
Uber's politics and the gig economy - mattybrennan
http://www.groundswell.org/uber-whelmed/
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charlie_vill
Ok, so I've taken the author's advice and asked the drivers how does Uber
works for them. To my not so surprise, they all, and by all, I mean every
single one of them, seem to love it. Too bad this post doesn't show the other
side of the story. Next time, if you're going to start pointing fingers,
follow your advice, and look both ways before doing so.

~~~
21echoes
you and the author are both just running on anecdotes. I'd love to see a
larger data set of satisfaction, working hours, hourly wage, etc.

~~~
charlie_vill
I agree, and would like to see this as well, but until this data is available,
we must be aware that even these 'anecdotes' have two sides to them.

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chimeracoder
> And the next time you hop into a ride-share car, talk to your driver – learn
> about their experience and find out how the service is working for them.

I've actually done this for nearly every cab I've ever taken (starting long
before Uber came out), so I have a point of reference and comparison[0]. It's
anecdotal, but it's been interesting to observe the changes as a rider.

In NYC, the demographics of Uber drivers and yellow medallion cab drivers are
generally the same, and most Uber drivers previously drove either yellow
medallion cabs or private cab services. Uber drivers seemed generally happier
about their jobs, making far more money doing basically the same service.

For a while, nothing seemed to change about their experiences, as far as I
could tell. Only about a year or so ago did I start to notice a change, and it
wasn't the one I'd expect.

Nowadays, _both_ yellow medallion cab drivers and Uber drivers in NYC seem to
have the same level of satisfaction with their job, and are generally
unhappier with their line of work overall compared to a few years ago. Uber
drivers who have driven for more than a year or two say they are making
dramatically less money than they used to, and they complain that their costs
are higher and revenues more unpredictable (such as Uber changing the
requirements for what counted as Uber vs. Uber X, dramatically reducing
revenue permanently).

One Uber driver told me that he was an early driver and used to rate
passengers fairly, and now just gives everyone a 5-star, because "it doesn't
really matter" (ie, he just doesn't care).

On the other hand, Uber drivers used to tell me that they experienced a
different sort of clientele. Taking Uber (instead of taking a cab) was a
status symbol. One told me that he drove a guy literally a block and a half to
a party, just so he could be seen stepping out of a black car. From what I've
seen, as the service has grown, the clientele has regressed more to the mean,
and is now more similar to the typical cab user (except a bit younger and more
tech-savvy).

Uber (and the like) have been revolutionary services from the point of view of
the rider, but from the perspective of the driver, it seems that the initial
differences in experiences were only temporary.

[0] I started doing this simply because I have family members who used to
drive cars in NYC professionally and still tell stories of their days. So I
could relate to the riders, and they'd tell me their thoughts very candidly.
Only much later did Uber come out and this turn into an opportunity for
comparison.

~~~
aetherson
I live in SF, not NYC, and am not sure what's up with the Uber rates in NYC.
But I'd expect to see a similarly decreasing satisfaction in SF, and, really,
this is pretty simple: it's all about the money.

Going from my house to 16th and Mission is about a 15 minute drive, assuming
no traffic. The UberX fare calculator quotes me $11 to $14 (assuming no
surge). It's probably going to be about 5 minutes to come and pick me up. The
fare component is $10 to $13. Driver gets 80% of that. So now we're talking $8
to $10.40 for 20 minutes' work. If you're literally going back-to-back, that's
$24 to $31 per hour. But you aren't picking people up back-to-back. And of
course gas, vehicle maintenance, blah-blah-blah.

It's not great money. Things get better if you surge, but Uber is trying to
increase supply enough that surges are rare and relatively low-multiplier.
Also, surges typically happen during high-traffic times when each ride takes
longer, and getting to the fare takes longer.

Right now, some of this is masked for a lot of drivers by big bonuses paid at
sign-up, and/or limited-time-period wage guarantees. But the longer-term
drivers are basically seeing that their basic income per trip has gone down
30-50% from about a year ago. Of course they're less happy!

------
mariusz79
Gig Economy helps a lot of people, but it's just temporary. The information
and brand recognition Uber gets right now will help them to easily transition
to self-driving cars, leaving all these people that currently depend on Uber
in a really though situation. What do you put on your resume when in 2018 Uber
introduces first self-driving cars, and your gig is no more? Right now they
are just in a information gathering stage, collecting information about travel
routes, times, congestion etc. They need human drivers but not for long.

~~~
spindritf
What will you put if you are a truck driver? This is a problem with automation
in general, or low-skill jobs, not Uber, sharing, or gig economy.

~~~
mariusz79
"low-skill jobs" \- more and more jobs will be classified as such. People
should spend time learning skills that are not low-skill instead of being a
glorified taxi driver

~~~
w1ntermute
You can't just take a 35 year old truck driver and turn him into a skilled
knowledge worker.

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johnrob
Isn't Obama-care supposed to solve the benefits problem?

~~~
KrisAndrew
No.

Imagine you're a gig worker who makes $2500/mo. $750 goes to your apartment,
$500 goes to taxes, $200 goes to your car payment and auto insurance, $200
goes to groceries, $180 goes to your cell phone and utilities, $120 for some
credit cards you make minimum payments on, another $120 for gas, maybe $150
for clothes and entertainment.

That leaves you with $280/mo in disposable income. Requiring Obamacare will
extract $80-$120/mo for the lowest level of coverage that has high deductibles
and is generally useless. You could pay another $100/mo and get the next level
up, but your ability to save for anything at all is now completely gone. All
you can look forward to is a few hundred dollars on your tax return.

Health care must be free to make sense in this context.

~~~
johnrob
At least they have the option of buying it (if they have the money). The prior
issue with health care was that, in lieu of working for a large enough
company, those who needed it couldn't buy it at any price.

~~~
KrisAndrew
They can have the cake, but not eat it, no?

They don't have the _option_ to enroll or not. They have to or they get
penalized. The penalty is small; $95 per person, but this is really just
another tax on a growing margin of society that can't shoulder more taxes.

The health care industry has already responded to the situation in a more
sensible way. Many urgent care clinics have popped up in the last few years.
They'll handle most run-of-the-mill health concerns for $100-$200 a visit.
Many drugstore chains have started their own prescription clubs that cover a
pretty wide range of common medications for very reasonable amounts.

If you're a healthy individual who visits the doctor twice a year and maybe
you need a prescription or two, then it makes more sense to pay for your
health care on an as-needed basis. You'll save more money. Obamacare didn't
really solve the major issues with health insurance. They missed the mark
because industry already stepped in to provide a solution. If they wanted to
solve the problem vis-a-vis affordability for marginal workers, the solution
would have been to make it free.

Just like with gay marriage and openly gay military members, we'll get there
eventually, but people are still suffering because of the painfully
incremental way legislature works.

~~~
vampirechicken
We wanted National Health Service. We didn't get that. We got mandated
insurance. No wonder nobody's happy about it.

