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from the employee-rules-for-contractor-pay dept.
Uber remains unprofitable at the same time its drivers work 80-hour weeks for less than minimum wage and without health care packages. They must also cover vehicle costs including fuel, maintenance, and insurance.
The ride-hailing company Uber has made its long-awaited debut as a publicly traded stock, but investor demand for the May 10 initial public offering (IPO) fell short of the company's hopes. Part of the reason is a lingering question about its workforce: Does the still-unprofitable firm deliver low-cost rides for passengers at the expense of decent treatment for drivers, and could the resulting discontent undermine Uber's business model?
The issue over whether Uber drivers are employees (entitled to company benefits such as sick pay and retirement) or contractors (entitled to nothing) has been at the center of the labor controversy since the company launched a decade ago. It is still largely unresolved.
Earlier on SN:
New Research Confirms That Ride-Hailing Companies Are Causing a Ton of Traffic Congestion (2019)
Uber and Lyft Drivers to go on Strike (2019)
Uber Posts $1 Billion Loss in Quarter as Growth in Bookings Slows (2018)
and quite a few more...
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday May 22 2019, @11:04PM (2 children)
I don't agree either.
Where I live, the taxi industry was completely deregulated* in the 1980's. Anyone could become a taxi driver, and so lots of people did.
To the point where there were taxis everywhere, and the prices were stupidly low so no-one was making any money.
This corrected itself pretty quickly however.
All the taxis companies with dirty, unreliable rustbuckets, driven by rude idiots who did not know where they were going went out of business pretty quickly, even though they were really cheap.
There is now a thriving taxi market, and if I want I can pay extra to get a luxury type car, or I can pay a bit less for a standard sort of car.
We also have Uber, but they can't really compete on price, and from what I understand are often much more expensive than a regular taxi because of their opaque pricing model, so people get annoyed and go back to using a taxi.
* To be clear, there are still regulations, but it is the drivers who are licensed as commercial drivers. Any group of drivers can form their own taxi company.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday May 22 2019, @11:42PM (1 child)
What I'm suggesting is exactly what you tell me happened locally, and you praise, except on a nationwide basis. What's wrong with that?
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday May 23 2019, @12:32AM
Yes, you're right I did misunderstand you.
I re-read your comment and what you are suggesting is what we did. When there were too many drivers, the market took care of it by putting the worst of them out of business. (Not the cheapest which is interesting).
There was a period where there was a risk of your cab breaking down before it got to your destination or your driver asking how to get there which was annoying.