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NYC Votes To Set Minimum Pay For Uber, Lyft Drivers (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Tuesday, New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission voted to set a minimum pay rate for Uber, Lyft, and other on-demand ride-hailing drivers. The new rate will be set at $17.22 after expenses, or $26.51 per hour gross. New York is believed to be the first city in the nation to implement such a pay floor. Four months ago, the Big Apple also imposed a cap on the number of such vehicles in the city. The Independent Drivers Guild, a local affiliate of the Machinists Union, advocated for the change. Meanwhile, Uber has already put out a statement saying that increased driver earnings "will lead to higher than necessary fare increases" and that the new rules do not adequately take into account "incentives or bonuses forcing companies to raise rates even higher." "Today we brought desperately needed relief to 80,000 working families. All workers deserve the protection of a fair, livable wage and we are proud to be setting the new bar for contractor workers' rights in America," Jim Conigliaro, Jr., founder of the Independent Drivers Guild, said in a statement.
Uber and Lyft are dead if their drivers actually get paid. Currently, drivers for both Uber and Lyft make negative money if they have to pay for fuel or vehicle maintenance.
In other words, "paying our workers a reasonable wage is not necessary."
So I can go out and buy a brand new Porsche 911 and Uber will have to cover my costs plus pay me a minimum wage? SWEET!
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Uber has already put out a statement saying that increased driver earnings "will lead to higher than necessary fare increases"
Necessary for who? In Uber mind, not for the drivers, obviously
This was advocated by the _Independent Drivers Guild_, a local affiliate of the _Machinists Union_....
How does that even happen? Kind of a strange combination of interests, is it not?
Making competition illegal is Gilded Age level evil.
Are you paid for your time that you say you are available and waiting for someone to need a ride? What about time spent travelling to the pick up point?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Currently, drivers for both Uber and Lyft make negative money
How do we all know you are lying? Two ways:
1) What idiot would work for a day for negative money? Yes there remains tons of Lyft and Uber drivers. Therefore, you are lying.
2) Every Uber or Lyft driver I have talked to (and I talk to all of them) make a fair amount of money, most of them love the job because it's a way they can make extra money and they get to choose when and how often to work. They can easily control for higher rates by choosing to work mostly during peak times where surge pricing nets them a lot more. Therefore, you are lying.
Drivers make not make much at times but all of them are savvy and now how to work the system so they are doing much better than "negative money".
If you want something approaching negative money, try being the owner of.a once valuable taxi license...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
So ride-sharing companies pull out of New York, and taxi companies are back in business. It's no surprise to me why they voted for this.
I can't think of a better job... No skills needed, you don't have to bathe or change your clothes every day, go to work when you want to, you answer to no one, and you make $26.51/hour? Oh wait... Gov't workers.
God you're an insufferably boring asshole Bill.
you shouldn't be in business. If I want to keep your argument going we could just go back to company towns and defacto slavery. After all, you're free to sign a contract with the coal mine or starve, right? It's not like the economic is becoming a monopoly or anything, right?
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who's tired of paying for heathcare, food stamps and other subsidies because Uber's flaunting minimum wage law.
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Next up: Uber and Lyft must only employ drivers who own electric vehicles.
You seem angry. Go get laid...
I have a good friend driving for both in NYC. He is driving a 4 or 5 year old car (he bought it I think 2.5 years ago). He makes about $50,000/year driving. He has a part time restaurant job, as well.
He bought the car specifically to drive for Uber (and later started Lyft). He has been paying extra on the car. It is nearly paid off now. The car has paid for itself, including all maintenance and insurance, and gas. The money left over paid part of his rent (he only rents a room, but still pays too much). The remainder of the rent and his other expenses are covered by the restaurant gig.
In another year he will have the car free and clear and will (probably*) still be making money with it. In the meantime, he has had use of the car for a couple of years. This is not negative money.
*: Don't get me started on Uber's long-term survivability.
A wage is fixed, regular payment. Uber doesn't pay a wage; the job isn't designed as full-time work. There are lots of jobs that aren't. That's why they're gigs.
What should the hourly rate of a paperboy who works 14 hours/week be? Or a wedding photographer? Or a drummer who only plays on weekends?
Only if you're an employee. In this case, you're just a really under-informed independent contractor bidding on losing propositions.
Headline should instead say, "NYC voters to set pay for Uber, Lyft drivers to zero". Because if Uber/Lyft withdraw, that's exactly what it's going to be.
I was sick and tired of being robbed and abused by the state and every action they take has a negative side effect that they NEVER take into consideration. They selectively discriminated against me and others in my line of work as well because we didn't have a lobby at the state house and it resulted in a 7% reduction in my earnings. This is suppose to be for the good of the "poor", but in reality it'll end up negatively impacting people. I put up with this shit for a few years before I left and moved somewhere more agreeable. Unfortunately there seems to be a tenancy for a group of people to try and force everybody into this socialist system. They come in from out of state to try and influence our politicians. They conduct protests and speeches and openly admit they don't even live here. It's sick. They use emotion rather than logic and sadly it works to fuck up our system as well. We have to keep going back and editing our laws to fix this shit they keep slipping through. And this is one of the best states in the nation! It's far from perfect, but it at least leans in the right direction. Neither republican nor democrats are in the majority here. Most people are undeclared.
Would seem fair if both taxi and uber drivers got minimum wage. Usually, Taxi drivers (vs. owners) get skrewed worse than Uber ones, which is why they end up driving Uber.
The citizens of NYC are not voting
The elected representatives of the citizens of NYC are not voting
The voting is being done by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats who have allegiances to the taxi and limousine industries.
taxi system + cell phone plan reimbursement!
The drivers also need 401k plans, medical and dental plans, paid vacation and sick leave, profit sharing, pensions, etc.
Yep. Blood is gonna be required.
I ride Lyft or Uber to work because the politicians in Kearny getting kickbacks from the taxi comission got the bus cancelled (used to run to DVD Daniels, a US Postal facility.
From my home to work it is $35-$45 ride one way. If I ride the bus and walk 3 miles to WalMart , then take a taxi across the danger area (a 4 lane non-divided highway only 1.5 miles from my job, taxi costs $7.50 and I have to wait up to 35 minutes..
Lyft is usually $13 from my front door to work. Uber only $8. Both always show up within 8 minutes.
Maybe somebody will finally explain to me why:
1 uber and lyft are, absolutely, taxi companies so why don't the cities simply slap the same regs on them as what are on taxis ?
2 ok, for some reason 1 doesn't apply. then taxi companies shouldn't exist.
uber/lyft are taxi companies, either regulate them as such or just do away with the idea of taxi regulation.
why do they keep treating them separately ??
Absolute statements are never true
This is clearly impractical. If you're driving for a ride-sharing company, how many rides are you taking? Where are you working? Do you drive efficiently or inefficiently? How can this map to any particular wage?
Some drivers work for both Uber and Lyft. How do you prove they are refusing rides for one service, because they are currently transporting someone for the other service? Or do they get double the minimum wage?
This looks like an attempt to force ride-sharing services into the taxi service model, where people are hired as employees, and have their work directed centrally: You must go here and pick up this passenger. At which point they become taxis, and need medallions. Which is probably the real goal behind this: corporate cronyism, to protect the existing NY taxi businesses.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
I know he's not driving 40 hrs. He was driving crazy hours when he started, but slowed down to something reasonable when he saw he was gonna be ok on money. Not sure how many hours he's doing now.
As far as this regulation, I don't really have an opinion. I was just responding to the poster who said they are making negative money.
Hate to break it to you, but there are no Walmart's in NYC.
Yes, Walmart has no presence in NY. I certainly didn't buy a weight machine from their Union Square location ages ago, nor do they have a new store there in Northern NYC/TheBronx that opened this year.
Nope, no presence at all, except for that giant retail one.
Aren't these drivers independent contractors? As Independent contractors, they are not entitled to a minimum pay because they aren't paid by the hour or a salary. They are paid on a per ride basis making it piece work. If I offer one dollar to independent contractor to make me something that takes one hour to make, that person makes one dollar per hour. If a company offers an independent contractor 50 dollars to do something, and it takes that person a week of 10 hour days to do that thing, that person made one dollar per hour.
Being an independent contractor means one must determine a fair rate for one's work because one is actually self-employed.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
I'll be happy to welcome you to Georgia, where you won't get punished for trying to run a business or taxed eight ways from Sunday.
Uber business model is to pay labor minimum. Go places , meet other successful people , be your own boss , work your own hours dream job ...
Firstly, why is taxi and limousine services dictating how ride sharing works?
Secondly this service operates differently than they do, how can they demand a minimum wage? That's not even how this works.
How can they demand such an astronomical rate? Look that's great for the driver, but you cant just monkey around with business models and the market in that way, if they don't want to drive Uber they DONT HAVE TO. Then the system will adjust itself to what people are willing to get paid and willing to pay. Clearly uber drivers are fine with making nothing or they wouldn't do it.
Post a google maps link to it. Not sure where you went in NYC, but it definitely wasn't a Walmart. Maybe you confused it with Walgreens. There are 0 Walmart's in NYC, including all five boroughs.
Good! Walmart is a crap company. We'd be better off without them.
Ah yes, the good old "every consumer on the planet acts rationally on perfect information despite billion-dollar corporate disinformation campaigns". Glad to see market fundamentalists still have their head in the sand.
The ole double down.
Somehow the unwashed proles are unable to see through that billion dollar corporate disinformation campaign that you, by virtue of your superior intellect, have no problem discovering. The irony is that you are replying directly to the accusation that the left feels that, "I know better what people need than they do."
Maybe you're not as smart as you think you are.