• Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I shared this before.

    If you were a person of color, having Uber and Airbnb were a game changer. Taxis and hotels were awful from the 80s-2010s.

    Taxis were racists and often wouldn’t even pick you up. If they did, they often took you on a joyride. Hotels were absolute shit holes. Want to complain about your room? Go pound sand.

    Those industries werent good for decades. And the disruption actually made car sharing much more consistent and hotel experiences better.

    • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      Interesting perspective I never accounted before thank you. Cabs were notorious for not picking up black people. Can’t speak for hotels.

      • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Hotels prior to the Internet would do shitty things like:

        1. Rates increased. Pay triple.
        2. You want this moldy room or not.
        3. Lie and say this is the only thing available in town

        Hotels took a long time to actually get online checking. Most hotels were still requiring phone reservations way past 2010. And even if you get a reservation over the phone, they could always take one look at you upon arrival and reject it.

        Airbnb forced them to move to the digital age. They forced them to show the pricing up front. They forced them to have photos of the room types. They made them take reservations and actually hold it, else face bad reviews.

    • Microw@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      At least here in a european countries, taxis and hotels were overregulated and monopolized af. The business models of Uber and Airbnb may not have been the best at the start, but like you say: it was a needed disruption.

    • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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      5 months ago

      My understanding is that Uber basically lifted the idea from queer people. They were tired of not getting taxis so they started a service called homobiles ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homobiles )

      Uber then did all the shitty capitalism things and become the huge money hole and exploitation machine we all know.

      Airbnb also made the process easy it lead to rents raising by like 30% in some places .

      So they have have some convenience and such, but on the whole they’re probably a net negative.

      • RomenNarmo
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        5 months ago

        My understanding is that Uber basically lifted the idea from queer people.

        That doesn’t make sense as it seems Homobiles was first “thought of” in 2010 and properly founded in 2011. While Uber was founded in 2009 and was already operational in 2010.

        • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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          5 months ago

          I got it from “the cold start problem” , so it’s possible the author was mistaken or I mangled the details.

      • dariusj18@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I’m not sure you understand the parent comment. I didn’t realize how terrible until I hailed a cab, noticed someone who was actually also hailing but must have been doing so before me, so I deferred and offered the cab I hailed to him. The cabby noticed the person was black and just booked it. The person was resigned and indicated this was not uncommon.

        • Mango@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          I was sitting outside the courthouse with this cool old black guy smoking weed and buying it from him. This guy is a real badass and challenges my perceptions. When he waves me over to sit between him and this other black guy, the other black guy acted like I must have the plague or something and he wouldn’t talk with me or even look at me. He took the first moment he could to go sit back by Bob. The guy had fear in his eyes, plain enough for someone autistic to see. He was afraid of me, and almost certainly for my race. Feels bad man. Not because I super wanted to interact with him or anything, but because he’s clearly been through some awful shit.

          Now imagine the old cabbies who wouldn’t pick up a black guy. Why is that? They don’t tip well for not having much money? Maybe there was even worse experiences. I’m just trying to say that there shouldn’t be any pressure for individuals to rub up against something that repels them like that.

          The problem here is clearly that some industries have been dominated by particular races who tend to alienate each other and live in echo chambers. An industry should not be occupied by a race because that causes these kinda of rifts and lack of availability. I don’t think it’s fair to just be like “well that cabbie discriminated and let’s prosecute that.” We need to change the gears and lube them up!

      • criss_cross@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        The amount of times their credit card machine would just “break” so that you’d be forced to pay in cash and tip much more back then was staggering.

        • uis@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          Reeeeee! USSA, please fix bullshit tips. My country is just 4 km away from you and it’s really concerning.

          • Serinus@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            OR we can keep one fairly easily attainable, ubiquitous job that pays decently.

            I’d rather make sure everyone gets healthcare than take away their tips.

            • Serinus@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              If you get them healthcare and $30/hr (by the time we accomplish it), then yeah, take their tips.

            • uis@lemm.ee
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              5 months ago

              Not sure about taking away tips, but they SHOULD be excluded from counting wage. Ability to legally pay worker zero because tips count towards paid wage should not exist.

        • RomenNarmo
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          5 months ago

          Why do you think Uber took off in white only countries? Or how does Bolt exist. Lol

            • RomenNarmo
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              5 months ago

              Countries where the population is predominantly white and minorities are other also white ethnicities.

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_groups_in_Europe?oldformat=true#European_ethnic_groups_by_sovereign_state

              Which of these countries is not white? They’re all whiter than the USA. Ask anyone here and they’ll also say taxis suck lol.

              Country Majority % Regional majorities
              Albania Albanians 97% Greeks ≈3%, others
              Armenia Armenians 98.1% -
              Azerbaijan Azerbaijanis 91.6% Lezgin 2%, Armenians 1.35%
              Belarus Belarusians 83.7% Russians 8.3%
              Belgium Flemings 58% Walloons 31%
              Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosniaks 50.11% Serbs 30.78%, Croats 15.43%
              Bulgaria Bulgarians 84% Turks 8.8%
              Croatia Croats 91.6% -
              Czech Republic Czechs 90.4% Moravians 3.7%
              Denmark Danes 90% -
              Estonia Estonians 68.8% Russians 24.2%
              Finland Finns 93.4% Finland-Swedes 5.6%
              Georgia Georgians 86.8% -
              Greece Greeks 93% Albanians 4%
              Hungary Hungarians 92.3% -
              Iceland Icelanders 91% -
              Republic of Ireland Irish 87.4% -
              Italy Italians 91.7% Southtyroleans
              Kosovo Albanians 92% Serbs 4%
              Latvia Latvians 62.1% Russians 26.9%, Belarusian 3.3%, Ukrainian 2.2%, Polish 2.2%, Lithuanian 1.2%
              Lithuania Lithuanians 84.61% Poles 6.53%
              Malta Maltese 95.3% -
              Moldova Moldovans 75.1% Gagauzs 4.6%, Bulgarians 1.9%
              Montenegro Montenegrins 44.98% Serbs 28.73%
              North Macedonia Macedonians 64% Albanians 25.2%
              Norway Norwegians 85-87% Sami 0.7%
              Poland Poles 97% Germans 0.4%
              Portugal Portuguese 95% -
              Romania Romanians 83.4% Hungarians 6.1%
              Russia Russians 81% -
              Serbia Serbs 83% -
              Slovakia Slovaks 86% Hungarians 9.7%
              Slovenia Slovenes 83% -
              Sweden Swedes 88% -
              Switzerland Swiss Germans 65% French 18%, Italians 10%
              Ukraine Ukranians 77.8% Russians 17.3%
    • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      “I will never forget the look on that cab driver’s face as he drove away.”

      -former business contact extolling Uber (this was in its early days), describing a taxi driver scamming her in a foreign country with unfamiliar currency

      And now I’ve never forgotten her words…