This Week: Uber Underpays Driver for 18 Hour Trip, Uber Engineer Says No on Prop 22

Welcome back to this week in Rideshare news! This week’s headlines:

• Uber driver speaks out after company refuses to pay for trip from NY-Florida
• Uber Eats wants to deliver flowers and pet supplies, too
• I’m a software engineer at Uber and I’m voting against Prop 22

Hey there. My name is [inaudible 00:00:02] Miller, and welcome back to this week in rideshare and gig economy news. Here are this week’s headlines. First, an Uber employee share why he’s voting no, on Prop 22. Uber announces employee layoffs. DoorDash introduces DoorDash for work. And Uber Eat is to expand with delivering flowers, pets, and more. And for What Would You Do? a driver is haunted by a deactivation nightmare. It’s this week in Rideshare news. Thanks for tuning up. An Uber software engineer says he’s voting no, on Prop 22. This current Uber employee and former Lyft driver, Kurt Nelson, wrote an article for tech news sharing his reasons why he’s voting no, on Prop 22. In his article, he states that while he’s an employee, he knows what it’s like for drivers to have no benefits. He also says that while Prop 22 claims to be good for drivers, it also depends on the company treating drivers better, and he feels like there’s a slim chance of that happening.

He also pointed out, “Not everyone is a part-time driver or hobbyists, and those that drive full-time, full-timers are really essential in the heart of Uber’s business.” It’s a short read. If you’re unsure and how to vote on Prop 22, I would recommend it. And even if you are voting yes, or voting no, I think it’s always important to see both sides, but especially because he works for Uber. I wonder if he’s going to have a job in a few weeks. Last week, Uber disclosed that they are laying off 3,700 employees, that’s roughly about 14% of their workforce, and that’s largely due to the staggering decrease in rideshare revenue.

So, DoorDash is introducing a new corporate product called DoorDash for work. Now that many folks are working from home or spending less time at their favorite restaurant and more time in the kitchen, this program is supposed to offer the ability for employers to provide credits for meals, during the morning or lunch hours. There’s also the ability to combine orders for teams that are working in-person. An Uber driver is speaking out after Uber authorized an 18-hour trip from New York to Florida but only paid him for two hours. The driver picked up a couple scared to travel by plane because of COVID-19, and 12 hours into the trip, an Uber rep called and said that he had exceeded the 10-hour driving limit. They turned off his app and then paid him only $200. A rep on the driver’s behalf said that he did not have enough money to even return home. And since the airing of this, Uber has since paid him the lost wages from the trip.

The latest update to Uber Eat app could feature shops of all kinds. Uber Eat is now expanding beyond delivering food to also delivering flowers, pet supplies, convenience items, and unique finds from your local shops. So eventually, when customers open up the app, they’ll be presented with grocery options, pharmacy reminders, and all types of things that can relate to their past purchases. On the merchant side of things, merchants will be able to see your customer behavior and easily add loyalty programs and add-ons and things like that.

And up for this week’s What Would You Do? This came from a viewer and it reads, “I’ve been driving for two years. I drove part-time all up until the pandemic, mostly on weekends, and it was a great way to supplement my income. I was working as a marketing director at a small theater in town until it closed. Luckily, I’ve been able to drive full-time. The money is okay, and with a few adjustments, I have been able to make ends meet. The only issue I have is that I was deactivated wrongfully after a passenger accused me of driving under the influence. I was reinstated after a lot of calls to Uber, but that feeling of turning on the app and being deactivated hasn’t left me. It might be a silly question, but how do you alleviate that feeling that, in a matter of an instant, through no fault of your own, you can be deactivated at any time? I would love to hear from you and the viewers from Rideshare Guy, thanks for your time.”

Okay. I’m not going to make my answer long. I really want you guys to chime in, but on my channel, I always talk to folks as though, use the app for what it is when it’s in front of you, and operate like it won’t come on the next day, because you just never know when things will change, companies go out of business. I always told people that watch my shows, to never be dependent on just one thing. If you’re comfortable with doing rideshare or any gig economy stuff with the general public, then I think that you need to sign up, just so that you can have those things ready and available. If something does happen with your account again, and or you need to do something else because the business is slow in your area. So, I’m going to leave it for you guys to respond to this guy, because, that’s just my take on it. And no, that’s not how everybody thinks or whatever, but let this guy know what you think he should do. Add really, really quick because I don’t want this video to be too long.

I would be confident that things are going to work out no matter what. And that’s like your faith, your meditation, that’s affirmations, doing things that make you feel better about yourself. It’s some kind of spiritual work that needs to be done because something happened in your spirit and you need to fix that. All right. I’m done. That’s it for me. If you liked anything you heard today, please, please, please give me a thumbs up. If you’re not subscribed, please subscribe and turn on your notifications so that you can check out my show that comes out every single Saturday. Okay. I pray for all of you that you are in good health and stay that way. See you next time. Same time. Peace out.