Uber

[tw]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

The biggest reason is [i][b]licensing of taxi medallions.

Profession cab companies around here have no medallions and still cost more. They know what their costs are. To obfuscate the issue, you confuse NYC cabbies with others who have no medallions. These still cost more because they charge based on actual costs.

Once we include everything you have said correctly, then you really agree with everything I have said. Thank you.

Meanwhile, Uber drivers often make far less than they realize. $5 profit for a half hour fare is profitable? Yes. It explains so much dissension among Uber and Lyft drivers. Of course, the business model makes it almost impossible for them to Unionize. So is it really a business - or a hobby?

[Undertoad]

But in smaller markets where there are no medallions, the cost of sales is higher and concentration of business is lower leading to reverse economies of scale.

Another aspect of this is: which experience is better? They're not equivalent experiences.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by tw

$5 profit for a half hour fare is profitable?

Assuming you pick up a second fare, that's a wage of $10 per hour. Are there costs hidden in the long-term car damage that a driver won't necessarily have to deal with until later? Sure. But the same applies to pizza delivery drivers, who make an average of $8.08 per hour.

Fun fact: there is also the opposite of "surge pricing," in which both Uber and Lyft pay bonuses for drivers who cover less popular areas and times of day, because it is in the company's best interest to provide 100% coverage even if the margins are sometimes slimmer. One driver told me she got twice the usual rate for picking me up in a suburb at 9:00 AM--which it turns out she also lives in. She just logs herself in every morning then goes back to sleep. If a ride request comes in, she puts on some pants and does the gig.

No one is getting rich being an Uber driver. But not every worker's desire is to get rich and climb the career ladder 1950s style.

[slang]

Originally Posted by Griff

Traditionally we argue with tw not ourselves.

Sorry for breaking format. I knew it just didn't seem right.

No use of the word "texas" or references to any firearms in those posts. I'm in recovery.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

No one is getting rich being an Uber driver.

That clearly was the point that UT ignored to argue. They see cash flow. Then mistakenly confuse that with income. Nobody can live on $8 an hour. Even in the 1960s, minimum wage was (in today's money) $12.

An Uber driver that gets $5 for a half hour almost never has a new fare one minute later. He is paid nothing to drive to his next fare. And again, the point. Uber drivers really do not know how little they are actually earning.

The Uber model would have been ideal for professional taxis. But those companies operate on razor thin margins. An Uber business model works when its drivers do not realize how little they are actually making.

[Undertoad]

I ignored they don't get rich?

Another aspect of this is: which experience is better? They're not equivalent experiences.

My very worst Uber ride so far is better than an average taxi ride. The average taxi rides are for shit*, and everybody knows this. Cab smells bad, driver smells bad, entertainment is some tiny asian nation's top 40, driving is erratic, communication impossible. On Uber, that doesn't last long; it's reviewed right out of the system.

I doubt tw has been in an Uber, don't you all? Tell us your ride-sharing experiences, tw. Tell us about the drivers you've spoken with. Actual experience goes a long way to understanding things... as opposed to making things up in your tiny little head after reading the news.




*except in Vegas.

[slang]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

...My very worst Uber ride so far is better than an average taxi ride..

Cost of Uber is less. They care more about your ride experience.

[sexobon]

On a tangent,

This morning Alexa told me the news about Amazon looking for more delivery drivers. They apparently want Amazon Prime to provide one day delivery service. Amazon is encouraging their employees to quit … and go into business for themselves as deliverers. Amazon will put up to $10,000 into a start-up and give three months separation pay to the employee. It sounded rather Uberish. I wonder if anyone will end up doing both Amazon and Uber.

[Griff]

... only to be replaced by self-driving delivery trucks? I wonder if their delivery contracts will be exclusive? The whole thing puts me in mind of what Purdue does to chicken farmers. I guess we're all share-croppers now? /poorly considered but you see where I'm going with this.

[Undertoad]

The car can drive to your house but it cannot yet pick up the package, carry it over uncertain terrain, put it on your doorstep and knock on the door. That will take an additional 10 years as machine learning will take that long to learn to interpret every doorstep.

[Clodfobble]

I'm surprised the Amazon locker system hasn't been expanded more for deliveries, instead of just returns. They're constantly offering me things like a $5 credit on Amazon Pantry (which I don't want) if I'll delay delivery by a few days, but never have they offered me $1 off or whatever if I'll go get my package at the closest locker (about 8 blocks from my house, and right on my route in and out of the neighborhood) which I would totally do.

[xoxoxoBruce]

They ordered 2o,000 Mercedes Sprinter vans without self driving or alt fuel.

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by tw

A ten mile Uber trip might cost $15. Of that, Uber might take $5 or $8. A typical cost of driving ten miles would be greater than what the Federal Government let's you deduct - $5.80. So how much did that driver make in that half hour? Probably less than minimum wage.

I just found out what almost all rideshare drivers already understand:

The driver deducts that $5.80!!

The car is being used for business purposes!!

NOW how much did the driver make?

[Happy Monkey]

A tax deduction doesn't do much in a low tax bracket.

[Undertoad]

Who says they are in a low bracket?

AND gets a deduction on the car payment

AND the car insurance

AND the mobile phone AND its wireless plan

NOW how much did the driver make?