I hate having to get a taxi cab. Really hate it. So this week I gave Uber a try and I'm pretty darn impressed with it. It really makes the old call a cab system seem archaic. You open the app and you can see all the Uber drivers that are in your area on a map. You add a destination and get an estimate for the trip. The you request a driver and when one responds you can accept. Then you can actually watch the car drive to you on the map. The best part is when you get to your destination the app transfers the money to the driver. There is no exchange of any real money or even a reason to talk to the driver at all. You don't even need to figure out a tip. I love it.
Uber is an genius concept and must have in a big city. It's about 1/3 cheaper than a taxi and much more customer service oriented. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to use internationally, also. I hope they have enough venture capital to fight off the corrupt politicians. I'm actually the opposite, it's one of the best perks of not being a taxi company. Since the drivers get feedback they are a lot more pleasant to deal with. I sit up front and chat them up and use my own GPS. Uber gives their drivers their own GPS app. Be wary of any drivers NOT using it, and keep your own GPS on. You can make route suggestion to reduce your costs.
I noticed there is a real Taxi option which I assume is there just to prevent law suits. It's the same price as a Uber car +20% tip.
Once Uber drivers cover their operating costs, most of them earn less than an entry level worker at Wal-Mart. They take all the risks and carry all of the equipment costs themselves while Uber skims off the top. It's basically a scam that only works because Uber hasn't been regulated and people are desperate for extra money due to wage stagnation.
You'll take it more seriously when your own company starts trying to offload costs onto the employees. It's already starting to happen. People look at Uber and think "Why can't we do that too"?
They are 1099 contractors not employees. Nobody is forcing them into said contract. Statistical data is likely corrupted on both sides (Uber v taxi unions). Show me W2 employees being offloaded employment expenses.
I'm sure you've heard of W2 employees "working from home", right? Does the company pay for part of their mortgage/rent? Does the company pay for part of the telephone/internet connection? It's a form of offloading the cost of office space onto the employee. And it's obvious that Uber drivers are not actually independent contractors. Do they operate their own limo services that are separate from driving for Uber/Lyft etc? For the most part, no. They probably never even acted as a driver in any capacity prior to being an Uber driver. Does that really pass the smell test for "contractor"? For example, if you hire a construction contractor, you hire someone that owns/operates their own business that is independent of what you're hiring them for.
Unless you work from home full-time, the company has not off-loaded any costs. Your office is still readily available for you, it's more a perk to avoid traffic and not put on pants. I've never found one of these unicorn jobs unfortunately, but my friend got one temporarily. International company still constructing a US office, they pay for his internet to connect via VPN. I believe there are IRS deductions in that instance for portion of mortgage for home office section. Do employees get to pick exactly the amount of hours you can work in a day/week? Start and stop on a whim? They don't exactly pass the smell test for employee either. In your comparison, Uber is the construction contractor. Their sub-contractors work hours and pay is between them. The Uber driver is equivalent to the migrant from a Lowes parking lot that does the actual work.
Some W2 employees do work from home full-time, while others share temporary desks that are swapped between the employees on the days they do come into work. So, yes, companies off-load costs through work from home policy. Some even have standards that determine what the home employees office is supposed to consist of, despite disclaimers about the company not paying for any of it. And you've never heard of W2 employees choosing the hours they work in a week? Flexible hours doesn't have anything to do with whether you're really a contractor or not.
lol you cannot be serious. Flexible work hours for an employee is adjusting their 40 hours around. Flexible hours for Uber is working 0 minutes to 168 hours a weeks. Full-time WFH should be receiving deductions and comps. I'll acknowledge getting ripped off by your employer is SOP nowadays. Everything has to be negotiated independently separate of corp policy.
I imagine some people make it a full time job. This driver said she turns it on and off when she wants. Seems like a nice way to make extra money.
The number of hours you work per week has absolutely nada to do with whether you're a contractor or not. That just tells you how lame Uber's argument is to begin with.
I survived a second Uber adventure. Turns out you can't use Uber at an airport without being sneaky. In fact I was in Chicago and they felt the need to continually broadcast a message over the intercom about only using approved transportation services. And by approved they mean the ones that pay them protection money so they also get their cut. Anyway when I left the hotel to go back to the airport a smart guy noticed me using my phone and asked if I needed Uber. I said yes and he said he was Uber Black. Well I don't want to go black for fear I wont go back so I said I no and that I only use Uber X. Truthfully I don't know the difference. He looked disappointed and left. Then my Uber car pulled up and I felt a small twinge of guilt as I noticed two taxi cabs patiently waiting for customers outside the hotel. Am I evil? Have I no ethics? Should I not give a flying fluck.
No. Taxis are extremely overpriced. Only in recent years have they even started accepting credit/debit cards. For the longest time, most of them only took cash. Their poor service and high prices lead to the rise of services like Uber, which is the free market at work. And now they're using cronyism to try to stay relevant.
Guess how "competitive" Uber would be if they had to operate in the same regulatory environment as cab/limo companies and had to properly identify their drivers as employees? Not very. That's why they spend Uber amounts of cash on lobbying.
Right. I hate paying in cash and many Taxi cab drives still seem upset when I try to use a credit card. Some cabs have the credit card machine built into the cars which is nice but others have archaic means for doing credit cards. I once had a guy pullout an old carbon copy paper machine from his trunk and I was like oh hell no.
Credit cards have high processing fees (courtesy of the United States friendly free market banking system), and the drivers have to pay it themselves.
I'm struggling to hold back tears for the poor taxi drivers... a whole 3% fee on a $30 dropoff one mile from the airport. They should consider raising their modest rates to cover the 90 cents.