Uber’s New Deductible Plan And Privacy Mistakes Can Cost You More Than Tips

We bounce from chaotic delivery routes to the tech and policy changes that are quietly reshaping gig work. We talk through what drones, robots, and robotaxis could mean for driver income, safety, and privacy, plus the real math behind Uber’s new deductible option. 

• Amazon routes stretching into high-mileage nights 
• Better Trucks first impressions, unclear offer details, app reliability and Branch pay setup 
• What a Waymo ride feels like, safety concerns and why it drives “herky jerky” 
• Uber’s per-mile charge to reduce a $2,500 accident deductible, who it helps and when it adds up 
• DoorDash viral case heading to trial, why privacy matters for drivers and content creators 
• Why drones may fit DashMart and small items better than fast food 
• Spark pickup changes that push drivers to load and secure orders themselves 
• Cybercab talk, fleet ownership ideas, servicing logistics, and passenger security questions 
• Waymo returning to freeway service, construction zones as the hard edge case 
• Porch pirates, driveway drop-offs, and the unwritten rules of delivery etiquette 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:22

Hello,

Welcome And Topics Ahead

SPEAKER_04 0:23

hello. Welcome to the Gig Economy Podcast. Epris EPRSO? EPRSOD. Hey, Bubba Sue, nice to see you. Episode three hundred and three. Three hundred and thirteen. Talking DoorDash drones, uh, Uber's new deductible plan for car accidents in the rise of delivery robots. Uh how's it going, Larry? I know, I know, but for our listeners, how are you doing today? Yeah, hopefully uh he doesn't pass out. Um, doesn't pull a Jason where he's got to end the show immediately because God that Yes, exactly. What's creaking, cracking, and what nasty cold I have. Um all right, stories from the road, getting right into it.

Amazon Routes Pushing The Limits

SPEAKER_04 1:29

Um nothing real crazy for me. Amazon routes I rode are getting out of control. I had a route the other night and I drove 190 miles door to door. Now that's from my I know they don't include the mileage from like where you're driving to your to the to the um to the warehouse, but I always just do door to door and it was 190 miles. And it was just a completely fucked up route, and they routed it wrong, and I was just fussy, and it was just it was like 15 minutes between stops. It was only like 22 stops, but it was it was nutsy.

Trying Better Trucks And App Glitches

SPEAKER_04 2:04

And then there's another app I want to talk about. It's called Better Trucks. You can check it out. I'm I scheduled my first offer um on Monday. It's similar to Amazon in VHO, which I did do a VHO route. Did we talk about that on the last show? Okay, I did do, yeah, that's right. I did do a route. That was okay. So this one's interesting. It gives you the map. Um, and they schedule like a week out, so it's kind of in my area. I chose my area. Um, but then the um hang on the going back to it. Okay, so it's the value says it's $75 to $140. But it doesn't say how many stops, how many miles, any of that stuff. So it's it's kind of different. I can't find a lot on Reddit about better trucks other than like their service is terrible. I hear that about VHO too, as the uh at the customer end that their service is terrible. So their app gets a terrible review. So this is what I'm worried about is like, you know what I mean? Because like I can deliver, right? But give me give me an app that functions properly, and I'm I'll I'll rock it out. Like, whatever the steps you need me to do, I can do it. It's not that hard. But I've had a few glitchy things with it. Uh, but yeah, you can, I guess uh the app on the um Apple app store is BT Shift, so Better Trucks Shift. Um, of course they use branch to pay, so then of course I had to like talk with support and reactivate my account because I use branch with Walmart um back in the day when it first came. But um so yeah, we're we're counting down days of school left. What do we got? Let's see, 21 days of summer left for me, and uh it's a busy summer. It's a busy summer. I'm going to Foo Fighters tomorrow in Detroit. Uh, so that's gonna be fun. And yeah, I got some. Yeah, I cannot wait. Um, so yeah, uh, what about you? Any stories from the road? Uh see one one line. What a life. Yeah, can yeah, can you imagine at this age? I mean, you're ten years older than me, but even even in your like your forty, I mean, I guess if you're recently divorced, but even so, like, the dating world is so weird, it's just me either. Oh no, I've had those, but they're usually with my significant other next to me. I

Waymo Rider Reactions And Safety

SPEAKER_04 8:53

mean, we created that segment, Waymo, and the news and everything, but I feel like it's been about the last year and a half where it's come up regularly on the show. But yeah, I like that you did check in with her because not everyone's on board with doing that, because like that would be a little awkward if you're like, no, get in the car. Um it's funny. I know two things is is interesting about your describing it. One, you say tape, you can tell we're old, you're gonna tape it, and I do the same thing. I'm like, I did you videotape that? And it's just like, what a fucking idiot. We don't there is no tape. And then, you know, we've said we've seen inside of a Waymo, but we wanted to hear your perspective in the moment of like what you're feeling. Like, was it like herky jerky? I mean, you could obviously describe that now, but just you know, just your kind of the play by play, just for you being on the show and we know your voice and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

Of course.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:26

Of course. Yeah. I do wonder uh if it's ever gonna get to that smoother, like like how we would. We would see the person step, and then we'd be then our brain could calculate in in in a millisecond, oh, he's just gonna walk behind us. I know I'm gonna be I'm gonna clear him before I but I get why it has to be like a herky jerky. You don't want to kill anybody. No way. Yeah, eighty seven down by Broadway and fourth. Like that's a busy area. He ain't going to frickin Kroger, like ten miles out of downtown Nashville.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:59

If I can remember though, there's streets that run outside like that, so you could park and just walk in. It's not like it's like this huge bowl. Okay. Yeah, you're doing twenty five, thirty-five miles an hour, probably. Yeah. Yeah, it's like taking uh like a cell phone and going back two hundred years and like handing it to somebody. Like they'll literally freak out. They're like looking at themselves like in the camera, and you're like, what the fuck? Yeah, yeah. I I don't even yeah, yeah, it's alright. It happens. You'll we'll have opportunity. I mean, they're testing in Detroit already, and so um, I usually get over to Detroit once or twice a year for stuff, but uh yeah. So that was cool. I'm they gonna put bulletproof glass in those. Yeah, it is gonna be rough. Maybe, maybe we'll they'll have it in Kia's and nothing against the Kia. I just that's the first cheaper car that came up into my head. And don't get mad at me by everyone. But like Kia's with self-driving built into it instead of Jaguars, just in case something does happen. Yeah. Or put a um what is the old cop car? The the Caprice classic, that big long, that big long boat or whatever. This thing is the ugliest sin. So all right, gig economy of the news.

Uber’s Per Mile Deductible Option

SPEAKER_04 14:16

Uh yeah, Gabe had offered this photo up in the uh telegram app, which you can look in the description if you'd love to join. Um, let's see. Right here, looks like uh it's talking. Oh, this is Larry's. Go ahead. Sorry about that, Larry. Okay. Yeah, what do you think about this? I mean, uh, if you're doing 10K a year, it's three hundred and ten dollars, which okay. I mean, I don't think that's that much. I mean, if we're a part-time driver, if you're strictly doing like ride share, I don't know if it does it. It must not do it for delivery. Um, I would think it wouldn't, but um, I I think it's a good idea if if you're uh if you're a regular driver and you do 10 to 15,000 miles a year. I mean it it basically says are you able to kick out that 2500 bucks, right? Without you know, then then don't do it. But if you can't, then why wouldn't you do it? Yeah, because like the I think the biggest problem is when you get in an accident, that's your only car. Now there is a lot of rental options out there, which I wouldn't advise, but in a pinch it could work. I know Gabe's used that when his car's been in the shop and stuff like that. It's fine for like these small little portions of time. But I mean, so let's say you don't have the 2500 and the rental isn't available, so your car goes down. Now, what now what do you do? Do you uh how do you make money to get the 2500? You gotta wait to borrow it. Meanwhile, it's two weeks down the road, you haven't driven, and then you finally get the deductible money, and then they're gonna cover it, and then it's gotta go in the body shop. I mean, you're you know, four weeks, six weeks down the road, and you haven't made any money. But with this, you know, although I who knows how long you find it takes you to get it if it's Uber, you know what I mean. But if you have this insurance, you get it covered, you don't have to stress about the 2500, it's repair. I I I'm not a fan of insurance because it costs a lot of money, but I am a fan of like a little bit of extra insurance. In fact, VHO offered me an optional insurance every route I do, and it's it's pretty cheap. Ended up being like I don't know, ended up being like a dollar a route or something like that. I couldn't remember what it was, and I'm like, eh, what's it what's a buck, you know what I mean? Or a buck and a half. It's just like extra insurance. Now, if something gets fucked up, you know, you're able to get things covered. So I think it's a good idea. Um, people are reading the 3.1 wrong. There's a lot of posts on Reddit that people think it's three dollars. I don't fucking know how people can't read because I'm like, it's it's three it's a cent, it's three point one cent. And yeah, people are just getting irate at Uber. You already take enough, you're gonna take three dollars a mile. I know, but again, the bar is set low for gig work, no offense. I mean, I'm offending myself, I do it all the time, you know what I mean? It's it's a low bar. Yeah, so it was just funny to see some of those posts and people comment like, you know, this is 3.1 cents, right? If it's very, very low amount, unless you're taking fucking you know, Gabe does drive a lot of miles. I don't know how many he drives, but but even so, even at 20,000, it's still 620 bucks that you're really not gonna see. It's not like they're you know, every week they're pulling a hundred bucks out or fifty bucks out, but I don't know. I think it's a good idea. If I I actually have the optional insurance through Uber already, the original one that happened. I don't know if it's disability or something. I'm always that shit is super cheap to me. And I do it at work and I do it, Megan does it because it's just so minute compared to the grand scheme of things, and it's always good to have, you just never know. Yeah. Which does kind of suck because if you are just get off that trip, you hit end, and like one mile later, you get schmucked. You're although that would be that would be on your personal insurance anyways, and chances are you don't have a $2,500. I don't even know if it goes up that high. Kenya? Because I have like a $1,000 deductible, I think. True. And maybe Lyft will come out, and this is great for Uber because it just gives them more cash to invest or do whatever they want to it. Um it's just like, you know, Starbucks is what do they say? Starbucks is the biggest bank in the world because every time you reload your Starbucks card, it's I think it's like $25 or something, or maybe it's $10. I don't know. But either way, you can't just do it per well, you can, but you don't get the amount of stars if you like. I don't go to Starbucks. I mean, I let me rephrase. I do go to Starbucks if the wife is going or my daughter, but I don't typically go by myself. But yeah, if you want more reward stars, you have to like do the full amount, and so they have a lot of money. So yeah, yeah, for sure. I think, and maybe Lyft will come out with it too, and we'll see. Except with the Uber Eats or the deliveries. Lyft Eats. How does that sound? That sounds great. Come on, guys, fucking do it. We need another revenue stream, damn it. All right, moving

DoorDash Viral Case And Privacy

SPEAKER_04 21:06

on. Uh, we kind of all remember the viral DoorDash girl, right? The story from last year. Um, we talked about it. She actually changed her plea to not guilty and they're heading to trial. So she was charged with unlawful surveillance and uh and um disseminating an awful surveillance image, meaning like, you know, she posted it because she's a fucking idiot. Uh basically the customer was partially naked inside the home. According to investigators, the customer was incapacitated, goddamn, and unconscious due to alcohol consumption at the time. Uh Henderson, which is the girl's name, later claimed she had been sexually assaulted, but uh the cops found no evidence to support that. The judge has now set the trial for October 19, although Henderson's defense is first trying to get the charges dismissed. A hearing on that motion is scheduled for the trial there. And you know, it's just something to think about as a gig worker. You know, it's it's a reminder that privacy does matter regardless of what you're doing on the delivery or recording. Um, you know, I've definitely recorded some content like at a customer's house. I think the last thing I haven't done a lot in a while or anything in a while that I recorded like when I hence the name blueberry bitch. Uh I had my glasses on and I I spilled well, actually I didn't have them on. I spilled it. I was like, oh, this will be a good video. But I'm at this person's home, you know, so you you definitely gotta be careful. It's recording. I'm walking up to the customer's house and talking as I do it. So just something to think about when you're creating content because there's you know, there's a ton of gig content creators now. Um, just be careful what you're recording, where you're recording, so on and so forth. So hey, Drew's back. Sweet. Amazon eats and go puff shopping. Amazon eats and go puff shopping. Is he like saying because I was saying lift eats? Well, Amazon kind of has eats now. I think Gabe, it's called Amazon now. I think it's basically like like it's like a DoorDash butt for Amazon. So all right. Before

Patreon Offer And Community Links

SPEAKER_04 23:13

we move on to the next article, just want to thank our Patreon members uh or just talk about Patreon, go to patreon.com slash the gig econ podcast. Uh there you can uh get an extra podcast a week, uh exclusive piece of merch after you are, I think, three months at the higher tier. Uh you can add free episodes and everything. And uh yeah, we'd really love the support, helps pay the bills. I think until the end of August, you get your first month at half off, and you get a free seven-day trial. So check that out so that you're able to um it is live on Twitch Twitch, Drew. Sorry. You'll be able to um get it at a discount and try it out for seven days, and then you only pay. I think the three dollar well, I I think I think the three dollar tier is a it's a dollar fifty. Oh, you think, Jason? We don't do math, we don't do geography. Um, so yeah, it's a dollar fifty for the first month after the seven days. So why wouldn't you just check it out? We uh we do a podcast after each show each week, and it's you know, depending on the time, it might go seven minutes, it might go. I mean, we've done some 47-minute patreons because we're just rambling and rambling. But thank you to our thank you to our Patreon members, Samson, Bud, Omar, Frank, Tom, Jim, Miguel, Linda, Jerry, Faith, Metal Kickass, and Anna. We appreciate you guys so much. Uh, yeah, check it out. Links are in the description. All right. Larry, he saw this. I gave him this article and he was so excited. I need I need some more sound effects. I need like a um, like a uh, do you know what a the uh well I know you know what a boner is, but the boner sound effect where it's like you know, just like something like it's going up. He loves drones, so anyways, that was a bad joke, so carry on. I

Drones Versus Ground Delivery Robots

SPEAKER_04 27:15

personally don't. I I think if you're gonna do some food delivery, I think you should do it via robots on the ground, not drones. Uh, where I see drones would be great from like the Dash Mart, like basically make it a like a Walgreens. Literally, Dash Mart should look like a Walgreens. You know what I mean? And so I can see where trying to find a Dasher and the Dasher goes there and then has to shop at Walgreens because I I I do plenty of Walgreens shops because usually they're one or two items and they don't pay a ton, but like you know, 10 bucks for three miles for me to get a you know uh a pack of tampons and some allergy meds, you know what I mean? I can I'm in and out of there in 90 seconds and I'm out the door. But I can see how perfect it would be for drone. I mean, you can you imagine the second they place that? I mean, everything's so quick with the internet, they could they could have that picked and on a drone within like two minutes. Well, you mob yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah, add a dash mark. Yeah. No, it doesn't work. Yeah, and that's not and that yeah, that's not gonna be any faster unless literally where the drones are next to the Walgreens. Um yeah, like a snack, like snacks, snack, dorete, give me a bag of Doritos, some microwave popcorn, a two-liter Mountain Dew, and this, and and then you know, I mean, if you're literally at the drones are at the dash mark, I mean I I say two minutes, and that it might be quicker than that because they're just waiting. They're just you know, and and I don't know how long it takes to program it and set it in there, and and you know, if it's autonomous. I don't know. I'm just throwing numbers out, but I I feel like two minutes on the long end. Yeah, it's the not it's the non-perishable or like quickly perishable stuff that that I think will work. I actually can see I know we've talked about it. Walmart has built a couple of these where it's literally just for spark drivers and and like there you people can't get into the store. It's not for public. It's just spark drivers and Walmart employees. I can see them starting a drone program like that from those from those spots and being like, yeah, like all this is employees and spark, you know, spark driver. Well, obviously we wouldn't be in part of that, but you know, but basically just something where it's it's not where the public isn't allowed and and yeah, just shoot them off from that. I can see you know, more perishable stuff like groceries being do that doing that, but yeah, I don't know. I I just don't see it working for for fast food and unless like the drone launch place is literally like in the the center of like 10 restaurants. They can you imagine they build like this little mini city with like Taco Bell, RB's McDonald's. It's just like in this square in the middle, the drones are just yeah, no, yeah, a little mini city with no people, just employees. But I don't know. I don't think it's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:12

And and clearly everyone's getting on board. Amazon's doing the Amazon now. You have GoPuff, and Amazon is like they already have the drivers. Even Gabe said it's starting new in his area. He got paid to sit there because it's new, but eventually it's gonna pick on, and people are like, oh shit, I can I mean I already have an Amazon account. Oh, it's free. Well, it might not be free. I think we talked about it. It was a small charge if you remember, but I'm like, God, this is fucking dope. And you know, I don't know. I just think I'm surprised it took Amazon this long to to do something like this, but you know, it takes a while to develop a program like that. They did probably didn't even think about it, and then all of a sudden, you know, these food delivery, you know, especially and then COVID happened, they're probably like, oh shit, we need to emergency meeting, like we need to get on top of this. So that's right. So

Spark Drivers Loading Their Own Orders

SPEAKER_04 32:07

I have not done Spark in a while. I have noticed Spark has gone a little to the wayside, but one thing I did see on Reddit, I thought this was um pretty interesting. Uh a lot of people were bitching about it, but it says at select stores, the pickup process may include loading and securing orders in your vehicle after scanning labels, unload items in your vehicle, leave the empty totes on the dolly. When finished, move the dolly to a safe location away from parked cars, and to a car corral should be there. Uh be there one at a and to a car corral should there, oh, should there be one at the store. Um, so all other pickups remain the same. And people were like, oh god, fucking Walmart making me do more work. Oh no, I would love this. I would love this. You mean I don't have to talk to anybody and I can grab my own shit and put it where I want and then fucking leave. I mean, some loaders are really good, they're nice, they're personable, they uh they let me help them, but some won't. They're kind of dickheads, and and I get it, you have to follow the rules, but like we're trying to work together, right? I want to get the hell out of there, and maybe you don't want to get back inside. Maybe you're taking a slow time because you wanna, you know, milk the clock or something like that. I don't know. But uh to me, I love this. I think you so I gotta go get my own cart and bring it out, and I can do it quickly. I don't know. I I think it's great, but yeah, yeah, it probably it was uh yeah, you had the stress of like not having a driver in there, but like it the the other stuff was so much more positive, you're probably like, Yeah, I don't really care. I'm

Automation Will Change Gig Income

SPEAKER_04 34:14

we'll be fine. Yeah, I mean, I think it's the future. We've we've established it, and and us talking about it, I mean, obviously it's gonna cut into our income at some point, but I still think it's important to talk about because it's gonna affect food delivery, it's gonna affect um, you know, ride share and stuff like that. And it's good to keep a like a close eye on it so all of a sudden it doesn't surprise you, like, oh shit, you know what I mean? Yeah. No, I just I love our progress, our our progression, I should say, in talking about it. Like we would talk about like once every like six months, and then it was once every three, and then once a month, and then so on and so forth. They're like, oh god, now it's just like every in fact, like when I use uh AI to kind of create titles and stuff, it always fucking pulls. I mean, even this one did it pulled drones and delivery robots, and sometimes I gotta say, don't say anything about fucking AI or not AI, but um, you know, self-driving or Waymo. Don't mention the word Waymo in the title because I'm getting tired of it. Yeah, it's it's been rapid. Um, and I bet it really came to fruition for you when you got in that Waymo, and you're like, we've been talking about this, but like I'm actually in a Waymo right now in the city that's an hour from me. Like, this is this is bizarre.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:39

I I yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I think one of the big things though that I really am curious about, and I know we talked about it maybe a year ago, but they're testing those up in the UP, which I mean the UP gets you know 250 inches of snow a year. I'm really interested to see, especially because like ice builds up on your on your headlights and all that shit. Like, how are they gonna combat ice? Yeah, that's true. Like, I mean, I I'm sure it'll be fine driving it. I'm just like, how are you gonna combat when you're going down the road and it's a rain, sleet, snow mix, and literally it's caking on you know, like my windshield, even though I mean I got the defrost full blast and it's still icing up like on the sides, like it's I don't know, everything will have to be heated. There's just no way around. And like, I mean, hot hot. Like it hits it and it instantly turns to water. So, anyways, uh, Larry, former voice of America journalist, says Uber fleet account hack cost him thousands and lost business. I assume this is he created a fleet and uh somebody hacked him.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

No, for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:50

Yeah. Um, it made me think Gabe uh brought up too that today uh for that Amazon now shift, he had to take a video. I know they're slowly transitioning phones or like an update in with that where he had to take a video and he's he talked about this color thing too. Um I'm I hope he did record it, although I may get it soon too, but uh it's just a just another level of security, thinking about hacking and stuff like that. Like I just I feel like these companies are like one step behind uh of these hackers, you know what I mean? And we talked to that that uh that guy, I don't know what you call him, a security expert, and he said, Yeah, like we'll we'll we'll complete something and we'll figure it out, and then they'll within like three months they're figuring out how to break it. So, yeah. Ugh,

Cybercab Ownership And Real World Logistics

SPEAKER_04 41:38

what a nightmare. Um, so we've obviously talked about like the cyber cab. I'm gonna play a video. I uh we've kind of seen it a little bit. This is kind of a cooler video of like um just a little bit more on it. Um and it really talks about what Larry and I have been talking about for a long time, that uh they don't want to own these fleets. They want us to own these fleets, uh, which which kind of makes sense, but we'll play that a minute. And let's see what we're doing. I I I do like to drive. Well, wait, before I get to that point, why didn't they put a rear window in there? That thing, I would want that as like a passenger just for security reasons because I can't I don't have mirrors. It may not have mirrors. I can't I didn't even look. I I that's not one thing I've focused on, but does it have side mirrors? I feel like we have to hold on. No mirrors, okay. Yeah, it doesn't that make sense. It doesn't need them, of course. But um I would want a window in there so at least I can see if someone's fucking like creeping behind me to sneak up to shank my ass when I get out of this thing.

SPEAKER_01 44:02

It's not like I regularly worry about that, but like you never know.

SPEAKER_04 44:06

You know, it's just like I would want to, but yeah, you're literally gonna be surprised. Yeah. Great. Um, yeah, so this is this is what Larry and I have talked about. I mean, I I definitely would I mean I'd have to run the numbers, but like if I could have let me think of this. If I could have a cyber cab that I could run on the weekends that would make the payment, and then during the week I could take it to work or whatever, um, I'm in, although, oh, I know what I was gonna say originally. I do like to drive, but I'm not like I'm never doing this, I need to drive. I mean, like, to go to the cabin is three hours and 20 minutes without stopping. Like, if I can get in this car, three hour and twenty minutes, yeah, three hour and twenty. So it's like 197 miles. If I can get in this car and fucking just play on TikTok and eat snacks, and I don't have to like I'm all in. I mean, I'm all in.

SPEAKER_03 45:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:55

Oh, that's well, my guess is the homeowner version of that may have some pedals and in in a steering wheel. I would maybe like because you're you're absolutely right. Or or this they're gonna lock you into a service plan and you just type in the service place and it just drives there, and then a service tech can override it and get it into the bay. Yeah, I don't know. That that's such a good question because you go into Discon Tire. Like you can tap you can type the numbers in, but how do you get it into the bay to change the tires? That's a good point, too. Like I said, it's it's there's got to be a homeowner version where you're able to like oh yeah. Because I would be worried too, like, if you rented it out, someone would like bash the fucking steering wheel. You know, I mean, I guess you would have to worry about that anyways. They could put their foot through the the airbag or or whatever, but yeah, that's a really good point. I don't exactly know. Well, yeah, I well, yeah, and but even if it is a cyber cab in Las Vegas, uh, as Faith has said, uh Seth is texting me, he just came to town. Uh, you must be visiting, uh, he's probably going to gamble. Um, but it makes me think about in Vegas, like where these are running or wherever they're gonna run. How does even the service tech he must be able to like remote in and it has like a little joystick or something where you can just drive it? Because they have to drive it into the bay, too. It's not like discount tires special or anything, they got to do the same thing. But, anyways, going back to the original point, I would be all in for this. Like, I mean, not that 30 is cheap. I mean, it's cheaper than what I paid for my car. You know what I mean? But I mean, if you were so I I know what I was gonna ask you. What is it do you like about driving? Everyone says they like to drive, but like three hours and 20 minutes, I'm like ready to pull my hair out because I'm ready to be at the location that I'm at.

SPEAKER_01 48:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 49:04

Okay, yeah, I I I think it's probably the same for me as in regards to I don't mind it. Um, I don't like I'm not as super excited to have to well, I mean, driving to work for me like during the schools school year is six minutes. It's literally six minutes. So it's like that doesn't I mean I I barely get the heat warmed up in the car and I'm turning it off. So that's that's not a big deal. But like, yeah, I mean, I I don't mind driving for work. I mean, I like like it. Um Yeah, I don't know what it is. Everyone says they like driving. I'm gonna start asking bus drivers because a lot of times they'll be like, oh, I just love to drive. Okay, what about it do you love about it? Like the freedom, the the um the scenery, the yeah, I mean, the freedom is nice, especially when you're driving. If you don't have kids in the car, like or in the bus or whatever, you can like just stop and go to the bathroom or grab a snack or whatever. But anyways, I always wondered when people say I love to drive.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

Faith says, I only like driving at 4 a.m.

SPEAKER_04 50:19

when no one is on the road. I hate other drivers. Yeah, what is what is the traffic like by or traffic like by you? I know you are in Vegas and everyone thinks, you know, it's Vegas is the strip, but I know you're not living there and you don't deliver there. But I I'd be I don't even know what the traffic is like, like in the suburbs and stuff like that. But I don't know how you do those routes. I do not like I did a couple of those more. It's brutal, she says. Oh, okay. Um, I don't like those morning routes. I mean, one of the reasons is like my I can't see out of my tent, so that's a big problem. And then like the the windows fog up over here when it's really humid, and it's just like, oh god, it's the worst. But, anyways, um, yeah, she only likes driving it for you. That's funny. All right, well, I mean, let's put a timestamp on it. When are we gonna see cyber cabs available for sale? I know Elon said probably 2027. We all know that's horse shit. 2030. Okay. Yeah, I mean, and then that seems like a long ways away, but it's not. But he always shoots his shot way too early. That's why he has 14 kids. What a piece of shit. All right, moving on. I mean,

Waymo Returns To Freeway Service

SPEAKER_04 51:54

we're talking about a lot of self-driving, and Waymo's putting taxis, robotaxis back on the freeway, but taking it slowly. Uh, a few months ago, after pulling many of its self-driving vehicles, Waymo started returning the highway in Phoenix and plans to expand to San Fran in LA. They pulled back uh voluntarily, recalled nearly 4,000 when a company discovered at least 13 cases where the vehicles entered the freeway construction zones that were closed to traffic.

unknown 52:20

Oh God.

SPEAKER_04 52:21

The software has been updated, and Waymo said it's confident enough to begin restoring the freeway service. Yeah, that is interesting because I noticed a lot of times, even Google Maps, where was it? My wife and I were driving uh back from we had picked something up on Facebook Marketplace, and the left turn lane was closed. Now it only been closed for two days, but Google Maps has still hadn't picked it up. It still wanted me to go left at this line. I can't, I have to go straight. So, I mean, what is what are these Way modes using? Google Maps, like I mean, you would think it would be especially it's how much control you have on it, you think you would be able to like update the construction and yada yada and stuff like that. But um, so why does this matter? Freeway acts is a huge step for the taxis because it can cut travel times as much as 50%, making the service much more competitive with Uber and Lyft for longer rides. Uh, they first in uh Waymo first introduced freeway rides in late 2025 before the recall. I mean, I like that they pulled it back and tried to fix it, but it's like why would you even send it out when you I mean, I guess they maybe they didn't know that it was gonna have construction issues, but like what is it? Yeah, I just I'm so curious on the software. I want to see it like work like in real time, like not riding in a Waymo, but like on the back end of it, like what it's actually doing. Somebody do a fucking documentary about it. Come on. Larry's like, okay. Yeah, that's okay. That's okay. Uh let's see, I'll bet the over on both those dates. Oh, she's betting the over on those. Okay. I mean, it's it's not a horrible bet, but um usually at two or three years after he the date he says it is is typically when it comes out. So um, okay. Speaking of drones and dropping off packages, right, Larry? Okay.

Amazon Drone Drops And Package Risk

SPEAKER_04 54:25

Yeah, and and when you see this, you'll be like, Yeah, we we we have to adjust this problem. So oh god, that's all so No, that was Amazon. Yeah. That was a big drone.

SPEAKER_01 55:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:42

Yeah, it is interesting when you know, doing a lot of Amazon route, Faith knows, you you'll grab a box and you'll be I I I literally had one today. A big ass box. I'm talking, I don't know, maybe two feet wide and maybe like six, eight inches thick. I grabbed it and it was light as a feather. I mean, I just grabbed it with my like two fingers and I'm like, what what is in here? And then you'll grab a little box and you'll be like, oh my god, there's two 50 pound weights in here. Yeah, but for the most part, they do a pretty good job and it can be accurate. But yeah, even you know, if it's a semi-windy day, I get I'm delivering, you know, some of those envelopes, and I actually have to put it under the doormat because whatever's in there is probably an SD card or something like that. It's just gonna blow away. I don't know how you deliver that out of a drone.

SPEAKER_01 56:54

Oh, instead of spitting it out.

SPEAKER_04 57:00

Yeah. That's a good point. I can see how it gets more complicated with the rope, meaning that I don't I mean, I guess you could always program AI to do stuff, but I also worry about like it probably adds another level of although if it's all the way to the top. It doesn't, I mean, maybe it is safer to lower the rope down instead of bringing that drone all the way down like 10 feet above above the ground. Yeah. Well, I mean, how my guess, well, yeah. I mean, how how close can you get to the house though? Like on those small houses, the driveways might be 50 feet. Like you you got 50 feet to play with, probably less than that. That probably goes to the garage door, so you probably got 35 feet to play with. Do

Porch Pirates And Safer Drop Spots

SPEAKER_04 58:01

you feel like Porch Pirates is still a huge thing? I feel like it's died down a lot because like people are getting vitamins, like everything gets delivered in Amazon now. It used to be like the high item stuff, like cell phones and stuff like that, and everything's in a brown box. Like, I've gotten a refurbed iPhone from Amazon in a brown box. It doesn't look any special. I wonder, I just feel like I don't see a lot of it anymore just because people are getting them, like they're stealing them, they're getting vitamins. The problem is even in in my cameras to blame too. I see some of these pictures and they're terrible. Like you're never gonna identify. I mean, if it's a good one, maybe some clothes and stuff like that. But yeah, I don't know. I I guess I don't see a lot of it anymore. Yeah, I don't know. I I but anyways, yeah. You're I guess your original point, if you're dropping at the end of the driveway, it makes it much easier if someone's going down the sidewalk to just to pick that up and just you know, put it in their bag. Yeah, also I don't want it to get run over by the fucking car. I mean, sometimes, and I'm I'm guilty of this, especially today. It started to rain in pretty hard in my route, and I definitely delivered to a few garages when the garage door was open, but I always try to put it out of the way. Like I know a car is not gonna drive over, but I've had deliveries where they pop, especially FedEx with Chewy, because they're I get it, it's a heavy box. They'll drop that fucker right behind my car if the garage door is open. I know. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I get it, you don't want to walk it all the way to the porch. And I actually I mean the porch is actually better for me because our dog food's right inside there, but I get I get it, it's heavy. I'm not gonna complain too much, but just uh put it in the middle or put it in the middle of the garage at least. Like, yeah, I mean, even if the other car isn't there, you know there's another car in there, you can tell that's a two-car garage, but I I do have to bring something up or we're running a little late, but it made me think of a delivery today.

Rainy Day Delivery Rules And Pushback

SPEAKER_04 1:00:12

So I get a note on a customer's account that says, do not drive in the driveway with the blind spot on there, and I have kids, and blah, blah, blah. Now, mind you, it's porn rain. Okay, and I it's porn rain. And so I want to respect them. So I'm I'm thinking it's like a long driveway. Then I pull in this neighborhood, and the driveway was a little bit longer, but I mean, there was no blind spot. I could see all the way to the back. It went up a hill. I did not park in the driveway, but you know what I did do? As I'm walking up, they have a long ass drive to the front door. Oh no, I went to their literal garage door, not a service door, the big garage door, and right next to a bush. I put the picture, I put the package there and took a picture. I'm like, no, fuck you. If you're not gonna let me drive up here, I'm not walking because it was kind of a richy rich neighborhood. I'm not walking all the way to the front door. Fuck you, it's raining. So, anyways, that's my that's my that's how I get back at the man if you're gonna make me not pull in the driveway. So gotta do it. All

Patreon Time And Sign Off

SPEAKER_04 1:01:17

right, uh, eight ten p.m. is the Patreon. If Larry can survive, um, I'd love for you to join us. Uh eight ten, go to patreon dot com slash the gig econ podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:30

You can sign up for a seven day free trial.