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

What happened to Tommy Duncan and Sticks of Fire blog?

The image below is a 2005 TBT article I still have about the Tampa blogger scene. The big boy was Tommy Duncan. He stopped blogging around 2008, and was never seen again. Here is what Creative Loafing said about that era: "The 40-something blogger founded the most-often-cited independent Tampa Bay news blog, Sticks of Fire, in Feb. 2004, and the site, without much financial assistance from advertising, is still going strong today with a stable of more than a dozen regular contributors. In 2005, Duncan was featured in a tbt* story about the young lions of the local Internet. Today, about half of them have fallen by the wayside or (in the case of famous sexy blogger Rachel Moran) moved to New Jersey. Duncan keeps on posting. The local digital scene has grown, but he's not sure it has improved in quality."

Read more about it here! »

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.

Read more about it here! »

The city of Tampa

If JFK was visiting Tampa, he would see this on the side of a building on Florida ave. How cool would that be? Graffiti art can be good sometimes.

Read more about it here! »

What Lyft and Uber will take from the Tampa taxi business

A lyft car at the Iconic sign on Florida ave downtown Tampa I have been a hack in Tampa Florida since 1995. Unlike the estimated 50% of Americans that hate their jobs, I have never had a day when I did not feel like going to work. Certainly, the last few years have not been fun because the economy fell apart like a three dollar watch. However, economies are like tides and this one is on the rebound, at a snail's pace. I would like to thank Mr. Obama for that but that would not be fair. The economy is recovering despite any fiscal policy of his. That being said - there are challenges. My job is inherently difficult. We face strange and deranged people street level on a daily basis. Taxi companies in Tampa (which are regulated) must serve the general population. We have no choice. Short fares, drunk fares, people going to buy drugs (they don't tell you that) we must pick up. Don't get me wrong, there are business people, beautiful women, great trippers, and long haul...

Read more about it here! »

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...

Read more about it here! »

Slain cab driver worked the hood

Working the hood at night is not good for a cab driver. There is a preponderance of short fares, now shows, laundry, no shows, runners, and angry people, to make it unprofitable, and annoying to the driver. You could work it all night, and not make a dime and be treated like shit the whole time. Was it worth it for Mr. Dooley to work the hood? It sucks that with so little street business, and a flood of third world drivers, forces guys pulling s hack to take risk.

Read more about it here! »

Change for a twenty

It seems most customers will give you a twenty dollar bill no matter what the amount of the fare. The first two fares I had today went short, and they did not let me down. They gave me twenties for 5-6 dollar fares. Yikes! That wipes out all of my change (cab drivers do not begin their day with thousands of dollars on us). I went on my third fare. He is going from Albany and North B to Howard and Mississippi (I could only spell this because of the jingle I learned in 5th grade). I ask him if he has exact change. He says no, he was going to give me a twenty. So we stop at the convenience store at Howard and Morrison. He goes inside, gets some cigs, and comes back. We are set. When I get him to his house, he hands me a twenty dollar bill! What! We just went to the store. He was a little drunk and said just keep it. I was not trying to rip him off. When he got out of the cab I looked at it and it was a 1928 twenty gold backed bill. You don't see many of th...

Read more about it here! »

The neon graveyard

The neon graveyard Way off the strip is an area where few tourist ever go. Its a cemetery. An enterrement of Vegas's past, a place where old neon signs go when they die. Their useful expectancy extinguished not by age or function, but by form. Considered antiquated by modern marketing, here they lie, martyrs in Cupids wars (love, lust, and sin) They remain in a lot surrounded by a security fence with barbed wire. Relics shining in the hot Nevada sun like the fuselage of a wrecked bomber in the desert, who's occupants abandoned in search of rescue, only to be consumed by the elements and scavenging birds. In this case, it was the plaintiff scrum of normal people seeking a Caligula's playhouse. It is a testament to an era long gone. Crooners and class have given in to ass. Sex will always win. Even the sin sign could not last. Awesome view from each room at the Plaza The mob is no more as the corporations have taken over. There was a low rent charm to the old Vegas....

Read more about it here! »

What the future holds for taxi driving in Tampa

The transportation future of Tampa is not as uncertain as some think. The local government agencies seemed determined to allow illegal operations to undermine the taxi industry. Why should I give a shit? I got nothing to lose. On any given day I can just turn in the keys and walk away. You know what will happen? The sun will rise the next day and it will be beautiful in Tampa Bay. Other then time, I have nothing invested. In fact, I could even become an Uber or Lyft driver and clean up. Why not? The HCPTC does not seem able or willing to stop the unlicensed operations. So much for getting their marching orders from the taxi overlords. The taxi owners are the ones at risk. Why are they not using the courts to sue for cease and desist orders? I mean the drivers could employ Jimmy Hoffa like tactics and pull Uber drivers out of their cars and beat the shit out of them. I would really like to see that happen to those Lyft people who were at the county commissioner meeting. For the f...

Read more about it here! »

Angel The Rescued Kitten

I have a new and wonderful friend. Her name is Angel. George found her on his way home at 3 in the morning running around on the elevated span of highway 19 in Clearwater. He pulled over and pulled out of a storm drain. He took her home and knocked on my door. He has two cats and wanted me to keep her overnight until he could find a neighbor to take her. I fell in love with her. She is now my best friend and keeps me company for I live alone. It's not fair that so much cuteness can be crammed into such a little thing.

Read more about it here! »

Tampa Taxi Shots

Search This Blog