This Week: Uber Eats Lowers Fares Again? And Other News

Welcome back to This Week in Rideshare News. This week we cover:

• 1 – Uber To Lower Base Fares, detailed information here – New Uber Eats Earnings Structure
• 2 – California regulators say Uber, Lyft drivers are employees, AGAIN
• 3 – Uber Drivers Spoof Photo Verification
• 4 – Instacart threatens to pull out of Seattle due to new new hazard

Hey guys, welcome back. It’s this week in Rideshare and Food Delivery News. Yes, it is. This week Uber drivers, my friends, my essential workers out there were notified by email that they’re receiving lower fares, lower base fares. Why anyone considered essential right now during a pandemic would receive anything but a bonus or incentive to get out there and drive makes no sense to me. I’m really disappointed in seeing this, but perhaps this is why Uber drivers are doing this when prompted to take a picture with their mask gone.

Meanwhile, California’s Public Utilities Commission said in an order on Tuesday that Uber and Lyft drivers are presumed to be employees under AB5, the gig worker law that passed in January. It states that, “A person providing labor or services for remuneration shall be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor.” Under AB5, the State’s new law was supposed to start January 1, it’s still effective and they’re trying to do something about it.

So, last week the California Regulator also issued a formal reminder to all these companies stating that they, “Need to provide workers compensation for employees by July 1st, and that they would consider revoking the company’s relevant operating authority if they did not comply.” That means I’m going to shut you down. They were supposed to do all this January 1, now we’re waiting to July 1. What do you guys think it’s going to take to get these companies to listen?

Speaking of working in hazardous conditions like a pandemic. Instacart threatens to pull out of Seattle if the Hazard Pay measure passes. I was excited about this. The City Council is debating whether to force e-commerce or food delivery companies like Instacart or even Uber to give drivers, at least in essential workers, premium pay which is $5 per trip during a pandemic and it could last up to 2023.

Now, Instacart heard this and they’re like, “Look, we’re going to halt operations if anything like this happens.” And this quote I have to share with you. They say, “If this measure passes, Instacart may not be able to sustainably operate in Seattle. It’s unfortunate that the City Council has chosen to introduce this misguided legislation in the throes of a global pandemic and widespread economic crisis, and civil unrest in the city.”

Oh, Lord Jesus. I’m just thinking like… First of all, the drama. Secondly, you’re making so much money. Thirdly, you’ve got a huge workforce of people that are actually servicing Seattle. You can’t find them an extra $5 for these people? It just doesn’t make any sense to me.

Now, with all this going on, and I know many of you guys, though you come back here and you watch these videos and you support us every single week. I know many of you haven’t worked and that folks are still staying at home and waiting to see what’s going to happen next. There’s also a good portion of you that have actually decided to move on and you still stay connected to the community, which I think is great.

For those of you that have come to the place where you’re like, there’s no longer serves me. I was able to look at how much money I spend or how much money I earned, and this is no longer something that I’m going to come back to. I would love to hear how you arrive to that decision and what it took to get there.

Rideshare is a transitional career for a lot of people, and we are just curious into seeing how many of you have arrived to the conclusion that this may not serve me moving forward and what you are moving towards.

With that being said, I’m so glad to see you every single week. My videos are up on Saturday morning, 6:00 AM Pacific standard time. You can also find me on my own channel that is Drive Girl Drive. And if you’re not subscribed, please subscribe. I’ll see you around. Bye.