Hacker News Reader

Comment by SeanAnderson | Hacker News Reader

I've been basically begging my friends that drive for Uber/Lyft in SF to figure out a game plan. I've completely switched over to Waymo at this point because it's just a superior experience in numerous ways. I have to imagine the human drivers will be fighting over scraps in a few more years.

I truly do empathize with the situation, and I understand this report applies to more than just Uber/Lyft drivers in one specific city, but, at the same time, I find it frustrating to see a glaring paradigm shift being met with apathy - as if the value they provide through their work won't drop markedly in the face of automation.

View on HN

Driving is just a gig, it's not like they are super invested in it and did years of study in a particular style of driving and couldn't do any other job. The apathy is because it's easy come, easy go.

Gigs are papering over a gaping sinkhole in the economy.

Gigs are part of the sinkhole; funneling money from those struggling to get by to the app-makers and their investors. At best, gigs are the pretty-but-slippery wallpaper lining the sinkhole many have fallen into, and can't climb out of because the apps unilaterally decide how small the gig-workers' share of the revenue is.

Isn't it the opposite? Have any of these companies made net lifetime profit? They hemorraged money for years to build market share? Which of them are actually profitable and have they made all that money back?

It seems to me more like funnelling money from investors to software developers and consumers given how unprofitable they are.

Not if the investors can get an IPO done because of their great "innovation", then the bag holders are 401ks, mostly.

Don't gig apps largely create jobs that didn't exist previously? E.g. we used to have a few people employed in pizza delivery and taxi driving; now we have delivery for a much wider variety of restaurants, and taking an Uber/Lyft is far more common than taking a taxi used to be.

So I don't see traditional jobs being cannibalized for the most part.

Alternatively, wages are low in gig apps because so many enjoy the flexibility that the apps provide.

That's actually a really good point. Economists should track statistics from these gig apps as an alternative measure of unskilled unemployment. If gig app wages are low, that suggests unemployment is high in a way that's not being picked up by official stats.

"gig" is newspeak for unregulated labor.

"Unregulated labor" is itself newspeak.

Care to elaborate?

It was originally an “on your way” sort of ride share. Going into the city? Pick someone up and it’s like getting free gas. Those that make it a full time job and think it’s going to be anything but the cabbies of old (or likely worse) are delusional. The more workers there are the lower the wage too. It’s pretty obvious…

Reply on news.ycombinator.com