Why the Sharing Economy Is Awful

cryoshon.co

2 points·cryoshon··2 comments

Summary: the "sharing economy" is awful because companies such as Uber and AirBnb profit from facilitating the transaction between the consumer and the provider. To quote: "The capital of the lower classes is used as a certificate signalling employment-worthiness, then is used to generate revenue for those who can afford to rent it out in mass to create products for consumers. The profits made are not returned to those who own the capital, but rather to those who own the information technology company which rents the capital."

Of course, this makes it sound like the Uber driver and AirBnb host are slaves of the big corporations.

In reality, drivers can select times when there is greater demand and thus, higher rates. AirBnb hosts can set their own rates, and are subject to market realities. In addition, either is able to sign up with a competitive services, e.g. Lyft or Homeaway.

Slaves isn't the right word because they enter into that contract by will, though perhaps sometimes by necessity.

I'd say that the results for them are poor on the a large scale, but not necessarily noticeable on an individual scale because one of the biggest factors is uncompensated risk. If you don't lose your car while driving for Uber, no problem-- but a big problem if you do, which definitely happens sometimes.

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