The Morality of Uber

[william marshal]

Why do you think most taxi drivers are new immigrants? I'll give you a hint, it's not because the pay and benefits are phenomenal.

 actually that is wrong at least here it is. almost everyone i know is an immigrant except for myself. my family came here from southern italy early in the last century. most immigrants are neither lazy or stupid. the reason so many drive cabs is there are limited choices. you could deliver food for minimum wage, be a day laborer for $75 a day cash a few other unsavory choices or drive a yellow cab. driving a yellow cab doesn't require mastery of english. all you need to know is how to navigate and how to understand addresses. if you are willing to drive for 12-18 hours a day and bust your ass you could take home $300-400 per shift. believe it or not driving on pot hole infested streets for that amount of time is really hard on your body. but that is besides the point. busting your ass means driving like crazy cutting as many corners as possible. it is all about speed. lets say you're driving down 6th ave on the far right hand side and some one on the left hand sidewalk flags a cab. if you're not willing to cut off every car on that road and do what ever is necessary to get to that customer then some one else will and you'll go home with $100 instead. once that customer is in your car you want to go as fast as you can to get to their drop and get them out to move on to the next. the competition for customers is so fierce that you have to be willing to run over children. not that i'm making excuses but it is what it is. in an earlier post i said it yellow cabs used to be highest paying and most stressful type of driving this is why. personally it is to much for me. 

[sperry]

 actually that is wrong at least here it is. almost everyone i know is an immigrant except for myself. my family came here from southern italy early in the last century. most immigrants are neither lazy or stupid. the reason so many drive cabs is there are limited choices. you could deliver food for minimum wage, be a day laborer for $75 a day cash a few other unsavory choices or drive a yellow cab. driving a yellow cab doesn't require mastery of english. all you need to know is how to navigate and how to understand addresses. if you are willing to drive for 12-18 hours a day and bust your ass you could take home $300-400 per shift. believe it or not driving on pot hole infested streets for that amount of time is really hard on your body. but that is besides the point. busting your ass means driving like crazy cutting as many corners as possible. it is all about speed. lets say you're driving down 6th ave on the far right hand side and some one on the left hand sidewalk flags a cab. if you're not willing to cut off every car on that road and do what ever is necessary to get to that customer then some one else will and you'll go home with $100 instead. once that customer is in your car you want to go as fast as you can to get to their drop and get them out to move on to the next. the competition for customers is so fierce that you have to be willing to run over children. not that i'm making excuses but it is what it is. in an earlier post i said it yellow cabs used to be highest paying and most stressful type of driving this is why. personally it is to much for me. 

 

You're more or less saying the same thing I'm saying. New Immigrants drive cabs because it's a job they can do, and one that doesn't care where you came from.

[william marshal]

fair enough. 

[aceluby]

Cabs here are expensive, unreliable, unresponsive, and usually the cars are trashed.  But when it comes down to it, as a consumer it's hard to pass up a $20 Uber that will be there in a few min vs a $50 cab that may not even show up.

[RhaegarTar]

 

I am a high school humanities teacher, and this year have been asked to teach 6 sections of economics.  It is the most depressing subject I have ever encountered.  Getting teenagers to understand that they need to be in fields that will not be mechanized in the next 10 years is impossible.  This is a very poor mill town (last mill just closed this month), and many of the students want to be truck drivers like their fathers.  I have showed them videos such as "humans need not apply," and am wracking my brain for anything to get them to buckle down.  In a world where 50%+ of the jobs that exist now will be gone in two decades (at least according to Oxford and BoA), students become fatalistic.  I try to tell them that, unlike so many people, they have the advantages of seeing this coming and preparing, but it has not been very helpful.  

[NestorMakhnosLovechild]

I am a high school humanities teacher, and this year have been asked to teach 6 sections of economics.  It is the most depressing subject I have ever encountered.  Getting teenagers to understand that they need to be in fields that will not be mechanized in the next 10 years is impossible.  This is a very poor mill town (last mill just closed this month), and many of the students want to be truck drivers like their fathers.  I have showed them videos such as "humans need not apply," and am wracking my brain for anything to get them to buckle down.  In a world where 50%+ of the jobs that exist now will be gone in two decades (at least according to Oxford and BoA), students become fatalistic.  I try to tell them that, unlike so many people, they have the advantages of seeing this coming and preparing, but it has not been very helpful.  

Maybe focus on positives instead of on negatives? What types of jobs are available in the area that you think are achievable by many of the students? Are there any decent paying jobs that you only need an Associate's Degree to obtain? Maybe solicit people in the community who are in the trades to come in and talk about vocational education? It seems like you might have better luck trying to expand their horizons than scare them away from the few jobs they feel they might be able to obtain. 

[Xray the Enforcer]

Agreed with Nestor -- try to focus on positives and possibilities. For example, a lot of the skilled trades will still be in demand for the foreseeable future, and not all of those will require a ton of extra schooling (thinking carpentry, plumbing, HVAC, etc). I really like the idea of asking some community members to come in and talk about apprenticeships and the like.

 

[william marshal]

Agreed with Nestor -- try to focus on positives and possibilities. For example, a lot of the skilled trades will still be in demand for the foreseeable future, and not all of those will require a ton of extra schooling (thinking carpentry, plumbing, HVAC, etc). I really like the idea of asking some community members to come in and talk about apprenticeships and the like.

 

i would be happy to answer any questions you have. i am the youngest son of 7, everyone in my extend family except my sisters are in the trades. my older brother got me into the teamsters in 1987 after high school driving trucks. did that for about 9 years or so. went to school at night got degree and entered the white collar world. driving on the side and when in between other things. transportation has always been a comfort zone of sorts and easy to fall back on when things are tight.  over the years i've done a little of all the trades. hvac, plumbing, carpentry, auto repair and such. when i started out something like roofing paid about 10 bucks an hour the current pay is the same. in 1989 $400 per week was decent pay today. well do i really have to say it. i can only talk about new york city, long island and new jersey.

about unions, i have mixed emotions. like the police they where and can be again a very important part of society. unfortunately every union here had been infiltrated by the mafia at it's inception and became extremely corrupt and greedy shooting themselves in the foot.