Uber is in the sub-prime auto business

[chaya]

Company needs drivers badly, offers high-fee leases

Uber is having a hard time finding enough people with cars willing to work for them.

To solve that problem, the company has raised $1 billion to start Xchange Leasing, a sub-prime lender with the sole purpose of getting poor people into new cars so they can drive for the ride-hailing service.

Comments

[eldvno]

Uber, and all companies modeled like uber, are objectivist garbage. If the federal government doesn't do something about it, California needs to take control, and pass some serious laws governing their business.

[lied_ohne_worte]

I'm certainly glad that the government in my country is not bending over for them and just abandoning regulations just because an "innovative" US company has graced us with its services. The way some Americans online talk about that, it's practically a crime to demand that US companies are made to follow our laws rather than expect US-style deregulation.

ETA: Our capital also just banned AirBnB because "investors" were buying up apartments that are meant for citizens to live in and running them as hotels full-time, with no permits or taxes or anything. Again, much flailing from people who think that "hip startup companies" should get to do whatever they like.

[eldvno]

Berlin, right? More cities need to do that, tbqh. LIVING in a city center is what allowed so many European cities to grow, and now that such a large percentage are short-term rentals, regular people are either being relegated to be suburbs, or to dangerous neighborhoods which overnight have become dangerously expensive.

[dumpweeds]

I'm kinda sick of people who circlejerk over how great uber is. It's convenient and I've even used it a few times, but idk, I don't trust their background checks

[chaya]

I get that it's often cheaper, but how many benefits are there to the rider other than price? The only substantial thing I've heard is that Uber drivers will often go to 'bad neighborhoods' that regular cabbies refuse to drive to/through.

[dumpweeds]

You can also do ride sharing which is nice. They're also easier to get than a cab, at least here in San Francisco.

[molkat]

It's faster and more reliable than a taxi. Taxi companies in Denver are horrible especially if you live in the suburbs. Often a cab never shows up or it takes an hour. Also since cabs are sparse other people will try to snag them and the driver doesn't care or check to make sure it's the person who actually requested a ride.

[meadowphoenix]

Heaven forbid they actually make the pay great enough to be an incentive all on it's own.

Edit: This is the problem pretending that people are contractors. Contractors are paid a fee which makes up for not being an employee, i.e. Uber drivers should be getting a fee that is at least double what a driver for a taxi company is paid. If you don't want to operate within the existing framework, which at least provides some incentive for contracts, don't operate.

[meadowphoenix]

I'm pretty sure there are already several lawsuits, just like there were for Amazon deliverers. I know Uber has settled a couple of lawsuits. Uber is deliberately blurring the lines, and so was Amazon. Unfortunately, different jurisdictions gave different judgments, so in some states Amazon drivers are employees and in some they're independent. It's a mess.

This reminds me of that company that was paying it's employees with prepaid visa cards (which have fees for certain uses). I'm fully done with corporations.

[chaya]

Prepaid Visa cards? Was this to circumvent the rules of paid employees, or because they had some sort of deal with Visa?

[jeeelim5]

I liked Uber when I was in the US but those premium costs really screwed me over (was unfamiliar with the service so I once paid close to 100 dollars for a trip to the airport because it had a x3 multiple).

In Korea we have this thing called Kakao Taxi and it totally beats Uber by a landslide. It works in a similar way (can track ride, calls in closest driver) but they don't have premium pricing, the only use registered taxi drivers, and you can send the information of your driver and his cab (license plate number), and the expected arrival time to anyone you have on KakaoTalk, and they can track you through the app. My friends and I do this whenever one of us has to take a cab late at night.

I think Uber is actually illegal here. I remember they were offering money to people who report Uber drivers.

[jeeelim5]

I've heard about the shadiness of Uber, so I'm kinda glad it's not here.

I think Kakao Taxi was born because the market existed (women have been asking for safe taxi services for a while) and they collabed with existing taxi services, which appeased the anger of the local taxis.

All in all, I think it's a good business model and taxis are pretty cheap here to begin with, so Uber was never really needed and probanly wouldn't have done well

[dorawa]

I think they tried to open Uber (or something similar) here and the taxi drivers protested so much they said fuck it, you're not welcome. I remember seeing it on the news months ago. Which is great, because taxi drivers here are already cheap, fast and everywhere! We don't need Uber here, imo.

[homicidalslayer]

Uber has also been posting fake job listings and using the interviews for market research. Story

[lokilaufeysanon]

Yep, my stepdad is currently unemployed and looking for work and he's been looking for work as a forklift driver. He opens up and email he gets about it and goes to the site and it's Uber. He's super annoyed about it.

[lied_ohne_worte]

Wow. And let me guess, US companies probably aren't require to cover travel costs for people who come to job interviews, like companies here are?

[homicidalslayer]

That is correct.