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Uber Drivers Coordinate App Usage to Raise Fares

posted by martyb on Thursday May 23 2019, @09:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the we`re-all-on-break-and-then-we`re-not dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Uber drivers working at Reagan National Airport have found a way to increase their revenue by taking advantage of the "surge" pricing algorithm used by the app. By logging off and making themselves scarce as a plane full of potential riders arrives on the runway, the sharp change in the supply vs. demand of drivers and passengers causes fare prices to rise automatically. The drivers can then sign back in and snap up these gigs while the higher prices remain in effect.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-20/uber-lyft-drivers-game-surge-pricing-reagan-national-airport-synchronized-scheme

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  • (Score: 2) by canopic jug on Friday May 24 2019, @06:15AM

    by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Friday May 24 2019, @06:15AM (#846963) Journal

    Another way to look at it, since it asserts that it's drivers are independent contactors, is that Uber is in the business of price fixing [jalopnik.com]. Actually, Uber claims that it is the drivers who are the customers and the passengers are the drivers' customers not Uber's. Uber's app coordinates not just the price of the drivers have to use the app itself but more so what the drivers plan to charge their own customers, the riders. The pricing of the the drivers services to the riders is thus centrally managed. That makes it rather clear what Uber is really doing when it allows a population of independent contractors to collude to raise prices: Uber is in the business of price fixing through vertical (centralized) coordination of pricing. And that is highly illegal, even under the current regime.

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