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Uber in crisis

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by LongTimeListener, Mar 1, 2017.

  1. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    And it isn't only about #DeleteUber during the protests.

    Last night, CEO Travis Kalanick sent an apology to all employees after a driver released videotape of him being abusive in an argument about fares.

    ‘I must fundamentally change and grow up’: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s big apology

    This comes after a very rough couple of weeks that began when a female engineer published an article about the harassment she endured there. Over the next few months, I began to meet more women engineers in the company. As I got to know them, and heard their stories, I was surprised that some of them had stories similar to my own. Some of the women even had stories about reporting the exact same manager I had reported, and had reported inappropriate interactions with him long before I had even joined the company. It became obvious that both HR and management had been lying about this being "his first offense", and it certainly wasn't his last. Within a few months, he was reported once again for inappropriate behavior, and those who reported him were told it was still his "first offense". The situation was escalated as far up the chain as it could be escalated, and still nothing was done.

    Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

    Uber announced an investigation (headed by Eric Holder). Also, quite a few follow-up allegations surfaced.

    Uber Facing New Claims Of Systemic Harassment After Anonymous Essay

    One executive left the company, not for his behavior at Uber but for his laundry list of offenses at Google before he left quietly.

    Uber’s SVP of engineering is out after he did not disclose he left Google in a dispute over a sexual harassment allegation

    And keep in mind this is the company that years ago had an executive offer $1 million for personally damaging information about a reporter who was working on an unwelcome story.

    Bro culture. It's da bomb.
     
    Ace and lcjjdnh like this.
  2. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    Do they still make cars with stick shift?
     
  3. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    If Uber goes under, how will millennials get home from the bars?
     
  4. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Maybe hitchhiking will make a comeback.
     
  5. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    CEO has to go.

    Though I'll still be curious to see if any of this hurts business.
     
  6. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    Uber grew as fast as it did because so many big cities have a woefully insufficient number of taxis because the taxi medallion owners had enough political clout to limit the number of medallions so as to drive up their value. So there was a real market distortion to exploit. But the market has overcorrected. Uber has competitors like Lyft, and that leads to a surplus of cars and drivers, which drives down their incomes enough to lead to high turnover, and eventually, fewer Uber drivers.
     
  7. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

  8. SnarkShark

    SnarkShark Well-Known Member

    Lyft
     
  9. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    The pay model on Uber I also think is highly dependent on gas prices. They're still relatively low but if it shoots up, the profit margin for Uber drivers will get cut.

    I can't think of making a good living as a driver for these ride services for the long term. The business model is constantly changing. What was good in 2016 may not be good next year. This can be a decent gap income between jobs but, like in multi level marketing scams, a handful of people will make good money.
     
  10. justgladtobehere

    justgladtobehere Well-Known Member

  11. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    This article about how much you can make in San Francisco is pretty wild:

    For Brittney Barber, getting ready for work means assembling several casseroles for her extended family — husband, son, nephew and mother-in-law — packing an overnight bag, and loading up her gray Honda Fit for the 3½-hour drive from her home in Clovis (Fresno County) to San Francisco.

    After that 190-mile commute, it’s time to get to work — driving.

    Barber, 35, drives for Lyft and Uber. She comes to the city most weeks to put in three or four long days behind the wheel, spending nights at a friend’s house in Half Moon Bay. Working 12 to 16 hours a day, she can pull in up to $1,700 after Lyft and Uber take their cuts, but before deducting for gas and other expenses. That’s 70 percent more than what her homebody husband, Tom, 41, makes driving for the services back in Fresno.


    Long-distance Uber, Lyft drivers’ crazy commutes, marathon days, big paychecks

    I think the particular city makes the biggest difference. In Chicago, if you work a lot, and work the right hours, you can make some pretty good money. Even as a second job, if you work the morning rush, or late night, you can earn some good additional income.
     
  12. FileNotFound

    FileNotFound Well-Known Member

    I really struggle, philosophically, with Uber.

    I hate riding in taxis. Hate it with every fiber of my being. Hate being in the back seat of a 450,000-mile Crown Victoria that's been thrown up in 100 times, hoping against hope that it gets to Point B despite the Christmas tree of warning lights on the dash. Hate knowing that when I get to Point B and offer my credit card for payment -- the one that matches the sticker on the window -- the driver is going to say, in the only English he really knows, "Sorry, credit card machine broken." Hate everything about it.

    Uber cures all those problems. You punch up your destination, you can track the vehicle on its way, you know the vehicle is going to be reasonably clean and comfortable, and you know the financial part is going to be frictionless.

    However: Uber's business model is largely based breaking the laws of most local jurisdictions, and doing so until challenged. When challenged, they say, "Well, the law is stupid," and they're right, and they count on overwhelmingly positive consumer sentiment to fix it. (See: "I hate riding in taxis.") So far, the strategy has largely worked.

    Uber also is clearly run by assholes, and you hate to see assholes win.

    But: Nowhere have I ever seen driving for Uber advertised as anything other than a decent second job. I'm not sure what these drivers were led to believe, but yeah, if you're a driver and the cost to drive for Uber exceeds your expenses, you shouldn't drive for Uber. The Uber business model completely collapses without, you know, drivers.

    So, yeah, I struggle.
     
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