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Uber claims reform would raise prices, refuses to consider lower corporate profit (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 years ago by cyu to c/unions

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“If platform companies are making a profit that relies on paying workers less, then arguably the difference could come out of the companies’ pockets, not the consumer’s.” "66% of full-time gig economy workers are earning below the minimum wage."

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[+] cheery_coffee@lemmy.ca 35 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

[deleted]

[–] antizero99@lemmynsfw.com 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Uber and lyft have a growing number of competitors across the country. I drive for a living, I run my own service as well as work uber and another app/service called empower. Empower isn't available nationwide as of yet, they are slowly expanding as they get their feet under them.

The future of this business at least for driving people is a combination of smaller regional services and drivers who run their own service.

Uber likely won't be going anywhere as a corporation but as a player in livery they won't be top dog for much longer unless they make some drastic changes to how they operate, pay drivers, etc.

[–] joekar1990@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Uber and DoorDash have backed themselves into a corner. VCs poured so much money into them and even with the pandemic giving them a golden goose for deliveries, they still couldn’t generate a profit.

Uber literally finally just made a profit this last quarter after 14 years of losing money, so I doubt the board is incentivized to cut the small profits they finally reached.

[–] antizero99@lemmynsfw.com 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Uber has been making a profit for longer than you think. They put most if not all that profit back into the company, mostly into self driving tech that they recently sold off. They also got caught with a ton of cash stashed overseas that they never reported on their taxes.

Don't believe what companies like uber claim as to their profitability or lack of.

Anyone who thinks uber hasn't been profitable should check out some ocean front property I have in Colorado, I also have a few bridges you should consider buying.

[–] joekar1990@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

While there may be some creative accounting for some things I think overall they don’t have a good handle on their cash flow otherwise they wouldn’t be in the news recently warning of spikes for delivery fees. Now that they showed profitability they need to continue to show shareholders they are a good bet.

[–] antizero99@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You need to learn how corporations actually operate. The shareholders should also abandon the vulture capitalist model because I can tell you as a driver that the future of uber is clapped out cars that haven't been maintained and drivers that couldn't get a job at McDonald's.

Again. Ubers situation is nothing like what they say they publicly and it's more than just creative accounting.

[–] joekar1990@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

In your opinion then where would be the best place to go educate myself about that then?

I agree with you and think ubers economic moat will only continue to further dry up (unless by some miracle they get self driving vehicles before everyone else). Shareholders though aren’t going to abandon vulture capitalism though not as long as their portfolios continue to grow.

[–] antizero99@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 2 years ago

I'm not sure where or how you can learn this. I know it from being alive and paying attention to the world around me. I also have been self employed most of my life and am just as much of a business geek as I am a tech geek.

As for the abandonment of vulture capitalism. Of course it's not going to happen, post Reagan this is the world we live in.

[–] takeda@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

"Oh, c'mon. Let us make profit by exploiting regular people."

[–] MisterD@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 years ago

Amazon is doing it. Why not us?

[–] Ragdoll_X@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Greedy capitalists are greedy. No surprises there.

[–] Peaty 6 points 2 years ago

Has Uber been profitable yet? Should they persist destroying middle class livery jobs if they cannot he profitable?

[–] Sarsaparilla@kbin.social 5 points 2 years ago

I've never seen any company choose lower profit as part of reform .... only pathways to exponential increase in profit is ever considered.

[–] OneStepAhead@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 2 years ago

I’m not sure my neighbor has a functioning kitchen. They have food delivered multiple times daily. I can’t fathom what they spend on food.