A Driver’s Suicide Reveals the Dark Side of the Gig Economy

originally posted by: seasonal

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: seasonal

It is interesting how he breaks down IQ levels to what type of skills a person can expect to have. It was also interesting that towards the end he talked about trying to train a person in a new skill on the lower end of the normal IQ range where the kids in his class have basically a range that they could spend 10 mins learning and do it perfect where a lower normal IQ could spend 10 hours and still need more help.

Speaks a lot as to why a good size of American workers tend to learn a repetitive skill and then repeat it for the next 50 years. He also talked about that automation wipes jobs at the lower IQ levels and then works up from there.

It's a scary world, and our system is NOT set up to deal with what is coming.

I think capitalism and automation is either going to be a God sent or a corporatist's wet dream. It can't be both.


,,,

Agreed, we're either going have a star Trek type civilisation or a full dystopian hell as described by Huxley and Orwell.

originally posted by: Willtell

Now these drivers are not going to make any decent career out of ruining their cars for Uber.

No. These drivers will not strike it rich.

HOWEVER...they provide the most valuable "wake up" call to the Taxi industry, that they are going out of business soon.

Uber is going to replace all human drivers with self-driving automobiles.

These temporary uber home spun drivers are just the "intermediate" step in that transition, and "cushions" the real big blow that is coming down the line, when the "Taxi Driving Profession" will become "extinct" as a sector of the workforce.

So, people, pay attention. Don't blame the mom and pop uber drivers, they are out of a job soon also.

The Uber driver profession will see a much "shorter time" on this earth, than the old "Taxi Driver" saw.

Things are moving very fast.

Taxi industry has no one to blame but themselves...

Before Uber, when you got a taxi the experience was:

1) Bad body odor
2) Rickety fleet car
3) Credit card machine never worked... i.e., driver really just wanted cash
4) Had to wait like 30-45 minutes to get a cab to come pick you up from somewhere if you weren't in a urban area
5) Cabbies being "out of service" when you tell them you only needed a quick 1 or 2 mile ride
6) Cabbies being "out of service" when you needed to go uptown...i.e., a black neighborhood.
7) Cabbies driving you the long way to boost a fair if they suspect you didn't know your way around town
8) Cab industry pushed for taxi medallion regulations to keep out competition to the point that some medallions would cost like $1 million just so you can drive a cab! WTF?

Uber comes along....

I can get on the app and have a car to wherever I am in like five minutes or less. The app even shows where the car is in relation to me. The car is usually a late model car that is nicely maintained. The driver is usually courteous. I don't have to worry about if the credit car machine is broken if I don't have cash.

It is a far better experience overall.

There is literally zero need for the cab industry now. None. Completely disrupted. Consumers are better off for it.

Most of these cabbies will find other work. Maybe driving limos? Doing something entirely different. Many will go work for Uber or Lyft.

That cab driver isn't the first one to kill himself because of financial stress. I started driving taxis in Phoenix Az in '92 and suicides were happening back then. This isn't a new phenenom because of oppressive business practices.

And while I feel sorry for the guys family, you can make a very good living by driving if you do it right.

I drive my own cars delivering medical products in the 1099 class. I have a DBA, commercial insurance and commercial plates. The costs of all of which are tax write-offs as business expenses. I make a comfortable middle-class salary 8 hours a day, with more to come in the near future, but that is just my base salary. There are also mileage deductions you can get back after paying your self- employment tax, and write-offs for the depreciation of your vehicles as well as reimbursement for any interest paid if you are driving a financed vehicle. There is alot of paperwork and financials to keep straight. You're not just driving at this point, you are your own accountant, manager and salesman as well.

If you drive and get a W2 form at the start of the year, you're doing it wrong. If you're a taxi or Uber driver in a 1099 position, treat it like a small business because that's what it is. It took me years of hard work, rough accidents and hard lessons learned to get to where I am now from a lowly cab driver. And if a high school dropout like me can do it, anyone can.

Adding to your skill sets so you can drive smarter and not harder is the key.

As much as I don't like the government, I will take everything they have to offer in the financial sense. This is business. My feelings towards the government are personal. You have to learn to separate the two.

a reply to: Edumakated

Every time a industry is disrupted and a whole branch of labor (drivers-delivery-trucking) is gone, it puts pressure on every other job.

This is not like going from riding horses to driving autos-the stable mate who took care of the horses went to the auto plant and had a job that was a net plus.
The taxi driver-or truck driver (soon) will enter the job market that is a net loss. This will put pressure on the "good" jobs as there are less and less of them to go around. As the job market shrinks this will put downward pressure on pay and working conditions.

a reply to: Willtell

Boycotted life.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: Edumakated

Every time a industry is disrupted and a whole branch of labor (drivers-delivery-trucking) is gone, it puts pressure on every other job.

This is not like going from riding horses to driving autos-the stable mate who took care of the horses went to the auto plant and had a job that was a net plus.
The taxi driver-or truck driver (soon) will enter the job market that is a net loss. This will put pressure on the "good" jobs as there are less and less of them to go around. As the job market shrinks this will put downward pressure on pay and working conditions.

Yes, but other jobs are created. In the case of taxi's, in the NY Times article it mentioned that 13,000 taxis used to drive in NYC, now with Uber/Lyft there are about 100,000 cars. So these companies actually expanded employment because the taxi industry kept it artificially low.

When one industry is disrupted, another industry is adding employment. The economy isn't fixed. Think about how many drivers Amazon has added for deliveries. These are brand new jobs.

Every industry or job faces disruption at some point. It is the way business works. Companies are constantly looking for ways to do things faster, cheaper, and better. Consumers benefit because this is what leads to innovation.

a reply to: Edumakated

You are missing the point.

Uber is going to use automated cars ASAP. So will delivery companies, and trucking companies, and school buses. All the while innovative automated driving is going to put millions out of work.
And a corporations only mission is to create "value" for the shareholders, that is why I think our present "free" market is not set up to deal with this sort of change. Corps do not have the tools to "share" this newly found world of plenty,they will have to be forced through regs.

We are heading into choppy waters.


...

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: Edumakated

You are missing the point.

Uber is going to use automated cars. So will delivery companies, and trucking companies, and school buses. While innovative automated driving is going to put millions out of work. And a corporations only mission is to create "value" for the shareholders.

It's far bigger than that, electric cars use far fewer parts so it will effect many many other businesses, the automated electric car is a game changer, it will affect everyone, even those who think they can avoid it.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Very true, are you a plumber? Get used to competing many many more people wanting to be plumbers and not afraid to work for min wage.

Are you a cop? Get used to the market being absolutely flooded with applicants.

Are you a nurse........


This is going to force govt's hand and sooner than many may think. If not we can look forward to the few that do have decent paying jobs having to mad max their asses to work every day through the ruins of society.

a reply to: seasonal

Yes indeed it's going to be very messy, especially as our elected leaders cannot see past the end of their noses.

a reply to: AMPTAH

And then the auto industry will also be in peril

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: seasonal

Yes indeed it's going to be very messy, especially as our elected leaders cannot see past the end of their noses.

Our elected leaders will be living underground to escape the hoards of pissed people.

Very soon there will be no more road to kick the can down. They will either start to work for the people or they will face their anger.

And I can't help but think that removing firearms from the commoner's paws was part of the plan that will be sorely wished been accomplished.

a reply to: nightbringr

I answered your question.


The PTB can easily devise fair solutions in this case and others.

They don't let the oil companies go out of business or the auto companies with their antiquated technology, do they?

Some poor usually Muslim foreign taxi drivers are expendable

a reply to: Willtell

Actually corporations only true goal is to maximize the return to their shareholders. So the social damages is externalized and not even in the equation.

The PTB are not about fair solutions.

a reply to: seasonal

I’m well aware of this, and believe eventually this psychological system of selfish greed will bring us all to destruction


Its like feeding a beast and one day the beast will escape its prison and devour everything in its way

a reply to: Willtell

Yep.

originally posted by: Indrasweb
Ahh crap... both of those stories are horrendous... poor guys...

I get what carewemust is saying (ironic name there dude given your comment

): that people must be responsible for themselves and do what they can to change their circumstances.

It's not ironic at all, truly caring is telling people how to improve their lives in a realistic way, not whining about how it's all the fault of capitalism or whatever a "gig economy" is. Ron Paul doesn't argue for free market policies because he wants to make himself rich, he truly cares about people and believes it's the best way to increase the overall standards of living. This is what many socialists cannot seem to grasp, they think a person only cares if they're able to display an outburst of emotions to convey how it hurts them deeply to see others suffer.

a reply to: ChaoticOrder

Free market capitalism may not be able to function in the gig econ.

All those uber jobs are going to be automated. Mail men automated. Truck drivers automated. Bus drivers automated. Fast food automated. Insurance broker automated. Financial advisor automated. Dr partially automated. Nurse partially automated. Retail automated. Lawyer mostly automated.

This is a new system. And with massive, and I do mean massive numbers of people being replaced with automation, there is going to be a few problems.

originally posted by: ChaoticOrder

originally posted by: Indrasweb
Ahh crap... both of those stories are horrendous... poor guys...

I get what carewemust is saying (ironic name there dude given your comment

): that people must be responsible for themselves and do what they can to change their circumstances.

It's not ironic at all, truly caring is telling people how to improve their lives in a realistic way, not whining about how it's all the fault of capitalism or whatever a "gig economy" is. Ron Paul doesn't argue for free market policies because he wants to make himself rich, he truly cares about people and believes it's the best way to increase the overall standards of living. This is what many socialists cannot seem to grasp, they think a person only cares if they're able to display an outburst of emotions to convey how it hurts them deeply to see others suffer.

Its not socialism, its called balance.


The system can be based on greed and not have everyone enamored of it greedy. Their just naïve and uninformed of the pernicious nature of the system.


If the system took care of everybody then greed might have a justification but in America, unlike somewhat civilized Europe, they discard the leftovers like their garbage.

They get behind a primitive idea of "freedom", freedom to destroy people, and
disaster capitalism where disaster is monetized.