Uber is slave labor - don't believe the hype

This review is from a former Uber driver who figured out Uber's scam.

Uber's advertisements to make "$25/hour in bookings" as a driver are a bald face lie. Remember "in bookings" means that you must immediately subtract 20% from "$25" because Uber takes that amount from each fare. In the final analysis, please keep reading to find out why you will make LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE if you become and Uber "partner". Notice how they don't use the word "driver"? Their legal department came up with this euphemism so that when you smash into a pedestrian while driving they can argue in court that you aren't actually an employee!

(1) Be prepared to put 60,000 miles/year on your car if you do this full-time. How much will you need to make to compensate for that vehicle depreciation? How much will this wear and tear cost you in maintenance? Please run the numbers.

(2) Be prepared to pay for the iPhone they provide you they are currently charging $40.00/month for a "data plan" which is really a disguised way of stealing more of your %. Even if you do not turn on this iPhone at all during a month, you will pay! Brilliant, now they are incentivized to pass out as many of these iPhone as possible -- eventually they can start their own cellphone company with the revenues! Oh, and you will also have to pay for your own smartphone in order to communicate with riders since the Uber iPhone is only an interface to receive calls for rides! No, you can't download their app on your phone!!! That would allow hundreds of thousands of dollars to slip out of Uber's fingers! "YOU MUST USE OUR IPHONE!!!!!"

(3) You will have to juggle around 2 phones in your car in addition to playing around with your GPS (required). These are accidents waiting to happen! Many states already have laws in place to prevent people from playing with technology while driving. Uber forces you to do this by the nature of the work!

(4) Does your insurance company know that you are operating as a taxi service? You could find yourself in serious trouble in the event you are involved in an accident.

(5) The police can stop and ticket you for operating a livery service without a license at any time. Driving for Uber is illegal and it won't be too long before it is outlawed altogether. Uber is hoping to do their IPO before that happens but we should do our part to make sure it never happens. Boycott Uber!

(6) You will make about $6/hour on average after excluding vehicle depreciation, fuel costs, cell phone costs, income tax, etc. Don't believe me? Then go be a driver and find out for yourself. You will be so sick of sitting around in your car for hours that you'll start screaming. Been there, done that.

(7) The "surge pricing" is a farce designed to call drivers to certain areas with the hope that drivers will make 2x or 3x the normal fare. Don't believe it. You many also win the lottery! I drove to the middle of surge pricing areas several times thinking I would instantly be called instantly but ended up sitting for over an hour in my car and received exactly ZERO calls while this supposed "surge pricing" was indicated. It is a lie. There is no "surge" demand, and customers should be aware that their money is literally being stolen.

(8) What company discourages service industry tips? Answer: UBER! What company in the service industry steals your tips? Answer: UBER! They say tip is included in the fare and then take 20% of your fare!

(9) Do you like driving around at night putting your personal safety in jeopardy at the worst times to be out on the road? That is what Uber wants you to do. Be online until 4am in the morning while the drunks and cops and prowling around. Never mind the chance that you might get car jacked!

Don't believe the hype!!! These so-called "ride-share" companies are slave-wage exploiters foisting all of their cost and liability onto unsuspecting drivers who believe they have finally discovered freedom! How fitting that the opposite is actually true. Uber's advertised "$25/hour in bookings for drivers" is such a farce it forced me to write this review. Their entire business model is based on slave wages and danger transfer to "drivers", and they are in fact operating illegally. Uber and other companies like it are on the precipice of bankruptcy all it will take is law enforcement to start ticketing and stopping drivers or a few more high profile accidents and these companies are toast. Don't be seduced by their lies. Citizens: Do not patronize them with your hard earned money and do not put your personal safety in jeopardy!

posted from Bloggeroid

Comments

Sleeping with the enemy

I sort of stick out in this sea of pink I always seem to get on TV. This is Tim Fasano (in the yellow shirt with camera) sitting in the room full of Lyft and Uber drivers. Did you ever feel really alone? These rideshare people are operating an illegal business that is cutting into my livelyhood, and I wanted the Hillsborough County Commission to know it. The Lyft drivers are a bunch of punks and kids who have never worked a day in their lives. They will get whats coming to them. How do you spell douchebags? You will see me in the video shown on the local news.

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FUCK UBER

Listen, you Uber fuckers, you screwheads. You are stealing my shit. I tried to be rational (What's that?). But not now. I am a man who will not take it anymore. A man who stands up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. I am a man who stands up. Look at it this way. A man takes a job, you know? And that job - I mean, like that - That becomes what he is. You know, like - You do a thing and that's what you are. Like I've been a cabbie for nineteen years. Ten years at night. I still don't own my own cab. You know why? Because I don't want to. That must be what I want. To be on the night shift drivin' somebody else's cab. You understand? I mean, you become - You get a job, you become the job. One guy lives in a shit hole, another lives on drugs. You pick up a lawyer. Another guy's a doctor. Another guy dies. Another guy gets well. People are born, y'know? Why do you want to drive Uber? You think you can avoid your destiny? You'l...

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The Taxi Truman Show

I may have found the escape hatch Regulated Taxi driving is now dead. Uber has taken over. The current situation is no longer tenable for drivers who face an old model of cab leasing, and can no longer continue paying a Pre-Uber lease. Today was the tipping point. This time of year we should be very busy...EXTREMLY BUSY. We are not. It is dead as a doornail with drivers at the airport waiting up to 5 hours to a ride. It should be off the hook. It is for Uber. They pay no fee to the airport, yet they are allowed to operate. I made a good living for years. Transportation was regulated in Hillsborough County. This insured uniformity or rates, insurance, and accountability. But no more. The HCPTC has now allowed a gypsy cab company take over. Uber has not only taken some or part of our business - they have taken it all. This is because they are low balling the market in an attempt to establish a monopoly. They are well on their way to doing that with the compl...

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The Party Cab

I've seen this guy at Tampa airport before. He is the Party Cab Guy. The inside even has a disco light and he plays club music as he takes people out to party. Paul Hinton, manager at United Cab, said he remembers the guy from St. Petersburg. The Party Cab dude is personable and the chicks dig him. Paul thinks he is from Turkey and has a beautiful wife. I noticed he was wearing eye liner. Just another eclectic guy that drives taxi for a living. I saw him again today and he gave me his card. Thus dude is high energy and he puts a lot into it. It shows real ambition. Strange. Taxi driving is not an ambitious man's pursuit. However, I think he is independent which means he pays no high lease to the taxi overlords. He is expending that energy in something that will really pay off. Good for him.

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How Uber is hurting workers

Robert Reich is an economist who worked in Bill Clinton's cabinet. His problem with Uber and the "shared economy" is no sharing is going on. The worker absorbs all cost and risk, for less than minimum wage.

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Key West Uber drivers face arrest

Uber faces another battle for its drivers in South Florida. Uber drivers in Key West will face arrest and a possible $500 fine if caught driving without a passenger vehicle-for-hire license, following a city ordinance that went into effect on July 1. The ordinance, which city commissioners approved last year, says it is illegal for Uber or any other ride service to operate passenger vehicles-for-hire without the proper licenses. Key West spokeswoman Alyson Crean said drivers without this license can be arrested, although no arrests have been made. Crean says the ordinance has to do with city liability, since Uber takes passengers on city roads. Uber uses freelance drivers operating their own vehicles; passengers hire them via an app. Uber spokesman Bill Gibbons says the company hopes Key West officials rethink the ordinance. "It is unconscionable that [Key West] would seek to limit safe, reliable transportation ahead of one of the deadliest weekends of the year for dru...

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National Taxi strike called for October 26, 2014 against Uber & Lyft

Following the crowd is the opposite of the Uber Man...They want your mind...don't let them have it! There is more at stake then a ride to work. The battle for man's mind has begun. The Internet has made many things possible and reacting with incomplete information has had a debilitating effect on peoples behaviour and mental acuity. The ability to assess facts accurately has been diminished. When wide swaths of hipsters chose to use a ride share company because it has a slick app, without considering the consequences to society, then harm is being done. Ignoring that modern society is structured by law - they proceed anyway. This course must be redirected Back in the dark ages, villagers and townspeople would often react to a rumor and then take action swiftly to bring justice upon the presumed guilty party without waiting for the authorities to resolve it. The more emotionally attached people were to the crime, the less real or confirmed information they needed to follow...

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Its not season

I don't care what any driver says, we ARE NOT having a tourist season. Cruise ship passengers on the weekend does not make a season. Its Monday morning and no airport flights are going out, just like all last week. I am not making money. I am on the brink of eviction. I owe the company money. I am wearing dirty clothes because I don't have the 5 bucks for Landry. I have nothing and I work 7 days a week, 10 hours a day. Something is wrong.

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I voted

I voted for Rick Scott for Florida Governor. I felt he has done a responsible job. The state actually has a financial surplus because Scott cut all the pork out. We are not California which is insolvent after all the giveaway programs to poor Obama voters. Scott has kept regulations and taxes low creation a favorable business climate where firms are beginning to view Florida like Texas. Florida is poised for a massive boom. This is now going to be the place to be. I voted against the medical marijuana bill, as I did all constitutional amendments. The bills were vaguely worded and I believe deception was used to disguise their true intent. posted from Bloggeroid

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A Trolly crash on Channelside along with Gasparilla

It was bound to happen. A car hit the trolley on the way to the cruise ship today before the Gasparilla parade. The cross ways are poorly marked, and someone from out of town would not be looking for it, or expect it. Believe me, I have come very close in the past. I always thought those things were a bad idea for nobody rides them, and the conductors come flying through intersections. I wonder who was at fault. We were busy today as the pirate festival kicks off the start of our tourist season. May, 5 will mark the end.You will see me with my Corona beer that day drowning my sorrows for the party is over. That's what really sucks about the seasonal nature of Florida. Today was not a normal Gasparilla day for me. I was working the Westshore area and got three ship runs in a row. They were very nice people from up north that were amazed and loving the beautiful weather we are having. They wondered what all the fuss was about and I explained the pirate heritage of Tamp...

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