[HN Gopher] Uber Is Locking Out NYC Drivers Mid-Shift to Lower M...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Uber Is Locking Out NYC Drivers Mid-Shift to Lower Minimum Pay
        
       Author : aspenmayer
       Score  : 67 points
       Date   : 2024-06-24 19:10 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bloomberg.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
        
       | aspenmayer wrote:
       | https://archive.is/x5Ywo
        
       | elmerfud wrote:
       | "...making it difficult for drivers to plan work shifts and treat
       | Uber as a full-time job."
       | 
       | So which is it they want flexible gig work that they can do at
       | their own schedule in their own pace, or do they want planned
       | work shifts in a full-time job. It seems what drivers are really
       | asking for his money without any work. Because taking flexible
       | gig work means you have the flexibility to work when you want
       | without planning. So why wouldn't your employer also demand that
       | same flexibility to say too many gig workers we're going to kick
       | some of you out and you can't get back in.
       | 
       | It seems to me that this is just the nature of what we call "day
       | laborers". I know the "on an iPhone" phenomenon people think this
       | idea of day labor or gig work is new. It's not it's been around
       | since the beginning of time. Day laborers show up at a certain
       | spot people who need day laborers show up at that spot pick who
       | they want leave behind those that they do not want and that's
       | that. This is literally no different. Uber drivers wanted that
       | flexibility day labor gig work and then started crying because
       | they wanted a more stable income than what day labor provides. So
       | they got the law involved to say well you got to pay people for
       | standing around. Uber says fine you're no longer standing around
       | for us so you don't need to be paid.
       | 
       | If you want a steady job get a steady job if you want day labor
       | work you show up and sometimes you get picked for the day labor
       | and sometimes you go home broke.
        
         | quantified wrote:
         | There isn't an "Uber driver" in that sense any more than there
         | is a "person". Early on it was part-time and more gig labor.
         | When you're being leased the vehicle via Uber themselves
         | [https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/vehicle-solutions/] it's
         | definitely pushing towards real job. I wonder how many of those
         | locked-out drivers are paying for those cars on the lease
         | program, or if they get preference.
         | 
         | Take a taxi, people!
        
           | elmerfud wrote:
           | But you're acting like this is an "on an iPhone" experience
           | that's new to the world. The idea of being leased equipment
           | from someone for contract or gig labor is not new and hasn't
           | been new for many many decades.
           | 
           | So if you're complaining about the idea that companies who
           | hire contract labor or gig work style labor can also lease
           | out equipment necessary to do that labor, should the person
           | choose to lease it from them, then where have you been for
           | the past 50 60 years or more. Because no one is required to
           | lease equipment from Uber in order to work for Uber it's just
           | an option. There are great many professions that work like
           | this and have for much longer than Uber has been a thing.
           | Often times mechanics are this way. They can lease their
           | tools through an employer-sponsored program but they have no
           | control on whether the employer needs them to work every day
           | and if they'll get paid in many situations. Because often
           | times that that work is also gig work if no one needs their
           | car fixed you can show up and not get anything. That's only
           | one of a great many examples of jobs that are like this. When
           | you have flexibility your employer has flexibility as well.
           | 
           | I think there's a great many jobs that have stupid conditions
           | on employment and I wouldn't work them unless I absolutely
           | had no other option. Uber is one of those things. People like
           | the flexibility but flexibility can cut both ways. Often I
           | hear Uber drivers talking about how they're their own Boss
           | but if you're accepting work orders from someone else you're
           | at the mercy of them for the work. This is the same thing in
           | many salons. To work there you have to buy a seat and pay for
           | that and pay for equipment oftentimes that is on a loan or a
           | lease and you're your own Boss but you have a very limited
           | control on when or if you will get customers. Which is
           | another job that I wouldn't work unless I had no choice at
           | all.
           | 
           | So this is not pushing toward a real job in any sense anymore
           | than any of these other flexible gig work style jobs which
           | permeate our society. So if you're against this as a whole
           | then you should have been against it for the past 70 plus
           | years. But if you feel this is some new Uber phenomenon you
           | are greatly mistaken and need to learn how many of the jobs
           | in the market work.
        
             | lazyasciiart wrote:
             | How was that comment acting like this is an "on an iPhone"
             | experience that's new to the world?
        
             | quantified wrote:
             | That's a strange take. Please provide evidence for how I'm
             | acting? I wondered about something, that's all I see.
             | 
             | I think Uber is a pain to many for both making a market and
             | setting the terms. Let the market decide what the prices
             | and availability should be, that would be more "ride-
             | sharing". They're just a super-informal taxi company. The
             | fact that they weren't prosecuted for breaking laws along
             | the way shows what hold money has on policy-making.
             | 
             | A driver is a contractor of some form to Uber, Uber sets
             | the prices. Uber can screw around as much as they like,
             | because they set all the terms. I'm not disagreeing with
             | the day labor analogy, though it's not even a day here,
             | it's just whenever Uber throws them a bone. You can say the
             | drivers are all stupid if they thought it should be any
             | different. I'd never be an Uber driver except if I thought
             | I could get someone to split gas money with me for some
             | trip, actual "ride sharing".
        
           | kortilla wrote:
           | Taxis suck swamp ass. Until they can't scam you by taking
           | circuitous routes, they are severely inferior.
        
             | tombert wrote:
             | Tangential, but about three years ago my wife and I went to
             | Mexico for two weeks to deal with some immigration stuff.
             | We made very liberal use of the "Didi" app, which I
             | actually recommend because it was generally quite good, and
             | most drivers would take us on direct paths and it was fine.
             | 
             | One day, when returning back to the hotel from Walmart,
             | which was about a 15 minute drive, we got a Didi, the
             | driver came, and it took more than 45 minutes because he
             | was taking the longest path he could find. There was no
             | traffic as far as I could tell, and Didi would still pay a
             | "per mile" charge.
             | 
             | The exchange rate in Mexico is so in your favor as a US
             | citizen that I didn't really complain about it because it
             | only ended up being an extra $6 or so, but I did feel a
             | little taken advantage of.
             | 
             | I greatly prefer knowing my cost before I get in the cab.
        
           | goostavos wrote:
           | I begrudgingly take a taxi whenever I leave the Seattle
           | airport (it's significantly faster than Uber/Lyft because
           | they're already queued). I'm continuously blown away by how
           | it's still a dice roll to see if we're going to do the
           | "credit card machine no work" game at the end. Pair that with
           | the general disgusting state of the cars and, yeah, I ain't
           | takin' no taxi unless it's the only option.
        
         | jkaplowitz wrote:
         | To me this just means the workers need to be able to negotiate
         | for either a standard or driver-selected minimum shift duration
         | for billing purposes, just like most independent contractors
         | can achieve by negotiating the terms of their contracts when
         | finding clients. Every time I hire a moving company the hourly
         | rate bills a contractual minimum number of hours per job
         | regardless of actual time needed. Nothing about this concept is
         | incompatible with flexible gig work.
         | 
         | I realize that individual drivers have far less power in
         | setting the terms of the relationships with Uber and Lyft than
         | individual moving companies have over their client
         | relationships, so drivers' negotiations here will require
         | either union-style collective action or advocacy for changes to
         | NYC's rules here.
        
           | elmerfud wrote:
           | I'm not saying it shouldn't change. What I'm saying is this
           | is more commonplace than what people believe. Hair stylists,
           | auto mechanics, construction workers in many places, they all
           | work under these conditions and have for many years. There's
           | many more professions that offer flexibility that also work
           | under these conditions.
           | 
           | Often times these same people because they're individuals do
           | not have any collective bargaining to make a better deal.
           | They simply take the deal that's available and hope to make
           | it work. Often times it doesn't work but for some it does and
           | works consistently.
           | 
           | I do think there's a general expectation that a flexible work
           | when you want styled job should only be a benefit to the
           | employee. They seem to feel that the employer shouldn't be
           | able to tell them when their work is no longer required.
           | Because there are other jobs besides Uber and if they wanted
           | to work those less flexible jobs they could. Those less
           | flexible jobs tend to come with the kind of contractual
           | stability you're talking about.
           | 
           | For example your hiring of a moving company is something you
           | can track for in advance. That contract is in place they can
           | provide the laborers when and where they're needed. I don't
           | believe it's a fair example to compare to Uber. Uber would be
           | more akin to a pool of day laborers. Contractors show up they
           | need five guys to roof a house. When they get to the job site
           | maybe they realize that nothing is ready so they all go home
           | with a pittance if anything at all. And that is the risk of
           | the flexibility of day labor.
           | 
           | Is it right? Well that kind of flexibility in your work comes
           | with risks and downsides. Because sometimes the contractor
           | will show up and they'll need 25 guys to frame five houses
           | that day but there's only a pool of 10 people. So that risk
           | cuts both ways.
        
             | tremon wrote:
             | _Hair stylists, auto mechanics, construction workers [..]
             | all work under these conditions_
             | 
             | Please specify under what conditions you mean here, because
             | I know of no hair stylists nor construction workers that
             | work by only doing the jobs that are allocated to them by a
             | single company yet have no employment contract with that
             | company. Either they own the hair salon/garage, or they get
             | paid whenever they are available for work at said hair
             | salon/garage by said owner.
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | >because I know of no hair stylists nor construction
               | workers that work by only doing the jobs that are
               | allocated to them by a single company yet have no
               | employment contract with that company.
               | 
               | Can't a rideshare driver work for both uber and lyft?
               | Moreover, how much job hopping actually happens for hair
               | stylists or auto mechanics?
        
             | ziddoap wrote:
             | > _Contractors show up they need five guys to roof a house.
             | When they get to the job site maybe they realize that
             | nothing is ready so they all go home with a pittance if
             | anything at all._
             | 
             | I worked in construction for about a decade, including with
             | companies that supplemented crews with day labour when
             | required, and we were always required to pay at least 4
             | hours (even if we sent them home after 5 minutes).
        
           | Aurornis wrote:
           | > Nothing about this concept is incompatible with flexible
           | gig work.
           | 
           | Your example (movers) assumes the workers are already paired
           | up with a customer.
           | 
           | They don't get paid if there isn't a customer.
           | 
           | The analogy doesn't hold. The only way to support minimum
           | shift durations would be to average out fares collected and
           | distribute them to everyone who was technically working a
           | shift, even if they weren't driving. So the people actually
           | driving would receive less payment in order to subsidize the
           | people not driving.
           | 
           | Once you open the door to paying people for not driving, the
           | game becomes to find a way to park somewhere that allows you
           | to participate in a shift while minimizing the number of
           | customers assigned. Immediately, you'd get drivers
           | strategically parking in far away locations to reduce their
           | chances of picking anyone up, because if you're getting paid
           | for the time on shift you'd rather sit and do nothing than
           | actually drive.
           | 
           | So actually, the concept is completely incompatible with gig
           | work.
        
         | s17n wrote:
         | Obviously, what people want is full time jobs. That's what the
         | whole political battle over these platforms is about.
        
           | testfoobar wrote:
           | Not everyone though - freelancers and contractors in
           | particular want to work on their terms.
        
             | larkost wrote:
             | I think the issue is that in this case the drivers want to
             | work on their terms, and Uber/Lift want to be able to limit
             | the number of drivers at certain times (i.e.: work their
             | terms) in order not to pay minimum wage to lot of drivers
             | when there are too many drivers logged-in (and thus just
             | sitting around).
             | 
             | There are aspects that are unfair for both parties... and
             | this is exactly the sort of situation that Uber/Lift have
             | setup: it is going to be exploitive to someone. The
             | companies just thought it could always be them doing the
             | exploiting.
        
           | HDThoreaun wrote:
           | Some people do, some certainly do not
        
         | nilamo wrote:
         | Maybe all of these issues would be solved of they were salaried
         | employees, who could drive when they wanted...
        
           | qeternity wrote:
           | What?!? Would you employee people full-time and let them work
           | whenever they felt like it?
        
             | ecjhdnc2025 wrote:
             | Salaried !== full-time.
             | 
             | Millions of people in the UK are legally salaried workers
             | on "zero-hours" contracts, where they aren't even
             | guaranteed a minimum number of hours. Paid through PAYE
             | (payroll), have workers rights, just not a guaranteed
             | number of hours.
             | 
             | Most can choose when they work, many have more than one of
             | these jobs.
             | 
             | It's not a good way to live but it's at least _possibly_ a
             | better way to live than the gig economy.
        
               | bpodgursky wrote:
               | Yes but the UK has the NHS, it's not possible in the US
               | where employees have to healthcare benefits by federal
               | mandate.
               | 
               | You can't have an employee on the payroll costing $1,500
               | a month in benefits who can choose to work 0 hours in a
               | month.
        
               | larkost wrote:
               | I think you are missing a part of the Federal Healthcare
               | Insurance Mandate (part of the ACA): the mandate is on
               | the worker, not the employer. Many employers have no
               | insurance benefits for their employers.
               | 
               | And then the other part of it: the penalty for not having
               | healthcare insurance was deducted to $0 at the end of
               | 2018. So there is currently no penalty at all (other than
               | the massive ones if you get sick) to not carrying
               | insurance.
        
               | HDThoreaun wrote:
               | I think you just misunderstand what salary means? If you
               | do not have guaranteed hours you are not a salary
               | employee, salary means you get paid the same amount on a
               | certain schedule. You are describing hourly employees
        
         | jncfhnb wrote:
         | It's very different from day laborers in that day laborers get
         | to work for a day; and these drivers get to work until Uber
         | says so. And one can guess that Uber is trying to minimize the
         | hours worked per driver due to regulatory concerns.
         | 
         | The day laborer knows when they're not picked to work. The Uber
         | driver needs to keep checking all day presumably
        
         | FrustratedMonky wrote:
         | "If you want a steady job get a steady job if you want day
         | labor work you show up and sometimes you get picked for the day
         | labor and sometimes you go home broke."
         | 
         | If it was that easy right?
         | 
         | Nobody wants to be 'day labor', that is only done in countries
         | with a large surplus of labor (desperate to live labor) that
         | allows companies to treat humans more like cattle.
        
         | freeone3000 wrote:
         | Dude, nobody _wants_ the instability of a gig job. It's just
         | all there is at the bottom. Uber will actually pay you
         | _something_ , unlike other taxi or driver jobs which have dried
         | up. It's folks fighting over crumbs: I bet you Uber drivers
         | would _love_ a stable taxi job, there just isn't one.
        
         | lmm wrote:
         | With day labour the clue is in the name, you get hired for the
         | day. They can't send you home halfway through, or at least they
         | still have to pay you a full day.
        
         | WheatMillington wrote:
         | You're setting an incredibly low bar for what we should accept.
         | We're talking about people's livelihoods here - their ability
         | to put food on their family's table.
        
       | ziml77 wrote:
       | I learned within the past year that Uber sucks for drivers
       | _around_ NYC. The T &LC rules mean that someone who's not
       | registered can't take pickups in NYC. They can still drop you off
       | though, so Uber considers it valid to assign a non-T&LC vehicle
       | to drive into NYC. Of course when that happens, the driver has an
       | empty car going back the other way. It's awful for their pay and
       | a big waste of energy and road space.
       | 
       | Some drivers will just deal with it, but many end up asking if
       | you're going into NYC. If you're lucky they will cancel the ride
       | immediately, but if not then you have to wait for them to drive
       | by your pickup spot before canceling the ride (which I have to
       | assume is so they can say that they couldn't find you).
       | 
       | When I do need a car into the city and it's serviced by a
       | non-T&LC driver, I now make sure to leave a huge tip to make up
       | for Uber not giving drivers an option to not be matched with
       | people going into NYC.
        
         | avree wrote:
         | Uber drivers have been able to see the approximate destination
         | before accepting the ride for over a year now in all markets.
        
           | pavel_lishin wrote:
           | Yeah, which is why it's confusing that my mom had two drivers
           | reject her the last time she needed to get to the airport
           | when I wasn't able to give her a ride to JFK.
        
             | kevmo314 wrote:
             | Wow, we've gone full circle. I remember when being able to
             | reliably get an Uber to JFK was a selling point over taxis.
        
               | holowoodman wrote:
               | Isn't there a subway connection or something? I mean, it
               | is an international airport and a big city...
        
               | poorlydefined wrote:
               | Taking the subway with potentially heavy check-in bags
               | isn't always possible. I wouldn't say it's the most
               | convenient trip and I can understand why someone would
               | prefer an Uber or taxi option.
        
               | lmm wrote:
               | The US has bizarre funding rules that made it effectively
               | impossible to have a through ride from municipal public
               | transport to the airport until recently.
        
               | CPLX wrote:
               | LMFAO welcome to New York.
               | 
               | We have three major large scale airports, and none of
               | them are connected to the subway. It would be comical if
               | it wasn't so sad.
        
             | dylan604 wrote:
             | Some drivers just don't like going to airports. It's not
             | that confusing. It's possible that the fact they could see
             | the destination is precisely why the rejected it.
        
             | WheatMillington wrote:
             | Why don't drivers want to go to the airport?
        
           | blendergeek wrote:
           | > in all markets.
           | 
           | I am an Uber driver. I do not see the approximate destination
           | prior to pickup. I don't know what percentage of Uber markets
           | actually have that feature.
        
           | vsuperpower2020 wrote:
           | You're very confident about this, aren't you?
        
         | AdamJacobMuller wrote:
         | It also sucks for the riders and I really can't imagine Uber
         | likes the situation either.
         | 
         | It's a really annoying situation because you end up arguing
         | with some driver over text or worse in person about it.
         | 
         | They don't want to cancel because cancelling a lot impacts
         | their rating with uber and they will get less rides.
         | 
         | I don't want to cancel because after a few minutes I'll be
         | charged a cancellation fee and now I have to start all over
         | with another driver and a dice-roll if i'll get another driver
         | who refuses to go to NYC again. If I want my $5 back I also
         | have to argue with some AI customer service rep for an hour.
         | 
         | Terrible user experience.
         | 
         | Lyft seems to do better with assigning only TLC cars to NYC
         | rides, but, not 100% -- Uber also biases towards TLC cars for
         | NYC routes but there isn't always one available of course so
         | sometimes you get assigned another one, just anecdotally Lyft
         | seems to get you a TLC car more often.
         | 
         | TLC are the only ones winning here.
        
           | tivert wrote:
           | > It also sucks for the riders and I really can't imagine
           | Uber likes the situation either.
           | 
           | I think the question is what does Uber do when it doesn't
           | like a situation? Does it try to create the best user
           | experience given the constraints, or does it make the
           | situation shitty for everyone except themselves (maybe until
           | it can force whatever change best serves Uber's interests,
           | nevermind anyone else)?
           | 
           | It sounds like it's totally within Uber's capabilities to
           | make this situation better (add a "TLC car" flag to their
           | system, and only use those cars for NYC rides), so why have
           | they chosen not to do that?
        
             | szundi wrote:
             | Question is how many of these needs to be added for all the
             | rogue cities
        
               | tivert wrote:
               | > Question is how many of these needs to be added for all
               | the rogue cities
               | 
               | "Rogue cities," seriously? I've seen some twisted
               | propaganda ("PR") in my life, but that takes the cake.
        
           | WheatMillington wrote:
           | Help me understand this as I'm not in NY and I use uber about
           | 2-3 times a year. When you use Uber you put in your
           | destination up-front - so everyone already knows where you
           | are and where you're going, why isn't this information used
           | by drivers to make a decision on whether or not to accept?
        
             | gqcwwjtg wrote:
             | Evidently it varies by region how much information about
             | the destination is given to the drivers.
        
         | jtriangle wrote:
         | Uber could certainly throw additional tech at this problem,
         | but, realistically, the problem is the fault of NYC, not Uber.
         | If NYC got rid of their antiquated laws, this would be a non-
         | issue, and, rides would likely be cheaper and easier to obtain.
         | 
         | Not to mention you really don't want big names like Uber/Lyft
         | to be the only players that can enter the game because they
         | have the resources to enter a complex regulatory market.
        
           | tivert wrote:
           | > Uber could certainly throw additional tech at this problem,
           | but, realistically, the problem is the fault of NYC, not
           | Uber. If NYC got rid of their antiquated laws, this would be
           | a non-issue, and, rides would likely be cheaper and easier to
           | obtain.
           | 
           | No, you've got it ass-backwards. It's Uber's job to provide
           | the best customer experience given their constraints, it's
           | not NYC's job to bend over backwards to adapt its laws to
           | Uber's model.
           | 
           | The problem is the fault of Uber.
           | 
           | > Not to mention you really don't want big names like
           | Uber/Lyft to be the only players that can enter the game
           | because they have the resources to enter a complex regulatory
           | market.
           | 
           | It sounds the additional tech required to "enter a complex
           | regulatory market" is a boolean flag.
        
         | m463 wrote:
         | T&LC = New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission
        
       | farceSpherule wrote:
       | F*ck Uber.
       | 
       | I wish the United States would do what Greece did.
        
         | sdwr wrote:
         | Implement a 6 day work week?
        
         | MaxHoppersGhost wrote:
         | Negative gdp growth and a rapidly declining standard of living?
        
         | hnpolicestate wrote:
         | Agreed. Yellow cabs were and are great. Have lived in NYC all
         | 36 years of my life. Delivery drivers used to get paid fairly
         | before door dash too.
         | 
         | All these rent seekers need to go.
        
           | cooljacob204 wrote:
           | Lol having also lived in NYC my entire life yellow cabs were
           | not and are not great. And I don't know a single person who
           | would say it is.
           | 
           | Delivery drivers never got paid fairly either.
           | 
           | Idk what imaginary version of NYC you live in.
        
       | curtis3389 wrote:
       | > At the heart of the move, say the two companies, is a six-year-
       | old pay rule in New York that, among other things, requires firms
       | like Uber and Lyft to pay drivers for the idle time they rack up
       | between rides.
       | 
       | Remember, Uber and Lyft were created to get around labor laws,
       | and here we see the companies continuing to try to skirt labor
       | laws. It is a standard move of capitalists to fight regulations
       | tooth and nail to try to protect their profit margins. These are
       | fundamentally unprofitable businesses built on exploiting
       | vulnerable workers.
        
         | brigadier132 wrote:
         | Seems like they are following the letter of the law.
        
         | testfoobar wrote:
         | If this were true, how would you explain that both drivers and
         | riders enter into the relationship voluntarily. Most of my uber
         | drivers have been intelligent and knowledgeable about their
         | options - quite the opposite of exploited and vulnerable.
        
           | CodeWriter23 wrote:
           | How do you explain a College Student with no disposable
           | income signing up for a Credit Card?
           | 
           | I drove for Uber/Lyft for a while. I fully understood I was
           | converting the equity in my car into meals and rent. Most
           | people don't get that at all.
        
             | testfoobar wrote:
             | Adults are free to make a wide array of legal, ethical, but
             | nevertheless terrible decisions. An example is poor dietary
             | choices.
             | 
             | All jobs are a conversion of
             | time/skill/knowledge/strength/etc. into a fungible token,
             | money. That fungible token is then used to meet other
             | needs: food and shelter being top of the list. In many
             | parts of the developing world, a person cannot eat if they
             | don't work that day.
             | 
             | In the best case scenario, you come out ahead - where the
             | resources you put in are returned n-fold. An I-Banker
             | grinding out 80+ hour weeks is giving up time with friends
             | and family and perhaps compromising health. Is that person
             | exploited?
             | 
             | Anybody who has driven for a ride sharing company
             | understands that their vehicle will take on excess wear-
             | and-tear and they have to pay for gas. They presumably
             | compare against other jobs and pick ride sharing driver
             | freely.
             | 
             | I would say it is rather condescending to refer to adults
             | making informed decisions in their own self-interest as
             | vulnerable and exploited.
        
         | HDThoreaun wrote:
         | Uber was created because taxis blew due to corruption. It
         | should not cost 100k to become a taxi driver, that was
         | absolutely insane.
        
       | diebeforei485 wrote:
       | It's a stupid rule to require drivers to be paid simply for
       | logging in.
        
         | taylorbuley wrote:
         | The economics here are pretty pure. It seems intentional. I
         | wouldn't call it stupid even if wrongheaded. But, to me, this
         | cannot be an unintended side-effect. It's a feature, not a bug,
         | of the regulatory model.
        
       | subsubzero wrote:
       | Uber owns the thing that the taxi companies don't have, a
       | complex, real time transactional application that pairs drivers
       | with riders. They can pick and choose who they want using it(sans
       | discriminatory, see - illegal checks). And they are well within
       | their means to say when a driver can and can't work on their own
       | platform. If drivers want to be rid of this menace - Uber, then
       | they are free to become cab drivers if they wish. Or use Lyft.
       | Nobody gets paid for not producing which is what these drivers
       | seem to want.
        
         | PNWChris wrote:
         | Is this the case?
         | 
         | I was under the impression that Uber has to act as a pure play
         | buyer-seller matching system. Otherwise the drivers aren't
         | independent contractors, they're being controlled like
         | employees.
        
           | gruez wrote:
           | That was the case before NYC instituted laws that mandated
           | drivers be paid for idle time, converting them to basically
           | employees.
        
           | larkost wrote:
           | That is a great argument... but one that has not yet
           | completed its way though U.S. courts.
           | 
           | My understanding is that both Uber and Lift vary the
           | arrangement from market-to-market (sometimes within a
           | country, but mostly between countries), but that at least in
           | the U.S. the drivers have no ability to set their prices at
           | all, but rather only have the ability to accept/decline a
           | ride that has a price already attached. And if they decline
           | too many rides (as defined by opaque decisions by the
           | companies), that they then are penalized by being shown less
           | possible rides.
           | 
           | To me this is a worst combination of being an employee and a
           | true independent contractor.
        
         | evanb wrote:
         | T+LC cabs use Curb, which can call taxis and be used only as a
         | payment method.
         | 
         | https://www.gocurb.com/
        
       | mannyv wrote:
       | Company is minimizing its costs. News at 11.
        
       | FrustratedMonky wrote:
       | Like it or not, in the current US Capitalist's Environment (as
       | opposed to some mythical earlier time when corporations were
       | supposed to have some social responsibility), in this current
       | environment, Humans are a Commodity.
       | 
       | If there is a human surplus, the cost(pay) goes down.
       | 
       | If there is a human shortage, the price(pay) goes up.
       | 
       | When there are fewer desperate humans needing Uber to eat, and
       | Uber can't find drivers, then suddenly Uber will start paying and
       | treating people better.
       | 
       | This is only newsworthy because Uber by its nature of having all
       | independent contractors with a very obvious 'market' linking
       | drivers to passengers. Makes this clear.
       | 
       | It becomes very starkly clear the value of the driver and how
       | much a human is worth. And that Uber can tweak their algorithms
       | to minimize how much drivers are paid, thus providing a 'market'
       | price for humans.
       | 
       | Uber isn't special, it is just this human value is starkly on
       | display.
        
         | FrustratedMonky wrote:
         | LOL
         | 
         | I would like more feedback.
         | 
         | Am I being downvoted by 'Capitalist's', because it sounds like
         | I'm anti-free market? When really, I'm just outlining what a
         | market is, how things are?
         | 
         | Or Am I being downvoted by 'Socialist', because it sounds like
         | I'm advocating that Capitalisms is the natural order and humans
         | are commodities, and is just how things are?
         | 
         | It is very hard to tell what line is being crossed.
        
       | cs702 wrote:
       | Uber and Lyft underpriced their car service for years and years,
       | killing off a lot traditional competition, i.e., independent taxi
       | and limo companies.
       | 
       | Now, both Uber and Lyft seek to be profitable... so they are
       | squeezing every possible penny out of riders and drivers.
       | 
       | If it looks, smells, and tastes like a Doo-Oh-Poh-Lee, it
       | probably is one.
        
       | rpbiwer2 wrote:
       | I feel like I often hear these kinds of stories about Uber, but
       | rarely about Lyft. Is Lyft actually better, or are they just more
       | under the radar?
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2024-06-24 23:01 UTC)