Is Trump really the issue with Uber? I see it as a contributing factor only. Their culture of treating their employees like crap, their culture of skirting rules seems to be a much larger problem.
While true, I don’t think this was necessarily obvious 6 months ago. No one was quite sure if the man was mentally disabled, or if he just played a mentally disabled man on TV.
At any rate, Musk is also off the committee since it proved to be a giant waste. As before, I wouldn’t criticize anyone for trying to talk to Trump, but at this point I have a hard time believing any of them would have any success. So mainly I hope they find something better to do with their time.
On a side note, the boycott-Uber movement really should use the hashtag #Unter.
That is all.
Uber is probably going to end up as the Myspace of ride sharing.
Facebook at least has stickiness, because you have to be on Facebook to see what your friends and family are doing on Facebook.
But who cares about the name of the app that you use to hail a rideshare? Uber doesn’t have any particular advantage in being first. And if your business model is “Use us because everyone else is using us”, then it seems like you’d go out of your way to avoid needlessly annoying your employees and customers. Especially since it would take your drivers five minutes to sign up with a different app, and your customers one minute to install a different app.
The advantage Uber has is they have a lot more drivers, which means it’s easier for customers to find a ride, which means more customers use Uber, which means more drivers want to sign up with Uber. But this can literally change overnight if the correlation of forces is different.
That’s a great analogy.
Newscorp lost something like $550 million on MySpace. I wonder how much the Uber investors stand to lose if it goes down that path?
They don’t have any employees. The drivers are on their own. No stable employment, no corporate healthcare or retirement issues exist. Uber’s dream is of a multinational zillion dollar company with driverless cars that don’t even need hired help. None for me, thanks.
Politics or not, I loathe Uber. Everything about it sucks, it bothers me ideologically (corporate practices) and day to day as well. When these clowns without any training just like to pull over in turning lanes to pick people up and drive slow and stop repeatedly on streets, obviously using GPS and not knowing how streets are numbered, I lose my mind.
They have employees for sure in their corporate offices where numerous harassment lawsuits have been filed.
This is bad but not for the reasons stated. The tech industry is in a true bubble (again) and Uber is the California Condor in the coal mine. It is incredibly overvalued, mismanaged and just an idea that isn’t very difficult to replace. The problem is, if it goes down suddenly, it will have a huge effect on Silicon Valley as a whole and possibly have a cascading effect on the entire U.S. economy.
I am not taking up for Uber. That is just the natural sequence of events and no one wants to see another tech melt-down like 2001 - 2003. It is bad news for everyone. It doesn’t have that much to do with Uber itself. Lots of companies are mismanaged. What you don’t want to see is a general freeze in tech investment that affects everyone short of Alphabet (Google), Apple and Microsoft. That quickly erodes one of the most vibrant sectors of U.S. investment and domination.
Don’t forget Larry !
This is a major excluded middle isn’t it? Much business will surely carry on regardless, without particularly doing business with Trump.
Vast numbers of taxi drivers around the world work under those conditions anyway. Some work for a company that pays wages, holidays etc but most own or lease their own cab and get no benefits.
Yet this debate is conducted like Uber is an outlier, and taxi driving is some sort of cushy or at least stable job.
Further, in many parts of the world (including much of the US as I understand it) taxis work under a state monopoly system that results in the value of a taxi licence or medallion being extremely high, meaning that drivers (directly or indirectly) often have a huge debt over their head as a consequence of having to buy a huge “paper asset” that does nothing at all for them or their customers.
I use Uber a lot. My estimation is that over half are ex-taxi drivers. They like Uber because they say while the money is about the same or slightly less, the fact they can set their own hours and are totally their own boss means its far preferable.
The taxi vs Uber debate - as regards driver benefits - probably has to be considered on a jurisdiction by jurisdiction basis because no doubt the comparison varies depending on how bad/good taxis were to drivers in the first place. But around here, drivers are voting with their feet and that says a lot.
Whereas taxi drivers the world over are courteous law abiding drivers and always know the city they drive in. Is to frickin’ laugh.
I’d be much more likely to avoid using Uber because of the reports that until recently they’ve basically ignored sexual harassment claims from their employees – rather than because of anything to do with Trump.
I know they’ve recently fired some people over this (and I presume the CEO’s resignation is at least partly about this), but it seems too soon to tell how much they’ve really changed their ways.
When the CEO sends a letter with a rulebook about how to have sex with coworkers on an offsute, I’m going to say there is a cultural issue there, even if the rulebook says good things like, make sure the other person(s) give you permission.
There was nothing wrong about that email and I urge you to quote any offending passages.
Why would that be “high” instead of, say, appropriate to the circs, and the needs of workers to be provided with a income commensurate with dignity and self determination?
Uber’s subsidised pricing is intended to kill all competition before they raise prices - you my be aware of this not overly sophisticated tactic.
It’s cheaper, right? You support exploitation is all.
You’ve asked your Uber pals about sickness pay, vacation pay, a guaranteed minimum wage, unsocial hours, excessive working, strain on family? Nah. It’s cheaper, right?
No need to quote when the very act of writing it displayed incredible tone deafness. Should CEO’s write rules on having sex with co-workers? Unless working in the porn business, I’m going to say no.
I still use Uber where I live because Lyft is very weak and taxis practically nonexistent.
My first choice is always to use a regular taxi if one is available.
Princhester lives in Australia, where Uber is probably slightly less exploitative than in the US.
I don’t.
Because every Uber driver I have met is an adult and thus capable of weighing tradeoffs and reaching a decision him or herself.
As a matter of law I think it’s interesting to think about whether Uber drivers should be considered employees or not. As a matter of my personal take is that the drivers know the deal when they sign up so that’s on them. The culture of harassment and nonchalant view of operating within the rules is much more damning.