Creepy Uber Exec

[pErvinalia]

After Buzzfeed’s report on Tuesday evening that one Uber executive looked up a female reporter’s ride history and threatened to dig up dirt on another, I will admit that, really, I don’t feel safe with Uber anymore, and not because I’m a journalist – because I’m a woman.

Uber should be keeping women safe, but Uber has a woman problem

[JimC]

Is a "female reporter’s ride history" what I think it is?

Or am I just a dirty old man?

[pErvinalia]

Yes.

[Seth]

Fortunately, Uber execs don't drive cars, independent contractors do that, so don't blame them for what that fuckwit of an Uber executive said. I hope they fire his ass.

[piscator]

Just wait until the driver's cut starts going down. It's just a matter of time before some other well-funded operation comes along to undercut Uber's rates. That, and every Tom, Dick, Harry will become Uber contractors with fuel prices going down, so the market will become oversupplied with drivers. A short race to the bottom will ensue as the major players fight for share. The consumer will benefit, maybe, but the market in a given locality won't really grow in response to lower prices as much as continue to be a function of population.

[pErvinalia]

Yep. Any sort of freeish market system will always result in a race to the bottom for the workers.

[laklak]

The workers belong on the bottom, filthy proles. Oh, they serve a purpose, certainly. I don't want to pump my own septic tank, but they should stay on their side of town otherwise.

[Seth]

Just wait until the driver's cut starts going down. It's just a matter of time before some other well-funded operation comes along to undercut Uber's rates.

Lyft and Sidecar. Neither are as well-capitalized and there is already a fare war going on in many places. Plenty of driver complaints coming in about cuts to the per-mile rates.

That, and every Tom, Dick, Harry will become Uber contractors with fuel prices going down, so the market will become oversupplied with drivers.

Yes, this is true. Saturation in downtown Denver has already been reached on many evenings. However, there's still a lot of territory outside of LoDo. Tonight, for example, I got a call to Parker and then one to Foxfield right off the bat. The Parker call was an $8 trip, but the Foxfield trip was $38 to the Pepsi Center for the basketball game, and another $38 for the ride home which I pre-arranged with the clients. There's a football game tonight too, so there will be plenty of traffic after the games.

It's a game of strategy deciding where to position for the best chance at rides. Kind of interesting actually. When market saturation occurs, economic forces balance it out by driving some operators out due to the low ride numbers. This relieves the saturation. The balance is reached automatically, depending entirely on market forces and personal ability, without government intervention.

A short race to the bottom will ensue as the major players fight for share.

Yup.

The consumer will benefit, maybe, but the market in a given locality won't really grow in response to lower prices as much as continue to be a function of population.

True, but there's hard limits below which it's no longer profitable for drivers to operate, and at that level the shake-out will begin with under-capitalized and marginal drivers dropping out like dead flies, leaving the field to the rest of us. If Uber drives the price too low, we'll all either quit, or more likely just sit out the low fares and Uber will have to raise prices again to get drivers to drive for them. That's the benefit of the independent contractor relationship. Uber can't force us to drive for insufficient pay. It has to consider both the rider market and the driver market in setting its prices, and the two, combined with the cab/Lyft competition keeps rates under free-market control.

Weather also has an effect. In bad weather, many of the "amateur" drivers decline to put their cars on the road because they aren't suitable for snow/ice. Others, like me, who drives a Benz with traction control and top-of-the-line snow tires, will flourish.

Also, being willing to work odd hours is beneficial. I usually work from 7 pm to 4 am or later, and I'm consistently grossing $200 per night right now because everyone else has gone home.

Plus, I'm building a client list of regulars who need rides to the airport who call and schedule with me days in advance. I can do these runs either on Uber or for cash, saving me 20%.

Yes, competition is fierce, but that's as it should be because it drives excellence. Especially with the rating system, poor drivers are flushed out pretty quickly and the standards remain high.

The other alternative is, well...regulation and protectionism, which as we have seen results in the cab network, which gives far inferior and more expensive service...enough so that Uber and Lyft and the like came into existence to answer an unfulfilled market need, which they are doing very well.

[Seth]

Yep. Any sort of freeish market system will always result in a race to the bottom for the workers.

And then, when the chaff are sorted out, the good workers start up the economic ladder of success.