How Uber Profits Even When Its Drivers Aren't Earning Money (vice.com)

tedlistens writes: Jay Cassano spoke to Uber drivers about "dead miles" and what work means when your boss is an algorithm, and considers a new frontier of labor concerns and big data. "Uber is the closest thing to an employer we've ever seen in this industry," Bhairavi Desai, founder of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, told him. "They not only direct every aspect of a driver's workday, they also profit off the entire day through data collection, not just the 'sale of a product.'"

Comments

New York Taxi Workers' Alliance

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

Let's see. An organization with a vested interest in perpetuating the Taxi industry's grip and pricing doesn't like something about Uber and it's ilk. I think there's a picture of Captain Picard captioned "I've just shat myself with surprise!".

Fuck cabbies. Fuck cab owners. Let 'em all starve like buggy whip manufacturers. Price gouging, monopoly having, tourist and local abusing, talking to their overseas family on the phone motherfuckers.

I don't give a single shit about your labor concerns. You screwed yourself out of that with your attitude, your work ethic, and your lies. Fuck off and die already.

Re:New York Taxi Workers' Alliance

[110010001000]

I 100% agree. Uber is optional for drivers and passengers. Taxi service is terrible. Taxis are dirty and old and frequently rip you off if you don't know where you are going. Uber doesn't have this problem. Ever seen a dirty Uber car? I don't even use Uber, but I have no love for the taxi "alliances".

Re:New York Taxi Workers' Alliance

[Anonymous Coward]

> Ever seen a dirty Uber car? I don't even use Uber,

Solid reasoning.

Re:New York Taxi Workers' Alliance

[BarbaraHudson]

Complain to your municipal government. Taxis here are clean, the drivers have to conform to a dress code and a service code, and there are dedicated inspectors to make sure that standards have to be maintained. When a taxi enters service, it cannot be more than 5 years old, and has to be retired when it it 10 years old, no matter if it's still in great condition. Rusty cars aren't allowed. Heck, there's even one cab driver driving a tesla because the extra initial cost is offset by the lower running costs.

If taxi drivers are expected to live up to professional standards, they'll actually behave like professionals, which is good for everybody. When you get a company that just reinforces the race to the bottom, all you're going to get is bottom-feeders.

Re:New York Taxi Workers' Alliance

[DarkSabreLord]

Complain to your municipal government.

This is really going to depend on where you live - around here, lobbying groups for taxi companies and their drivers forestalled any attempts at legislated change for over a decade before Uber stepped in, quickly picking up market share due to its reliability. It used to be that even if you called to schedule a pickup (in an hour!) there was only a 30-40% chance a taxi would actually show up. I remember the days of being unable to get home via taxi at night without offering a 100% tip in advance all too vividly and have no desire whatsoever to return to that.

I'm not saying Uber is the best answer here - clearly, the new model comes with its own share of problems - but the previous monopoly (taxis) really screwed themselves out of a future with their own behavior. There was a hotline to call to report problems, but absolutely zero accountability for the drivers at the end of the day. The situation has since improved, but generally falls along the lines of 'too little, too late'.

Re:New York Taxi Workers' Alliance

[Applehu Akbar]

If medallion taxi companies tracked their drivers, they could collect the same data, and drivers could make the same pitch for getting paid something for the data they are generating. But tracking would also reveal those roundabout routes cabdrivers like to use on newbie passengers, so I'm betting the union would nix it.

Re:New York Taxi Workers' Alliance

[dbIII]

Yes, but on the other side of the coin it's the old story of piecework with a race to the bottom plus deliberate criminal action even if the laws broken are unfair. It's like bringing a little bit of the third world home or digging up a 19th century robber baron.
There is nobody to cheer for in this situation. Unfair monopoly versus a new player that wants to take over the unfair monopoly and move a lot of cost onto their employees. The lie of "ride sharing" as a smokescreen is an especially blatant lie and is being used as a pretended point of difference to get around laws protecting the current local monopolies.

Title answers itself

[nitehawk214]

Uber makes money because their drivers are often not earning any.