The Human Cost of Amazon’s Fast, Free Shipping
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
(The link is different, but it's the ProPublica version of the same article, so the commentary is very relevant.)
Agree or disagree, but it's hard to see how you read the article and didn't see the extensive discussion of ways Amazon is more dangerous.
I think of it similar to working under the table; some think "I get paid more than minimum wage and save money on taxes!" But the employer often saves much more and the worker is often to naive to realize what they're losing out on (social security contributions, potential workers compensation benefits, potential recovery of wages, etc)
This seems to apply to Uber drivers in the UK - I've never been in one, but as a pedestrian they are terrible drivers compared to taxis, I frequently witness them driving through zebra crossings and red lights while pedestrians are using them... taxis are the complete opposite, they go out of their way to be nice to pedestrians, after all they are potential customers.
You must be living in a different UK to me (and everyone else based on the general consensus of taxis)!
Uber drivers have to drive well else they'll be reviewed poorly. If someone leaves a 1* review for their Uber driver saying that they drove through a red, there will be serious repercussions. Try complaining about a similar thing to a taxi company and see how that works out for you.
I really doubt that, people riding in ubers are too busy on their phones... and often the drivers are too which is why they are so unobservant.
Taxis in between jobs are on the look out for being hailed, they have their eyes on the road and on the street.
This is empirical, if you watch enough of them while they are around pedestrian crossings see how attentive they are by comparison.
Are they though? I took a good few Ubers who had great ratings but were terrible drivers.
The incentive is to get as fast from point A to B and it's having an effect.
In terms of quality of drivers respecting other cars: regular car drivers > taxi drivers > Uber drivers.
Uber drivers are the worst to drive near to. They do all sorts of stupid things like pull over in spots where they SHOULD not, all to pick up or drop off passengers.
I see it time and time again. They prioritise their customer over the road rules and respect for other vehicles.
Taxi drivers also drive faster than Uber drivers, who seem to enjoy sitting well under the speed limit.
That's the same for both Uber and taxi drivers.
Also they usually charge you based on the distance actually travelled, not a predetermined price so they can afford to make detours.
Stressing and driving untrained people that hard has a lot more with the sad frequency of vehicular delivery crashes. If Amazon used established companies with trained drivers instead like Fedex, USPS, and UPS, which take safety much more seriously, we wouldn't be talking about this.
Poor Amazon wouldn’t need drivers if only zoning rules allowed them to place warehouses anywhere. If silly regulations didn’t forbid Amazon from putting a container full of stuff in every driveway, rent free, countless lives would be saved.
I do think that Amazon have some moral issues, Since I came across Amazon M turk.
They basically have army of over 500,000 registered workers Those people make few cents per micro tasks while amazon make x10 that amount of each task and leave tiny slice of the cake for its core users.