This is a complex situation, but I enjoy seeing Uber get sued regardless
this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2025
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Same. Lyft stole my time and gas money refusing to pay me for a ride I gave someone when I was driving for them
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I used to drive for Uber.
They have very predatory and anti human behaviors built in - like making sure drivers have no good way to communicate with other driver so they can't form a union.
Real contractors can negotiate their pay and working conditions, and real employees get training and usually know who their co-workers are.
Uber deliberately picks the worst of both categories when dealing with their drivers. Drivers are required to manage and pay for their own licence, vehicle, registration, maintenance, and fuel, while also having no training, no contact with other drivers, and no ability to negotiate pay or working conditions. Drivers can also be removed (fired) at any time without reason.
It took me over 6 months to break even on setup costs, not including the cost of the car I already had. No-one is using Uber as a way to get slightly more money when commuting with setup costs like that, and Uber knows it. "Uber" was always going to be a taxi service; just one that treats its drivers worse, pushes most costs onto the drivers, and funnels money to shareholders as fast as possibly while providing the minimum possible service.
Uber is a corporation with no empathy, and will happily crush all of its workers for slightly more profit. I will never again work for them or use any of their services.
Uber is horrible to its drivers, but as a former taxi user, I'll say this system beats the terrible customer service by independent taxi drivers by far. Too much illegal shit was happening with yellow cab taxis in my city, which are non-existent with ride-sharing services. It's unfortunate that someone has to bear the social cost of this service. From a consumer POV, I'd rather it be them.
Cory Doctorow has had a lot to say about Uber on his blog.^[https://pluralistic.net/tag/uber/]
Never heard of Cory Doctorow until a few weeks ago, now it seems like I come across another piece of his works every day, and every time it is spot on. I need to start following him more closely.
Can you elaborate on what the "setup costs" are? You say you're excluding the cost of your vehicle because you already had it and I would've thought that was pretty much all you need to get started. Isn't that the point, anyone with a car can do it?
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For some reason I got my post removed last time I mentioned this, but what if Uber had a feature that let you select the race of your driver because "some riders don't feel comfortable with black drivers". That would clearly be wrong right?? It's the same thing but with gender I don't know how people were defending this originally.
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Heritage Foundation: We much create safe zones to protect women.
Also Heritage Foundation: Not like that!
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Just add a men-only option. Problem solved.
Fuck it, just add a character creator to the Uber app, and it'll only match you with drivers that look like your custom character.
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