shady operation they could dig out of a phonebook, and even then getting a car wasn’t guaranteed. Now, anyone anywhere can get a ride, often quickly. I’m no…

I remember the time before Uber arrived here, where ”here” obviously is not USA. I don’t mind the old ways. Taxis had apps before Uber arrived here, they had geolocation with ETA, contactless payment, up-front pricing, and never refused service (because they were required by law to offer service to anyone anywhere). The problem probably never was incumbent taxis, it was how they were regulated (or not).

> Taxis had apps before Uber arrived here, they had geolocation with ETA, contactless payment, up-front pricing, and never refused service (because they were required by law to offer service to anyone anywhere).

I lived in NYC and other metropolitan US cities for the few years before the Uber and I don’t remember a single car service that had any of that and wasn’t a lottery of if they’ll pick up the phone in time to get me somewhere

Re: Are we the baddies?

#346

Post by mhb »

georgehotz wrote: post #344
mhb wrote: post #8

"Price discrimination is not okay" Isn't this a reasonable way to achieve many desirable results? Hardcovers/paperbacks, watch a movie right away or after a few weeks, etc.

That's not price discrimination, like hardcover vs paperback if you have two versions of something and people can choose which they want. That's totally fine and actually something that makes capitalism great. The rich usually end up covering more of the costs here cause they are less price sensitive, like business vs economy on airplanes. Price discrimination is when two people visit a site to buy a book, the algori…

Yours is an overly narrow version of price discrimination in which the discrimination is extended to the customer level. If that's what OP meant he should use a less ambiguous description.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#347

Post by BenGosub »

In my opinion this is one of many simptoms of a decadent society on the brink of collapse. And I also think that cheap money and huge fiscal debts have been feeling this decadence.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#348

Post by adxl »

I’m not a big user of Uber but I need to say that the experiences there are mostly better than your grandad’s taxi (pay up for Uber X if you want a better experience). Mostly cabs were/are badly maintained and some seem downright dangerous with shocks dead, idiot lights on, smoking tailpipes and just general crappy interiors. I once got in a NYC cab where there blood all over the back of the drivers seat, got right back out. Cabbies are quarrelsome and grumpy. One guy picked me up at my house obviously drunk. I mentioned Uber to one guy who became very aggressive. Got out at the next light. Ah the good ole days.

Now for Uber. If you pay to upgrade to Uber X it’s a great experience. One time I got in the wrong Uber (not X). They said silver Nissan at station 4 at the airport in Atlanta. Got in the car and he was obviously going somewhere else than where I requested. When he realized I was the wrong passenger the driver became extremely agitated and aggressive. My bad for not checking his plate, his bad for not checking the passenger out. He was the driver so it’s really his responsibility since I may not know these things. Also I could not leave a bad review as I did not know who this driver was. Always always check you are in the right car.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#349

Post by [deleted] »

jksflkjl3jk3 wrote: post #167
jlokier wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Taxis are almost always twice or sometimes (airport) 3x the price. Not where I live. Here, Uber is 50-100% more* than the price of a local taxi, at all times of day. Uber is also at least 30% more expensive than hailing a black cab. So even though I have the app, after optimistically checking the Uber price, I invariably choose to book a taxi instead. The shorter arrival times shown in the Uber app are sometimes te…

> Not where I live I never understand why people make comments like this and leave it to the reader to guess where they live. Your profile has your email and linkedin, so it's not like you're trying to stay anonymous. And to your point, local taxis being less expensive is unusual in my travels from 50+ countries. Uber/Grab/Bolt/Gojeck/Maxim are almost always significantly cheaper and more reliable in my experience, e…

[deleted]

Re: Are we the baddies?

#350

Post by appreciatorBus »

jen20 wrote: post #285
Y-bar wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember the time before Uber arrived here, where ”here” obviously is not USA. I don’t mind the old ways. Taxis had apps before Uber arrived here, they had geolocation with ETA, contactless payment, up-front pricing, and never refused service (because they were required by law to offer service to anyone anywhere). The problem probably never was incumbent taxis, it was how they were regulated (or not).

Taxis in the US are one of the most regulated services around, and they were still utterly atrocious. Sure, they’re mandated to not refuse service, but you try getting picked up in Manhattan with a suitcase mid afternoon (when it’s obvious you’ll be taking the fixed fare to JFK in heavy traffic). To this day, the meter being “broken” is a tactic used in taxi strongholds like Las Vegas, even with this regulation. The…

> Taxis in the US are one of the most regulated services around, and they were still utterly atrocious.

This assumes that “most regulated” correlates with less atrocious. Or that the intentions behind regulations are always good. Regulations can indeed makes things less atrocious, but other regulations can just as easily make things more atrocious. I’d argue that many taxi regulations were more the latter than the former. (I.e arbitrary limit on total number of taxi vehicles, while allowing an unlimited number of non-taxi vehicles)

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