Re:A profound apology
by yazaddaruvala on Thursday March 02, 2017 @03:15PM
(#13777774)
Ahh, yes! I whole heartedly agree with you that Uber is(are?) an asshole for luring drivers utilizing disingenuous information.
I'm glad they lost this case: http://www.moneylife.in/article/uber-to-pay-20-million-for-a...
The interesting part happens when you understand that it is impossible to make an educated decision to become a Uber driver without having a relation of trust between Uber and drivers (because otherwise you would need insider information about Uber's business innovations, to get fixed pricing agreement for a given duration, which Uber will never do, etc).
Then, you don't fault Uber for being "flexible to market forces", you may fault them for engaging in deceptive business, just like you would blame a multi level marketing scheme. And when you specifically look at Uber's strategy to mislead potential drivers, there's tons of telling stuff.
In that light, you can still blame the drivers for making bad decisions (discussing the reality of Homo œconomicus would drive us out of scope). But you must also fault Uber for maliciously luring their drivers in a scheme that is not sustainable for them.