The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 271 - Uber

Episode Date: June 5, 2017

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine ride share company Uber. SOURCESTOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

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Each week I astronaut farmer lover of poor pie. Dave Anthony. Registrate from American History. To my friend. Dramatic pause to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. Took a sip in the middle. Sure whatever. Dramatic pause. No you've really loosened the intro up I think it's safe to say that it's loose. It's okay to have something flexible up top. Yeah sure sure yeah what you want me to say. Get rid of that mattress. You know you just sit you just come in here and get ammo and then we start and then you let it rip. I know what you're talking about. Yeah that's how you roll. Sniper. Baby

snowipper. I like your buds bro. Let's just start. God do you want to look here to do? I'll do one bottle. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gareth. Dave okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not going to come to tickling podcast. Okay. You are queen fakie of made up town. All hail queen shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle. And do what? Pray. No. I see it done my friend. No. No. 1920s. Boom. Cities in the United States started regulating taxi cabs in response to markets flooded with too many taxis. Yeah. Fewer taxis allowed drivers to make a living and in return drivers had to follow safety insurance and service requirements. Okay. Right. It's a trade off. Sure. But like anything else monopolies political control and other issues led to problems. Affairs and service declined. By the end of the 80s the taxi taxi business was in bad shape. The end of the 80s. Yeah. Okay. And had a giant target on it. Okay. Yep. Between 19 especially target caps. Where'd you come from Jose. He came from the window. That was crazy. Yeah. But a vocal entrance like screamed first and then leapt off. Oh he well he's he's working on catchphrases. Yeah. It's good. If I had a seal I would put like a tub under the. Oh would you. Window sill to jump into. Oh would you. Between 1993 and the year 2000 22 articles about taxi deregulation were published by Libertarian think tanks funded by the Koch brothers. Well those guys are cool makers of all things good. Yeah. Except for Coca Cola. Right. And it worked. Clearly an improved taxi market could arise by removing regulations. Travis Kalanick was born in 1976 and grew up in Northridge Los Angeles. His parents Bonnie and Donald made sure he was never left wanting in middle school. Got good grades and became the target of older bullies. Okay. Well I mean yeah well he said he got good grades. Yes I'll beat him up. That'll teach him. Kalanick vowed never to be bullied again and to turn the tables on his tormentors.

In high school he was naturally athletic and competitive and excelled at running track and playing football. Okay. He's a lot like you. He's a lot like me. Did you play football. I did Romeo and Juliet. I'm not going to talk to you anymore. Travis Kalanick also discovered he was good at sales particularly as a door to door knife salesman in 1988. It's easy to sell knives door to door. Yeah. You won't fucking because someone just opens the door and you have a knife immediately. And then yeah. Got money. Hey how you doing. I'm going to need you to buy these. Ouch. No. Former former actually that one looks pretty good at the end. Yeah. Because it goes in nice. Yeah. A former classmate said quote he was a good salesman. He let that be the entirety of his personality. That's good. That sounds like a good person. Another said quote he was definitely there was definitely a feeling for me that he was always trying to sell something to me like a used car salesman. You know it's their job but it doesn't make it any less annoying. Right. So he seems like an awesome social circle. He's like an awesome guy to hang with. Yeah. Sounds like a real made off on the scene. When Kalanick was 18 he started an SAT prep tutoring service when he was 22 he dropped out of UCLA where he studied computer science to work for Scour Incorporated the first popular peer to peer file sharing service. Scour Scour I had never heard of it. Yeah I haven't either.

Kalanick likes to say he co-founded Scour but that apparently upsets some of the company's actual co-founders who considered him to be an employee. Oh that's interesting. Yeah. I like how people that's a good play. More people should do that. Kalanick was known for his marketing and came up with a gorilla camp marketing campaign for Scour Exchange or SX as they called it. SX. SX. So they put bottles of lube on dorm room doorknobs with stickers that read do not enter SX in progress. Well that's cool. Got it. Yeah. Yeah. But do you get it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's great. It's great. Is it helpful. Our people. I would just be annoyed. But I would just be like oh SX the lube people. Yeah. Hey you guys got any more SX. Yeah it doesn't really. Like you wouldn't be like. Oh share file. Oh this is how you share files. It's file sharing going on. I'm going to jerk off with this lube and then share a file or two. While I'm sharing files I'm going to rub my penis. Yep. You know how I do it. Actually you know what I'm going to bang it out in the other order. I'm going to get some dirty files and then I'm going to rub it out. Oh dirty files. Two years later in 2000 the Motion Picture Association of America and others sued Scour for 250 billion. Well I mean so they're big. That's a lot. Big. Big loss. Scour quickly filed for bankruptcy. Based on. I don't know. Okay. Just wasn't working. Right. Kalanick then started a new company called Red Swoosh. Another file sharing company. He lived over three years without a salary.

Moved into his parents house and ended up owing the IRS $110,000. Good. So that's good. So the company. So Red Swoosh is doing badly. He's killing it. Yeah. And him. He had apparently had also had big ideas for himself at this point. In 2003 he picked up a registration form to run for governor of California. All right. Now we're talking. And registered a website Travisforgov.com. Okay. But he never followed through with the campaign. Did he try putting lube on people's doors? That is where he should have. Vote for Trav. Yeah. And other achievements. He once held the world's second highest score for the Nintendo Wii tennis video game. That's something that you can always hang your hat on. Well that's when anyone says that you're you're a loser. Or what's this. You know you don't do enough with your time. What's this score. Yeah. Right here. Number two asshole. Thanks. Hey Travis. What. I don't know. I just thought I'd do a crazy head move. Okay. I thought you heard Jose. That doesn't translate to the podcast too well. Anyway back to Red Swoosh. To save money. Caledic decided to stop withholding income taxes from employees paychecks.

Okay. Some in. Is that illegal. Yeah. It's actually known as a crime. Okay. It is. That would be committing a crime. Right. Okay. Several employees left angry after they worked for long periods and did not get paid. That's okay. So he's withholding taxes for the government and then he's not paying other people. Right. So it's just a it's just a great show. So he's making some he's skipping off the top nice. It's a great shop to work. So it sounds like he's ready for to be a governor. He treats the people well to work for him and in turn they treat him well. Yeah. Red Swoosh appeared on fucked company dot com. I don't know if you remember this but there's a website called fucked company dot com. Dot com boom times and if you if you popped up on there they had reason three and you were fucked. Wait. I'm going to need you to. There were so many companies folding that there was a website called fucked company dot com. Oh and fucked company would list companies that were fucked. Yeah. And Red Swoosh wound up on fucked company dot com and then at Red Swoosh they were like oh no we're fucked. They were just about about to get money from like ATT or Yahoo or something and then they popped up and fucked company and it went away. Fucked company. But it all seems shit. He moved to Thailand to cut costs and then a company came and bought Red Swoosh for 19 million in 2007. Wow. But then I looked it up and the company that bought nothing ever happened with Red Swoosh.

It just went away. Like they just threw money at something and it was pointless. Right. They bought it for no reason. It was just. But that's great if you're Red Swoosh for him. It's great. Yeah. So Travis Kalanick is now a millionaire. He bought a fancy new house and called it quote his jam pad. Huh. No that's weird noise. Now is he making preserves. His jam pad. Or this is where he goes to. I'm going to guess that this is where he plays either terrible music or it's just his main cave. It's jam pad. Yeah. It's on Twitter account. What's jam. It's not loading. It's at jam pad HQ. It's still active. Well he hasn't shut it down but it's not that many tweets and he hasn't tweeted since 2010. OK. It's he calls it the Church of Creative Capitalism. OK. There's a guy Angelou Sodoria. He tweeted leaving at jam pad deeply inspired. But what my friend. Conat T-Bone has accomplished in building friend topreneurs a true sanctuary for vision. Another of this one straight from jam pad epic jamming in 5 AM closed time. Sorry. Insane crew coming by the jam pad tonight should be awesome. So he's just cool. So so the jam pad is just got to dust off some cobwebs attention entrepreneurs and back in SF and jam pad is open for business. Let me let me ask it. What isn't jam pad. It's a place where entrepreneurs get together and jam ideas bro. So it's a it's a rock and roll think tank.

It's a think tank for fucking. Hey man what if we what if we have a like a delivery service for cats. Love it. It's that kind of thing where they just sit on and think up. We'll put lube on people's doors. That's it man. So he's clearly into himself and he started a blog and about investments and his philosophy of life. Right. He was invited to Obama's inauguration. Of course. Get him there. Yeah. And apparently travel the CEO of jam pans coming. I won't think jam pad. He apparently traveled with an awesome crew quote when you've got the kind of crew we've got the party is wherever we are. I think that jam pad protests too much. He's jamming dude. Around this time. I mean we'll play we we drink Capri sons we're jam bad. Around this time his friend and fellow rich guy. Jam pads got a pool table and jam pads got a pool. So jam pads got everything. Hashtag jump out. His friend Garrett camp asked if he wanted to run a limo company. Camp wanted to bring down the price of limos because he had paid over 800 for one on New Year's Eve. All right. So he's this has a personal touch for him. He's been hurt by this tragedy.

The idea was a premium service for high end customers quote when you open up the app you get that experience of like I am living in the future. I pushed a button and a limo rolled up and now I'm a fucking pimp. Uh oh. Are we headed. Oh no. Can't but the domain name Uber cab. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh Dave Kalanick then suggested partnering with an established limo companies to offer an app that would assign a requested trip to a driver set the fare and collect the payment. Oh my god. Uber their new company would receive a percentage of the fare. Uber cab was founded in August 2009. Both men considered it a side project. Okay. It launched in San Francisco in July 2010 with 10. That's right on the jam pads happening. Oh well. I mean how could it not be. But Dave if I may. Yeah. If you think about it. Uber's an eagle. Jam pad is the wind beneath the eagle. Fucking thank you bro. You're welcome. Stop it. Jose. When they first started they had to they had a 10 driver partners which is what they called them. It was immediately popular with the tech executives. So it's just a toy for new rich people. Right. They're like this is fucking great. In August investor Chris Saka tweeted quote rolling in an Uber cab. Eat your heart out Robin Leach.

Boom. God. Is that the guy that's the guy who started GoPro. I think. Oh is that who that is. I think so. I might be wrong. Soon they had a hundred drivers and cars. Kalanick said his official title at Uber was quote chief incubator. Oh my God. No. No. No no no. Hey I'm cooking up ideas. No chief incubator. Yeah man. I'm warming shit up over here. Oh my God that is going to hatch. That's I mean you know I guess nothing coming from jam pad surprises me at this point. That's right. I mean I've been through so much with jam pad. We come up with some this where the dog was developed a jam pad. Hey man what if the other guy doesn't know anything about it. Hashtag jam pad. But Uber had launched this new company without consulting the city government in October 2010 the San Francisco Transportation Authority and the California Public Utilities Commission issued cease and desist orders against Uber cab. Okay. Quote the name Uber cab indicates that you are a taxi cab company and as such you are under our jurisdiction. Okay. So Uber drop cab from its name. Sure. And then the cabs are like wait. This. No. But. Oh. They're good. Am I. Is it my crazier. Are they just good. I mean they're good. As far as we can tell there was no action to enforce the cease and desist orders after that. Meanwhile cab companies were losing their fucking minds. I don't remember that.

One manager quote we are in a terrible state of shock. We just could not believe that what was happening would continue. It's so obviously illegal not in the gray area but clearly illegal. We kept thinking that authorities would step in at some point. They did not. That's not surprising. Meanwhile cab companies. Hope I said that. And Uber was now attracting the big boys of venture capital. Okay. The next round of investing came in October of 2011. Amazon's Jeff Bezos Ashton Kutcher Jay Z Leonardo DiCaprio decaps. Yeah. Uber was about now valued at three hundred and thirty million dollars. Wow. That was quick. How did the VC guy see Uber quote Uber is in the empire building phase. God it's very tough. I mean it's it's tough. It's not. It's tough because you know it's just that the language is so do you. Language is chief incubator. It should. All these guys are the biggest dude. The shit that comes out of their mouth. Moonshots. That's what I heard recently. Such douchebags. Moonshots.

This is the room of moonshots. This would be shoot for the moon. Come on. Okay. So another focused on Kalanek himself. Quote he's a douche as a tactic. Not a strategy. Wait. Wait. He's a. So he's so Cal. He's saying the VC guy saying he's a purposeful douchebag. Right. Like it's his. Angle. It's it's what he's doing. It's getting stuff done. Right. Oh that's cool. In June 2012 lift and sidecar launched their services but they did not use limo drivers. Instead it was normal people with their own cars. I remember sidecar. Now it was just scary to be in in that. Yeah. Cause you're on a motorbike and you don't know the guy driving it. Is that what it was? No. No. I'm pretending it's a real sidecar.

So many dead. So instead it's normal people in my car. Now Kalanek is furious. Okay. He storms in to the California regulators offices. Okay. The director of policy and planning said quote the head of Uber. I forget his name. He came here along with a slew of his lawyers and lobbyists and said I'm here to shut to ask you to shut down lift. It was illegal and you guys have to shut them down. It was a strange meeting. We tend to expect people to be on their best behavior when they come to talk to us. This comes in and is rude and demands it. Rubber. Other than this meeting in which Kalanek demanded the city crush. You know what had been great is after the meeting they each had to rate each other on a five star scale. Other than this meeting in which Kalanek demanded the city crush competitors who had come up with a smarter business plan than him using the same illegal methods he had. He refused to meet with officials. So he's mad at other companies coming up with a better illegal plan. He's getting out. He's being out.

He's out. Totally out deed. He's out deed. One commissioner quote Kalanek's attitude was screw the government. We don't need government. One commissioner called Uber probably the most obnoxious organization I've ever had. TO DEAL WITH. Oh God. Uber then decided to join lift and sidecar which were illegal in Uber's eyes. And on July 12 2012 Uber quietly added Uberx to their app in San Francisco. Caliq told the press quote it remains to be seen whether regulators will crack down if they don't uber is more than happy to play in this space So morals are important very important The real you can't do that Yeah, well now you can't stop us. Yeah Uber the real problem was ride sharing was overwhelming California agencies They were set to regulate limo services trains light rail ferries

Distribution of electricity natural gas and propane throughout the state, which is a huge job, okay? They were stretched thin as as it was So now they have to deal with these guys, right who are like blowing shit up, right? Next caliq said uber would roll out quote in any market where a competitor is opening for 30 days without direct enforcement against their drivers uber will interpret that as Approval of ride-sharing activity Wait, well whatever lift are or sidecar. They're gonna fucking roll in there And they say they can because the other guys got to do it

but what sort of is is at this point, it's it's just popping up places, right? They're just saying they're gonna expand. They're just expanding wherever they want, right? Okay, but there's not really like really There's not really any legal issues. It's just what they're doing is totally illegal, right? But they're but they can get away with it. So it's not stopping right so they can So they're just literally being like anywhere. You are we will come and it's like setting up a bar in your house Do you want to you want to drink stop me from sign up a bar? Have you ever been to a house bar in LA? So great. Yeah, it's pretty like what is this? There's a guy with a sailor's hat on

That's the captain. Yeah, the cat. There's always a captain As far as dealing with city governments Caliq used a common Libertarian argument that most people working for government are shit humans. Okay, some city council people are really awesome But most are uninspired. I meet them as little as possible Uninspired is like an entrepreneur's ultimate dig. Yeah, like that to them. It's like man You guys aren't thinking outside the box. You're uninspired How how you're like a rule follower? Oh my god

When Kalanik had to deal with city commissioners in Miami resisting uber he said quote I'm spending a lot of time with city officials In Miami when I would much rather be at the shore club What? He said that where on Twitter. He said that in a pet to a pet newspaper. It's just so douchey Kalanik said he was quote a Trust buster and freedom fighter. Oh god That's the problem too, right? Well, that really is the issue when you just you like just take your bullshit and find a

Parallel that it's harder to argue like that. It's not that that at least you have a leg to stand on with I'm a trust buster. I'm a fucking kid. I'm Isaac Newton, bro. Ever Ever in your life no matter what you did talk about yourself like that even even at the fucking even George Washington or whoever. Yeah, you know the guys who fought the revolution They said I'm a freedom fighter to be like shut the fuck. Yeah, why don't you take a break? Well, I'm George Washington. You do not tell me to shut the f up Okay, but take a break on the field you take a break my teeth are falling out of my goddamn head It's up to be a freedom fighter. Well, I think I should be in the conversation a little more than this uber guy

Coming over here and slandering me as such. That's fine. I am though. I am the first president of here. Are you a trust buster? Look, I'm not saying I am or I'm not what I'm saying is it's a more apt comparison for me than it is for this uber d-bag Okay, you said d-bag. What's a d-bag? Yeah, we'll get there Kalanick tweeted It's like Braveheart lack freedom And he used and he used and rammed as his Twitter pic. Oh good. Well, I mean, you know, he's he's got good heroes He's consistent. He's got good heroes. Yeah, the the best thinkers, you know And said some okay words

And such as the I'm dying. Why don't I use Medicare now? Yeah What's she going social security America? I don't know Kalanick went on the offensive pushing his view of how uber would save the world And the Wall Street Journal he wrote quote unless we are rapidly Reimagine urban transportation cities risk imploding under the weight of more than a billion cars Mass transit so he I mean for someone who hates politicians, he's taking all the pages out of their playboy. Oh, no He's he's the fucking worst Mass transportation was part of the solution but not the magic bullet the subway after all does not reach your front door

It's time to bring space-sharing to street level by creating the mobile horizontal equivalent of skyscrapers This is just he I mean, isn't he losing himself at this point? It's is he understanding what he's saying the horizontal We're driving skyscrapers now The horizontal equivalent of a skyscraper. It's the horizontal equivalent of a skyscraper. It doesn't fucking mean anything Yeah, these are What the horizontal equivalent of an elevator? I

Don't agree with that at all. I don't agree with that one bit. Are you a trust buster? No. Oh, that sucks We can accomplish this by embracing a lesson our parents taught us to share our toys So uber was finally in his opinion the answer to light rail, which is a huge problem. Yeah I mean, do you think he believes that I? Genuinely think that he he filled himself with enough shit that spends every day eating his own bullshit, right, right? Meanwhile Kalinix way of running a company was implemented into uber. He created 14 values for uber with tenets such as being super pumped Oh cool. Well, that's cool to read and quote always be hustling

Well, I'm not super pumped about that one also quote make magic make mo. He's who what does he expect? And quote have a champion's mindset Yeah, I'll do that when I'm driving people in the back of my carola also quote Yeah, so meritocracy and toe stepping Toe stepping. I don't know what that means But it's not super. You can definitely shave some rules, but that is a thing for who loves the merit meritocracy well, I Mean in I don't have the answer but in any in any employee handbook the second that you're saying you're at meritocracy

And toe stepping. Yeah, it's definitely time to eliminate some An uber spokesman spokesman broke down super pump this as quote. This is the craziest How do you do that? Oh, let me break down super pump this Bring energy and infectious enthusiasm to everything you do. How about this? Just show up Yeah, but just doing your job and enjoying it. We'll do you good and then you'll do your job here No, but bring bring infectious and bring it all man. Make everybody feel This is the guy in the office like But it's it's always it's like when like, you know, like you just lose when you make so much money

You just lose perspective like you're just like how can you not be pumped about uber? It's like well It didn't make me millions of dollars. I'm making shit money. It didn't make me millions of dollars customer service guy Why would I give a fuck? But that's what happens with that like, you know, like when you like cribs used to be on These people had lost such touch with the reality that they'd be like, I'm crazy like I like to watch a lot of movies So I have like all these movies here. I'm just kind of a movie buff It's like no you're not a move. Look everybody's a movie buff You just have nothing else to do so you open the theater with all your money and you have a bunch of movies You're not different from anyone. You just have fuck all to do with your life

So you like lose your perspective can entirely an employee said quote Super pump pump ad-ness. It's hard to super pump ad-ness is all about moving the team forward working long hours Pretty much a do whatever it takes attitude to move the company in the right direction super pump ad-ness Different if you have stock in it But Kalanick was cultivating a way of doing business that not many companies would encourage quote We do have an aggressive culture We do step on people's toes and we think that's the best way to get performance out of people. Oh dear. Yeah Yeah, cool. That's the cool place to cool

One friend recall the night out with a group of married couples at the gold club a San Francisco strip club Kalanick who was single pulled out a laptop to work on a spreadsheet crunching uber's numbers while friends watch the dancers on stage So let me just say what that move is. Okay, cuz I have a take to you have a take to yeah, so that's You Without people knowing who you are. Yeah, can't fucking handle it. Yeah, and you're in a strip club Yeah, and you want these you want these strippers to come over and rub all over you. Yeah who you are Yeah, so whip out your fucking thing and let them know you let them know your uber's top boss That's what I was gonna say name. It's a name drop. It's a spreadsheet name. It's a fucking spread. It's a spread drop

On New Year's Eve in 2013 an uber driver in San Francisco hit and killed six-year-old Sophia Louis The driver was arrested for vehicular manslaughter Uber denied fault saying the driver was an independent contractor not an employee and since he was not carrying a passenger or driving a pickup a passenger technically he was not on the clock Hmm uber therefore I had no legal liability uber also calls them driver partners because they're not independent contract Contractors they're not right. They are independent contractors not employees right right driver partners. So they came up with a super douche baggy term, right? They they It's the all I mean it's for them best case scenario

Well, it'd be like if you if you if Walmart started calling the cashiers the money partners, right? And they yeah, right? they family sued the driver and Uber for wrongful death because he was logged into the uber app waiting for a fare when he hit the girl, right? Oh, and the driver already had a reckless driving charge in Florida including driving a hundred miles per hour into oncoming traffic Oh, God, but somehow uber's screening process didn't look for that sort of thing Is there screening what is their screening process? We'll get there. Oh dear pressure mounted on uber a few months later Calinic announced with quote great fanfare that uber would cover drivers who had the app activated but had not yet accepted a ride So they already insured people for when they're driving someone or they're picking someone up

But they didn't ensure when they're waiting So now they're saying they'll do it when people are waiting for the app to give them a place to go Right, but they're just gonna ensure people for much less than when someone's in the car Are they saying they'll in they're saying they'll ensure them throughout the whole driving experience But it's not the same insurance as someone's in the car, right, which is like a million dollars or something But but so now the max the max if that happened would be a hundred thousand Okay, which is sad because the mother also got hit and she already had five hundred thousand of medical bills So so he came up with something that still didn't cover the actual problem in front of his face, right?

A jury later deadlocked on the driver's charge of manslaughter By the summer of 2014 uber had a value of 17 billion dollars The SF business times named Calinic executive of the year for 2014 Uber said driving was a path of personal freedom and independent and financial independence and the company said a typical uber driver Takes in more than a hundred thousand dollars in annual gross fares Hmm a company the company built fancy new offices calling the main conference room the the war room Can't they hire the head of non douchey they can't They don't know how

In August 2014, there's just nobody that'll say no No, everybody will say yes. Everyone's like great idea. I love it. Yeah, that's great In August 2014 Calinic hired David Plouffe the mastermind behind the 2008 Obama presidential campaign Plouffe was brought on board to lead ubers PR quote. I don't subscribe to the idea that the company has an image problem I actually think when you are a disruptor you're gonna have a lot of people throwing arrows Who throws arrows? You shoot arrows that is true. You do See like you throw arrows in a huge pinch, maybe

But your first line of defense Anybody that you're taking seriously who's gonna assault you is not going to be throwing arrows They're not made for that. Yeah, no, they're not Shooting arrows throwing stars throwing stars In september 2014 the san francisco and they're tossing bullets district attorneys told uber and lyft. They were operating illegally Then ashton kutcher. Thank god that name came back doesn't have enough money Started a twitter campaign to rally support around slash ca loves uber Uber not working with governments was the standard operating plan in birmingham, alabama

An official said quote uber pretty much told us they wanted to be no part of the transportation code They felt their drivers are small business. They should be allowed to operate however they want with no regular regulatory oversight Government oversight whatsoever That also includes no business license and no paying tax on their income revenue. How are you able to check all those boxes? Hey, listen our drivers are coming to town and they're not paying tax No, they're not drivers So, uh, it's it's like when you take when the fucking mob comes in and vests in a in a restaurant By the way, we're not paying for fish anymore. Uh, okay

Oh But you're paying us for we're gonna eat the fish for free And you're gonna pay us triple for the fish that you cook Also, there's a non breaking your leg fee, right? There's no breaking your leg fee 50 bucks a week for your legs than i get all the booze you gotta buy from barbie Well, it's a pleasure doing business with you fellas. Yep Oh, that's $10 to go back inside kill him Anything that required them to be in compliance with any law in general. They were totally against

This may be why uber was uh able to get away with surge pricing, which is you know, everyone knows the surge pricing Yeah, everyone knows what surge is during a big snowstorm in new york and december 2013 Don't they rates were massively increased. Okay up to eight times calinic said it was eight times calinic said It was basic supply and demand, which was true because people were stranded all over course Yeah, but it's not that doesn't that doesn't mean when they redid wood stock Remember years ago in a bottle of water was nine dollars didn't make it okay. No, it doesn't make it actually made the whole place get burned Uber does not explain what the surge price is just that it is nine point eight times the base fare Since passengers have no idea what the base fare is that literally means nothing

Uh, it's so stupid too because the amount of times where I've been like two times two point six Well, it's robbery. I have no idea what it's based on no there and there's no oversight on the surge shit at all Good customers have been charged seven hundred and ten dollars for a nine point seven mile drive An 18 mile drive. That's usually 50 was five hundred and thirty nine a four hundred uh Uh dollars for a 10 mile drive on and on so and Ron has cars Yes I guess the good news was that uber said the median income of an uber driver was more than 90 000 a year in new york and more than 74 000 in san francisco. So people are making

bank okay Better be true doesn't tell drivers how long a surge is expected to last How many passengers are waiting in the surge area or how many drivers have been alerted to the surge area? Some of them head quickly to surge surge zones and then find out it's over Surge zones surging distorts prices because it encourages drivers to wait on the sidelines Artificially creating a shortage of drivers. So now guys are just sitting around waiting for surges right. It's the gold rush Kalinik said quote We're not setting the price the market is setting the price and we have algorithms to determine what that market is

Okay, yet uber controls all the information in the market. One of the things about a free market Is uh relatively balanced information On the part of both the buyer and the seller right but either is not a buyer or a seller. It's a broker right right So they're they're keeping secrets about something. They're not even really a part Oh good And it shows the buyer and seller only what it wants to an uber withhold supply to drive up prices a text message Was uncovered that encouraged drivers to stay home during valentine's day in san diego's sub prices would surge Oh my god

They really are I mean it really is and ronnie Wait, oh, we're just getting started. Oh, no Well an uber customer opens the app But has not ordered a ride yet the map will sometimes show there is a cluster of cars nearby But wait times are 15 minutes or more an uber help staff member wrote that the rider map was quote Just a screensaver. This is not a representation of the exact number of drivers at the location I know this seems misleading to you, but it has meant more as a Visual effect more than an accurate location of drivers in the area

It would be better of you to think of this as a screensaver on a computer Once the rider requests a trip there will be an actual information about the driver partner's location showing up in the app Us those bastards. So there's of course the cars aren't real. There's better screensavers to have yeah I would like a fish going by. Yeah, I have a little fish going by something like that and then you pull that up You hey, there's fish around hey The negative press about uber was ticking up in november 2014 uber hosted a dinner In the attempt to improve their image with the media bud buzzfeed was invited the night was hosted by ian osborne uber consultant and former advisor to british prime minister david cameron. What?

This is strange senior. Well, they're all over the fuck. I know they're all like that's an incestuous little yeah senior uber executive Emile michael Outlined an idea to spend a million dollars to hire researchers and journalists To look in to other journalists personal lives and their families to give them a taste of their own medicine. Wow You think you wouldn't do this at the dinner to cozy up to the media? It feels like a bad idea This was active at the dinner. Yeah, he did this at the dinner talking to the media

About how they want to have a better relationship with the media and then He specifically wanted to go after Pando daily editor sarah lacy who had recently accused uber of sexism and misogyny Michael said women were much safer in an unregulated uber than a regulated taxi and that lacy should be held quote personally responsible for any woman Who deleted an uber app and was then raped? Oh, he said he said that there

He said that he did say that there. Yeah I mean You who just this drop in rape at events? It probably probably says sexually assaulted, but Still it's still the same It's the same idea that if a woman deletes an uber app and gets sexually assaulted that it's this writer's fault Oh, yeah He also said they should dig up a very specific claim about lacy's personal life So there's a rumor rumor about her personal life out there and he says they should dig it up

When someone brought up the fact that michael's plan could be problematic for uber. He said quote Nobody would know it was us But yeah, but you're okay. What does he think the journalists are? He thought he thought it was all off the record, but they forgot to tell the press that it was off the record They forgot to say it was off the record. They didn't tell buzzfeed. It was off the record I mean, isn't that isn't that a huge? I mean, aren't you just isn't your instinct just to overly express that? Like every two minutes you should say it. Yeah, well, hold on before I get into my rape, uh a bit

Uh I did say off the record, right? Everybody knows Oh my god, did I not Oh you guys I feel like I feel like when I say rape that it's just off the record Like like you don't even have to say it. We just printed an article about it How could that be a thing that happens has hashtag jampad The next day uber were apologizing profusely profusely when the story broke. Oh come on

All right, but same month an uber driver in Chicago was arrested for sexual assault The charges later dropped, but the driver was using an account registered in his wife's name Oh, whoa another uber driver explained how easy it was to game uber's background checks by handing off an approved account to someone else uber drivers share accounts That is crazy. Of course they do But did they if you can't get an uber account Just have a fucking friend start one and then you drive it or if you lose your uber account Because some people get kicked off just have a fucking buddy set one up for you and then drive

Who the fuck's gonna know your picture? It doesn't even fucking matter what to me. Are they checking? I mean I would No, but I'm saying you could use your own you could use your bullshit picture And roll with it. Okay. That's what I mean. Yeah, right. Okay, right um So, right the company knows Some driver share accounts and the company knows according to drivers and looks the other way because quote It's harder to find drivers than you'd imagine the company just wants someone in that car

They seem to be looking the other way a lot Kalinick also dismissed. There'd be another good name for it. Look in the other way Yeah I'm calling looking the other way a lot Oh, that don't take that very good. I always liked red swoosh Kalinick also dismissed these sexual assault allegations quote these incidents aren't real in the first place How? You know truly if I don't understand I like you know, and it just happens Well, you make enough money you lose enough perspective that you'll literally have no empathy for anyone ever

But this guy was a fucking psychopath from the beginning for sure But don't you think it's something like it's it's just always unfathomable to me that when you have so much money And you and something like this happens In it happens all the time these sort of dumb things with you know, not even like sexual assaults But things where passengers or customers or whatever are totally wrong And they are like no no no no no no no not our fault not our fault. It's like look, you're not perfect These things are gonna happen. You're gonna have to pay out of pocket Well, you don't say the incidents aren't real in the first place. No, but you don't I mean

the the callousness to like But the idea that in your head you could be like nobody will no woman will ever be sexual assaulted come on It's crazy. Come on. Come on An uber quote there is responsibility for the writer to make sure that when they get into an uber They're checking the license plate and they're checking the driver's face. Yeah and making sure that all matches up No, I check the license plate all the time Here are some headlines from across the country on uber related crimes dc uber driver kidnaps passenger takes him on the high speed police chase okay uber driver arrest one star

uber driver arrested For allegedly kidnapping a drunk woman seattle police player uber driver of rape charge, but not sexual assault uber miami driver accused of raping passenger in car uber driver stands accused of sexually assaulting a passenger uber driver arrested for allegedly stealing 5 000 worth of jewelry from two passengers uber passenger says driver stir struck him with a hammer after he told them he was going the wrong way Jesus, that's a fucking great ride. Well, that's I mean, that's that's a great. I'm sorry that last one is a great uber driver It takes no shit. Yeah has a hammer ready to fucking go Has a hammer in his car a hammer He brought a hammer to work that day because he was like no one talked shit to me every day. No one talked shit to me anymore

A hammer Would be great if his uber name was hammer. I'm hammer and it's just a picture of a hammer It feels strange Next uber was hit with lawsuits in california, texas and arizona for discriminating against blind and wheelchair using passengers The suits demanded uber abide by the disabilities act but uber claims that because it's just a technology company It doesn't fall under the acts jurisdiction So what they're they are they're just like we're limbo the company they're they're a tech they're a software tech They're a tech tech company. They don't have anything. There's gray area the company. They don't own any cars. They don't have employees

We're vapors We're kind of not real. We're basically whispers The suits included one case where a woman's dog had been locked in the trunk of an uber car. Oh my god There was a move to reclassify uber drivers as employees in california and a demand to turn over data on every uber ride The california labor commission's office ruled that an uber driver should be classified as an employee not an independent contractor Though the decision only applied to one driver. What it could sucks from the LA Times to june 2015 quote uber now spends more on lobbyists in california than walmart bank of america or wells fargo Lawmakers are now conscious of uber's immense and rising popularity among constituents

Uh, Democrats like colorado governor john hick and looper. What's a terrible name? No, it's normal Massachusetts governor devol patrick and chicago mayor rom emmanuel who was a douchebag Of all douchebags. Yeah our huge uber supporters republicans embrace uber as a celebration of the free market In city after city a regulator would say uber was breaking the law and then the mayor or governor would say uber didn't have to follow laws Politicians would tout how uber was changing people's lives for the better If that didn't work there was always gray ball Pardon gray ball was in an internal uber program They used collected app data to identify and do an end around city officials

It would do it identify city officials and then do an end around you'll see Uber used gray ball in boston paris in las vegas and in countries like australia china and south korea Gray ball was approved by uber's legal team Gray ball Eric england was a code enforcement inspector in portland where uber started operating without seeking permission from the city okay So officers like england would pose as writers Open the uber app and watch as cars on the screen made their way toward them

But some of the cars in the app did not represent actual vehicles and uber drivers who were called were quickly cancelled This was part of uber's operation in a new city to evade authorities One technique involved drawing a digital perimeter Around government offices on a map then uber watched which people Were frequently opening and closing the app near the location, which they called eyeballing So people whose job it is to keep an eye on uber are opening and closing the app looking to see where cars are and what's happening So any time there is a location that is a government affiliated uber's come up with some sort of way

Someone that keeps opening and closing it right. They're just looking at it right that means that they need to be blocked Right. It was assumed authorities with city agencies would be the only ones eyeballing They also looked at credit card information to see if it was tied to something like a police credit union That is so shady There are around a dozen signifiers to figure out if someone was a writer or a possible city official uber employees would also search social media profiles And anything else available online God damn if someone was linked to law enforcement uber grayballed them

Which means they were tagged if they tried to call a car uber would scramble ghost cars in a fake version of the app or show no cars available So grayball is a version of blackball, but where you're not telling them. So It's like muting. It's like I think I think they have it on sites like reddit. It's called ghost. I think you your ghosts that I read it, but so you think you're You think you're putting something up like you think you're taking part, but in actuality, right? So to you it doesn't look like you've been banned. It just looks like you're like, oh, okay. That's not working um

If a driver accidentally picked up so someone who was grayballed uber would call them and tell the driver to end the ride. Wow illegal most probably Crazy for sure lift is uber. Uh, hold on. I gotta take this. This is uber Okay Hey, uh, I'm gonna pull over get out and you're gonna get out of my car get out Ha ha ha ha ha ha

Lift is uber's main competitor. So uber secretly tracked lift drivers with an internal software program called hell Oh, no uber bad uber Hell out uber to see how many lift drivers were available what their prices were and which drivers were double dipping by driving for uber Also, oh, wow, it would then offer those drivers who were double dipping incentives to work only for uber Wow At the same time uber found a great way to make more money off their drivers uber landed a one billion dollar loan from goldman sacks for leases

uber offered some prime leases to people who were cleared to drive but had bad credit scores and couldn't buy a new car What year is this? I think this is 2015. What subprime is there anyone who hears if it's Oh Subprime leasing in in cars is enormous. It's all it's totally a bubble To get a lease drivers had to put down a $250 deposit. I mean you would think they would change it from subprime They don't give a shit You I mean even if you're even if you made sandwiches and your place was called subprime you'd be like

Why would they no one was just a name alone? The but no one was punished. They wouldn't why would they care just because you'd think that there would be enough people who would be like Wow Because subprime they don't give a shit if I heard subprime. I'd be like, uh, no, they don't care. You need the loan No, you wouldn't say that because you need you need a loan so desperately that they they could say horseshit. Lonnie Okay, horseshit loan. I would take way over subprime. I'd be like, I'll roll the dice with it. I haven't heard of it So people have to put $250 deposit down and make weekly payments for three years The average weekly payment is $126 and comes straight from their paychecks

uber quote the average payment per what? So they're putting $250 deposit down. Uh-huh. They're leasing a car. Yeah for how for 126 126 a week a week Jesus three years Good lord uber quote the best part payments are automatically deducted deducted from your uber earnings the best part If you don't drive enough or you fail to make your lease payment Exchange has folks to come take the car back. Hey the worst part folks folks folks Hey, honey, the folks are here to take the car back. Hey guys, it's us the folks. We're uh

Boy gosh Golly, are we sorry we got to do this You know what it's gonna sound kind of weird, but I'm a I'm gonna break your window with a hammer and get inside and just take your car away Signed the folks would you care for a slice of pecan pie? Well, they were just the folks I'll have a little of Mars my poor glass of that fresh made lemonade form. Will you? Oh boy, unfortunately, we're gonna have to take the vehicle That's okay. You see my good folks. Oh

Put the napkin around your neck before you eat that pecan I'll tell you it's a ward winning, but it'll also break all over you won't it ma Uber had no legal obligations under the agreement with its finance arm exchange a hueson Chronicle quote exchange leasing sounds more like a payday loan racket built into a company store The lease increases the company's control over the driver who uber still insists is nothing more than an independent contractor How is someone independent when uber controls access to customers sets billing rates demands a minimum number of hours And owns the car and the lease on it. Yeah, that's what is independent about this process

I mean That couldn't be more dependent. Well, it's fucking insane. Yeah But and the and the reason is that just they are they are allowed to operate in this area because people are now worried about How powerful they are they're paying off they're paying they have lobby government They're they're lobbying and then when when someone does put up a stink they send out email messages for them to just overwhelm Some guy in an office Well, that's when you call in the big guns like ash kutch the kutch

After a 36 month term a driver would have paid thousands over the purchase price for his car Yeah, and then uber would charge them thousands more to buy the car at the end of the lease So somehow uber has opened a terrible car dealership within their ride share business on top of being douchebags Now they're a douchebag used car sales. Yeah Because at the end of a lease you can fucking sell that car and usually make profit off of it So uber is now having a guy who's desperate lose money pay off the lease because there's no way uber's paying Sully pay off the lease fully pay off the lease and then uber is like could sell the car to anybody and they're like, hey You want to buy it for right, right?

That's cool. One driver said is 2016 Chevy cruise after a three-year lease would have cost 37,200 in total which is double the kelly blue but blue but what? But these leases were the only option for desperate people with poor credit who needed a job uber says the leases leases were not to make money but to get more cars to drivers uh-huh Independent drivers In mid 2015 after hundreds of thousands of drivers were locked into lease cars uber eliminated Driver incentive programs and reduced the standard driver share of passenger fares

Wow from 80 to 75 percent Sorry, sorry 70 percent now it was much much harder for these drivers to pay off their lease I remember when they made that shift. There was a definite uber like drivers would Were pissed yeah, oh that's starting Uber would become known for slashing rates which hurt drivers abilities to make a living in january 2015 uber cut its driver rates in 48 cities Lowering earnings by 40 percent. Wow They sent out an email telling drivers about the cut in pay But said they could just do 30 percent more rides and make the same money because they'd be busier

Which obviously didn't happen well and also I mean even I even if it is bs. It's like Yeah, no, that's not better. No, no, no, you're gonna make 40 percent less money But then you just have to work 30 percent that's more hours that I don't want to work to the amount of money that I've been making before Right, but there's gonna be more people getting in your car. Yeah, but I don't want that Right, but here's the thing. You like to work, right? No You're super uninspired. Yeah, you're just an uninspired person. What is your job title? I'm uh idea maker Idea maker johnny hand me an arrow Yeah

Drivers began protesting in philadelphia uber drivers announced they plan to sue the company over their status as independent contractors others began driving for lift instead There were large protest rallies in houston tampa and other cities in seattle They pushed for a union the city council passed a law allowing uber drivers to unionize in december 2015 Some uber drivers were then deactivated for being pro union uber then hired and trust busting uber then Hired an investigative firm staffed by veterans from the cia and national security council Named ergo to investigate seattle union politics and the teamsters. So that's a normal hire Nothing strange about that, you know, uh, I think as a ride share company we should hire black water

To be consistent In a deposition related to the case an uber executive testified that the company had hired ergo On four separate investigations, but no further details of where or when We're made public. So everyone knows they've hired the cia slash NSA group, but no one knows when or where Did they are they in the lead as far as being the worst the fastest? Oh, yeah I mean, this is light speed But then the next july it was revealed uber was using ergo to spy on a lawyer who had filed a class action lawsuit against the company

Okay, I mean what this is They're like the mob. Oh, yeah In 2016 ubers value was 62.5 billion dollars. Oh my god Not everyone was down with the company one venture capitalist peter simms said quote I've met hundreds of founders and been to thousands of companies Uber is the most arrogant company. I've ever encountered and the most unethical and I don't say that lightly I've given up on being able to trust the company and I'm no longer using the service. Wow in april 2016 ubers said it would leave houston if the city did not

repeal existing regulations Which required fingerprint based background checks. Oh my god uber released a report. Are they nazis? Uber released a report on quote the cost of houston's ride sharing regulations It said there are now quote fewer safe rides uber then left houston and galveston In june 2016 when austin voters upheld fingerprint based background checks uber and lyft left the city

that same month former obama us attorney general Eric holder wrote to lawmakers in new jersey and chicago on behalf of uber He wrote that fingerprint checks are an unfair way to screen job candidates According to holder because of deficiencies in the fbi's database Fingerprint checks can prevent people from getting jobs Even if they were never convicted of crimes That requiring fingerprint checks can discriminate against minorities

So holders anti he's anti fingerprint checks. Yeah, okay because The database is so messed up that that means some black guys might not get hired right as opposed to fingerprint checks stopping rapists well when you Put those on the scale also if that's your thing uber's Less specific background check which is based on names, right? There's there's other ways discriminatory if that's what you're going with right

We can assume uh holder didn't say anything about how not doing fingerprint checks can lead to someone being raped or murdered A new jersey senator said exit. Did you just say new joysie? In a new jersey senator said you just did you little stinker ex attorney general holders letter quote definitely has some influence And I think the committee is weighing that letter One uber driver said quote i've been a taxi driver in massachusetts florida and california You have to provide a 10-year driving history from the dmv dated pass a drug test alcohol test and get fingerprinted uber requires none of this Is the alcohol test just not being drunk for a minute?

That's actually a way. I don't know that is a weird one. I mean the others seem a little good because you don't want a guy who's Just on vodka all the time. It's good. But how hard is it to show up once not drunk a serious alcoholic could not do it For sure, but something tells me you'll I mean anyway dad try it Oh Dave You're okay, buddy In may 2016 an uber driver was charged with the attempted murder of two montgomery county police officers The driver had done the uber background check the non discriminatory one according to eric holder

Right, he also had a 20 foot long rap sheep police found weapons ammunition drug paraphernalia in the uber vehicle A local reporter asked uber how he was approved how long had he been driving and what was his star rating uber Uh, we don't answer stuff like that. We're uber did not respond. Oh my god That there there's a real problem now With just not responding. Yeah, it like they've realized in the last like seven years six years Year that if you just don't say anything That's a tactic. Yeah, and it's an effective one because even though people will protest and get livid They're just like yeah, just keep ignoring it

uber says that quote every ride sharing driver is thoroughly screened through a rigorous process which includes you a driver Three step want to work here criminal background. Okay, great Oh the three steps. Okay. Yeah, three steps. Here it is. You a criminal. No promise. Yep. Swear to god. Yep. Welcome aboard. Oh, thank you You uber charges every customer a one dollar safe rides fee to pay for those Checks They charge them they charge customers for wait, they charge customers for the checks Yeah, you're getting when you get an uber you're getting charged to check that because they it's because they Because they did it bad. How have they done this?

How have they made it so they just I mean they're like Scientology They're just like making all the money and they're paying nothing. There's a very Scientology feel to it But the essay San Francisco district attorney accused uber of making false statements about protecting consumers and because uber does uber does not fingerprint drivers the company's criminal checks are quote Completely worthless. Yeah, the FBI says uber's method, which is a name based criminal background check has a 43 percent error rate. Oh my god 43 percent error rate literally playing with people's lives to make money

literally Saudi Arabia is a country that does not allow women to drive in prisons people for criticizing the government is spreading war throughout the Middle East sentences protesters to death holds foreign workers as slaves Whips people as punishment tortures protesters Executes protesters some by crucifixion And where sodomy is punishable by death. They allowed 14 year old girls to die in a fire Instead of letting them leave the building Because there was nothing covering their heads

Also, it is the birthplace of most of the 9 11 hijackers and on may 16th The Saudi public investment fund put 3.5 billion dollars into uber and took a seat on the company's board. Wow Uber was expanding its operation in Saudi Arabia and said it was a great way for women who can't drive to get around Oh my god I I don't how did you do it Dave? How do you do it? What an awful Are you ready? No, I'm not ready. So ubers. I don't want my pickup. So Saudi Arabia has invested in uber

Saudi Arabia does not allow women to drive right. So Saudi Arabia is now profiting right from not allowing women to drive Saudi Arabia is now making money off of what they're claiming are like religious Laws Yeah But they're like, uh, no uber is okay Uber was heavily criticized for the deal by who there were a lot of people that wrote about no, I'm sure

Kalanick doesn't care according to one uber investor quote It goes to the heart of who travis is he just doesn't give a shit about optics ever. That's cool and jim pad Hey come on over the jim pad we're talking about how how women can't drive in Saudi Arabia and how to make money off that Hey, also they crucify protesters. So I'm thinking what about a crucifixion app Uh, that's sick, dude sick Sick for like my bank account sick for on two levels, dude. What's that? Free bank account

And I'm sick Okay I gotta leave Oh, you should try uber Don't hit the crucifixion. No, dude. You told me all the bad stuff In california 20 companies working on driverless cars had complied with the state dmv requirements. Good lord. I mean now No, I mean then Came uber. No, no the company that doesn't give a shit uber kept operating driverless cars in san francisco

I mean, they're just gonna have flying ubers in cities and they'll just be crashing into buildings. They'll be like building's problem not us In december 2016 the dmv pulled the registration for ubers 16 driverless cars Companies that have I didn't write this but they also hit a guy Yeah, there were there were a couple of yeah Companies that have a permit are required to disclose So the one the ones that are following california rules. I'm sure it's like apple and all those other companies They have a permit and they're required to disclose traffic accidents from these cars and

And report on how often drivers have to grab the wheel. Well, that seems relevant Yeah, because then because then the state knows If those cars are safer well, it's sort of like a way to evaluate that interesting So did you do you know what i'm saying? It's a way to see if they're safe before you put them on the road and allow people to If you have numbers Uh-huh, you can tell go how safe something actually is I'm not following you Many believe uber did not want to apply for permits because then they would have to disclose how often the driver had to take over the car

Jesus uber now quote Ubers claimed they were refusing to get permits on principle. That's nonsense They just don't want to reveal how flawed and dangerous their robot cars are said a director a consumer watchdog. Oh good uber still pushed the idea that the company was the Path to a modest more attainable american dream After more than a million rides uber calculated drivers in late 2015 earned approximately 13 17 per hour after expenses in denver 10 75 per hour after expenses in houston And 877 per hour after expenses in detroit

This is a lot less than the hundred thousand a year the company had claimed in 2013, which would be 48 dollars an hour right? Yeah The drivers had a different story They reported earning around three dollars an hour after vehicle fees are taken for those who pay leases zero dollars an hour Because drivers are not employees uber is not obligated to pay them the minimum wage Drivers also have to pay all car expenses uber argued that retail employees at companies like walmart don't enjoy The independence and flexibility of their drivers Well, uh, they uh, you know God damn it

They're basically saying their their argument is we're as shitty as walmart But you don't but with our job you can drive around and pick your hours. Yeah, like that's what they're saying but also that they what like They think about think about if you if you started with uber when all the good stuff is happening You have like you do a part you remember when we were in the uber in in sydney going to the airport And and no remember that's the story. Well, we're going to the airport. That's when I was on an edible No, this is a different one and we're driving there and the driver is talking about how great it is and how much money He's making right. I said, you know, they're cutting

They're cutting fares crazy in america. He was like what and I was like Yeah, this is not what you want to be Because because then at that time they get everyone driving by actually having right and then they start fucking slap once you're hooked Right, once you have it because once you have first hits free tommy You leave your job because you find this job that's flexible and easy and then they cut all the rates And then you're fucked because you right because you have to make a living while looking for a job But the more they cut the rates the less time you have to look for a job. They're fucking you. Yeah And when they're fucking you

They're going oh, you're getting fucked. Yeah. Yeah You're the one enjoying it one driver said quote with the money I earn. I am applying for food stamps In november 2016 that's a different kind of uber eats In november 2016 jp morgan and dutchbank turned down the opportunity to sell shares Because uber would not provide its net income or even annual revenues. What are they doing? How can what are they? What aren't they it is believed uber has negative 140 profit margins That's bad. These are bad profit margins negative harm. I'm not much of a businessman, but I know those are bad. Yeah Uber has not created a disruptive service drivers vehicles and fuel account for 85 percent of

Urban car service costs and uber is an app. How is it possible? It has not discovered a magical new way to drive down Service car costs, which would be a disruptive service Uber is not much different than a fancy phone It's no different than we used to call a cab and then wait for the cab outside now You can just watch the cab right phone. Yeah, it's no different It hasn't done they the thing about the thing about The way taxi services have worked and why there's never been a national taxi service is because There's no benefit to having a giant taxi monopoly. Right. You don't make more money. It is it is a business that is

Has a huge overhead And so you cannot make crazy money Off of this business. So what are what are they so they're how much are they down? Oh, we'll get there. Oh boy That should be the title of this one quote. Oh, we'll get there Uber depends on billions and subsidies from Silicon Valley venture capitalist. Uber is currently a staggeringly unprofitable company Riders pay only 41 of the cost of their ride There is no evidence of any progress towards break-even and no one can provide a credible explanation of how uber could achieve the billions needed

To achieve sustainable profits and investor returns How are they not on fucked company? Fuck company's gone But am I come did fucked company have to put fucked company on fucked company when it was going under boy. This is weird Hey, Bobby you're typing us on there. Yeah, we ain't doing good Uber's growth to date is entirely explained by its willingness to engage in predatory competition funded by billionaires pursuing a monopoly

Uber would require one of the greatest profit improvements in the history of the world just to achieve break-even Uber is simply trying to drive all other car services out of business by undercutting fares and subsidizing their billions and then Then they would rise price raise prices right then the idea is to drive every car service company out of business And then jack up the fares Astronomically, it's the rope a dope From a salon article quote uber is the closest thing we've got today to the living breathing essence of unrestrained capitalism This is how robin robber barons play In december 2016 an uber program called gods view was revealed

Question in the back God's view Allowed uber employees to regularly spy on the movements of quote high profile politicians celebrities and even personal acquaintances Including are they going to kill us? Am I gonna are we dying from uber? Including ex-boyfriends girlfriends and ex-spouse. What? What are they doing? What is going on?

Uber increased security to stop the abuse of gods view amongst employees gods view. What are honest? Are they are they like the bilderberg group and renamed it heavens view? Oh god for when for when gods view wasn't pretentious enough uber confirmed that some employees have been fired for abusing gods view to stop employees from spying on celebrities uber created a flag Wait, wait, wait, wait. Huh? Okay. Yeah. Yeah So a bunch of people were spying on it Beyonce

How do they say they're spying just pull it up if they know who she is they can just pull up the fucking information on gods view Oh my god's view so so uber created a flag for searches for writers who are considered MVPs Of course, if you're not an MVP, but just the ex-girlfriend of an employee Well, then you're fucked Uber did not get rid of gods view or heavens view as it's now called the company says it needs the program for different reasons like refunding customers and investigating accidents

Oh, I'm sure they're hanging on to the thing about that that helps refunds from what I've heard also uber employees Have warned journalists that uber executives might look into their travel logs if they investigate the company I mean that so Let's take that a little bit further what if Members of Congress decided to look into ubers and labor practices or their surge pricing or

their clear flaunting of laws and regulations So uber could just pull up gods view on all those guys and women and see where they've gone And see what they've been doing So they just have created like a Just a black male side app This is the problem with all of these giant data collecting things right? Yeah

In January after president trump instituted a travel ban. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean they and I don't know if you're You're probably not gonna. I mean you the the thing they were doing where This was the first I mean, I you know didn't like them for a while But the first thing was when it was like they want your location all the time all the time So in your location services unless you actively go and put in there that it's off

And you just use it when you want. I mean, that's just such a crazy thing. Yeah, they changed that the year and a half ago or something Or they did change it. No. No, they did. That's how it is. Right. Yeah. Now it is And they're like, no, we want your location all the time. Why would you want someone's location? And that happens on so many of these things Yes In January after president trump instituted a travel ban Uh on people from uh, seven six. I don't remember it was it was seven. It's now six Muslim country, but it was seven then people protested at airports

New york city taxis joined the protest and refused to go to jfk at the same time uber turned off surge pricing Which it announced to everyone in the area turned it on Turned it off turned it off Right. They look rise and cheap into the airport right now, right? Which was seen by many as an attempt to capitalize on the protests A delete uber campaign began on twitter and many joined in under pressure A couple weeks later calinic quit a panel advising president trump A week or so later an uber driver recorded a video of calinic while he was in his car

The driver complained that uber slashing fares said uber cost him $97,000 making him go bankrupt. That is Uh calinic responded Quote you know what some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit They blame everything in the life on somebody else Good luck. You're literally the guy who slashed the money I was making Good on that driver though. Yeah, that guy's great. That was great The video was posted online and a negative reaction was swift calinic was once again forced to apologize

Jeff jones was hired in september by uber. He had been brought on to clean up uber's image He had a 22 minute q&a on facebook with drivers He wrote Quote louise thompson Love that you're providing a great service. Hope you're getting awesome compliments Compliments are where customers leave drivers little yeah, yeah When five stars isn't good right

Facebook ryan facebook user ryan gonzalez replied compliments. Don't pay the bills jeff So he's getting shit from his own drivers. Yeah uber is unique among ride hailing companies for not allowing in-app tipping The company maintained that tips were included in its fares Until a class action settlement forced uber to clarify that that was not at all true Boy, so they kept telling people that tips were included. Yeah, no they were and then and then I owe my brother a huge apology now And uber well, but it was telling people that no, that's what I mean They've made they made it very clear early again. This is probably something that was I mean if you think about you're making 40 bucks an hour

Like when it's you know at first it feels like it's included. Yeah, I mean everybody's winning, right? It's that now that they've pulled the rug out from underneath everybody. They've never told people that they've changed the What you should be feeling everything for these drivers and uber still refused to add tipping to its app uber said people could leave tips in cash Yeah, the whole fun of your app cool Or as they say in their official policy on gratuity quote uber is a cashless experience tipping is voluntary Yeah, as a writer you are writer. You are not obligated to offer your driver a gratuity in cash. Wow. How are Soon after Susan Fowler an ex uber engineer wrote a blog post detailing the sexual harassment

Gender discrimination at the company another former uber software engineer wrote that during her time at uber She saw quote malicious fights for power interns repeatedly putting in over 100 hours a week, but getting paid for 40 discrimination against women and prejudice against the transgender community Kalanick responded quote what she describes is abhorrent and against everything uber stands for and believes in A couple of weeks later a jiu-jitsu article Came out gq. Jiu-jitsu is a different magazine. That's for the rebels better a jiu-jitsu article came out Kalanick was asked about how How much women desire him and he said quote? Yeah, we call that boober

We call that uber boober boober. Oh, that's fun right after he just said All the oh Dave i'm gonna have to jump in here and defend the guy a little bit I I hate to I hate to play I hate to play good cop form real quick, but uh, i'm gonna be honest I I think that that one is cute enough that that even though he has a track record that is mainly potholes I think this one's that one's fun adorable enough adorable enough to skirt by boober

A guy who's got a track record of ignoring sexual assaults boober He's a good guy his trend uber then launched an internal investigation headed by Eric holder. Oh good In march what's he gonna find no fingerprints nothing in march 2017. Seattle gave drivers the right to collectively bargain The bad news continued for uber uber president jeff jones who we just heard about on facebook Yeah, suddenly quit after six months on the job six months, huh? He's brought in to fix them fix them and six months in

Jones announced his leaving through the press Okay, that's how uber found out. He probably thought it was off the record Could you imagine Telling your boss you're quitting through the press No, it'd be a great way to do it Count like described this situation as unfortunate The guy who was brought in to smooth things over left with a left with a message to the press and there was an increase In uber employees looking for jobs at different companies

The vp of product and growth and the head of the self-driving cars also left the company My god a veteran software engineer. I'm self-driving myself right out of here A veteran software engineer said that he takes what he called ubers quote asshole culture into account in the hiring decisions Oh, cool quote to be perfectly honest. I don't want to work with someone who did well in that environment If you did well upholding ubers values, I probably don't want to work with you good lord and people looking to get out of uber Yeah, that's such a crazy skewed. I have to deal with yeah, and so now employees who are looking to get out of uber Are having a hard time finding work elsewhere god damn it give interviews. They have to be on the defensive explaining

They're not assholes god damn it Let me start up by saying I don't like uber. I hate the ubers How fast I mean is uh this is happening very I mean this is light speed It's happening fast now in april 2017 uber started experimenting with video game techniques to get drivers to work longer and harder what? What did they what? uber now exploits people's tendency to set earnings goals earning goals And alerts them when they are close to hitting an arbitrary target if they try to log off The app says make it to 330 you're 10 dollars away from making 330 in net earnings

Are you sure you want to go offline? Oh, there's just slot machines right uber drivers can earn badges for achievements Like above and beyond which is denoted on the app by a cartoon of a rocket blasting off Right man. You got a turkey bowling Oh cool Excellent service, which is a picture of a sparkling diamond. Oh, yay And I can get that diamond if I go through uber jewelry It's just 330 dollars a week and in eight years. I own the ring if I pay 13,000

An entertaining drive a pair of groucho marks glasses what they know as an eyebrows appears on the app What who's that? I mean it's it's so So fucking degrading. It's really degrading. It's really stupid But also the groucho glasses out of all of them had that slipped through But I always go back to when I think when I hear about stuff like this I always go back to Taco Bell giving an employee of the month right for a guy who puts fucking cheese on a fucking taco And just stands in a line

Putting food in a shell. Yeah, there are no employee of the months That's the guy who shows up and is like, all right, I'll fucking I'll do this I've I've managed to overcome The fact that everything sucks I'm going to try to put on a happy face because if I don't I die inside your employee of the month it is always It's always crazy

how Still a lot of times like in certain businesses a promotion results in nothing other than a job change tight the job title challenge. Yeah So uber has also started doing what netflix does which is they start They tell people there's a new fare available before the the ride they're giving is over right so it's like when you're when you're watching netflix if you don't know if you're watching a tv show on netflix one episode ends and then Right away up next the time starts ticking away. Yeah. Yeah. That's what's coming up next

An uber spokesman quote, but any driver can stop working literally at the tap of a button The decision whether or not to drive is 100 percent theirs, but you're using actual psychological. Yeah. Shit against them Even in that language. Yeah on may 23rd. We're up to may 23rd 2017 by the way. Good lord I was writing this and shit kept happening On may 23rd. It was revealed in new york city uber had been taking commissions before Taxes then paying drivers. Wow. So they're supposed to take the taxes out. Of course This is what's known as skimming or blatantly fucking over workers Skimming is catch here payroll fraud is a gigantic crime in america

But it's good to see calinic has not learned Since the days when he decided not to pay the irs payroll taxes when running red Swoosh god i miss red swoosh uber agreed to pay Each driver nine hundred dollars So that I believe

They just they just did that. I believe they just said the other day and um, the basically the guys who The union guys or whatever in new york the guys who were just like well, that's fucking horseshit Like yeah, it's not even you're talking about two and a half years this went on you might give nine nine hundred dollars That is horseshit money from the amount of money. They fucking stole from their own work In 2016 uber agreed on a 20 million dollar settlement on a complaint by the federal trade commission that it misled drivers about earnings and vehicle financing

And the california public utilities commission hit uber with a seven point six million dollar fine for failing to report accessibility and driver safety data in 2014 uber agreed to a 28.5 million settlement over their safe ride fee of one dollar which was right Right the company was sued saying it was god damn I mean they are a religion the settlement was rejected last week And then increased to 32 million dollars uber also agreed to a hundred million dollar settlement with drivers who sued over not being reimbursed for mileage and tip reimbursement The settlement was rejected by a judge as being too low

Oh uber recently offered one dollar real per driver instead What? Did they what year do they think this is? Regardless employment experts said the 100 million dollar settlement was bad in the long run because it meant drivers weren't employees And would have to pay their own social security taxes and health insurance So if they take the settlement right then they're money, which they do need money, right? Then they're basically agreeing to what uber is right? So I mean in a way uber I mean uber wants that yeah, right

Quote you have a giant corporation making billions of dollars on the backs of these people uber has secured more venture capital uber has secured more ventured capital than any startup in history 11 billion dollars It has succeeded in driving several competitors out of business including sidecar carhoo and juno I gotta miss juno uber reported A loss of 670 million in 2014 1.5 billion in 2015 2.8 billion in 2016 and on june 1st uber posted a 708 million dollar loss in the most recent quarter

And said its head of finance is leaving the company What is what's gonna happen? Uber deliberately keeps prices low to promote rapid growth a recent study revealed only 48 percent of uber drivers were satisfied with the company For every 100 applicants only about 15 percent still drive after a year Uber's biggest operating expense is attracting new drivers and keeping them hence all the video game bullshit Right. Yeah excited according to many who know him travis calinic is driven Uh, what's going on? No, he's got an issue over there. Come here

Uh, according to those who know him travis calinic is driven to win at whatever he puts his mind to and at whatever the cost What? Peter york a former red swoosh advisor travis calinic the travis calinic I came to know 17 years ago was relentless in pursuit of his goals at the expense of those who supported him along the way Deluded by his own embellishment embellished personal narrative and a serial Provacateur

Liar right. Yes Forbes quote the company is burning cash at a frightening rate its business fundamentals are fraught with chronic challenges And uber's path to profitability is far from certain Uber now has a 70 billion dollar valuation or as travis calinic likes to say quote That's hashtag winning Uh Uh He is the biggest douchebag ever

They are I mean he's the biggest douchebag we have going and I mean douchebag and I know douchebags I found one in my room in houston They're a vile predatory Company will they last Well, here's the thing so they Like they are the least profitable company in the history of the world And if they If if they last it's only because

Tons of billionaires are just throwing money on it right to drive every They want to get rid of not just car companies. They want to convince people not To own cars That's what they think they're gonna get to but that's fucking horseshit Yeah, we're gonna own cars and if I don't own a car i'll fucking join zip cars some shit, which makes sense But I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna call up. I'm not gonna be at the will of a fucking company who is just Douchebag personified who will fuck you in a heartbeat So you're gonna put your life in their hands like you have to go to work you have to take the kids to school

All that shit you're gonna put that newbers hands these fucking monsters I have a new title for their rideshare company Ponzi Ponzi it's all coming down But all these guys are throwing all this money in so they don't want to lose that money But also they don't give a fuck they have so much fucking money. It doesn't matter All these guys are so fucking rich. Yeah, but still it just like you said, I mean, it's the least profitable company Ever

Yeah, I mean it's a guy matt stoller He's written about it a lot, but um naked capitalism did a five-part Series on uber which is what led me to write this because I realized I always knew they were a bad company, but I didn't realize Just how how financially they're fucking horseshit terrible like they're just a fucking line won't pay for anything It's so enron. Yeah, it really I mean, yeah, and this shit's gonna fucking collapse because right now with that that delete Uber campaign. Yeah, that hit him. That's what I mean. They lost a bunch of people like it was working Like it was definitely working. Oh, no, it did work

Like they there was recent news that came out that made it clear that they got hit hard Yeah, and now it seems like the like the sexual assault stuff is coming out more The messing with the drivers and then the travel ban stuff. Yeah, like that it seems to It's like but even then the the the thing they do worse is predatory lending against their own drivers Right. No, they have their drivers are worse shit than then is being told right and it is in a way I mean like what they're what they're doing is they're getting income from multiple places within their business But one that is locked is that they've locked people into subprime leases within their job driving for them and I think

You look lift is no walk in the park lift is also no predatory capitalism um taking advantage of people who are suffering but They they're more shrewd intelligent. Um travis kalanick Um has It seems a serious inability to feel empathy for other human beings And I don't think I think that lift has

It is that and just that it's a corporation that's taking advantage of people But they also sort of understand how human beings work. I don't think he does Yeah, I think he has no clue how human beings actually work because you that all the fucking jampad shit and all that shit That's all stuff you do when you don't know who the fuck you are. Yeah You know what I mean? No one creates jampad because they're happy with who they are. No, you make a bunch of money You're like, how I'm gonna go fucking maybe go camping or read a book. You don't make jam pad Jam pad is the essence of what he is as a human being which is blustering constant bullshit It's it's almost like dan bolzerian became a company

And It really is Good lord Man when I started to key into the fact that we were doing uber. I was like, oh no Was it as good as you thought? Yeah, I mean, yeah, I I've Yeah, I mean, it's terrible. I did you know as usual didn't realize how terrible

But uh And they're you know, you know, it's crazy I didn't want this to be a two-part episode. It could have been a two-part episode. I had to cut out so much fucking shit It's long this is a crazy long episode How long is it could this could have been three hours the I had I had 22 pages of shit on uber and I cut it down to 13 Oh my god, they are so fucking vile and if you ever use them again Know what you're getting into delete them. You're getting in

With the devil they are A horrendous company and should not be supported by anyone. You're literally supporting Sexual assaults Like they have their the fact that they don't want to be finger fingerprint checks They do it in New York City. They don't want to do it anywhere else. Fuck off. Yeah, do it in fucking Austin They left Austin because of that. Yeah, fuck off. Do the fucking fingerprint checks You're fucking burning through money because you're a bunch of billionaire assholes. How about you pay for people not to get raped?

You fuck. Yeah, anyway, I like them We sign everything but uber cars. There's a new company coming out Oh, nice ray something red swoosh No later in the year and their plan is to just have the drivers pay like a $20 fee Uh, and so there's a percentage. There's a savior Well, so it's like they're gonna make a lot less money But they'll if all they're trying to be on the up and up they're trying to give us an option if we don't want to Uh fall prey to screwing over these drivers, which in turn will

They're I think they're I think they're trying to create a place where drivers can actually make money and and they should just literally call their app stop uber Yeah, that'd be good Well, all right Now we're in 40 minutes 43 43 12 13 14 we did it 15 when we signed cars not uber ones