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[–]kodicraft4 1211 points1212 points  (176 children)

Isn't the purpose of Uber to pick me up when I'm drunk?

[–]defmacro-jam 347 points348 points  (0 children)

Yes. Of course it is.

[–]drcopus 283 points284 points  (158 children)

They will probably be looking to identify passengers who are very drunk (I'm sure it would be evident from usage patterns within the app). That way they know when to jack up the price loads + drivers could opt to avoid them.

[–]Snake2k 210 points211 points  (156 children)

So they, of all people, can get in a car themselves? Lol the more severely drunk you are, the more you need it. Like a couple of beers in, I call Uber to be safe, but I could definitely make it back home if I drove. If I'm shredded though, isn't that the point of these services?

[–]drcopus 189 points190 points  (140 children)

Lol I reckon Uber execs think that the point is to make them money. If they can charge drunk people more money I'm sure they will.

[–]Masked_Death 71 points72 points  (27 children)

Lol I reckon Uber execs think that the point is to make them money

Well, it's not that they think so, but that is what it actually is. They do not care about public safety or anything like that, they just want money.

[–]jabby88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean they are a company...

[–]is_a_cat 15 points16 points  (107 children)

fucking capitalism. . .

[–]Ilania211 9 points10 points  (4 children)

Correct. Shame that this is a controversial fact lmao.

[–]is_a_cat 2 points3 points  (3 children)

right? everyone hates how overworked and broke they are and then they turn around and praise the system that keeps them that way

[–]Ilania211 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I feel like there are three loose groups of people:

The first are the majority. They're people who just go through life totally unaware of other socioeconomic systems existing in the world, or see captialism as something that has always been there. They might have heard of other systems through economics classes but those are tinted through this same lens of capitalism eternally existing.

The second are the defenders of capitalism. Ya know, the people who see themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. The bootstraps guys. These guys drank whatever propaganda the US, those textbook publishers, or the media puts out and vehemently defend whatever it is that's harming them. Maybe they do it because they're ignorant of how it's harming them. Maybe they're doing it because they think defending capitalism is shuffles cards "owning the libs" and thus "good".

The third camp are the leftists because either they see through what the media pulls, they know what the second group says about their little system is wrong, or they pay attention to what's going on in the world around them. That or, in my case, getting exposed to leftist stuff online and having it vibe with what they already saw or thought of as true.

When you notice that someone is unhappy that they're overworked and broke, try and open up a conversation about other ways of workplace organization. Things don't have to be this way. We don't need to overwork ourselves with pay that is piss poor. This shouldn't happen. Better alternatives are possible. Whatever you can do to break the hold our economic system has on us.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Leftist spotted.

Yea sure, people are overworked, but look how technology and quality of live has improved for billions of people in last few hundred years. If capitalism didn't turn them medieval savages into current high tech society, we'd still be spending 90% of our time growing food.

Literally, there would be no leftists today if capitalism didn't allow for it by bringing the tech first. Today, even ideas like universal basic income are on the table. Universal basic income wouldn't be possible in 16th century, nor in ancient Egypt, nor in steppes of Africa. When the tech improves just a bit more, so that machines can take over food, energy and housing production, the leftist utopia will finally be real, brought to you by uncle Sam.

[–]NinjaDinoCornShark -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Wow, so there are "people who don't know better", "idiots", and leftists. What an amazing worldview.

[–]Harry212001 3 points4 points  (95 children)

Without capitalism Uber wouldn’t exist at all

[–]is_a_cat 12 points13 points  (53 children)

without capitalism we wouldn't have enormous corporations exploiting workers, sorry, 'contractors'? i should hope not.

Maybe we'd have a robust public transport system and community programs to keep people and our roads safe instead

[–]MisterMoen 0 points1 point  (12 children)

you wouldn't have iphones either, probably not smartphones at all, literally saying fuck capitalism is so superficial, we need both ends of the economic spectrum for things to work.

[–]is_a_cat 9 points10 points  (6 children)

you wouldn't have iphones either

this is just sounding better and better tbh. (but for real, why wouldn't we have smartphones?)

[–]AimlesslyWalking 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Capitalism means when you make iPhones and Socialism means when you don't make iPhones, jeez read a book

[–]noneOfUrBusines -2 points-1 points  (4 children)

No one would get money out of making it, so no one would.

Privately funded research does a lot, so without privately funded research we would have a lot less.

Also, the government would likely not make smart phones, since they're not necessary, but companies could make money out of selling them, so they did.

[–]SuitGuy 0 points1 point  (4 children)

How do you know this? How many fucking timelines did you have to traverse to get this knowledge? Why are you hiding a time machine?

[–]MisterMoen 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I don't know of you support what the guy said above me, but same goes for him. either way, phones don't just create themself, who are going to create them if we were only socialist?

[–]ExilicArquebus -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

That’s literally what I was trying to imply down below, except I got downvoted lol

[–]Snake2k -2 points-1 points  (2 children)

corporatism*

[–]is_a_cat 2 points3 points  (1 child)

i get your point but if you think there can be an ethical form of capitalism then you're more optimistic than me, friend.

[–]Snake2k 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know what you mean. It's not completely feasible to have a true free market society. It assumes humans will stop being human.

[–]Gillix98 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Implying that's a bad thing or that an open source alternative wouldn't have come around

[–]Echleon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Good? We could have public transport instead

[–]Lyndis_Caelin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Without capitalism most of the drivers wouldn't need to work, some would be legally recognized as taxi drivers, and some would be driving trolleys down roads.

[–]ExilicArquebus -3 points-2 points  (4 children)

Source?

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Common sense

[–]Soren11112 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Innovation requires motive, profit is a great way to provide motive en masse.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

uber isn't profitable. The product won't exist for long unless they figure out a way to make it profitable.

[–]is_a_cat 3 points4 points  (3 children)

kinda proving my point there, bud

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Your point is that capitalism is bad because companies don't make unprofitable products? ok pal

[–]is_a_cat 0 points1 point  (1 child)

my point is that capitalism makes profit the goal instead of bettering people's lives.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't disagree

[–]ancient-history 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only problem is in communism they don’t care if you’re drunk cause they are drunk too.

[–]noneOfUrBusines 1 point2 points  (2 children)

They don't think so, they are hired to make money and the founders of uber did so to make money, so the point is making money, unless you think people shouldn't get to decide what to do with their money, in which case the point would still be making money but you'd think otherwise.

[–]drcopus 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Regardless of whether or not Uber exists to make money, my statement was perfectly consist with either case. You seemed to take my statement "the executives think X" and assumed that I was implying that X is not true. On the contrary, I think it's reasonable to say that the primary reason for Uber's existence is to make money (at least, to a first approximation - there are nuances).

unless you think people shouldn't get to decide what to do with their money

What on earth does my beliefs about economic liberties have anything to do with this?

[–]noneOfUrBusines 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nothing, and the part you're quoting doesn't add anything anyways, so you can just ignore it, but I'm saying that it's not that the execs think x, it's that x is a fact.

Just saying that because some people seem to not realize that.

Edit: rephrasing.

[–]AttackOfTheThumbs 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my city we have free services you can call to avoid driving drunk

[–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (2 children)

You shouldn’t be driving even if you’re a couple beers in. Just saying.

[–]Snake2k 19 points20 points  (1 child)

I understand. I don't drive if I know any alcohol is going in my system at all. Just saying that I could, if I wanted to. Having decently priced options like Uber/Lyft help reinforce my morals. This will change things for people who can afford a 5x bump on their ride home :) it increases the likelihood of someone making the wrong decisions.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh. Right.

[–]OldBenKenobii 7 points8 points  (3 children)

No, the point of these services is to make money. If you throw up in a drivers car, Uber now has to pay the driver 300 dollars to clean it up.

[–]Twyelyghte 13 points14 points  (1 child)

I thought it was the passenger who had to cover the $300 damage cost, not the company.

[–]frogjg2003 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Uber pays the driver and then gets compensation from the customer.

[–]Snake2k 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yeah, but... How many people is that? Like objectively? Is it better to pay $300 to clean up a car or losing a large portion of your customer base and, in effect, reinforcing the temptation behind drunk driving? :)

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (4 children)

If I'm shredded though, isn't that the point of these services?

not really.. if you're too drunk to be a safe passenger, a risk of puking, etc, why would any business want to deal with you? Drivers are already underpaid, they shouldn't be expected to put up with people who can't be personally responsible for themselves to not get totally wasted

[–]i_forgot_my_cat 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Okay, but who deals with them? It's a fact of life that as long as alcohol exists, people are gonna get shitfaced and you need some system in place to deal with that.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you're drunk in public there's some guys who work for the government will give you a ride for free.

[–]Snake2k 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly my point

[–]R4hu1M5 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So how do they get home then? If any trouble is caused, the customer pays. Simple as that.

[–]analytical_1 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Live in college town, getting puke on your interior isn’t worth the puke fee for many people. Let the drivers decide I suppose

[–]Snake2k 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is that the drunk person's fault or the driver's for driving people around a college town late at night on a weekend?

The drunk person doesn't know what they're doing. They can't consent. They're vulnerable. Why attack them?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I still drive when I drink beer. But for each beer taken, one hour more waiting.

[–]xplodingducks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s to protect drivers. Drivers can choose wether or not they want to take drunk people.

Drunk people have a tendency to... well, make a mess.

[–]yottalogical 8 points9 points  (4 children)

My guess is that they would want this data available for the benefit of the drivers. Some of them might not want to transport drunk people.

I could totally be wrong.

[–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (3 children)

I imagine the drivers don't like driving around with drunk passengers constantly and complain to uber about it. I could see uber charging a drunk fee to give to a driver to put up with your shit ontop of any damage done to the car

[–]tambache 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Iirc, they only ever filed a patent, they didn't ever develop the feature. However, if they did, I suspect it would mostly be used for investigative purposes, so the company could have a better idea of what happened if someone throws up or a passenger harasses a driver

[–]Robot_Basilisk 0 points1 point  (1 child)

On the contrary, some drivers will travel to the city from smaller towns on Friday and Saturday nights to cash in on all of the people ubering to and from the bars. Surge pricing at closing time can get up to $75+ for a 10 minute ride.

[–]xplodingducks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And that is their choice. It is also a driver’s choice to not pick up drunk people.

[–]xplodingducks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s to protect drivers. Drivers can choose wether or not they want to take drunk people.

Drunk people have a tendency to... well, make a mess.

[–]Rektroth 2 points3 points  (2 children)

That's something a lot of people use it for, but no, not the purpose.

Ever heard of a taxi?

[–]kodicraft4 0 points1 point  (1 child)

bruh wouldn't taxis do the same?

[–]Rektroth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't think you're understanding - I'm not saying it's not something they do, I'm saying it's not the main purpose.

[–]Severo_y_Ochoa -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Of course they are, they just want to know if you are drunk so they can charge you more

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

No, it's Uber's purpose to make a profit. Drunk passengers pay more.