I was chatting with an Uber (or maybe Lyft) driver last time I was on the west coast, and he had a hybrid. He told me that any driver not using a hybrid was screwing themselves out of huge amounts of money. This was, admittedly, in a city with plenty of stop n’ go and that’s where hybrids excel.
What’s your take on that?
Wondering what speculations you have, coremelt, about elevator operators and what they should have said when they saw self-service elevators beginning to be installed.
Also wondering similar things about those whose job it was to empty public phone booth coin bins and supermarket cashiers and gas self-service pumps and . . . . any other Luddite notions you might harbor.
Just curious.
How do you suppose the horse breeders treated everyone when the automobiles destroyed the horse trade?
One oddity with a company like Uber is that its interests don’t coincide with that of its drivers. Uber would prefer that there be plenty of drivers in a city, ideally enough that one is no more than a few minutes away from any potential customer, even if this means that no individual driver makes enough to justify the time and trouble.
Eventually, perhaps, if there is an oversupply of drivers, some will quit and equilibrium will be restored, but Uber really doesn’t care if there’s not enough business for the drivers.
What? I’m all in favour of autonomous cars. But if I was working as an Uber driver I’d be very aware of the limited time that it will be a viable job for and I’d be working towards something else.
My point was to ask Boyo Jim what his thoughts / ideas are about that?
Okay, so you get a degree in engineering/library science/nursing/wildlife biology. Know that in 10 or 30 or 50 years something will inevitably prevent you from doing it anymore. Whether it’s technological innovations or outsourcing or a surplus of new grads or your own health.
Uber is a flexible part time second job that doesn’t require any special training or education. Who cares if an easy source of extra cash might dry up in 10 or 50 years?
Lovely post. I started taking Uber a couple of months ago after I had some seizures and was put on a 6 month driving hiatus. My husband was reluctant for me to use the service out of concern for my safety.
It seems ridiculous in retrospect. I Uber at least once a week now and I have consistently met the most interesting, neat people as a rider. I even hooked up with one guy who just started a nonprofit and I am now teaching him to write grants on a volunteer basis (that’s what I do professionally.)
I bet my odds of bad experiences would increase if I were hitching rides at 2am while drunk or something, but this has just been during the day in the nicer parts of Detroit metro. I go 40 minutes to work and back at least once a week and to appointments nearby. I even Ubered to Best Buy the other day.
Don’t regret it at all. And most people seem to be doing it as a second job and saving for something really meaningful to them which they are all to happy to share about. I love it. My last driver told me all about spelunking and where to go in the UP of Michigan to see the best night sky.
Thanks for sharing your positive experience!
Also meant to add, it’s really opened my eyes to the limits many people have due to disabilities and being unable to drive - Uber is a wonderful alternative for folks who can’t drive. It’s not cheap, but it’s still half as much the cost of a taxi. I get the merits of discussing the business model and whether it’s viable long-term, or whether the policies merit critique, but just speaking through the lens of someone who got her freedom to travel back after a major medical event, it has made all the difference in the world to me to have the service.
I hope you know that as an “independent contractor” you must pay both halves (employee and employer) of the Social Security tax. And you must pay the employer half even if you’ve already earned more than the maximum taxable amount in your other job.
The new economy:
No employees. Everyone is either an owner of the firm or a “contractor”.
This means:
No unemployment tax
No SS payments
No insurance - health, life, vision, mental health, E&O.
Biggie: No liability
No pension (yeah, that was a quaint idea, wasn’t it: give us your entire working life and we’ll take care of you after you retire)
Hire and fire at will
All of the positives with none of the downsides of having worker bees.
Why do all the youngsters have all these “side jobs” or “hustles”? Because real jobs are not being created, and these hustles are the best chances they have.
Ever see one of those pics of a small child somewhere in the 3rd World sewing or hammering on pieces of things you see [del]in the store[/del] on Amazon?
Those are the ultimate “contract” workers
In Denver the drivers have an Uber sticker. Haven’t seen that elsewhere. Is that a legal issue?
Edit: I’ve only had one bad experience with Uber - driver got lost - in dozens of rids.
Might be in Denver. I don’t have a sign, its not required here.
I didn’t think it was required. I got the impression that some cities were not that keen on Uber. Ft Lauderdale for example.