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Mehmet used to drive a Toyota CAmry foruberX, which he rented for its TLC plates for ten months at $1,600 a month. Later, he upgraded his vehicle, investing $55,000 ina used luxury vehicle, so he could be eligible forthe higher uberBlack and uberSUV pay rates. His expenses for work amount to about $2,000 a month. He says that even drivers who bought that type ofcar new for $60,000 to $70,000 (the rangedepends on whether the driver has good orbad credit, according to another interviewee) used to make money, before rate cuts that Uber implemeted in January 2017.
it's old news but stil pretty incredible to me that Uber just expects drivers to bear all the cost
[...] The range of driver motivations within Uber's labor pool supports the company's business model of employing part-timers as the majority of its drivers and full-timers as the minority of its drivers: part-timers can inadvertently undermine the leverage that full-timers ned to advocate better working conditions. Though their motivations can overlap happy and unhappy drivers are products of a business model that opens up part-time opportunities for many at the expense of a dedicated few.
nice
incremental solutions here: hobbyists' income should be donated to pool (if they actually dont need it?) once you drive 40h a week you should be entitled to a minimum hourly pay? (maybe higher than if you drive less?) idk think about this more
(also full-timers should obviously have their equipment paid for)
[...] Fernando is also upset about Uber shifting its eligiblity requirement for cars - in 2014, he spent $42,000 on an Uber-eqligible car (which meant a 2005 or newwer model); but in February 2015, Uber began allowing models dating to 2001. "You know how many people went tothe dealer and buy [sic] new cars?" [...] his voice drops when he describes his sons' disappointment in his situation: his familiy thoguht they were getting a pathway to the middle class, and now their father is working hard at a job that is failing him.
this is SO sad
also, think about implications of Uber changing policyand acting as if it's not a big deal, they shouldnthave to take responsiblity, etc. if it isnt a big deal then dont doit
Drivers' experiences demonstrate the gap betwen rhetoric and reality when Uber talks about being a beacon of entrepeneurial oppportunity. The image of driver-as-entrepreneur fails forthree main reasons: drivesr have no control over the raetat whichthey work; they do not determine which jobs they take while logged in; and they are routinely punished for any attempt to "disrupt" the system that Uber imposes.
thinking about uber's objection to allowing drivers control which jobsthey take: that they would discriminate against certain jobs which would mean less reliable service for the customer. how to circumvent that? up the rates for the driver (equivalent to overtime/night bonus) without raising rate for customer? seems reasonable imo. some rides subsidise others
piece rates are dumb and bad for workers
[...] By tracking incentive offers with pay premiums and working wih the other factors within his control, Frank tries to mximize the benefits of the job. The relationship between Uber and its drivers becomes inherently adversarial, though without particular animosity: Frank, like many drivers, is always trying to juice the promotions of his employer to get extra money. [...]
kind of like FF/CC points gaming, tbh
the big diff: about earning, not spending, and it's labour income so the stakes are higher
[...] One Utah driver posted the following in a forum in the summer of 2017:
This is the scam Uber is playing, calling us contractors when we're obviously not. If you're a painting contractor, do you accept ajobwithout knowing what it is or how much it pays? Of course not. But this is exactly what Uber is doing to us. Like tellingthe painting contractor you have a job for him but hehas to acceptitbeforeheknows what it is. Paint the whole house for 50 bucks and you the contractor have to supply the paint. You'd tell them to go pound sand, the paint alone costs more than 50 bucks. Then the painting contractor is told he already accepted the job and if he cancels he'll never work in this town again.
on my point in note 4195: we should shift the burden to the entity most capable of handling it (ie the company)
[...] The note went on to say "Please accept every request that Uber sends your way, and do not cancel tripsin the hope that your nextdispatch willbe a surge trip." In effect, Uber used the promise of surge pricing to shepherd adriver to a particular place at a particular time, and when the driver opted to decline a nonsurge fare in favor of waiting for a more profitable, surge-priced dispatch, he or she was sanctioned by the Uber manager for "surge manipulation". In UBerland, the data that drivers see on their individual screens is deployed to manipulate their behavior, but permitted manipulation is a one-way street.
email from Uber Support after a passenger gave feedback (supposedly) about surge manipulation
amazing how they can just say that without even the pretense of worrying about employment classification law. basically saying: do exactly as you're told, even if you make less money, otherwise you'll be in trouble
[...] The company seems unconcerned that its practises severely limit drivers' ability to optimize their earnings. Algorithmic management is a system that works for hte company [...] drives suffer as they are forced to accept the odds that Uber has designed in its own favor.
this clear instance of driver contempt kinda belies uber's own story that they are doing it for the drivers (cus clearly they dont care if some drivers are being fucked over). what's their rebuttal? a paternalistic, doing it for their own good sort of thing (to optimise dispatch efficiency)?
In the relationship between Uber and its drivers, Uber is both the employer (on eof the two parties in the workplace relationship) and the umpire (responsible for negotiating disputes between the two parties). This puts Uber in a opwerful positon. When Uber's policies and practices don't square with driver experiences, it is Uber who stands as judge. One of the benefits of app-mediated work is that work time and activities are monitored [...] technology doesn't produce accountability automatically. In its system, Uber has the power to enforce or determine what is paid [...] Drivers have very little recourse in negotiating inequities in the system.
oooh good analogy
[...] While five minutes is the standard waiting period, after which drivers are to collect their cancellation fee, Uber "recommends" drivers wait at least twice as long for the passenger to show up, essentially generating goodwill for the company through the driver's unpaid waiting time. [...]
damn. a kind of funny perspective to include in a first-person story [there i am, waiting outside the house, 11 minutes has passed and still no pax, still i sit there in my car idly dumbly, generating unneeded and unmerited goodwill for this billion-dollar company through my paralysed inaction]