The GIG Economy Podcast
Talks about our Gig Economy adventures and breaking down the Gig Economy News
The GIG Economy Podcast
Lyft Pays Up, Uber Gets Sued, and Robots Take the Sidewalk | Ep 270
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We would love to hear your feedback!
We share real earnings, test a new Amazon Flex site, debate DoorDash metrics, and push on safety after an Uber assault lawsuit. We also unpack Lyft’s tip info, laugh at a robot dodging a fire truck, and consider who might own future robotaxi fleets.
News Links for EP 270
• Patreon updates and community shoutouts
• Telegram group: voice notes, app tips, weekly clip
• Weekend earnings and Spark route realities
• New Amazon Flex warehouse: access and routing issues
• DoorDash shopper metrics penalising replacements
• Lyft tipping transparency and selection bias
• Delivery safety: steps, slips, and seatbelt boundaries
• Uber assault lawsuit and driver safety tools
• Delivery robots on sidewalks and right-of-way
• Amazon dog deterrent optics and policy risk
• Airport pricing, long-ride economics, and refusals
• REITs, fleets, and who owns robotaxis next
Join us on Patreon—seven-day free trial: patreon.com/thegigeconpodcast
Search “Gig Economy Podcast” on TikTok and subscribe so we can stream properly to TikTok
Everything Gig Economy Podcast Related: https://gigeconomyshow.com/
Download the Audio Podcast: https://thegigeconomypodcast.buzzsprout.com
Love the show? You now have the opportunity to support the show with some great rewards by becoming a Patron. Tier #2 we offer free merch, an Extra in-depth podcast per month, and an NSFW pre-show https://www.patreon.com/thegigeconpodcast
Octopus is a mobile entertainment tablet for your riders. Earn 100.00 per month for having the tablet in your car! No cost for the driver!
https://playoctopus.page.link/HD2FBKJzFqRR35YE9
Your car stinks, use this! https://bit.ly/Driftsents
The Gig Economy Podcast Group Download Telegram 1st, then click on the link to join. https://t.me/joinchat/R42wUR2QGhCi2gBD
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gigeconomypodcast?
Subscribe on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/c...
Cold Open, Delays, and Housekeeping
SPEAKER_07Good morning. Hey, I just want to apologize for getting the podcast out late. Came down with a pretty decent fever Saturday afternoon, and I've been down all day Sunday, and I didn't even go to work today. So I'm sure you understand. Uh, but I really do appreciate your patience and uh enjoy the show.
SPEAKER_01Lizard, lizard, lizard, lizard.
SPEAKER_07Hello, hello. Welcome to the Gig Economy Podcast, episode 270. Uh, what are we talking about? Lyft pays up, Uber gets sued. Take a number.
SPEAKER_08We haven't heard that one before.
SPEAKER_07Uh, and robots take the sidewalk. AI gave me that. That doesn't sound right. Robots take the sidewalk. Should be robots take over the sidewalk. Hey, I copied and pasted that shit. That's not on me. Uh go to gigeconomy show.com for everything podcast related. Uh, I want to mention our Patreon members. Uh where are what is happening? Sorry, I got out of so there we go. Samson from Grand Rapids, Bud from North Carolina, Omar from Detroit, Delivery Cats from Michigan, Frank from Philly, Tom from Volo, Illinois, Jim from Connecticut, Miguel from GR, Linda from Tampa, Jerry from Kentucky, Faith from Las Vegas, and Metal Kickass from Louisiana. We did have someone else sign up for a uh a
Patreon Shoutouts and Community
SPEAKER_07seven-day trial, so uh that is up for you if you are interested to join the Patreon. You get a seven-day trial, any of the tiers uh that you would if you want to try it out. Uh how's it going, Larry? Gabe? Yeah, going well. Going good. Awesome, awesome. Um, so Larry, Telegram group. Oh, fuck me. Fuck me.
SPEAKER_06Six ways from Sunday. Uh, let me see if I can find it.
SPEAKER_01That's even better.
SPEAKER_06Wait, hold on.
SPEAKER_01Better.
SPEAKER_06Oh, that's faith.
SPEAKER_07Okay. All right. Go ahead with I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. We're ready, all right. Sorry. That's alright, it's all good. You're gonna talk about the telegram? Yeah, you ready?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I said I was ready. Well, then you're doing all
Telegram Group and Clip of the Week
SPEAKER_08this stuff. So, our telegram group, that's how we communicate. And uh it's like a texting program, but you can also do video and voice messages. Uh, it's really nice to do voice messages when you're out driving. You don't want to text and drive. Uh, we talk about gig work, we talk about uh what apps are popping, talk about any new apps that are coming out that we're trying. And um it's just a good way to talk with people, other people are doing gig work and you know, make some friends and not feel so lonely out on the road.
SPEAKER_03I keep seeing somebody pop up in your background, Larry. Yeah, that's my son.
SPEAKER_08My son's here from St. Louis.
SPEAKER_07Oh I'm I'm waiting, I'm waiting for Gabe to present or or Larry to present the clip of the week. We got it. Yeah, we are.
SPEAKER_08I saw Gabe was good, I saw say was Gabe was getting ready to say something. I thought he was laughing at a comment or something. So uh so we also do a feature every week. It's called the Clip of the Week.
SPEAKER_07And it and since from our telegram group. And Larry didn't get to hear it because I failed miserably. But uh, I'm gonna be as surprised as you guys. All right. Well, you're not gonna be surprised because it's from you.
SPEAKER_08Oh. There have been tons of uh day parties here on campus. All the girls are in Daisy Duke shorts and bikini tops. I guess that makes up for almost getting killed by a driver going down the wrong way on a one-way street, I guess.
SPEAKER_01That's even better.
SPEAKER_07So that's it. Larry talking about Daisy Dukes and bikini tops. That's that doesn't happen very often. By the way, I did see somebody in your background too, and I didn't say anything earlier. I thought it was some sort of glitch in the matrix, but uh, that's your son. Okay, just so we know that you don't have a ghost in the back room.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, like I don't know, there's nobody else here but me. I don't know what y'all talking about.
SPEAKER_03Well, I like I saw them sitting there and then they disappeared, and then I was like, so I'm sticking trying to figure out what's going on.
SPEAKER_08You know how these virtual backgrounds are. Sometimes if you lean the wrong way or something, it kind of bleeds through for sure.
SPEAKER_07On TikTok, uh Dash Burritos uh joined and he had a couple of uh from Iowa. Oh no, that's blue skies from Iowa. Hi, Iowa, uh Blue Skies. Uh, has anyone ever gotten the privilege of working delivery panda? I've never even heard of that.
SPEAKER_08I don't know where that person is, but or where that is, but the way he has the privilege in quotes there, it doesn't sound like it's pretty much. It doesn't sound like it's a good thing. No, it doesn't.
SPEAKER_07Um,
Stories From the Road: Weekend Earnings
SPEAKER_07all right. Well we uh well he answered he or she answers that. We'll do uh stories from the road. Uh I grinded all weekend. Um I probably worked like maybe like 14 hours between and I made 400 bucks, so it's okay. I think it was like four or thirty dollars an hour, so I'm happy with that. I don't really have any um stories at all, and just you know, it was just working. You know, I did Spark, couldn't get a route on Saturday, Sunday. I did end up getting a route. Of course, when I was home and like in my mind, I had said to myself, I'm done working, but you know how you still kind of look at the app and you're just kind of like, eh, maybe. And then I got a route, and then I'm like, fuck. And then of course it had rained on either Saturday or Friday night, and I was mud running. I was in like these buttfuck areas, and uh it was I'm still the mud is still coming off my car. It gets underneath that trim part on your door, and then we would get rain, and then it would drip off and spray. It's still a hot mess. What about you, Larry?
Campus Rides, Photos, and Boundaries
SPEAKER_08Yeah, it was a very busy Saturday. It was uh um parent and family day at WKU. They always have a football game, uh, and parent on Parents Day. Uh so lots of lots of people in town. The Harley Drags were also going on at Beach Bend Raceway. They do that twice a year. That brings in a ton of people uh to to watch the drags. Uh, it's a really fun time. So a lot of people in town. Very busy day, made made really good money. Uh, didn't have anything too crazy. Um did have did have one girl um that night, the same dorm that I had that girl a few weeks ago that fell down as soon as she got out of my car.
SPEAKER_07Is that the one that said you looked 20? Yes.
SPEAKER_08And uh, so this girl was she was not as intoxicated, but she was telling me this story about uh because I was I think I told her that story because I was going to the same dorm and she's like, Yeah, she's like, I mean my friend were were in an Uber last week and she was pretty drunk, and we got there and like she couldn't move. And uh she's like, the dude let me like park his car. She's like, even though I was drunk, and then he carried her up to our dorm room. And I'm like, he carried her up to your dorm room. Oh no, the Uber driver. I was like, that's not happening here. That's the freaking red flags there. Yes, it is. Yeah, and then she did a picture with me from Instagram, and then she messaged me the next day and he's like, I don't want my parents to see that. Can you take it down? Oh, you put it up on Instagram? Well, yeah, yeah, because you know, well, we do my picture for my Instagram, and uh so she did we you know, we did a picture, and then the next day she messaged me that afternoon. She's like, Can you take that down? I'm like, sure, if you if you want me to take it down, I'm more than happy to. Not a problem. I don't want to cause any trouble for anybody.
SPEAKER_07So what she should have done is you should have photoshopped a dildo by her mouth or something and locked it up like that. Like, if you're gonna what is she worried about? Did she look that drunk or something that she was worried? Or maybe she told me. Well, you look at look at my Instagram once in a while, and you know, I don't go on Instagram. I don't know. That's I mean, there's too many apps. I'm TikTok and Facebook. That's it. I don't know. I I don't I don't dwell into it. If they ask me to take it down, I'll take it down. Yeah, I know. I'm just fucking with you.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, but yeah, nothing, nothing too crazy besides that. But very busy, hadn't made good money. We had some surge, pretty decent. I think I got some $10, $12 surges. Okay, so yeah, yeah, had a very profitable day.
SPEAKER_07Dasperito says in San Diego it's an Asian restaurant only. Bubba Suit popped in for that. But he goes, they have one thing going for them, it's their new alert. Uh order alert. Yeah, it says, Um, what did it say? It says in the most comically Asian accent, you have a new order. I'm not gonna do it on here. I'm just gonna tell you. Not gonna do it. But you can just think in your head, you just all you gotta do is think. I'm not gonna be that person.
SPEAKER_03Um yeah, it says it's a free app that allows independent contractors to deliver orders from a hungry panda to customers. Is like hungry panda like a big, a big uh it's it's a global platform for overseas Chinese and Asian foodies that offers a wide variety of Asian cuisine.
SPEAKER_07Okay. Babasu says alert is so annoying. Well, I don't know, it's one to one. Some person uh uh what's his name? Dash burrito says he likes it. That's the best thing going forward. I want to hear it now. Can somebody send it to me? I want to hear it.
SPEAKER_08Please do.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I want to hear that. That would be great.
New Apps and Delivery Panda
SPEAKER_07Um, Gabe, did you have any stories at all?
SPEAKER_03Or uh I tried out the new Amazon warehouse today in Ipsy. Uh beautiful. Like it's a beautiful warehouse. Um is it different? No, it's like the other ones, but there's nobody outside like telling you where to go. There's no signs, so they have all the lanes blocked off with cones, and so you're like, Where do I go? And you know how they have like bay A, Bay, Bay B, Bay C. Um, and so like those are all blocked, so we're all like driving up, and we're just kind of sitting there because no one's out, and we're like, Well, what do we do? And they're full, and everything's blocked up, and so it was kind of a mess. Um, but all of
Amazon Flex Warehouse First Impressions
SPEAKER_03the routes are tightly packed. Okay, like you get a shit ton of packages, um, and it was a lot of businesses, apartments. I definitely got my cardio in today. Okay. Um uh, but it was it was smooth. So I guess we'll see how it goes. Uh, this is only the third time I've seen a block pop up there.
SPEAKER_06Is it closer to where you live?
SPEAKER_03Uh so it's further from where I live, but from where I work, it's closer. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07You said uh Bay A, B, and C. So we don't Grand Rapids still doesn't have that. We wait outside and they just give us a cart.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so you have bays you can pull up under. Um so we'll see how it goes. I don't know. It there wasn't a lot of cars there, so I don't know if they're super busy or not.
SPEAKER_06Okay.
SPEAKER_07Um I'm sure they'll get busy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. What else? DoorDash kept me very busy. Um I'm kind of fighting with them right now. I don't like their shopper program because you get dinged even if the store is out of stock.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Even if you replace the item, you get dinged.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that's stupid. Yeah, that didn't make sense.
SPEAKER_03So, you know, all the college kids are back. The stores still haven't caught on to what they need to stock. Uh, so I'm doing this back and forth where I get it for like an order or two, and then I get an order where they're out of stock of like five things, I replace them, but then it
DoorDash Shopper Metrics Frustrations
SPEAKER_03dings me down and brings me just below, and I'm just like, okay.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So now I'm like, man. Yeah. Um, other than that. Okay. Yeah, no.
SPEAKER_07If you're on TikTok, just FYI, uh, you can go to YouTube for the full feature. Once we hit a thousand uh subscribers, we're gonna be able to stream properly to TikTok. But if you go to YouTube and search the Gig Economy podcast, you can comment there. Uh, and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_08It's on so definitely share the share the uh show on TikTok and get uh your all your friends to subscribe so we can
YouTube Push and Platform Notes
SPEAKER_08get to that thousand points.
SPEAKER_07All right. Bubba Sue said there's a workaround for that. I'll message you. So there you go, Gabe. All right, all right, Gig Economy in the news. Uh first I need to some of these explain what they are and some of them don't, and I'm like, oh, oh, okay. No, this one's a kind of interesting. So this is a picture of
Lyft Tipping Insights and Discrimination Concerns
SPEAKER_07lift, and it has some different tips on it or different like um information that said rider tipped on 88% of the rides, and rider is usually ready at pickup. So I thought that was really interesting. Um, it could be complete bullshit to pressure you to take the ride, but I I don't know if it's not, I think that's pretty good.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I was really hoping um because before I went out on Saturday, you had our you know you had added that to our chat, and uh I had an update for you know ready to do on my lift app. So I was hoping that would be on there, but I did the update and it's not here yet. So okay. They're probably testing it out in their usual markets that they test stuff out in. Yeah, uh yeah, it'd be good to know. But do you think that's gonna start causing you know some they're always worried about uh drivers discriminating against passengers because of you know whether their it's their name or their picture, yeah. Hey, you know, you see some tip zero percent of the time, you know, yeah, people are not gonna pick them up.
SPEAKER_07Uh Lion Buckeyes on TikTok says, I leave people if they're not out in two minutes. I mean, but then you don't get the cancellation fee. Although it's not great. I mean, it's like three bucks. And if it's in a busy market, I mean, I guess if you leave and you're not worried about that three bucks, I guess, but if it's busy, yeah, it's a busy time, and yeah, you just get another ride. Yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07Um he says he says no car seats. So every time you cancel, you just say, but you still don't get the money, right? You still gotta wait. I don't know. It's been so long since I did ride share.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I don't know. You might say no car seat, maybe you don't have to wait. Well, clearly that's what he does. Oh man. Oh, he says it gets paid.
SPEAKER_07Damn, that's I don't know, man.
SPEAKER_08That's uh there's a little tip from Mr. Buckeye.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Uh I don't know if I do that too much, but I mean, if it works for you, I guess. Um, so yeah, I'm I'm excited for it. But yeah, you're right, talking about the discrimination. Um, you know, if they're a low tipper, but you know, DoorDash sends out that message like, hey, you might want to tip, uh, or your order might sit around. So um still hasn't made much change. No, I mean you would think you would think they'd want to put that message out because then that supplements what they have to pay. You know what I mean? Because that's what like I feel like a lot of restaurants around here, and I'm sure you've seen it, Larry,
Transparency Across Apps and Hidden Tips
SPEAKER_07or not even restaurants like um fucking Jiffy Lube or something, like that kind of place is turning the thing around and says, Hey, do you want to tip 20%? Because they're gonna say they're gonna be able to like reduce their wages if they can average you know a certain amount with tips. So um, I'm not I I'm just surprised that they're not pushing the tipping thing more.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I thought didn't Uber used to they used to put a little note that said something about them being a tipper on before you accepted it. I don't know. They were trying it here, um, and then it went away.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I don't think we ever had it. I do remember something like that. Um, I can't remember exactly the phrasing it was. I never saw it as a driver, but we I'm sure we've talked about it. So um, but yeah, I don't know. I think it's good. Anything to inform us, give us more um information on to accept the ride. Again, it could be bullshit. I don't know. I mean that's one thing I like about Spark. You get everything up front, you get whatever they order, you get everything before you make Instacart. Yeah, Instacart does that too.
SPEAKER_03Yep, you can see miles, how many items, units, what the tip is, what the base pay is. Okay.
SPEAKER_07That's how it should be. I mean, yeah. I mean, I don't do Instacart, but yeah, I didn't know they gave you that much information. But yeah, that's how it should be. Because if there's seven cases of water, I'm not fucking taking it, even if it's a great tip.
SPEAKER_08Can you imagine? You can imagine, like, you're you're a house painter, and these people call you and they're like, All right, we're gonna pay you 70 bucks, you know, what $150 to come come paint. Well, how many rooms I've painted? You're not gonna know until you're done.
SPEAKER_07Until you get here.
SPEAKER_08How many coasts you want? I'm not gonna tell you that. Yeah, I'm not gonna tell you that until you're done. Yeah, do you want do you want the job?
SPEAKER_07Yeah, yeah, that's about it. Like, that's it sounds absurd, right? But that's kind of what we're doing because it is on a smaller scale. Yeah, it is well.
SPEAKER_03I think door DoorDash does in a way, and they don't in a way. So, like they hide tips, right? Sometimes. But if it's a shopping order, you can click on the arrow and see the items before you accept it.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, but that yeah, I would say DoorDash gives you everything but the tip. Yeah. Um but you know, they do, they give you the address, they give you the the items and all that stuff, but yeah, they they don't they don't tell you what the tip is. I mean, kind of a lot of the other apps too, really. I mean Uber does Uber What am I what yeah, Uber gives you the tip on on food orders and stuff like that. Yeah, I don't say everything too. So it just sounds like it's DoorDash is the only one that's kind of hiding the tip. And no one likes to hide the tip. That's what she said. All right, uh, Larry, TikTok.
Delivery Slip-and-Fall: Safety Tip
SPEAKER_08Yeah, so this is um uh this is a uh uh looks like somebody who's um oh Jesus probably a shopper of some kind. I don't know if it's if it's Walmart Spark or whatever it is, but but she's she she's not having a not having a good time.
SPEAKER_07She's probably still recovering. It's eight seconds.
SPEAKER_08This was yeah, this is this was a little rough.
SPEAKER_00Nothing beats today. And right now, you can save 50 pounds per person.
SPEAKER_07All right, let's watch that again. Like I I I could feel that.
SPEAKER_08Like she didn't even try to like she had groceries in both hands, didn't even didn't even lift them like to try to brace her stuff for nothing. I mean, she just hit flat face. Let's watch it again.
SPEAKER_00Nothing beats. Oh right now, you can save 50 pounds per person.
SPEAKER_07Didn't even say anything after she fell. I was just gonna say that. No grunt. I would be MFing, yeah, JC and God help me. I'd be going, oh, like she was just like, whatever.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah. The people inside that house would be hearing an earful.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I mean, it and it's not no one's fault, but like when you hit yourself like that, I mean is it because it was dark and she couldn't see? I mean, it it didn't look lit up. I mean, that that view I think is from the camera that um, you know, whatever they put the they have a little, I think actually it has a little light on it. Mine does like a little light.
SPEAKER_08Because it it looked like she didn't really raise her foot at all. Like it looked like she just hit it dead, dead on. So yeah, it probably was not lit up. Let's just blame it on the customer. Yeah, yeah. She didn't catch it just a little bit.
SPEAKER_07She got it full on. I mean, you gotta exp. I mean, you look at the front door, then even if you can't see, you're kind of like, why keep I mean, she was heavy pace walking, like she didn't even hesitate. She's like, no, full speed ahead. Boom. So that's that's the tip of the day. Make sure if you can't see the steps, maybe maybe set the groceries down, get your flashlight out, get a headlamp on, whatever. Something.
SPEAKER_01Oh man.
SPEAKER_07Uh Bubba Sue says she's done it. Face on we've all kind of tripped. I usually do it when I'm looking at my phone trying to clear the stop, and I miss a step, and I just kind of dump it out.
SPEAKER_08That's funny. Fate, fate, face it. I told the owner, please don't put this on TikTok. Oh.
SPEAKER_07Or if you do, like share it with me or tag me in it or something. Exactly. Give me some credit here. Uh uh, all right, moving on.
Entitled Rider and Seatbelt Standoff
SPEAKER_07Uh, Uber driver stands up to entitled passenger. Um we're gonna watch that. I I don't know, there's really not much to say.
SPEAKER_06Basically, he's an Uber driver and he tells he tells her to uh shut the fuck up, basically. Minute twenty six.
SPEAKER_08Oh wow. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. She can she uh she didn't like it going.
SPEAKER_07She I love that's the go-to if you're Hispanic now. You get mad and you say, Oh, I'm gonna call ice on you. Like, shut the fuck up.
SPEAKER_08And um I you know it's different. I don't know what state that was in, but she said, you know, if I if I don't have seatbelt on, I'm gonna get the ticket. That's not true in a lot of states. But the drive the driver gets the ticket on in a lot of really interesting.
SPEAKER_05Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_08But you can look it up.
SPEAKER_03I think in Michigan, the person who doesn't wear it gets the ticket.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I believe you're right. The the thing she said also, too, is like she's an adult, she won't get the ticket. No, that's only in the back seat, bro, not in the front. Like you, if you're under if you're over 16, you cannot get a ticket, at least in Michigan, for not wearing your seatbelt in the back.
SPEAKER_03So I I guess when people sit up front, I wait until they put their seatbelt on before I start. But that's also because my car will continue to be. Well, mine too.
SPEAKER_07I know I was gonna bring that up. That car wasn't making a ding at all.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah, I was surprised about that. Yeah, my mono ding, like you know, annoyingly.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, yeah. Well, she was disrespectful. I mean, and the for the amount of time she bitching, she could just put the seatbelt on. He should have pulled over right away. You know what I mean? And he needs to fix the ding because that will motivate people unless they're wasted, they never hear it because they're so drunk. But if they're sober, they're like, Oh god, that's annoying. I gotta put my seatbelt on.
SPEAKER_08So, yeah, usually it's one of the drunk people's friends from the back seat. They're like, Put on your damn seatbelt.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, it's annoying. It's annoying.
SPEAKER_08Huh? What? Oh, is that me?
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I mean, I I don't know. He says he stands up. I don't think he kind of stood up, like he he obviously ended the ride. Well, she kind of said pull over at the end, right? And then he's like, I'm gonna end it. I don't know.
SPEAKER_08I think it was hard to tell if he said he was gonna end the ride or she she wanted him to end the ride. It that wasn't real clear. That that might have happened before the video, that might have been discussed.
SPEAKER_03Well, and when when you read it, like I'm thinking that she starts and he's like he puts the hammer down, and he just kind of was yeah, I mean he was respectful.
SPEAKER_07I mean, I gotta give him that. I don't I don't think I would be as respectful, right? Um, but then she he was like, uh, or yeah, he was like, Well, I have a camera. She didn't care about that. She was gonna call him a honky and that ice was gonna pick him up.
SPEAKER_08So yeah, but like she's like, be sure you call them and tell them you're ending the ride. Like, we we don't do that. Yeah, do we even know we don't call them as soon as I end the ride? They know that I ended the ride.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, this is we don't talk to dispatch and tell them that we're ending the ride. So yeah, and I love it how she talks.
SPEAKER_08We couldn't get a hold of somebody if we wanted to. Exactly.
SPEAKER_07Does it if you're what is the top, is it platinum or diamond? Diamond? Diamond Diamond. Can you even talk to somebody at diamond level or
Delivery Robots vs. Sirens
SPEAKER_07you just get priority like email support? I don't think you can even call them anymore. I don't I don't know. I it's been a while since I've been diamond. Well, yeah, I mean, yeah, I know. I just I know I had talked this summer about the tears, and I don't really I think it's gone all to chat. I think. Yeah, that's great. I mean, it's great for some things when there's a huge language barrier, um, but also it's tough to explain something on chat sometimes. That's why I love Telegram. Going back to Telegram, yeah, like trying to type out a four-minute message, like you know, I can get my point across if I have you know voice, even though I don't like talking on the phone. So exactly. Um, but yeah. Uh yeah, we got a lot of videos tonight. Yeah. You know, it sometimes those weeks happen. We just share a lot of funny stuff.
SPEAKER_08Uh Larry, this is yeah, this is uh, you know, we've we've shown a lot of videos with the little delivery robots that a lot of the companies are using now, um, you know, trying to save money. They don't have to pay drivers to go out. They they invest in these little robots. So this is a little robot that um he's not, you know, he he's kind of taking his little robot life in his own hands here. All right.
SPEAKER_07We have actually two robot videos tonight. I'll shorten this is nine seconds, it's just comical.
SPEAKER_09That break action though.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I'm surprised that Fire Truck didn't just run over it and keep going.
SPEAKER_07I know, but I I'm impressed with uh the robot like stopping on a dime like that. Like it kind of was like, oh shit. But then the robot's like, I'm I'm going first, man. I mean you know, a lot of I I think it's different now, you know, because maybe
Amazon’s Dog Deterrent Debate
SPEAKER_07people are more Sue happy, but as an emergency response person, you have the you have to clear the the rope. Clear intersection, right? Yeah, you can't just blow through it like you're like even on a even on a high speed chase, and you don't see those much anymore just because how dangerous they are. Yeah, but you gotta slow down and clear the intersection.
SPEAKER_08It is their yeah, definitely their responsibility to clear the intersection before they go through.
SPEAKER_07So technically, he if he would have hit that rope, that thing, if the driver would have been at fault, not the not the robot. Yeah, so I don't know. I thought I just loved how it hit the brakes like it was. Yeah, yeah, it goes up. Wonder if there's any drinks in it. Oh, yeah, just sloshed over everywhere. You better have like a McDonald's bag in there. That their system is really great, but yeah. Um shit, forgot what this was.
SPEAKER_08This one fared better than than our later video. I'll just say that.
SPEAKER_07Oh, you know, I didn't even watch the other one, I just threw it in there. So uh oh yeah, here we go. This what do you guys think of this? You're getting your free dog distance device. I'm not gonna read the whole thing. This is from Amazon Flex. Um, and I I know those things. I I've seen them before. I've actually uh had one for a while. Try to get my dog. It's the the dogs are not gonna like it. I'll just put it that way.
SPEAKER_08Like he is it the ultrasonic, yeah.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, he uh he got little he got weird with it. Like we had to stop using it because he would like not go outside and start peeing in the basement and stuff because he he he associated when he went outside to bark and I would hit it, that it was bad. So, like, of course he's not gonna go outside, right? Because he's smart enough to figure out that I'm gonna hit it. But yeah, um, I don't know. If does it feel kind of weird that that Amazon is like providing these as far as like how it looks to the public? I don't know. I if I was a flex delivery person, I'd I'd probably try it out. Yeah, I'm not asking the perspective from the driver. I'm saying, does it look bad to the public that Amazon is like handing these?
SPEAKER_08It doesn't to me.
SPEAKER_03I mean I well, I guess you're gonna it's two sides of the coin, right? You're gonna have people that are like, well, this will teach people to keep their dog up. Yeah, but then you're gonna have people being like, Oh, you're gonna traumatize my dog.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, exactly. You're gonna have the irresponsible animal people owners that that don't put their dogs up.
SPEAKER_07Well, I'm I'm worried because I'm pretty sure if they buzz that with my dogs inside the house, they're gonna hear that. So I could see a Driver being a kind of a dick and like not liking dogs or like the dogs because you know sometimes um I'll deliver and they it catch me off guard. They come to that door really fast and hit it, and you stop because you're like, is this guy you immediately assess is this dog coming through the door or not? Sure. I can see a driver just hitting it, and like that's that's gonna get weird. And you know, everyone's got cameras now too. So yeah, I think I think it might be more of a problem. I might backfire on them. Well then I would say them promoting it seems like it might backfire. I'm fine if drivers want to use it. I'm not against that by any means. Yeah, did you get sent that or no? I didn't get one. No, I didn't get anything either. You didn't either. What about you?
SPEAKER_03That's one of the reasons I won't do the early morning. Like I've seen people that have posted pictures or videos that were like, you know, it's pitch black and they're in their car real quick and there's a dog walking around.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I mean, you know, some people have their dogs out late at night and they might be sleeping. And you I mean, I'd rather come up on a person, honestly, that's just chilling than a than a dog, because that dog's scared, it doesn't know what's going on. They're probably gonna fuck you up.
SPEAKER_03Well, like I had an Amazon the other day, and they said deliver to the back door. So I came around to the back. There's a fence, so I was like, okay, and I went to reach to open it, and there was this huge cutout, like a dog door, and I was like, no, no, no, don't think so.
SPEAKER_07I will go to the I will go to the back if it's daylight, and if there's a gate there, I'm not opening that gate. I will put it right next to the gate. It's just it's too fucking scary. Um, they gave us a free house. Yeah. I did you get that, Faith? I know they said that they were gonna give, but I don't know. I was there, I didn't ask for one at the warehouse. Every time you go to the warehouse, at least uh I've been doing the same day, they all look fucking pissed. They wouldn't even give you a bet. Um yeah, I mean, no one I'm not saying you have to be like doing cartwheels at work. I'm not ex I'm not saying that, but they're just like RBFs, don't fuck with me, or I will give you your license back and cancel your block. Like it is like and I've never seen anyone be rude there. So I I don't know. Maybe I mean I'm not there very much, but um you have to order it online, she said. Came in three days. Oh yeah. I never got maybe I I don't know if I got that email or not. I don't know. But again, I you know Baba Su said animal cruelty. I I feel like I feel like something's gonna happen and people are gonna be pissed about it, you know. Amazon really customer focused. So if you get enough pushback from people emailing in, they're just gonna say, hey, you're not allowed to use these anymore. Sure. Um and I'm I support them. Don't get me wrong. I'm just saying there might be some, you know, yeah, definitely could be some pushback on that. Yeah, and and drivers, let's face it,
Airport Pricing and Long-Ride Economics
SPEAKER_07some can be jerks and they uh use it when they're not supposed to. So uh okay. Uh I have no Waymo today. I threw it on there if anyone saw one. Um so I don't I didn't have one, so we'll I looked today and I didn't see any. Yeah, I looked too, and I you know sometimes we They're getting better, man.
SPEAKER_08They're getting better. Not not making as many mistakes.
SPEAKER_03What did I have a pop-up? It's starting in Nashville soon.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, but it's with lift. With lift, yeah. Yeah, we talked about that last week on the Patreon.
SPEAKER_08Um I'm gonna go down there and try one as soon as I can.
SPEAKER_07Well, try to get a ride for $35 before you go there, and then you can yeah, yeah, my big, my big whopping.
SPEAKER_08Man, I've declined so many airport rides. It's a shame. I didn't all of that upfront tracing. Yeah, yeah. I used to I used to get at least it was like $95 at least from here. And now they're not they're throwing out like $42, $43. I'm like, not doing it. I got three airport offers in one day. It's a shame. And I wonder weeks ago.
SPEAKER_07I wonder if A, the customers are feeling it, not getting the right, or B, they're just getting a lower class of drivers that does not give a shit.
SPEAKER_08Maybe, yeah. I don't know. I don't know who's taking it. I really don't know who's taking it. Because I mean, I guess if you if you came in, you know, in the last year and you didn't know anything but upfront pricing.
SPEAKER_07Nah, even so, if you're doing the numbers, if you're looking at the math, even without knowing what I mean, they didn't know what when it was great for you know, when before all that, when we had the multiplier and everything, and they still take that shit.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I I think it I think it's just people like, hey man, I need to I need that. That's $42. I need it, I'm gonna take it. Yeah, but you can't get a ride from there. You can't, right? You you're not allowed if you come from Kentucky. No, no, no, no. We can we can do rides. You can get a you can get a ride. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, what you you just not I've never gotten one anywhere close to coming back to Bowling Green. Gotcha. I mean, I can do rides in Nashville all day. It was only like the first six months I was doing Uber that we couldn't drive in Nashville, and they changed it.
SPEAKER_07But I remember you talking about something I can't remember.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I've never been able to get one coming back. I've I've gotten like maybe 20 minutes back toward Bowling Green. That's about as far as I've gotten uh a ride back. But yeah, yeah, it's a shame. It really is. I used to like the long rides, you know. It was great whenever you see those pop up, man. You'd hop on it, and uh I've I had two or three like in the last three weeks, I think I've had probably five to seven offers. One was to Fort Campbell, which is even further. And it's like just not taking them, not gonna do it.
SPEAKER_07What would be a fair price? Now take away the what you were making on that. What would you do it for? Like what's your like what's your like line? 70?
SPEAKER_08Uh probably 75. 75. So probably how long of a drive is it?
SPEAKER_07It's like 45.
SPEAKER_08I mean, it all depends on traffic, it depends on what time of day and and how busy the airport is, and all sorts of factors because they had a shit show down there about two weeks ago on a Monday. Yeah, what was going
Alternative Gig Platforms and Payout Timing
SPEAKER_08on? I saw all these people. They well, here they said it was all these people were in town for the football game, so they were all trying to leave. There was a huge convention going on that week, so we had all these people trying to come in, and traffic was just uh it was like a parking lot for like eight, ten hours. Yeah, it was it people were walking from the interstate like to the airport, walking on the side of the road so they wouldn't miss their planes.
SPEAKER_07God, I'm glad we that didn't happen when we didn't happen when y'all left. Yeah, would have freaking lost my mind.
SPEAKER_08Oh, yeah, it was it was crazy. People were trying to figure out you know, was it was there a big wreck or what was going on? And and they said no, it was just kind of a perfect storm of stuff going on.
SPEAKER_07But we know a few people that would probably take those rides. Yeah, like we actually know a few that might take those rides, so yeah, I'm just saying I wouldn't.
SPEAKER_03You're losing I don't even do it here, like the Ann Arbor ones anymore. Like that was yeah, they're you know, five, six, seven times a day.
SPEAKER_08And now I see it and I'm like, you know, you go from thirty dollars to thirteen dollars, and I'm like, yeah, no from here to Nashville, if if there's no, you know, if it was nighttime, no, not really any traffic, and I picked them up, you know, not on the far northern side of bowling green or anything, from here to the airport's probably an hour 15 minutes. So you're you're figuring at least two and a half hours, it's at least, you know, uh probably 130, 140 miles that you're putting on your car, and they're wanting you to do it for $42. Yeah, fuck them.
SPEAKER_07Uh cool EDM on TikTok says, Have you heard of Readyon? Have not. No, I haven't heard of it either.
SPEAKER_08What is it? Is it another app?
SPEAKER_03Probably.
SPEAKER_07Uh I only know of like the blood pressure monitor, Redion. When I Google it, it says Ready on the future of frontline work. Redion is a platform for hiring off from flexible flexible, flexible, flexible work arrangements to frontline workers in a modern app. So it sounds like it's like um like a temp agency, maybe. You know, like uh what's that one I have on my phone? I don't even know why I still have it
Octopus Tablet: Tips and Earnings
SPEAKER_07on there. Uh it's gig spot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you can work for DoorDash. Like you can go down, I think you go down to Dashmart and like fill orders and stuff. It the pays, I mean, it's not horrible. I mean, it's like $18 to $20, something like that. Yeah, if you need some money in a hurry, I mean is guaranteed. You know, that's one thing about gig work. None of it's guaranteed except flex, right? You're you know you're gonna make whatever that hundred dollars on that route. You don't know how many miles you're that's the part you don't know, the unknown. But at least you know you're gonna get that money. You know, it's like a W-2 job. You know you work these many hours is how much you're gonna get paid.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there's quite a few people that I've given rides to that will talk about they do work on there because you'll have some companies they'll have like three days in a row and you know they're getting gig spot.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, yeah, it's not just Doordash, there's other stuff on there. Um, I I I don't hate the idea. Like I said, if you're in a pinch. Now, the the real question is uh do they pay it? Faith's like pressuring me to make a spreadsheet. She's talking about it.
SPEAKER_08I think she's volunteering to make one.
SPEAKER_07That's what I say in the you know, in the meetings when I go to like, oh, you like sounds like you're volunteering to do it. I think so. Uh for the inside joke, Faith wants me to make a spreadsheet of all the gig apps and rating them and stuff like that. I I do have it on my to-do list, and then Bubba Sue follows it up with good one and fucking double teaming me over here, not the fun way either. Um God, what was I just talking about? Oh, oh, oh, oh. If you get paid if you get paid that day, because a lot of people want that same day pay. No, you don't. No, I think it takes a couple days. Okay, see that would be that would be kind of shitty. Like, I I honestly, like a lot of employers, um, I don't know why they don't do same day pay. Like I maybe it's a maybe it's a payroll nightmare, but McDonald's does it now. Oh, do they same day you like walk out and you're gonna do it?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you can write through the app. Yeah, right through the app and you send your money.
SPEAKER_07I I don't think it shouldn't be that hard. They have the time in, timeout. It's just a formula for taxes and deductions and just done send it. Like I it's not like they don't have money in the bank. Yeah, but who knows? All right, we're screaming along here. Um third or 42 minutes in. We've got six articles on octopus tablet. You need this, go to the link in the description. Uh, if you're a ride share driver and you take those $42 rides from Bowling Green to Nashville, you want to make a little extra money. You want a little money on the side because you ain't making money doing that app uh or doing that ride. They can play trivia, there's lots of games. I feel like I need to update this picture. It's like so old. Um, but the tablets free, the mouse free, the chargers free, everything's free. Uh, you can make roughly,
Uber Assault Lawsuit and Driver Safety
SPEAKER_07I don't know, $100 a month if you drive a lot. Larry, what what's your regular payout now that you're back driving a little bit more?
SPEAKER_08Uh I'm usually uh you know I'm still drive a whole lot. You know, even when I'm back to driving regularly, it's just like probably two days a week. So I'm usually I'm probably $25-50 a month.
SPEAKER_07I mean shit though. I mean that's that's gas money.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, that's not bad. And yeah, I can take a picture of mine and update the picture. But I still I I I connected mine back to my Uber app because like they said they said uh you know that that it shows games again. And I have to say, I I need to go back and do a his you know look at historically over the last six or eight months, but I I've 30 something percent of my pay uh last week was tips. Really? Yeah, that's pretty good. So people are because that's what they keep claiming, because they can tip on the app, yeah. So uh which is good if you have the driver up front and there's drunk buddy in the back and click on there and tip you about 50 bucks.
SPEAKER_07Oh, so they're tipping.
SPEAKER_08You think they're tipping off the tablet? No, I it's it. I mean, that's what they advertise, they can do that, yeah. Uh because we're not back there, so we don't see it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you don't see you don't see in your Uber app or where it will tell you like where the tip came from.
SPEAKER_07Like during the ride, like when you get done. Well, it probably wouldn't say you got it from where you got it from.
SPEAKER_03It would just be or if octopus shows you like tipped.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I don't haven't seen any stats on octopus at all about that. That would be nice. Yeah, it would be that they could they could prove what they're saying, right?
SPEAKER_07But they do love the tablet. They they do love it. There's never any negative other than I have had a few people when I drove that the light was really bright, so I always put it dimmed. I dim it down so you can dim it down and the sounds volume or yeah, is down really low because some people like they don't fucking give a shit and they're drunk and it's too bright for them. So yeah, but all right, Gabe. Uh Nashville Uber driver sues over assault, questions rideshare safety measures.
SPEAKER_03Um I I think honestly, basically, there was a federal lawsuit against the rideshare company alleging that the driver she was sexually assaulted by a passenger that Uber failed to protect her and other drivers.
SPEAKER_07Was this in a what was this uh a shared ride? Must have been.
SPEAKER_03Um no. No. No, the the passenger attacked the driver. Oh my god. Yeah, the passenger attacked the driver, uh, sexually assaulted her.
SPEAKER_05Oh, gotcha.
SPEAKER_03Um and so it says that the driver picked up an intoxicated passenger in uh Millersville last September and was assaulted in Hendersonville. Um, and basically the attorney saying that Uber should have used its safety systems to warn her or prevent the trip. Well, um, and I I guess I I don't know how they would warn. I do feel because we've talked about this in the past, right? When we've gotten those obnoxiously drunk people where we're like, you should have to solve a puzzle on your phone before you get in my car.
SPEAKER_07Tap when you're gonna tip.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um and I it's a good idea. Yeah, one of the two.
SPEAKER_08One of the two.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think that is a concern. You know, there's all these safety things to monitor the driver, right? You're as a rider, you can share your ride, so you're being followed. As a driver, I can too. But like, what if somebody is assaulting you? You know, we've had uh what was it, a Lyft driver who got killed because a guy had a machete. Um, you know, what safety things are in place for drivers? I I think that this might spark some conversation going forward. You know, what can you do to protect your drivers? Um, yeah, but you know, nobody nobody cares about the driver, right?
SPEAKER_07It's always about the passengers and yeah, the customer, basically, not the driver. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Um yeah, I would I would like to read what they're asking for because there is a big quote in here, old paragraph from the Tennessee Drivers Union, which is a that organization that always is contacting me trying to get me to join them uh to vote so I can't drive in Tennessee. Um so you know, they they said that uh if we were really cared about workers who make their platform possible, especially the female workers, they would implement the changes suggested by the suit. So I'm wondering what those changes are. So I'm gonna I'm gonna try to see if I can find out exactly what they're asking for. Well, I didn't you try to reach out to them? Yeah, yeah, because they called me a couple times and uh they would leave a message because you know I'm I uh it was always during the day, and my phone was in my car while I was at work, and uh they were leaving. I called them back a couple of times and uh I told them we would love to have them on the show and never got any response. All right.
SPEAKER_07I I found on Instagram.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna say the lawsuit also claims that Uber does not adequately monitor writers who may pose threats and fails to act on prior reports. Um and and they said right here that uh contends that Uber has resisted measures such as dash cams, which I get notifications all the time from Uber asking me if I want to allow them to start recording
Who Owns Robotaxis: Uber or REITs?
SPEAKER_03through my phone. Um or women only ride options to preserve its position that drivers are independent contractors rather than employees. So I don't I don't know because I I don't know if you get that, Larry, when you're giving rides, but I constantly, Uber is like, Do you want to record from your phone? Do you want and I'm like no?
SPEAKER_06I mean, I don't do rides, I guess, so I need to shut up on this part of it.
SPEAKER_03But well, if you did, like uh I have a dash cam, so yeah.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, same. I don't I don't get I I don't get many. I don't I'm trying to remember if I get any notifications about I have in the past about you know wanting to record, but I don't I don't get a ton of them. I should see.
SPEAKER_03Well and Uber does say on there too, it offers in app safety features like the emergency button, live help from safety agents, and GPS tracking.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I think expanded rider verification issues.
SPEAKER_07I think they don't want to add the the dash cams, and I think they can pay out a lot of lawsuits before it becomes cost prohibitive to instead of like supplying everyone with dash cams, you know what I mean? Or forcing, you know, dealing with a litigation with forcing a driver because a lot of drivers would be like, no, I don't want you to use my phone, or like you said, the message that says you can record uh during it. I I think dash cams would probably be more important than the recording on the phone because it's there and and it blinks a little bit and people will actually see it. No one's gonna know that. I mean, other than they send a notification, I guess, to the yeah, right here.
SPEAKER_03I just pull up it says record your rights for peace of mind. Uh recording can provide an added layer of safety, it encourages respectful interactions, it may help resolve any potential issues fairly. Don't worry, all recordings are encrypted, which means no one, including Uber, can view the recordings unless you send it to us when reporting a safety issue, and then there's a button to hit set up, and then it walks you through how to set it up. So maybe if you do, maybe it sends uh an alert or notification to the rider.
SPEAKER_08Well, it's supposed to do that now because I like I've registered mine. You know, they say if you own your own dash cam, you can you can put in your there's a place in your account settings that says I have a dash cam. And and they say it will uh it will notify them that you know when they order the ride, the driver has a dash cam. And I get notifications sometimes. It says this rider may record this.
SPEAKER_07Oh, yeah, I think I've seen that too.
SPEAKER_03But let's honestly, like if you're wasted and you're intoxicated, how many people are gonna notice those notifications?
SPEAKER_07Zero.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, because they don't even notice the dash cam. You know, it's hanging right there on the windshield, they don't see it.
SPEAKER_03I guess it would be interesting to see, and maybe they'll be able to do something with this lawsuit. How many prior reports of situations with writers have happened where there's been no follow-up? Oh, they're gonna they're they're hiding that stuff.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, but we're never gonna see that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07Oh well, hopefully uh it's a lot.
SPEAKER_08It's a lot though. I I know there's been yeah.
SPEAKER_07I mean we've been I mean we could we could do a podcast every week about safety and not run out of content just because it's it's always gonna be an issue, and none of us ever have the answer. I'm not saying like we should have the answer. I'm just saying we're just like what can what what can Uber do more for safety? I don't know.
SPEAKER_08Right, yeah, because when we're looking for stories for the week, I mean we could pull those, like you said, every week. There's always stuff whether it's a passenger attacking a driver or a driver assaulting a passenger, uh, there's just stories every week somewhere in the in the country.
SPEAKER_07And I think I just think that's just and now this sounds weird, but like it's kind of just the the not the cost doing business, that's not what I mean, but like it's just the world that is it's the way it is. Yeah, I mean I think the taxi companies have the same problem back even before there was cameras and cell phones. I think all that shit went on. It's no sure.
SPEAKER_08Can you imagine being a taxi driver in it back in the old days? You had no idea who was getting in your car.
SPEAKER_07Well, taxi company had no idea, it had cop glass in it, so you didn't get fucked up. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_08It had a little slide, and you had to know where the hell you were going. You didn't have a GPS.
SPEAKER_07I'd take the I'll take the cop glass over a phone. I can use a fucking map, like see you driving down the road with that big old map.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, that big one, but not not the book, fold it back up. Yeah, the big giant one, yeah. Oh god. Like crinkling going on.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, that'd be funny. All right, I'm gonna skip around. Larry, I want you to talk. Uh I want to get to those videos, and then I want you, but I want to talk about the Uber CEO, the real estate thing. I didn't click on it, and I'm curious what he means by that.
SPEAKER_08Um, you know, they're talking about Uber and all these other companies, you know, experimenting with the self-driving cars, and it's beyond experimenting now. They're they're bringing them. Yeah, they are definitely bringing them. We've always talked about how they're gonna do this. They don't want to own the cars, they don't want to, you know, take care of the cars, but right now they're having to do that because they don't have uh anything else, you know, any other possibilities. So um, you know, Dare before he was CEO of Uber, he was CEO over uh of Expedia, you know, the travel search site. And so um
Weekend Plans, Stadium Gigs, and Wrap
SPEAKER_08I don't know if uh y'all know, but a lot most of the hotels that the big hotels are either, they don't own the the land or the buildings a lot of times. Those are owned by other people, by financial investors, especially they'll have um like these uh what do they call them? The uh REITs, real uh real estate investment something. I can't remember what the last letter stands for. But he was talking about that this is something that that they could do as far as the ride share um you know problem goes as far as you know who's gonna own the cars. Uh so he said a decade from now some investors could play uh um a huge role for companies that use self-driving vehicles. Um you know that's become profitable in part because this company has avoided owning many of the most important assets, which are the cars, which obviously we own and we take care of.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, we were we were wondering, you know, what what Uber's gonna do because the cost of you know maintaining those and uh you know charging them and cleaning them and stuff that Uber's not in the car business. And I didn't know real like I didn't know that they own that. So they own the building and the land that those hotels are on.
SPEAKER_08So the major hotel brands like Hilton and Marriott don't typically own their hotels, uh, like other commercial real estate properties such as shopping malls, hot hotels are often owned by real estate investment trusts, which are called REITs. So you have people that invest this money, they're the ones who own all the property. Uh, because the the the hotel brands, they just want to run it, they don't want to own they you know, they won't have to worry about that. I uh and so this would be a way you could have a REIT that that's investing in rideshare fleets.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Uh and I would get in, I would definitely jump on this because we we know you know it's an area we're familiar with, and so we feel comfortable doing it. I definitely invested money in that.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, so I today I learned I didn't know that. So basically they're paying rent, like the hotel pays rent to the to this person who owns it every month or whatever. Yeah, that's wild. I mean, I know that happens a lot like in strip malls and stuff like that, but I didn't think I thought like if Hilton built a hotel like they own that land in the in the building. That's wild. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_08So it says the these REITs, you know, the trust, real estate trust, typically handle most of the expenses of owning the property, such as maintenance and taxes, and they receive income through rent. Yeah. So uh, so they're saying, you know, as you said, a decade from now, you can have a similar situation uh where these were where investors could could play that same kind of role for these companies like Uber that use self-driving cars. So the REIT would own own you know the fleet of cars and handle the maintenance and all that kind of stuff, and Uber would just lease them basically. Why why can't we just buy our own car though? Well we can do that. We talk about it. They're talking on a grant big scale, they're talking big scale.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I mean it they talk about investing, like I got 20 bucks. What does that get me? I'd rather you know, I'd rather buy a car and then you know because if you think about it, um a lot of people buy new, I think with Uber, a lot of people bought new cars and then they pay for their payment with Uber, and then that's that's it, and then they drive it for their life, you know, and and don't do any other. I think you could do the same thing with this.
SPEAKER_08It it all depends on the level you want to get involved because you have people who want to be who want to own, you know, four or five small properties and be landlords. You've got other people who don't want any of that hassle, they don't want to deal with tenants or anything. So those invest their money in a real estate trust, and all that money goes, you know, it's pulled together and buys these properties. So there's all sorts of different kinds like Faith is talking about, there's different kinds of REITs. So there's some that there's ones that invest in hospitals and prisons, hotels, there, all these different kinds of investments. There's uh there's a big one, I forget the name of it now. Um, but they invest in like um like high-end art, you know, things like that. So you don't want to you don't want to go out and buy a painting, but these paintings increase in value over time. So I want to put my money in with a bunch of other people and we'll buy it together.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Um, so they're talking, I think, uh a big fleet of cars, but I think they will also be open to having individual people. If you have a car, you want to put it on the Uber platform. Why why would they not do that?
SPEAKER_07And to your point, too, they these are large sums of money and they don't want to fuck because what if we have our own car, we're gonna have to mess with the the cleaning and the charging, like they don't want to deal with that. They just want to here's 20 or you know, two million dollars, fucking do it. Yeah, you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, give me give me a return on you know in all my income.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, yeah. Uh I don't know. I we've said all along, you know, depending on the the cost of the car, I would be interested in in investing if you know, depending on the return. You know, if I'm making you know, ten bucks a day, obviously I'm not gonna do that. But if I can run that fucker for six, eight hours, make a couple hundred bucks a day, yeah, maybe probably not.
SPEAKER_03Gabe says I would I would need to make sure that they are well well, it's a well-oiled machine. Because what about liability then? Does that come back on?
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I would think we would be on the hook for that. So maybe you'll see instead of individuals, like the Gig Economy Podcast buys three cars and it's a little LLC with a little umbrella so that we have a little protection instead of like an individual buying one car and then have to paying all this. Yeah, that's a good point about the insurance, yeah, because it's gonna come on out. Uber's we're gonna pay maybe a fee that well, they get their fee when they take the ride. We don't have to pay them anything. So there we go. We've got three three cars for the gig economy.
SPEAKER_08We each have one.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, there you go. I mean, might as well. We pool our money for the insurance and we retire in Tahiti.
SPEAKER_08Let's rock and roll. Let's do rock and roll.
SPEAKER_07What are we waiting for? God damn it. I already got an LC. Probably not for that, though. All right, well, we'll wrap it up. I have to pee like a racehorse. Uh, lots on Patreon tonight, 8 10 p.m. You can still join now. Get a seven-day free trial. Go to patreon.com slash the gig econ podcast. There you can sign up for a seven-day trial. We got uh we got a video, we got another picture, we got drone talk, um, all that good stuff. So uh good stuff. Plans for the weekend for gig work, Gabe. Yes, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_03I mean, you're a full you're a full-time worker, so it's like I I I haven't been doing rides, but I might because they're having their first concert ever at the U of M stadium. Oh, had a concert there? They've never had a concert. Wow, what are they waiting for? So they're actually like I feel like this is gonna open the door. Um who's gone, who's coming? What are they doing?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, who's the first person?
SPEAKER_03Uh I think it's a country singer. Zach Zach Bryan.
SPEAKER_07Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_07Uh that place sits in 110,000.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Zach Bryan and John Mayer. So that's a weird. Um, but it's Saturday, so it's the first. So we'll see. I I I can imagine that it'll probably go very well. They'll enjoy all of the money, and there will be many, many more.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Two questions. One, um, why did they wait so long? Maybe they didn't want their turf fucked up or something. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Cause like well, they didn't just they didn't start serving alcohol until recently at the stadium. That's so uh now that they're selling alcohol, I can imagine that's probably what helped the situation.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Also, do they still have the internet connection problem? I remember do you remember Jeffrey Barron's gabe from when you were in Grand Rapids? Him and I a couple of times went to Ann Arbor. I know we I know you'd know him if you saw his picture, but anyways. Him and I went there one time doing a I think a day game, and when we got down towards the stadium, our phone stopped working.
SPEAKER_03Um, it's not as bad. Uh, but I also use Xfinity now instead of ATT. ATT, my phone it locks up a lot.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, because there's so many people on the on the service.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the congestion is really bad. That that's still a problem. They they haven't added any towers.
SPEAKER_07Okay. Because that would make me nervous even for that show, like being down there and just like if you you would pick somebody up and you try to start the ride, it would just spin. So you'd literally drive uh like a quarter of a mile for free. Because you had to accept it and you didn't kind of know where you're going. So you I mean, I let them know I'm like, hey, I'm just having yeah, internet, and then I would kind of drive out and then all of a sudden it pick up, and then you might be a little off path, but like you'd get them where they needed to go.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, you tell them, you're like, hey, can you point me the direction we need to start going? Yeah, so until until this picks up, because otherwise we're flying blind here.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, exactly, because nothing's loading and it just spinning. So that made me nervous. And when it started doing that a lot, I fucking drove back to Grand Rapids.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so so I might I might start taking some rides again. I don't know.
SPEAKER_07Do it, do it.
SPEAKER_03It's the can it's the congestion in the traffic, drunks. And you know what? I will take a drunk person from Ann Arbor anytime over a drunk person in a Grand Valley drunk kid.
SPEAKER_07I mean, we're talking the concert, though. It's gonna be a different, different different cop. It ain't gonna be college kids, it's gonna be grown-ass adults.
SPEAKER_08Well, you can let all those other people work the concert and you go work the other side of town where nobody's at.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, work, yeah, work the outskirts, the suburbs right out there. That's what I do usually, but I think this is at night. I go home. I'm a grandpa. I go home, I go to bed. I was fast at like 8 22 last night.
SPEAKER_08You guys gotta be home when streetlights come on. Exactly. We're not fucking young boys.
SPEAKER_03We we look, we we put in our hard hours during those times years ago. We we've earned uh privilege to stay home. I know.
SPEAKER_07I always tell people that they're like, you don't drive anymore. I'm like, bro, I got 8,000 rides. Six of them were at 2 in the morning. I'm done with that. Yeah, I'm not doing that anymore.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think I'm at like 23,000, 24,000.
SPEAKER_06Like, yeah, you're that's fucking insane.
SPEAKER_07So all right, join us on Patreon, and as always, don't put up anyone's bullshit. And don't be a dick.
SPEAKER_05And we'll see you on the road. Night, everybody.
SPEAKER_07Larry's having internet trouble again. Good night.
SPEAKER_09What?
SPEAKER_05Yes. This podcast is produced and edited by Hey Guys Media Group. Want to start a podcast? Check out heyguysmedia group dot comes.
