Uber launches Uber Rush, merchant delivery service, in three cities
businessinsider.com
businessinsider.com
Interesting times!
It's a boon for LE. They'll have access to the data. If they make enough fuss, they might even get Uber to encourage drivers to report suspicious activity. (What do they have to lose? No one wants to stick up for evil drug dealers.)
Remember how some of the Silk Road vendors were caught. LE found a couple suspicious packages confirmed to contain unlicensed medicines (supposedly via random inspection, but could have been secret spying, or regular gumshoe work). Investigators go to originating USPS office, look for suspicious activity. Quickly find it, make a bust.
Really, it should just point out the silliness of such contraband laws in the first place.
Source - know many people at UPS and Fedex
The police, now having the drugs and the guy that was going to send them, hatch a plan. First, they mail the drugs to the coach. Then shortly after the envelope arrives they search the coach's room. Low and behold they find cocaine and the coach is arrested.
I'm not sure how it turned out but it looks like the coach is still coaching to this day:
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=199...
Another thing this implies is that that these businesses could switch from a staffed delivery service to a completely on-demand one. One of the things the businesses and their customers could see an improvement with is the case where all their delivery people are out making deliveries, and new orders come in. With this, they just make a new Rush request and get a new delivery person.
What? You thought getting rid of jobs gets your business off the hook for helping pay for civilization?
That said, expecting Uber to continue to pay drivers after the advent of safer, cheaper autonomous cars is silly. Bring on the autonomous cars, I say. And, while it's someone's job to ensure an economic system with opportunity for all, it isn't Uber's job any more than it's yours or mine.
Agreed! That's why government exists, to create a social safety net, and to extract taxes from corporate and personal income revenue to support those services.
1) People want "to create a social safety net, and to extract taxes from corporate and personal income revenue to support those services."
2) People are getting what they want, or at least supporting government in the hope they will achieve the previous point (#1).
I am not sure what level of support either of these two points garners, but I am certain that it is not 100%, and it may be that less than an outright majority of people support both.
A more plausible explanation of why government exists (in my view) is that like any other monopoly, it has used tools including propaganda, suppression of opposing views, and incentivizes for collaboration to build and maintain its strength.