Sorry for what's happening to your old man but maybe don't count him out yet?
Blaming Uber for all his woes though would be a bit like a coal miner blaming his issues on someone working in a nuclear plant.
Sorry for what's happening to your old man but maybe don't count him out yet?
Blaming Uber for all his woes though would be a bit like a coal miner blaming his issues on someone working in a nuclear plant.
Uber's licence suspended in Sheffield - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42270020
Well well blaming on 'administrative error' won't help them!
Well well blaming on 'administrative error' won't help them!
Commissario
It's almost like they haven't actually read the requirements and conditions that go with the licences.
Soldato
It is one thing if Uber didn't charge such a high commission, but uber has such minimal running costs and forces a monopoly by controlling the market prices. They don't care if the prices mean that at times uber drivers do not make the equivalent of minimum wage, they are just concerned about their cut. They absolve themselves of the responsibilities that a employer has by requiring drivers to be self employed. They have created a market model that is pretty much a join and face low pay or struggle as a normal cabbie. They care little about whether their drivers are qualified. they do the bare minimum they think they can get away with to maximise profit and even by that standard governments are finding it unacceptable.
I am guilty of using uber due to their cheap price and will admit that i think afterwords 'their take home after petrol, time, uber's cut + fixed monthly car/insurance expenses must be absolutely appalling if they have to spend any amount of time driving to their next pickup'.
20-25% cut goes to uber, wouldn't be too bad if the driver decided the price but all drivers get from uber is a customer's location. Even 5% would be tons of money considering their costs...
I am guilty of using uber due to their cheap price and will admit that i think afterwords 'their take home after petrol, time, uber's cut + fixed monthly car/insurance expenses must be absolutely appalling if they have to spend any amount of time driving to their next pickup'.
20-25% cut goes to uber, wouldn't be too bad if the driver decided the price but all drivers get from uber is a customer's location. Even 5% would be tons of money considering their costs...
if it was that appalling then they'd stick with say Addison Lee instead of moving across to uber... certainly I've had uber drivers tell me that they prefer uber to Addy Lee
I think the self employed thing is fair enough, it is performance related and self selecting in a way, I don't see why the more efficient drivers should lose out in order to subsidise the freeloaders and result in everyone getting some sort of flat wage + perhaps a small variable component
if there are regulatory concerns on the other hand then those need to be addressed also my personal opinion of the gig economy perhaps isn't reflected in the result of their recent court case
I don't get how they have the gall to charge the customer a cancellation fee though when the driver choses to cancel a ride - it doesn't really make much sense, anyone know the reason behind it?
I then have to go into the app and request a refund... they instead give me a message saying I'll get a credit towards my next trip... well I don't know when I'll next use them and their license is in trouble so I'll like a refund thanks... so I need to request one again... all because the driver chose to cancel a trip before picking me up.
I think the self employed thing is fair enough, it is performance related and self selecting in a way, I don't see why the more efficient drivers should lose out in order to subsidise the freeloaders and result in everyone getting some sort of flat wage + perhaps a small variable component
if there are regulatory concerns on the other hand then those need to be addressed also my personal opinion of the gig economy perhaps isn't reflected in the result of their recent court case
I don't get how they have the gall to charge the customer a cancellation fee though when the driver choses to cancel a ride - it doesn't really make much sense, anyone know the reason behind it?
I then have to go into the app and request a refund... they instead give me a message saying I'll get a credit towards my next trip... well I don't know when I'll next use them and their license is in trouble so I'll like a refund thanks... so I need to request one again... all because the driver chose to cancel a trip before picking me up.
I wonder if TfL will add the data breach that Uber covered up to the list of charges?
Soldato
I was reading the new data protection laws from the EU. Maximum fine of 4% of global turnover I think. That would be something to see.
In other news I went to school with the guy who wrote that report. Thoroughly good chap.
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Associate
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The GDPR is going to be such a headache for so many businesses, although it is definitely needed.
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Soldato
I've not read into it much, just had a brief look ahead of a briefing in January. To be honest current legislation doesn't seem to be cutting it anymore and I do wonder whether ICO actually has any teeth, technically able to impose unlimited fines.
Black cab drivers and minicabs drivers are all self employed, why is uber different?
Cos Uber is technically employing the drivers
It sounds pretty good and definitely needed. It will be interesting to see how shafted the first business that's caught out gets. I've heard some businesses are planning to deal with it by putting aside money for the fine?!(Not really the point of it when we are talking about trying to protect peoples data but there you go... Lol!)
No they're not. Have car, get licence. Drive for Uber. I'm sick of this argument that Uber drivers are employees. It's nonsense. Uber drivers pay to use a platform that allows them to use their car as a minicab. That's all. It's like saying someone selling on eBay is employed by them, just because they're using the platform. Ugh.
Soldato
I agree that Uber are not employers but i will stand by my poor business ethic point. The combination of price control, high commission, full control over guidelines of operation, monopoly over the market with drivers being self employed makes me feel they have poor business ethic.
If it was just a few of those factors, then it wouldn't matter so much. If drivers had more control over pricing, the high commission or monopoly over the market wont matter, as the price would settle on what drivers find an acceptable fair (those who pay the costs) over what Uber finds is an acceptable fair cost. Or if prices were regulated a bit. If they were employed and made a small wage for their time on the way to and during a ride and paid a higher commission, that would give drivers more economical security and make uber somewhat responsible for their employees well being.
At the moment they are just a platform with too much power over the industry, not enough accountability and is too lucrative to make any ethical changes. Even with the current fines and restrictions they are receiving, there is little point in changing, especially since their customer base is not waning.
Some market regulation is in order. A lower commission cap and some pricing freedoms for drivers to vary cost of the fair by at least some margin.
If it was just a few of those factors, then it wouldn't matter so much. If drivers had more control over pricing, the high commission or monopoly over the market wont matter, as the price would settle on what drivers find an acceptable fair (those who pay the costs) over what Uber finds is an acceptable fair cost. Or if prices were regulated a bit. If they were employed and made a small wage for their time on the way to and during a ride and paid a higher commission, that would give drivers more economical security and make uber somewhat responsible for their employees well being.
At the moment they are just a platform with too much power over the industry, not enough accountability and is too lucrative to make any ethical changes. Even with the current fines and restrictions they are receiving, there is little point in changing, especially since their customer base is not waning.
Some market regulation is in order. A lower commission cap and some pricing freedoms for drivers to vary cost of the fair by at least some margin.
Caporegime
I dislike the notion of "efficient drivers" because I don't see how that translates into anything but "dangerous, speeding, corner cutting drivers".
someone driving dangerously, speeding etc.. would likely get low ratings
I can't say I've had an issue with uber drivers speeding, in fact a lot of times in London I'm not sure it would be very feasible for them to do so even if they wanted to
Caporegime
Like I said, I'm not sure how the concept of efficiency translates to driving a cab. If you want to take more fares, you speed. What else are you going to do? Everyone knows the routes, everyone has Google maps or whatever telling them where the traffic is...
well you don't need to be sure... fact is the uber drivers are rewarded by an objective process
that would be silly - depending how far you took that you'd get fines, you'd get stopped by the police, you'd get those low ratings...
make yourself available when and where customers need you, get yourself a job lined up for when you've dropped off the current one... basically be efficient at your job
fact is there is a distribution of earning here for these drivers and supposedly a small minority don't make min wage at times... to conclude that the higher earning drivers must therefore speed though is rather dubious, especially in central London where they're more likely to pick up surge fares and where speeding is often not very feasible
if they were to instead say earn some flat wage + holidays etc.. chucked in then the variable side of their pay matters much less... perhaps the driver might not line up a job to pick up immediately after finishing the current one, why care about surge etc.. if you're not getting the sort of variable comp you used to get?
I think his point was that if you were on a wage (rather than paid for each trip), there's less of an incentive to do more trips.