Discussion
NYC is considering a law that would make delivery drivers full-time employees with more rights and benefits more often. Predictably Uber, Amazon and Instacart are howling and sobbing about this and claiming they will need to raise prices just to survive and this is the end for them they will DIE if you pass this law etc. etc.
They are so upset they hired a push-poll political consulting firm to find out just how much people in NYC hate them.
I hope it hurts. I hope it hurts a whole whole lot.
@futurebird
These are the giant companies that pay so little that the people working for them need food stamps?
Do they even pay a "living wage"?
Also Uber is a parasite.
Also Uber is a parasite.
I am impressed with Uber. They've managed to find one of the few industries where being the normal baseline level of tech-bro evil is actually an improvement. For all of the horror I've read about them, talking to local taxi drivers was eye opening about why so many of them prefer to drive for Uber than the local firms.
The biggest taxi company here was charging a £40/day radio fee. If you didn't pay that, you didn't get any fares assigned. That is on top of the (large) but of the fares that they take and means that you often need to work for an hour or more before you actually start to make any money. Once you have paid the radio fee, you must take any fare that they assign you, even if it involves driving such a long way to get there or get back that you barely break even. If you don't do this, you will be on the shit list and will never get good fares.
Uber is a successful parasite because it's killing its host very slightly more slowly than the competition in its ecosystem.
Cooperative taxi companies, owned by the drivers, need to become the norm. Apparently they are in Germany.
Instacart: "But if you pass this law we will Surely Die!"
Me: "Would that be such a bad thing?"
Instacart: "But if you pass this law we will Surely Die!"
I'm already on board. You don't have to keep selling me on the idea.
Can we get a giant billboard somewhere that says "any business whose model depends on exploitation SHOULD FAIL".
(More practically, maybe mugs or t-shirts or something...)
Install bonfire.cafe
Get the full app experience
