
Price Fixing: The Legal Argument That Could Destroy Uber - ryan_j_naughton
https://jalopnik.com/the-legal-argument-that-could-destroy-uber-1834790506
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kop316
"However, independent contractors, who can have limited liability corporations
or other incorporated entities in their own right, do not have many of those
rights, including the right to collectively bargain."

I am not inclined to believe this is correct. As a hobby, I am a musician and
a member of The American Federation of Musicians. Through them, I have done
quite a few gigs where I was not an employee of the place I played, but they
did the collective bargaining.

I imagine if Uber/Lyft drivers want to form such a union, that would be an
extremely powerful way of doing such.

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mrfredward
According to the FTC: "A plain agreement among competitors to fix prices is
almost always illegal, whether prices are fixed at a minimum, maximum, or
within some range."

[https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-
guidance/guide-a...](https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-
guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/dealings-competitors/price-fixing)

I know there are examples that don't appear to conform to this rule, but I
don't think it's fair to make a general statement that businesses can
collectively bargain when the FTC is so clear about price fixing.

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jsty
I'm also curious about this - from what I remember from the relevant bits of
history lessons, the early antitrust laws were enacted at least in part to
quash the price-fixing of guilds.

Unions have rights to conduct in collective bargaining, but I'm not aware of
any similar allowances for guilds of independent contractors to set prices
collectively where it would have anticompetitive effects - they're treated
just the same as other traders / companies.

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lotu
I don't really see how this is an existential threat. Uber and Lyft have a
simple option allowing each drive to set their own prices (presumably $ per
expected mile and $ per expected time idling according to Google Maps traffic
info). Uber/Lyft gets a defined cut. The user could then choose the closet or
cheapest car, and you would have a self working market where the price is set
by the drivers according to market forces. The main downside would be prices
could fluctuate wildly if their are very few drives in an area.

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dhfromkorea
While switching to the simple option may help the likes of Uber defend
themselves on the legal front, the switch may not be that simple to implement
and will be costly on the business front (if not making them cease to exist).
First, the switch will likely lead to an increase in ride fares and a decrease
in user experience. Second, it will be increasingly difficult for the Uber's
management to justify its massive operating losses, when they cannot say to
their investors "hey, we can always increase the price at will".

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ProAm
> “They’re setting a price for a product they say they don’t sell.”

This is going to be an interesting court battle.

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ggg2
nonsense. uber and lyft end-game is a monopoly.

see how uber fixes the percentage it pays to drivers exclusively on their
control of the market. if there's lyft in a city, they pass down 70%, if they
are alone, they retain 70% instead.

in the same way, if drivers try to fix price or bargain, they will simply
change the algorithm to give almost no rides at any time to drivers that are
not driving a certain time while handsomely rewarding the striker breakers,
until the price fix turn into their favour again.

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b_tterc_p
If they do that, there will be fewer drivers, so their prices will go up.

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ggg2
it will go doubly up, for the drivers working when they say so. eventually it
will starve the others.

it's not like they need to actually be profitable at any point...

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Waterluvian
My PiHole is unplugged today. I read the whole article and loved it. Quite a
fascinating argument on how Uber is trying to get the both of best worlds.

But wow... 19 ad breaks? Every time a half second page freeze.

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lugg
Complains about 19 adbreaks as 2000 adnetworks are pinged.

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hamilyon2
This is complete Ghost in the shell-level dystopia. Multinational corporations
own people's means of survival. Governments hide in corners and surrender.

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drinane
This is true.. if they clear enough of the market they will have to have WAY
more regulation and disclosures on them... they probably operate under a
loophole though

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dangjc
Couldn't they just say they use an auction mechanism, so there's one price,
but it's a clearing price?

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m463
Is there a bidding mechanism?

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dangjc
Nope. I wonder if they switched to one if the effect would be the same.

