Everyone I know Ian proudly announcing the deletion of their Uber accounts. I’ve heard the charges agains Uber, but I’m not sure I totally get it. As far as I can tell:
Uber has defended itself against charges of strike-busting by pointing out that it has a policy of suspending surge pricing during natural disasters and other crises so as not to gouge customers in times of higher demand.
Uber’s CEO has agreed to sit on a board of advisors to Trump, which could be seen as contributing to Trump’s normalization. However, I think there are cases where the president is the president, and companies and other ideas need to continue to advance no matter who is in the White House. Sitting on that board doesn’t make Uber’s CEO a Trump supporter. In fact, he’s been critical of Trump in the past.
Uber has pledged to pay upnto three months worth of lost wages to any drivers unable to work due to not being able to get back into the US. PR move, sure, but it’s probably also motivated by good. Lyft is being praised for its ACLU contribution, but no one is accusing them of a cynical PR move, even though they would benefit most from Uber’s lost market share.
Some people already hate Uber because you can’t tip the drivers and it drives out taxi businesses. Fair enough, I suppose. But:
Uber is a major source of income for 160,000 people, many of whom are themselves immigrants.
My gut tells me this is a knee-jerk reaction from people desperately trying to DO SOMETHING, which I totally get. But I’m not sure this is the right thing to do.
I don’t think you’re missing anything. People are communicating with their wallets. They are seeing anybody working with Trump as a negative. I used to eat at Papa John’s pizza. I stopped because of the CEO’s comments when ACA was being passed. And it was a shame, the guy who owned the local franchise was a real nice guy. I told him that he wouldn’t be seeing me anymore and why and he said he understood and was sorry to lose me as a customer.
As for Uber being a major source of income for immigrants, those people are independent contractors, and can go work for a competitor. I downloaded the Uber app a while back, but I never had an account. I have been using Lyft, and so far so good.
I’ve never used Uber, not once. On those rare occasions I need a cab, I just take a regular one. They’re very efficient in Honolulu, and I didn’t have too many problems with them in Bangkok. But then I’m Old School, preferring just to pay cash.
Uber has slowly been eroding goodwill for a long time and this feels like the straw that broke the camel’s back for a lot of people. You know how at a party, everyone kinda stays until one person leaves and then all of a sudden everyone starts leaving? Now that this is a public movement, it’s motivating more people to make the switch from Uber to Lyft. It was a brilliant move on Lyft’s part to play this super low key.
I think this is a part of it, as is the bad optics of sending extra cars to the airport while the taxis were boycotting, and being proud of it sending those extra cars.
I don’t use Uber much, so they won’t care that I deleted my app and deleted my account, but it’s the very least I could do. Now, it’s Lyft that I won’t use very much.
Thinking about this further, since Uber doesn’t really employ any of them, it would be a piece of cake for those drivers to mover over to Lyft if there’s a big shift in support.
And, since it’s about as easy for users to shift from Uber to Lyft as it is to protest on twitter, it would be easy to imagine an actual shift in support.
To be clear, I think this will amount to nothing, but it’s interesting that, due to the ease of signing up for the service and the gig economy, it’s possible that something like this could make a difference.
I don’t think that’s quite right though. I have driven for both Uber and Lyft in the past, and I know that drivers make more or less depending on how many other drivers are on the road. It follows that there are a limited number of slots for drivers, so they’re can’t all just switch to Lyft and expect to make the same living.
You can tip the drivers. I do it every time. You have to use cash to do it, though.
I love Uber, because in most cities the taxi companies are terrible. Really, really terrible. And if you get a town car or SUV with Uber, you’re in for a nice quality ride.
However, I will look into the CEO’s “relationship” with Trump. I was unaware of this. I will delete the app if the guy is helping to legitimize the Buffoon-in-chief.
I didn’t understand the part about a taxi/ride-share “strike” being in support of immigrants & refugees. Is it just to disrupt the operation of the airport? How are the protesters and lawyers getting to the airport?
I’m a Trump hater, Uber user, and I thought this was ridiculous. I agree, it’s a way for some people to think they’re doing something (even if they never use Uber) besides just screaming on social media. There have been many worldwide taxi strikes, and I doubt this one was really specifically in support of migrants.
As much as I hate Trump, I could care less who serves on some presidential transportation committee. They’re not part of the administration.
Right, but that was part of my point, likely poorly stated. It is almost as easy to switch from Uber to Lyft as it is to scream on social media, but unlike screaming on social media, it could possibly have an effect on someone’s bottom line.
Would it be difficult for you to make the switch to Lyft? If you’re a Trump hater, why help normalize his administration?
He said “anyone in the world.” There are some terrible people in the world, and I, for one, would like companies I do business with to avoid partnering with murderers, dictators, and people like Trump.
I’ll have to give this more thought. He’s not in the administration, but I would have preferred “we’d rather go out of business than partner with someone as disgusting as Trump.”