> "Why is it that a company that's supposed to be vastly more efficient due to use of computers can't make a profit?"
Well Uber/Lyft are probably focused on growth now. They will make plenty of profit once they dominante every city with driver-less cars.
But hey, all for big money!
I, for one, receive competitive salary from market and would love my work be additionally subsidized by VC. Ruin me all you can.
This sentence makes no sense to me. How can something's "market rate" be non-profitable for the producer? If you have market forces acting on something the balance of forces will necessarily push the price higher than the price of production.
If something doesn't make sense to sell because it's too cheap, the market actors will not produce it, lowering the supply and decreasing the offer, thus increasing the price. eventually, you have to reach a price balance somewhere higher than the initial cost of production, for at least a subset of the producers.
You are confusing 'making a living' with making something. Even if a driver only nets $3.37/hour, that is still 'profit'. Just not enough to feed/house/etc yourself if it's your primary source of income.
Why not?
I don't see nothing wrong with that - it's a job that requires no qualifications, has no boss, flexible hours, is not demanding physically or intellectually. In short - a dream job for many people. It only makes sense for it to pay less than say a grueling job at a factory.
Wait, you added that part just now.
I don't see why you couldn't drive a taxi for a living (though I don't know if that is all that was meant by "career"), but taking for granted that you will be paid well seems off.
It's the primary reason we don't need a minimum wage - working in the service industry or any other relatively unskilled work isn't "a career" so it doesn't matter if it only pays 2 bucks an hour, so goes the reasoning because nobody should be expecting to do it for long or make a life out of it.
It's myopic.
Why the f*ck should teachers not be paid enough to support themselves and have a life? Wow.
No, I'm still confused. What is the problem with being an elevator operator for life and expecting a good wage?
I haven't read more ambiguous and ludicrous statement on here ever.
Please evaluate your point, because if you are right then a huge number of workers across the globe should not have a career in driving.
When the same market can suddenly be open to anyone you get people cramming into elevators and buses so that everyone is uncomfortable.
The entire US revolves around gates and monopoly like jobs. The greatest gate being the immigration gate. Technology empowers everyone and moves everyone towards the mean. Which is bad for groups that are above the mean.
I could be totally wrong but if I were a betting man...
No it isn’t, because externalities. With Uber dodging all its taxes who is paying for the infrastructure and services it relies on?
If you are an Uber driver in London neither you nor Uber is paying any NI but you’d still expect the NHS to treat you...
And NYC taxis relied on mostly immigrants driving 12 hours a day; in cheap fleet cars.
The medallions (for a long time) were an appreciating asset. So only the interest on the loans were an actual expense. 5% interest on a million dollar loan is only 50k a year. And they’d offer split it amongst drivers (two or three split a car).
As for drivers, my anecdata is that many claim to make "good money" (in their words). I've had a guy say Uber doesn't make him money, but then he followed up by saying he's a retired guy just doing it to keep active and that he owns two convenience stores...
If you have like a 2000 camry (which runs forever) depreciation seems to be virtually 0, especially if you buy the car used and only pay like 1 grand.
Also, I can imagine if you're just shuttling food around instead of passengers, you can get away with a worse car. Nobody wants to hop in a bucket and go somewhere, but food delivery doesn't matter.
Yes, anecotes are not evidence, but this article is interesting. https://jalopnik.com/5885287/how-i-put-750000-miles-on-my-ho...
And besides, you can buy a car for 4k with a lot of miles. At that point it's like a dishrag. You use it to do your job until you need a new one. Blows up by the side of the road? Tell your customer that happened, buy AAA, and depending on how bad it is, you can fix it yourself after it gets towed home, or junk it and buy another.
Or am I missing something?
http://aircarecolorado.com/index.php/consumer-information/20...
If I'm reading this right, this just means if your car is older you have to get it inspected.
I somehow doubt that classic cars (Mustang, Camaro, Corvette, 510) are banned anywhere in the country - they might have to meet more stringent tests.
I mean, you do learn things; my understanding is that it's sort of a 'survey degree' that gives you a shallow treatment of a lot of different business disciplines. If they would have let me take the MBA without an undergrad, even at a so-so school, I would have done it a few years into my own adventure running a business, and I think it would have helped me. If you have management experience and skills, a MBA even from a not so great school can help. But I think the difference between a MBA from a meh school and a MBA from a top school is overall far greater than the difference between an engineering degree at a meh school and an engineering degree at a top school.
There is some value to the content, even though I totally agree that the contacts are dramatically more valuable than the content if you go to a good school.
Personally, I find that finding management and business content on my own is actually harder than finding Engineering content on my own; management and business training is full of tony robins style confidence men, and it's difficult, for me at least, to sort out what is actually worthwhile. For that matter, just an overview of what sort of professional to hire in what situation would be nice. (For instance, if you are just looking for tax help and don't plan on selling the company, an 'Enrolled Agent' is actually better than a 'CPA' though the two certifications are of similar difficulty; the EA focuses on dealing with the IRS, while the CPA has more of a focus on the accounting you would need if you are selling your company or something.)
Hard to believe but the number of votes something gets != the quality or accuracy of the statement.
Last time I pointed that out I was downvoted for some unknown reason.
My neighbor was talking about buying a new car to drive for lyft/uber and I was like "the trick is to tear up somebody else's car." We'll see if he heeds my advice though I kind of doubt it since he has an MBA and I'm just the resident slacker who happens to know the business.