[ryder9]

Odd you call them out for "clickbaiting" yet yourself selectively post quotes

__________________________

But as Uber slashed incentives, Raut’s earnings dwindled swiftly. His income dropped to about $540 a month this year and he defaulted on his taxi loan payments. Deciding after an accident that he couldn’t afford to fix the vehicle, he quit Uber and now his monthly income, from a new job driving a truck, has crashed to $200.

“There is no benefit in driving for Uber ... my life was much better just as a cook,” said 26-year-old Raut.

[xyzzy_plugh]

Should that be surprising? What requires more skill/effort/education? What are the prevailing wage?

[adjkant]

When the company advertises much higher income for drivers and then slashes it you can only place so much blame on the driver for not understanding complex economics and politics that led to the issue. I think there's a very clear moral case again Uber (and others) for false advertising and clear manipulation of drivers. Legal, likely not but IANAL.

[ryan_j_naughton]

The fares/wages aren't fixed and change due to market conditions, just like in almost every other industry with a commoditized market. Drivers are truly commoditized, so their wages should compete down towards the prevailing wage for unskilled labor in India (or at least for chauffeur wages). It isn't a surprise at all and doesn't seem immoral.

The real injustice is the financially binding contracts the drivers signed for their vehicles. I work at Fair Financial, and we are Uber's primary partner to get drivers into cars in the US. Our cars don't have any long-term commitment so drivers can return them whenever they want. Thus, if the pay isn't good enough from Uber, they don't feel trapped and simply can decide it isn't worth it and walk away.

[adjkant]

> It isn't a surprise at all and doesn't seem immoral.

If their advertising was not saying the exact opposite it'd be fine. That is not what they either said or implied. The pay cut alone is not what makes it immoral.

Flexible contract are great - why do so many drivers not have them though?

Plus, it should be noted that the market of riders and drivers is not causing the cuts. The fundamental flaw in Uber's business model is causing the problem as they push towards a very far off goal of profitability.

[ryan_j_naughton]

>Plus, it should be noted that the market of riders and drivers is not causing the cuts. The fundamental flaw in Uber's business model is causing the problem as they push towards a very far off goal of profitability.

That's a ridiculous statement. `Uber's business model` is as a market connecting drivers and riders. If they need to be profitable, then they need to stop subsidizing rides. The result is that either prices for customers have to increase or drivers' wages decrease. Given that drivers are highly commoditized unskilled labor, they don't have any pricing power to maintain higher wages.

[adjkant]

I believe I said exactly that above. I just don't think that either choice will result in a successful business.

Uber and Lyft got popular because they made taxis artificially cheap as well as the convenience and efficiency. Take away the cheap aspect and the market will significantly shrink.

I don't think they can squeeze the drivers enough to be profitable because drivers will leave for other unskilled jobs if the wage drops below them. I don't know the internals of their business, but the strike today and the arbitration play seem to be showing that's fast approaching.

[kopos]

In reality, every driver I talked to knew, that the sort of incentives that Uber gave were unsustainable in the month term. The guys who came onto the bandwagon in the early days made great incentives, the reality is coming home now. The life for blue collar jobs was not going to be rosy for ever