Article on Pittsburgh's Tech Sector (construction, living, prices)

[BigPizzaHutFan]

Flouting the law because you think you have enough money to throw at the resulting legal process is absolutely the wrong thing to do, whether you're running soup kitchens or a jitney cab dispatch service like Uber does.

Whether or not they're more convenient than the alternative is irrelevant to that; a criminal enterprise is a criminal enterprise.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Geeo

I liked the part of the article that said: “The culture of Silicon Valley is really a bunch of twentysomethings solving twentysomethings’ problems" and that Pittsburgh has a culture of broader purposes. I never thought of that before, but the folks in Silicon do seem to focus on solutions for convenience.

Plenty of old Boomers out there in the Silicon Valley as well. After all, they (we) started the digital revolution.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by BigPizzaHutFan

Flouting the law because you think you have enough money to throw at the resulting legal process is absolutely the wrong thing to do, whether you're running soup kitchens or a jitney cab dispatch service like Uber does.

Whether or not they're more convenient than the alternative is irrelevant to that; a criminal enterprise is a criminal enterprise.

Luckily the lawmakers in most locales disagree with your assessment.

Besides, going to your other point, uber in developing countries is a nice new income source available to them. I used uber in africa before it was available in Pittsburgh & it was a refreshing change from their corrupt taxi industry; & in Pittsburgh it was one of the most welcome additions since I've lived here compared to the basically non-existant yellow cab 'service'.

[BigPizzaHutFan]

Cool, I didn't expect to see the "corrupt Big Taxi" argument so quickly.

Fact of the matter is, breaking the law is a core part of their business model, as is abusing employment law by treating their drivers as contractors. I'd prefer to not support criminal organizations.

[Paul2421]

Originally Posted by BigPizzaHutFan

Cool, I didn't expect to see the "corrupt Big Taxi" argument so quickly.

Fact of the matter is, breaking the law is a core part of their business model, as is abusing employment law by treating their drivers as contractors. I'd prefer to not support criminal organizations.

Are you a lawyer? Contractor vs employee status is a pretty murky area but most of the time when you are allowed to make your own hours, it means you are a contractor. Also, people CHOOSE to drive for Uber, nobody is forcing them. Do I sense a disgruntled former yellow cab driver here?

[BigPizzaHutFan]

Originally Posted by lettert

Are you a lawyer? Contractor vs employee status is a pretty murky area but most of the time when you are allowed to make your own hours, it means you are a contractor. Also, people CHOOSE to drive for Uber, nobody is forcing them. Do I sense a disgruntled former yellow cab driver here?

A few issues here:

A> Accusing people who have issues with the way Uber operates of somehow being influenced by YC is the oldest, dumbest joke in the book. The fact is that "Big Taxi" doesn't exist. No one taxi company in the US holds more than 3% of the market as of the last time I checked (2013).

B> An important part of being an "independent contractor" is being allowed to set your own rates. Uber drivers can't. Not only that, but after the repeated fare cuts that Uber has had to make to attract and keep business, you can't afford the sort of car you need to drive for Uber with the income you make driving for Uber. Uber drivers represent the demographic that is falling out of the middle class. Go read the uberpeople forums. Lots of disgruntled drivers.

C> Uber is not a tech company. They are a jitney dispatch service. That is all.

[PghYinzer]

I think the issue is that Uber probably shouldn’t be your full time job. A lot of people do it in the evenings or on the weekends to earn extra cash.

I don’t think Uber has any real issue attracting and keeping business, esp in this town. I have never had anything other than a positive experience with the service, and the drivers always seem happy to be doing the job. I assume for every 1 disgruntled person who posts on uberpeople, there are a dozen who are happy.

[tclifton]

Originally Posted by BigPizzaHutFan

B> An important part of being an "independent contractor" is being allowed to set your own rates. Uber drivers can't. Not only that, but after the repeated fare cuts that Uber has had to make to attract and keep business, you can't afford the sort of car you need to drive for Uber with the income you make driving for Uber. Uber drivers represent the demographic that is falling out of the middle class. Go read the uberpeople forums. Lots of disgruntled drivers.

It sounds more like a franchise to me then. I could open a McDonalds franchise but I wouldn't be able to set my own prices, right?

[sskink]

Originally Posted by BigPizzaHutFan

Every company's a tech company nowadays in some way. We can do without the "startup" culture, which is just blueskying dumb ideas and hoping you're acquired before you burn through your capital.

That's certainly one way of looking at it (kinda like that Zazzy app on the new GE commercials... "I can put a turbine on a cat!").

But... if you've had a dream of starting a food company in Pittsburgh, there's apparently VC money looking in that direction as well. For instance, this event on 12/15.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by BigPizzaHutFan

B> An important part of being an "independent contractor" is being allowed to set your own rates. Uber drivers can't.

Plenty of businesses can't set their own prices, at least for some goods and services.


The Milk Marketing board sets minimum prices for milk, state law sets minimum markups for products like cigarettes, the PUC must approve rates for public utilities, including taxis.


Doesn't mean they aren't "independent contractors" or businessmen.