Hello. Is it too late to ask that the rhetoric be dialed back down? Thanks. Happy Monday.
This same lesson was thrust upon me with the downfalls of Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, and learning about Jack Warner in James Garnersâ autobiography.
Just to keep it automotive: Henry Ford was no angel.
Tesla isnât the only ev manufacturer, so I have choices
And I probably wonât be ready to buy another car for a few years
So there will probably be even more choices, when itâs time
Bringing it back to cars . . .
I worked with some guys that actually were born and grew up âbehind the iron curtainâ
They told me they had to wait several years, before their number came up, in regards to getting a car
And by the time their number came up, the care they got was older than they were . . .
I have never met Elon Musk so I take all the second and third hand stories about him with a grain of salt. I have met people whoâs reputation preceded them only to find out they were actually pretty nice guys. A lot of people who spread stories have their own axes to grind.
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What about some of his comments and tweets . . . ?!
Thatâs not rumours and/or hearsay . . . those are HIS words, not somebody elseâs
Heâs spreading his own stories, as far as I"m concerned . . .
I take a man at his word, and Muskâs words are disturbing.
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It was pointed out that Henry Ford âwas no angelâ
Agreed
That said . . . Elon Musk is currently the head of Tesla, last time I checked
Henry Ford hasnât been the head of Ford Motor Company for quite some time
But I agree that with a lot of companies that have been around a long time, if you go back and do some snooping around, many of them probably did some very shady things
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Interesting points made here⊠and yetâŠ
I sit here and ponder why the âLoveâ option was removed and replaced with the Hitch Hikers symbol.
What⊠No more Love around here ?
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The Dutch workers who threw theyr wooden shoes (sabots) into the industrial machinery tp wreck it were called saboteurs.
Funny how Luddite and saboteur have different meanings today.
I am a Luddite, not a saboteur.
I believe that âsabotâ and âsaboteurâ has French origins from the French word for hoof or clog. The âtâ is silent in sabot. The Dutch word for shoe is âshoeâ which is pronounced the same as the German word for shoe, âschuhâ.
âSabotageâ is the act of destroying something. Luddites sabotaged factory machinery. Being a Luddite is one motivation for committing sabotage.
What a coincidence, speaking of sabotage and luddites on a car forum when Uber and Lyft continue to lose money their stock price grows. Reading between the lines of news stories of both companies it seems that each wishes to cash in on the most lucrative markets by flooding them with somewhat desperately eager 1099 employees who compete with each other for the best customers. And the drivers who have âday jobsâ only operate when at peak business period and congregate at the beset locations to take business from those who are struggling to support themselves in the business. The business model leaves the owner operators at a disadvantage and leaves licensed cabs being left to pick up the often undesirable left overs and the situation is due to high tech control of owner operators with internet apps.
New York City taxi medallions have trashed the efforts of many drivers to earn a decent living and provide for their retirement. And day by day the competition among ride share drivers leaves them scrambling and rushing to make a decent living also. But so far I havenât heard of any shoes being tossed by drivers at their competition. Who will win the war for the taxi business? And will the customers lose regardless who wins? Are licensed cabs for luddites?
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I see the âgigâ economy as just a way for large companies to short circuit labor laws, unemployment and workman"s comp laws, health care laws and labor unions. Why NY city lets them operate while requiring cabs to have medallions or reimbursing cabbies for their medallions is beyond me. If you think surge pricing is bad now, wait until all the cabs are gone, They canât exist on the leavings of Uber and Lyft forever.
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While the word sabotage likely is associated with labor unrest, this source says the shoes in the machinery is not true.
I suppose there are local couriers and local delivery drivers who are on staff at a company who make a decent living driving, but I see most driving jobs as a losing proposition. Not only do you spend your days doing one of the most stressful jobs imaginable, but your vehicle becomes a sweatshop on wheels.
Long haul truck driving for a company is frustrating because the benefits are terrible, and you get paid by the map mile (rather than actual mileage), so when you get stuck in traffic, or get re-routed around weather or traffic, you take a hit in income. Youâre dependent on the competency of a driver manager to select routes for you that wonât waste your time sitting and waiting for a trailer to be loaded and unloaded. Your driver manager can also send you looking for an empty trailer without regard for the miles you have to drive and the consequences of how it affects your 11-hour and 14-hour clocks.
Youâd think owner-operators have it better since theyâre their own bosses, but insurance on a tractor-trailer is so expensive that taking time off hits your income twice: loss of pay, but the insurance bill still needs to get paid.
I have a friend who used to drive a taxi in Wisconsin until Uber and Lyft came around, and she got out just in time, but I also know someone who, when he lost his job and his wife got sick, he started driving for Uber in an attempt to keep up with the medical bills while doing medical transcription from home.
Here is the thing about driving for Uber and Lyft: They have strict rules about the age and condition of your car, so while I can keep driving the same car for 15 years after paying it off, most Uber drivers are in a virtual tug-of-war between fixed costs and variable costs. Sure, using your car to generate income will help you keep up with the fixed costs, but the money you generate will significantly increase your variable costs in the meantime. Unless you budget a portion of your Lyft/Uber income for maintenance and repairs (which you can only do if you estimate your per-mile variable costs), youâre going to end up using all of your Lyft/Uber income to pay your other bills and living costs, leaving you insufficient funds when your 60,000 mile and 120,000 mile maintenance comes due sooner than you expected, and you end up buying tires brake jobs sooner than you would have to otherwise.
Places that have resisted allowing Uber and Lyft to operate in their jurisdictions have faced fierce backlash from the public. In NYC in particular, car culture is so nonexistent that people are simply happy to have more options, and theyâre tired of the virtual monopoly that has allowed taxi cab fares to stay so high for so long.
People want Uber and Lyft for the same reason they want a Walmart in their area: Americans have maintained our standard of living in the face of stagnant wages by outsourcing manufacturing overseas so we can keep costs down. Nobody cares whether the people who serve them have to work two or three jobs in order to barely get by, as long as they can get what they want cheaply. Few people are willing to pay more than they have to in order to ensure the people who serve them are making a living wage, particularly people who cannot afford the luxury of paying more than they absolutely have to.
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Forty years ago I was a contract driver for a parcel delivery service and made an above average income, in fact well above average for Mississippi. And because I was able to take care of all repairs and maintenance myself on weekends there was virtually no vehicle down time and often other drivers paid me to work on their trucks on weekends also which resulted in my acquiring a great many tools and connections that made opening my own shop a somewhat easy move.
Like all jobs parcel delivery has its issues and for those not suited it can be a nightmare. And even if the actual work suits someone the self employment part is a tough hill to climb for many. Those radio ads for negotiating federal income tax debts include a lot of FedEx Ground drivers who jump into the job and find a lot of success and quickly get themselves up to their ears in mortgages and car payments and credit card debts and then get a big surprise when they owe 30%+ of their gross income. I must assume that those ride share drivers who find success often likewise find themselves facing the IRS and they are never friendly.
Gig work does seem to be part of the race to the bottom for working Main St Americans. Itâs 21st century urban share cropping.
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WallMart in NH and MA is hiring a $80k/yr. Even in MA which has one of the highest cost of living in the country you can live on that amount. One neighbor is a WallMart driver. Wife is a Nurse in Boston. His basic work during the day is to make 2-5 deliveries from the warehouse to a store. Drop and go. Number of deliveries all depend on how far he has to travel. But I suspect most arenât like that.
Iâm aware of those Walmert driving jobs. Itâs not easy to land one. You have to have a lot of experience, hundreds of thousands of miles under your belt working for sweatshop level wages.
Those Walmart jobs donât go to newly-trained drivers who just graduated from truck driving school.
Never said they did. According to their website you only need 30 months experience and a good driving record.
Iâm no Luddite, but I am fanatical about motorcycle safety, and I have to say, @cdaquila, that I am very concerned about this poor womanâs safety. If she doesnât want to wear a helmet, thatâs her choice, but she should definitely put on some pants. Nobody should ride a motorcycle in just their underwear.
Iâd âDouble Bagâ the entire bike ifun I knew she would be a sittinâŠ
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