It's basically an inefficient, but effective way to siphon money from the poor and middle class and deposit it into the bank accounts of the wealthy by utilizing the equity the poor and middle class have in their vehicles.
Who gets rich on Uber and similar apps are all the programmers that visit this website, we make good money on all those schemes. We get paid really well. We are who really gets the best deal in all this.
(Now I need to hide away before the flying shoes hit me.)
I'm always surprised that VCs assume that customers are morons and will keep buying the same product even when its not a good deal anymore. Uber's terms of the deal changed, so I don't buy the product anymore. Simple as.
Ultimately they wanted their cars to be self-driving. They don't want to pay drivers at all. But there was and is no proof that it is possible in the time frame of their runway.
Even in Manhattan, getting a taxi at 2am was a crap shoot. I can an Uber in the suburbs at 2am anywhere in the country.
That’s neat.
You certainly can call an uber, yes. Whether they come through or whether they find a suitable reason to cancel on you... that's a crapshoot.
I apologize that your experience was different. And likewise to all the downvotes who figured my experience was false lol.
No one is saying your specific experience was false, but: what happened to the taxicab industry is simply not something that happens to businesses that even bother to go through the motions of customer service. People were so eager to ditch taxis that they flocked to a largely-illegal, unregulated service that literally involved getting into strangers' private cars.
If your business loses out a model like that, you're doing it wrong. The taxi cartel and their captive regulators were doing it wrong.
Taxis failed very frequently.
I can reliably plan with Uber. Taxis were a crapshoot.
And I’ve never had the credit card reader broken in Uber and it seemed like every taxi had a busted machine.
if you're a thinking like a system, then yes,
> No, it's a way I can get a safe and reliable ride anywhere in the world, without getting scammed by a local taxi (not just Uber, but Lyft, Ola, Bolt etc.)
if you're thinking like a human individual, then yes.
I agree with you both and I told you why
because this society NEEDS that there exists poor people, essentially people unable to refuse a shitty job.
I do think if we automate the production of lots of things the price will eventually drop as economics says it will. The hard part is the things we cannot automate but also need.
the real difficulties in these arguments come from defining (or trying to) what we mean by "this society", in part because society has many distinct (but intertwined) components
in regards to food, and those things we need but cannot automate, it's not so simple.
because of how capitalism works at dropping costs, in many cases what we actually get is lesser quality things that we absolutely need (like food).
When this gets really really nasty is when applied to education. made cheaper because everybody needs one, but also made shittier, thereby creating people who cannot refuse certain propositions and choices.
shitty education (shitty food) directly contributing to the continued 'availability' of poor people who cannot refuse shitty deals. in this light it could almost be concluded that this system is self-sustaining? ugh.
What poor and middle class assets does SoftBank manage? (EDIT: Nvm. I misread “vehicle” as an investment vehicle.)
https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/boston/vehicle-requirements...
It probably isn't paying enough for you to buy a brand new car with a loan and drive that around for them. But they're not making you do that, either...
I think that depends on how much you paid for the car and how long it will last (depends on quality, how good the maintenance is, and luck). Also, cash pays the rent and lower depreciation doesn't (unless you sell the car), so some people may prefer this to borrowing money.
I’ve driven a Prius for Uber and think so fared quite well using the irs mileage deduction rate to offset almost all my revenue and paid nearly no tax, legally and covered actual depreciation.
It’s funny to think 10 years of drivers are somehow idiots.
I have done the math and am comfortable with my decision. I made extra money and it worked out fine. I understand depreciation and it’s the cost of goods.
Are you aware that many jobs have supplies that are used up in the performance of your job?
It’s pretty basic arithmetic that there are many scenarios where driving for Uber is a perfectly fine choice. Not everyone is driving an F150 and sitting in traffic. Lots of people drive efficient cars and are happy.
The reason people drive for Uber for many years isn’t because they are somehow dumber than you and not aware of basic things.
Not judging that- the reality is somewhere in between they can't afford to do much but stay alive due to inflation and housing costs out of control and that they need to stop getting $7 Dutch Bros. coffee every day, DoorDash every night, and Taylor Swift tickets for $1000.
Some examples are like - I paid off my student debt by not going to coachella or doing optional things (that I observed others doing). They might get it cancelled for free. They got Coachella + Education, I only got Education. Rinse and repeat for all sorts of delayed gratification steps.