Lyft and Uber say they will leave Minneapolis after city council forces them to pay drivers more (Congress, activist)
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Who would have guessed that forcing a company to incur expenses beyond which the market will bear would force that company to abandon that market! Certainly the geniuses that run Minneapolis couldn't have possibly imagined the cause and effect that anyone with at least two functioning brain cells could have foreseen.
I am typically against forcing businesses to pay certain amounts to workers, but in this instance, being a former Lyft driver, these platforms are literally robbing drivers blind. They have reduced payouts to drivers so dramatically, I just said F that, and stopped.
How bad was it? Well, one trip was 40 miles (one way) that paid me $13. Of course I had to come back, which amounted to 80 miles, 1.5 hours. So, I lost money on that trip … I literally paid Lyft to do their service.
Got a ride request to take a passenger from Austin to San Antonio …. 80 miles, one way. The ride paid $38. 160 miles r/t, $20 cost for gas, and 3-4 hours driving time to net $18?
If I possessed a nuclear weapon, I’d drop it on Lyft HQ. Freaking crooks is what they are. The last straw for me was having 3-4 weeks in a row where I netted a whopping $5/hr after expenses … that’s no exaggeration… that’s real numbers.
They are literally a monopolistic network running a huge exploitation scam that should be investigated by the department of labor.
Who would have guessed that forcing a company to incur expenses beyond which the market will bear would force that company to abandon that market! Certainly the geniuses that run Minneapolis couldn't have possibly imagined the cause and effect that anyone with at least two functioning brain cells could have foreseen.
I bet the politicians a celebrating that they have done it for the people by chasing out greedy corporations that taking advantage on the worker.
I am typically against forcing businesses to pay certain amounts to workers, but in this instance, being a former Lyft driver, these platforms are literally robbing drivers blind. They have reduced payouts to drivers so dramatically, I just said F that, and stopped.
How bad was it? Well, one trip was 40 miles (one way) that paid me $13. Of course I had to come back, which amounted to 80 miles, 1.5 hours. So, I lost money on that trip … I literally paid Lyft to do their service.
Got a ride request to take a passenger from Austin to San Antonio …. 80 miles, one way. The ride paid $38. 160 miles r/t, $20 cost for gas, and 3-4 hours driving time to net $18?
If I possessed a nuclear weapon, I’d drop it on Lyft HQ. Freaking crooks is what they are. The last straw for me was having 3-4 weeks in a row where I netted a whopping $5/hr after expenses … that’s no exaggeration… that’s real numbers.
They are literally a monopolistic network running a huge exploitation scam that should be investigated by the department of labor.
I recently had a driver tell me he loves long trips, but only because of this. We only have one airport in the state, so many people travel a long ways to use it. When they land and want to go home and they didn’t drive their own vehicles, they try and get an Uber/Lyft but nobody accepts their rides. He breaks policies and accepts it, but once he picks them up he asks what Uber/Lyft was charging for the ride to Fargo (a guy purchased a vehicle there from out of state and flew to Twin Cities and needed a ride to Fargo). He said it was $295 (I’m on Lyft right now and that’s the cost) so he tells them he’ll drive them there for $250 cash/Venmo/Zelle and they cancel the Uber/Lyft. If they say no, then he cancels the ride and good luck finding one. I’m very surprised he actually told me this in reality.
I am typically against forcing businesses to pay certain amounts to workers, but in this instance, being a former Lyft driver, these platforms are literally robbing drivers blind. They have reduced payouts to drivers so dramatically, I just said F that, and stopped.
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Well, any driver is free to do exactly that - quit. And if enough quit the companies will have to pay more.
Post of the year. Maybe of the decade. Every person who holds public office - or votes, for that matter - should have to repeat this until it sinks into their thick skulls.
I recently had a driver tell me he loves long trips, but only because of this. We only have one airport in the state, so many people travel a long ways to use it. When they land and want to go home and they didn’t drive their own vehicles, they try and get an Uber/Lyft but nobody accepts their rides. He breaks policies and accepts it, but once he picks them up he asks what Uber/Lyft was charging for the ride to Fargo (a guy purchased a vehicle there from out of state and flew to Twin Cities and needed a ride to Fargo). He said it was $295 (I’m on Lyft right now and that’s the cost) so he tells them he’ll drive them there for $250 cash/Venmo/Zelle and they cancel the Uber/Lyft. If they say no, then he cancels the ride and good luck finding one. I’m very surprised he actually told me this in reality.
One of those San Antonio passengers offered to pay me cash, but I said no. And the reason is, unless there is an active ride, the passenger wouldn't be insured if something happened, and I would be in a massive amount of legal trouble. It’s just not worth the risk.
Who would have guessed that forcing a company to incur expenses beyond which the market will bear would force that company to abandon that market! Certainly the geniuses that run Minneapolis couldn't have possibly imagined the cause and effect that anyone with at least two functioning brain cells could have foreseen.
Long ago a friend introduced me to the term "government job," which in his capacity as a metal model maker meant something you do on the side for yourself or your pals. In other words, waste fraud and abuse.
THAT is why city government has to stick to their knitting, their job descriptions as defined in code.
THAT is why those dingalings are in government and NOT in the private sector. Because living in Government Magic Land doesn't work when you're running a bidness.
Well, any driver is free to do exactly that - quit. And if enough quit the companies will have to pay more.
Leo, that’s extremely short sighted and easy for you to say, when you have no skin in the game yourself. The reality is, these corporations like Lyft and Uber are bypassing legitimate labor laws by making this a subcontractor arrangement, and have continued to increase the percentages they take, while reducing payout to the drivers to grossly unreasonable levels. And of course they are violating antitrust laws, but given the state of corruption these days, antitrust laws are virtually null and void, because laws mean nothing unless they are enforced. And because of rampant corruption, with everyone seemingly on the kickback train, you aren’t immune to the negative consequences, you’re just oblivious to it, because you don't see a direct effect.
Corruption rewards the minority who are corrupt, at the expense of the majority who aren’t, and that has a negative effect on everyone, eventually.
In fact it’s your rather dismissive mindset that helps facilitate the corruption, because you aren’t wise enough to realize the interconnection we all share with each other, economically, from the pizza delivery person at the bottom, to the owner of the restaurant at the top, to the person waiting for dinner to show up at the door, and every other person that might be providing a product or service to everyone else.
So, when your fellow citizens get punched in the face, it might not affect you immediately, but will eventually. The unfortunate part is, you’re the only one that really deserves it.
Last edited by GuyNTexas; 03-17-2024 at 03:20 PM..
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