The GIG Economy Podcast
Talks about our Gig Economy adventures and breaking down the Gig Economy News
The GIG Economy Podcast
From DoorDash’s “favorite your shopper” to Uber’s airport bans, we unpack what actually helps and what hurts gig workers today | Ep 272
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Two hosts dig into what’s changing the gig economy now: a courtroom win for Uber, DoorDash’s push toward shopper loyalty, and autonomy that still fumbles at the edges. We share on-the-road tactics for better pay, safer rides, and stacking income with tools that actually help.
• DoorDash introduces favorite your shopper and why loyalty compounds earnings
• Uber negligence verdict on safety, yet no liability, and what reporting still gets wrong
• Airport cancellations trigger Uber timeouts, and why incentives beat punishment
• Walmart Spark vs Amazon routes and setting a firm hourly floor
• Prime Day lag effects on last‑mile demand and how to time your shifts
• DoorDash drone drop fail and Phoenix’s Dot robot realities
• Waymo navigates a flood zone, and airports carve AV pickup areas
• Octopus tablet as a simple tip and revenue nudge for drivers
• High‑mileage cars, maintenance trade‑offs, and protecting your margins
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Welcome, Patreon shout‑outs, new listener Anna
SPEAKER_03Hello, hello. Welcome to the Gig Economy Podcast, episode two hundred and seventy-two. Talk about Uber's legal win, Doordash, drone fail, and airport bands. Um all topics on the gig economy podcast tonight. Uh go to gig economyshow.com. Dude, I just thought about the freaking uh clip of the day. I've clicked of the week. I just clip of the week. I just remember why I like it's so we're so used to like doing stuff the exact same way. And then I was just realized because I think I had one, but I don't know. Because Faith's freaking on still on vacation. But anyways, I don't know. Gigaconomy show.com for everything news related. Uh I want to thank our Patreon members. Uh Samson from Garden Rapids, Bud Dickman from North Carolina, Omar from Detroit, Delivery Cats from Michigan, Frank from Philly, Tom Volt from Full Volo, Illinois, Jim from Connecticut, geez, Louise, Miguel from GR, Linda from Tampa, Jerry Gillette from Kentucky, Faith from Las Vegas, Metal Kickass from Louisiana, and our new one, Anna from New York City via Ann Arbor, Michigan. And uh, I want to talk about Anna real quick. She probably is like, oh no, don't talk about me. Um, so this is kind of cool. I always send a message out to people that join the Patreon and just like, hey, uh, thanks for joining. I'd love to know what part of the country you're from. And got this message a couple days ago. So uh hold on, let me get a drink here. I'm like, got coffee going on. All right. Uh she said she grew up out of Ann Arbor, love hearing Michigan references, live in New York City now. Probably not your usual listener. I don't do gig work. I'm one of the stereotypical Wall Street people, LOL, but I've been doing work trying to understand the gig economy companies as investments for the last two years, and I think driver perspective is super important. That's how I found you guys and have been listening every week since. Love your perspectives on recent news and have actually taken a few of your gripes back to the meetings with Uber management team. Didn't name you guys, don't worry. Thought you might enjoy knowing that. Never know how far uh your views might travel. So I thought that was pretty cool. Uh yes, most definitely. My skeptical hippo eyes are like, hmm, are you a mole? Are you a mole? And now you're in a Patreon.
SPEAKER_04Got an Uber mole.
SPEAKER_03Uber mole. Well, she said, you know, it's she talked about like an invest like uh gig apps as investment. So I'm thinking, well, maybe she is a like uh like works for a brokerage firm or something like that, but then it sounds like she's take she said she took stuff back to Uber. I'm like, do you work for Uber or do you work for an investment company?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04Larry? I don't know. I mean, she said Wall Street type, so yeah, it makes you think more investment banker.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_04But uh they're doing work working with Uber with some investing, or yeah, like Steve said, maybe she's a head fetch trader.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's what I thought, but then she said she's taken it to uh the some of the like suggestions back to Uber. Then I'm like, okay, so interesting. Either way, I love that she joined. I love that she's been listening, but literally is not a gig worker because that that makes me happy. I mean, of course, I want all gig workers, but um, it's kind of cool when somebody listens to that. Isn't your family? Yeah, that's right. We'll take them all. We'll take anybody. If you want to listen, uh put up with us. We are happy to have you. Absolutely, absolutely. So, Anna, welcome. Um, I'm glad uh Michigan references kind of make you think about home. So if you want to join the Patreon, even if you're not a gig worker, I gotta guess promo it that way
Community, Telegram, and clip of the week
SPEAKER_03now. Uh go to patreon.com/slash the gig econ podcast, and there you can sign up for a couple different tiers. We have uh a seven-day free trial. You can try it out, listen to it. If it's not your cup of tea, then you cancel right away, or it just charges your card after seven days. Uh, we would really appreciate the support. And uh yeah, check it out. And then Larry, no clip of the week. Uh what we should do is like uh roulette and just like spin it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, just and then just hit something and play it.
SPEAKER_03And just play it. Uh whatever it is. But it'll in my luck, it'll fall flat. You know what I mean? It won't even be that good.
SPEAKER_04But yeah, that'd be a silly question or something. Yeah, for sure. But uh yeah, so our telegram group, that's how we do a lot of our communications. It's uh like a texting app, but you can also do video or voice messaging, which is kind of nice when you're out. If you're driving, um, it's kind of hard to text and drive. It's not real safe, but it's real easy. You just hit that button and do a voice message. Uh, you can communicate with gig workers all over the country and talk to people who know the struggle you're going through doing gig work. We talk about what apps uh hot, you know, any new apps that we might try out. Um bitch about passengers and customers to each other and just kind of walk through life together.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's a great app. I I absolutely love it. And um, and then Bubba Sue said she wants to her message. I know that's what I read, and I'm like, That's what I read. Here we go.
SPEAKER_04Please, please use my message.
SPEAKER_03It's a random 18-second message from from Bubba Sue. Uh, I don't know what it says, but here we go.
SPEAKER_01I haven't done rideshare in a long time, so I'm not really sure what flash turbozone means. But wow, yeah, you're surgeon all over the place. I guess because it's Sunday and everyone's out watching football, drinking, and ordering food and whatever.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I can't hear any accent with that. I don't I I just don't know, you know, what what what what she's talking about or when she says she doesn't have an accent.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03So, anyways, if you are in the telegram group and you hear something funny or stupid or you think it would be fun for uh clip of the week. Send it my way. Faith
Stories from the road and Nashville notes
SPEAKER_03needs to punch in and get back to work, my girl. Yeah, I'm telling you. Um, all right, stories from the road.
SPEAKER_04Larry, you can go first. Okay, yeah. So it was um fall break for WKU was Monday and Tuesday of this week. Um, so Thursday, it was I actually stayed busy last Thursday, but uh a lot of a lot of the kids I think had probably gone on home. So most of my work was kind of on the um not downtown or campus area. It was kind of more on the uh you know, outer outskirts of town, I guess. But it was it was steady. I think a lot of drivers um were probably going on fall break too with their families, so it uh not a lot of drivers out. So I stayed steady, like I really didn't have much downtime. It was a good night, uh, nothing too crazy though. And then three of our sons were in town. We had one came in from uh he's uh he's over in the Virginia Beach area and Norfolk area, and then one from Cincinnati, one from Lexington. They were all here this weekend, so we did family stuff all weekend, and uh then uh last night went to the Dove Awards with my wife down in Nashville at the Bridgestone. The what awards? The Dove Awards, it's like the Grammys for Christian music. Oh, okay. So yeah, yeah, I put a picture in our chat of Broadway.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I saw that. I never I was gonna message like what you doing downtown.
SPEAKER_04Yep, that's what we were doing. Yeah, so we had a good time.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I after the last trip, Broadway is I think I'm done with it. I'm only down there during the day. I think I'm day drinking Broadway. I'm not night drinking. I'm I'm too old to fuck with people, you know. It's so busy.
SPEAKER_04It is, it is usually very, very busy.
SPEAKER_03I don't remember it being that busy when my wife and I went down, but yeah, and not as red like tonight.
SPEAKER_04Um, Post Malone's opening a bar, so he's doing a free concert on full way to be. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be crazy down there. I'm glad it wasn't last night. Yeah, that would have been a terrible uh plan on him to do it on the night of those awards. Yeah, you know, I love post Malone. I I mean I'm not a you know, his his music I can, you know, whatever. It's fine.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, he's funny. Well, I mean, he seems like a happy guy, seems like he enjoys what he does.
SPEAKER_03And yeah, it's it's I've not really read any bad no bad things about it. He seems like uh he reminds me of the Shaq Shaq of basketball. You know, Shaq, he's just he's so he gives so much money away, he'll just randomly like buy the whole store's groceries and shit. Like I just I freaking love that. I love people that are just like love doing that kind of stuff. So definitely. Uh stories from the road for
Spark vs Amazon pay and Prime Day ripple
SPEAKER_03me. I did Spark last weekend. I couldn't get an Amazon route to save my freaking life. Now, I could have got a route, but I wanted $25 an hour, and I just I'm just not gonna do it for less than that. And for whatever reason, they just were not surging. I think I had one that I probably could have grabbed, but I think someone else grabbed it before me. Well, obviously someone did because I didn't get it, but but most of the time they were all like $21 an hour, and I just I don't know, man. As everything in in the world seems to be increasing in prices, I kind of gotta stick, you know, to my guns on that. Yeah, um, at least with Walmart, if it's a little less per hour that averages, I'm not driving that much. I'm not driving very far. I might I think I did like I worked just Saturday, and I think I drove like 70 miles and I did like $120. Or did I say seven miles or 70? You said 70. Okay, yeah, 70. Yeah, that but I mean that's so low compared to like 150, 180 that I'm doing. Yeah, on an Amazon route, yeah. And you know, for me, it's better to be in the city like I am because I I don't burn as much energy. But yeah, so I don't know. Um, I don't think I'll be doing anything this weekend. I know we're talking about it early, but um um yeah, I'd like to see Amazon like it's supposed to be the busy time, or maybe this is a lull now because it's like before the holidays. I don't know. I don't remember.
SPEAKER_04Well, you know, Amazon that Amazon Prime day or whatever was yesterday and today's well they had a dun I don't know if they're calling it Prime or what they're calling, but it was it was just like Prime. And you know, it's a big giant sale. So they they've been uh uh it was yesterday and today it ends tonight. So if you want to buy something, you gotta get it before tonight. So maybe all that stuff will be shipping out this you know in the next few days, and that'll that'll make things busy.
SPEAKER_03Speaking, yeah, I I don't know. I feel like they used to have like the one and now they have like four a year, so I don't even pay attention. But speaking of that, so one of our chat members, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04The one cent.
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah, so I'm I'll post it in here. I went to it and most of it is absolute trash.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and you can only do three items. Okay. Did you see that?
SPEAKER_03No, but you can search for other stuff and it's not a penny, but it's still considerably cheaper. Right, right. Um, it's you know, I searched for like men's shorts and they were considerably cheaper. So whatever it is, is is beta. I see at the top it says beta on it. So they're trying something out. Like, I don't know are they the right like Timu?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, because it's a different cart, even because like I had stuff in the cart, uh, and then I went to I went to regular Amazon and it and it didn't show anything in my cart, so it is different. But yeah, I was all in there, man. I had like 12 things in my cart, and then I saw at the top where it says three items. So they like you only can buy three at for a penny, yes.
SPEAKER_03Okay, God, I don't even know if I could flip any of that stuff. I mean, I spent like maybe maybe three minutes on it. Yeah. Um, and the Bubasu looks like garbage. Yeah, a lot of it it was just like, what the fuck would I do with this?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you're like, What is this? Uh yeah, there's like 18,000 different kind of phone cases in there, and then these like these random screws and yeah, yeah, it was some random stuff.
SPEAKER_03Did you uh did you try to check out did you have to pay for shipping or if you have to get $25 or else you pay shipping?
SPEAKER_04Oh, see, see that's where they get you. Right, right. You're gonna buy three things that are crap for a penny, and then you're gonna buy something else to make yeah $25, and they're gonna make their money. Yeah, okay. All right. They know they're they're not gonna be losing money, that's for sure. Yeah, that's true. So poor Bezos, he's not he needs some money. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03But it was still kind of I I might it's fun to look around. Yeah, I might let my kids like here, buy some shit for a penny. Let's see what it's like. I know I posted it at work in our little chat and like five oh is we're all just sitting around looking through all this junk. Yeah, yeah, it is definitely junk. So yeah. All right, uh, gig economy in the news. Uh, this was pretty exciting to see. Uh um, I
One‑cent Amazon beta and bargain traps
SPEAKER_03got it up on TikTok right away. I thought it would do better, but maybe people knew about it. Larry, tell us about DoorDash and how amazing it is.
SPEAKER_04This is uh this is something that um you know, as gig workers, we've talked about for a long time in many of the apps that we do. Uh, you know, start out in Rideshare because we we're good at what we do. And so people ask us, hey, how can I get you again? And uh in Rideshare, it's you have to just give them your number and say, you know, call me or text me or whatever. Um, but DoorDash is finally introduced um uh uh where you can favorite your shoppers. So this picture and this graphic says, would you, you know, it's a DoorDash order. It says, Would you like Shamerian to shop for you again? If they're unavailable, your order will be sent to the next available shopper. So you can favorite them, and then the next time you place an order, if they're available, looks like they're gonna get your order. Yeah. Um so yeah, this is something that is great if you're a good shopper or or good, you know, whatever gig you're doing. You you want something like this because I I can't tell you how many times I've had people ask me how can I get you again as a driver.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Uh TikTok creating with Kita Shipped Hardy has preferred shoppers. Yeah, I mean, that's been around since they started. Right, preferred, yeah. Uh that was a little that was a little scammy. Um not scammy, but it was tough to get into shipped in if you weren't on the it almost felt like multi-level marketing. Like if you weren't in it on the ground floor, you're you ain't gonna get shit during the week. You're gonna get the the shit that goes to promo because you know no one's taking it at the end of the day. Um, but yeah, yeah, shipped has always had it. That's kind of the thing. But the rest of the apps, you know, we talked about Lyft recently in the last like couple months, right? Lyft started it.
SPEAKER_04Um wait a minute. Yeah, Lyft started it.
SPEAKER_03Uber hasn't done it yet. Are we sure? Because I was talking on the TikTok I recorded the uh I don't think so. I swear we talked about it, but the Lyft one is only for reservations.
SPEAKER_04It's only for scheduled rides, yeah. Which which doesn't happen here. I haven't seen a scheduled ride in probably three years here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um creating with Kita says yeah, shift is big on relationships. I I am big on it too. I I wish we could do that. I mean, I would I think it it it brings the uh the more like you feel like it's a business, which you should always treat it like a business with write-offs and just being smart with stuff. But this I
DoorDash adds favorite shopper feature
SPEAKER_03think with like being able to favorite somebody, like there's a guy that I think he's an alcoholic, I'll just be honest with you. I kind of feel bad for him. Him and I kind of I was like, man, take care of yourself. But on Saturday mornings, he owes he usually orders a like some food and a big bottle of vodka, and this is like eight o'clock in the morning. But like it'd be cool because like we've already built this little bit of rapport. Like, if I'm online, it would be cool that I get his order. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um, yeah, it's funny you mentioned that. Uh, as a rideshare driver, there I had a guy and uh there for a while for months. I would get him almost every Saturday, and I'd pick him up, and he was he's probably late 70s, early 80s. Okay, you know, walked pretty slow. Uh took him a minute to get in the car. Um, and we went about maybe a mile to the liquor store. Okay. He'd get his bottle, um, maybe maybe one or two other things, um, and and bring it back home, you know. And uh but yeah, relationships are big. I you know, I I love making relationships with the passengers and and have worked at doing that over the years, and for them to be able to favorite you, and then if you're available, then you get preference over them. I would love that.
SPEAKER_03I mean, you would freaking clean up. Yeah, like if you could get regular like rides with favorites, like you, I think you every every cued ride, it would be one of your favorites.
SPEAKER_04Right. So, because it's very clunky when you when they ask you, and I I don't ever tell them no, I'll give them my I'll either tell them, hey, text me or message me on Instagram or something where I'll see it on the phone, you know, pop up. Yeah. I was like, don't call me because I'm probably gonna be in the middle of a ride and I can't answer it. Yeah, not just text me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04But then you have to like they'll call and hey, can you pick us up at you know at 11 30 tonight? Well, you know, you have to stop driving at about 11 because you might get a ride, and if it's busy, you're you're missing out on money, and then and then 11, you know, half the time it gets there in about 11.25, they'll message you, oh hey, somebody gave us a ride, or we got a ride, or you're like, you know, you just want to uh scream. Yeah. Um so something like this where it's all in the app, it's all together, and if you know if it doesn't happen and then it's out of your hands, that that would be wonderful.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I just feel like those other like Uber and Lyft, though, they don't, you know, I like that she brought up a relationship because that's such a good thing. I don't think they care about that.
SPEAKER_04They just look no, they care about the the getting getting that person a driver as fast as possible. Yeah. Yeah, they don't care if that person's driving a uh a beat down car, if this person's even the correct driver. They don't they don't care about any of that. No, so you can pick them up.
SPEAKER_03But how hard would it be to be like, okay, you're the f you know, I favorited you, Larry, and you request a ride. It literally it would try to ping my phone if it's not there, boom, right to the boom.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, it wouldn't be hard at all. Yeah, it wouldn't be hard. What what I'm saying is they're probably thinking, okay, it's gonna ping Larry. Well, Larry's 20 minutes or 15 minutes, 20 minutes across town.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And they don't want Uber doesn't want that. They want to turn that, you know, they want to turn the Uber.
SPEAKER_03They would have to set some parameters because I don't want it, I don't want them ding pinging me and when I'm 20 minutes away either. I don't want to take that ride. So you would have to be able to set up some. I mean, I think go ahead.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, what if it's uh one of your passengers who favored you and like said, I'm 20 minutes away and they want me for a ride, but it's going up, you know, two miles down the road and it's paying me three dollars. Yeah, uh yeah, I don't want that. So yeah, there needs to be parameters on both sides that you can set for the passenger and for the driver.
SPEAKER_03And I think it's different with with with shopping because it's it's more localized, it's you're not driving very far, you know, it could be like a big item or a big order.
SPEAKER_04And I think you do have more of a chance to build relationship when you're shopping for somebody because that's something you know everybody's gonna get food, you know. Yeah, usually at least once a week. And uh you can have that repeat shopper. They can learn your preferences and like okay, I I know they'd be okay if I substitute this. And yeah, it's just it's you know, it's a different atmosphere than ride share.
SPEAKER_03It is for sure. Um, yeah, I like it. I don't do I mean I I tend to only if I am on DoorDash, which I did do one DoorDash Saturday. Oh yeah. In one or maybe two Uber deliveries, but I end up getting shopping orders on DoorDash.
SPEAKER_04I typically think I need to get another card. I don't think I even have a DoorDash card anymore.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I use it. I use it, it's Google, uh, it's in the it's digital now. Like I have a card, but yeah, it's um Uber's the only one that doesn't let you put it digitally. Everyone else, Instacart, DoorDash, uh, it's all digital on my phone, so I don't even have to fuck with it.
SPEAKER_04Oh, nice. So like Apple Pay?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, just like Apple Pay. Yep, yep. You just hit the button and then the card pops up
Can rideshare support rider‑driver relationships?
SPEAKER_03and you just ding.
SPEAKER_04Nice.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Well, I'm on I'm using DoorDash on my Android phone, so it's Google Wallet or whatever the hell. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Similar.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. But this guy, uh, guy or gal, I'm sorry, I don't know the name, but 604 shops. That's I mean, I'm assuming that's what that is at. I mean, that's a lot. That's a lot. So obviously, this person does a really good job. So for sure. All right. Moving on. Not stuff that we really want to talk about, but Uber is found. Now we've talked about this uh several times. Um, about the sexual assaults and and that were going on in safety. But uh it says Uber is not liable for the sexual assault of a woman who said she was attacked by her driver on a ride share ordered from the ride sharing app. Uh the jury found that Uber was negligent in terms of measures it puts in place to protect the anonymous woman's safety, but found the negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the woman's harm. That's interesting. So you're shitty at safety. Kind of guilty, but not really guilty. Yeah, you're shitty at safety, but you're not liable. So um so yeah, basically, and they're suing for a bunch of money. Um, I don't know. They said that they're, you know, Uber spokesperson said they've worked years to raise the bar on safety. Um the lawsuit also alleged Uber was aware it had a problem with drivers assaulting riders, but kept data on how many assaults took place from the public and did not take action to address the issue. Uber has maintained it should not be liable for criminal conduct by its drivers. It connects with passengers and that its background checks, disclosures about assaults were sufficient. So um and the last little part, despite these measures, Uber's safety reputation has remained fragile. And the last safety report published last year covering the 2021-2022 period, Uber said this is Uber, said reports of serious sexual assaults on the platform have fallen by 44% since his report in 2017-2018. Well, yeah, that I guess. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So um yeah, we and we've talked about this many times. Well, where where is that line where where they're responsible or they're not responsible? Yeah. And and it's it's tough because you can look at it from both sides and make good points in a case for it, but you know, uh okay, you know, what what else can they do? Um we've never we've never had, you know, we've never come up with a really great answer.
SPEAKER_03I feel and you know, people are not gonna like this. I feel they've done a lot since they started. I mean, yeah, I think they need to make stuff more mandatory, like the rec well, I don't know if the recording is, like the audio recording. I don't know if that automatically does it. I'm not sure if you have to opt in for that. But I think they've done a lot. I mean, a background check is only as good. I mean, even for the school like I work at, it's only as good as it's it is. Yeah, like you know what I mean. Yeah, I mean, it's just it's only as you know, I don't know what people want more on the background check, even if you're fingerprinted, it's the same thing. You know, yeah, okay, that seems like it's a little bit it is more detailed, but I mean there's a lot of rapists running around that have never been caught or never don't have a criminal record.
SPEAKER_04Right. The the one thing that I can say is is there seems to be a you know several stories over the years that we've read and where it seemed like Uber was stonewalling and they could have done more than they did. I mean, it's like the one we read where the uh driver took away with you know took away and had the kid in the car, and you know, it like took an act of Congress to get Uber to give any information about this driver. Yeah. Stuff like that's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_03And they've and they've definitely come a long way. They talked about 2017 to 18. I think I I would probably guess it's been reduced a little bit, but why has it been reduced? From your safety things, or is it just people are y'all changed the way y'all report and yeah, or is it pencil whipped? Oh yeah, or you know, passengers are being more uh vigilant about being safe, yeah, you know, and not putting up with bullshit. I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, like I said, I mean it's unfortunate, it still happens. I like I'm I think I told this story a few weeks ago. Had a passenger and uh had two ladies, and and the one lady was like, Hey, tell him about we were packing your driver last night. And she was telling me the driver was hitting on her the whole way home, you know, it was just her in the car. They get to her apartment, she starts to get out, you know, she puts her hand up on the on the headrest to to push herself out of the car, and he grabbed her by the arm
Uber safety lawsuit verdict and reporting pain
SPEAKER_04and wouldn't let her go. And and she stuck her hand in her purse and she's like, I got a gun and I'm I will shoot you. And she told had to tell him twice where he would even let her go. And I was like, Well, I hope you reported him. Well, I tried, but I didn't couldn't find anything in the app. I'm like, please keep trying, please. Yeah, there's a way in there to to report it, even if it doesn't say that's what you need to contact him about, just click something where you can leave a message.
SPEAKER_03That's embarrassing that it should that I mean it doesn't surprise me that it's hard because like even when I go in there, it's like I don't know where the fuck I am.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. When I try to, you know, every time I have you know, you have somebody leave an item in your car, you go to try to report it. It's they've changed it. They've all every time I think I've ever done it, they've changed it from the last time I did it. And sometimes you can figure out how to report it, and sometimes I haven't been able to find it.
SPEAKER_03And I understand them not putting it front and center, because I also think people would take advantage of that. But there should be a button that says safety report your driver or something. I don't know. Is we don't use the app a lot, but another thing you got to remember that driver knows where she lives. Yeah, that's the big problem with reporting because if if if he puts two and two together, obviously it's anonymous. You know, he may come back a knock-in. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I mean, look, she, you know, not not that still doesn't couldn't be a problem, but she did live in an apartment complex. So yeah, that's a little better. Exactly, but it's a little better, a little better. But yeah, but I mean, do you want to not report it on the chance that he might come back? Some, you know, I can see I can see where that would be a concern.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, uh, I I don't know what else to do other than just keep trying to report it. I mean, send an email, freaking record a tick tock, do something like get somebody's attention because that that that is not good.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. I mean, whatever you have to do, uh, you know, you you should have an uh receipt that has his all his, you know, his name and yeah, probably car license. You know, take it, take a screenshot of that and send it to Uber if you have to tweet it. Because that's that gets their attention. Yeah, I guess whenever I've tweeted anything at Uber, Uber support or whatever, I've always gotten a pretty quick response.
SPEAKER_03Yes, me as well.
SPEAKER_04Uh yeah, email might might take forever, but you tweet it out to the in in the in the Twitter sphere or whatever they are, you know, or X sphere, I guess now. You know, and and usually, yeah, usually you'll get a response because they watch that stuff.
SPEAKER_03I also feel like Twitter is the best one to get somebody's attention. I don't know why it seems like it. I don't know why if it's because like everything's public there and there's really not I mean you can follow people, but like a lot shows up even if you don't follow them, especially if it gains uh traction, like then and then then everyone's seeing it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so yeah, yeah. I think maybe three times I've had issues with with Uber or Lyft, one or the other, and tweeted about it, and man, yeah, like within a couple hours at the most, it was got a response from them. Yeah, well, there you go.
SPEAKER_03Go to Twitter. I say Twitter, I can't say X. I know X everyone knows what I mean when I say it.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, everybody knows when you say Twitter, it's it's like, yeah, again, it's it's how can someone be so smart in some things and so stupid in other things to name name your thing X? Because he doesn't give a shit. He's got more well. I mean, look at what he named his kids. So yeah, that tells him he's got a problem naming shit.
SPEAKER_03Doesn't he have a kid named Xylophone? I don't know. I just made that no, but it's it's yeah, it's some mathematical equation you can't even pronounce. Yeah, yeah, good idea. I would change my main name immediately when I became an adult. All right, Larry, Uber drivers blocked from airport trips after high cancellation rates.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so this uh this story is from the UK, so I haven't heard about it happening here, but uh I wouldn't be surprised. Yeah, um, so Uber started issuing some temporary suspensions to drivers who uh will repeatedly cancel airport trips, and some of them are being restricted from even getting airport trips you know after they've canceled so many for up to it says four weeks. So they kind of put you in a timeout for four weeks. Wow. Um yeah, it it's not uh it's not uh related to low acceptance rate, it's cancellation rate. So just want to make that clear because there's some questions about that. Um so these people that accept trips and then And then uh cancel them. And I don't, you know, I it happens to all of us for one reason or another, but it seems like some of these drivers do it on a regular basis because I know I picked up people and like, man, my last I had four drivers. Now they accepted the trip, they started driving this way, and then they got close and they canceled, you know. And you just wonder what the heck's going on.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't know what's uh if they're playing the cancellation game or something, but maybe trying to park close enough to get the cancellation.
SPEAKER_04I don't know either, but yeah. So it has a graphic that you know shows it popped up on these people's accounts. Says account update airport trips have been blocked due to excessive high airport cancellation rate. Your account has been temporarily bought from receiving trips to and from the airport for four weeks. So damn.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean they're not worth it anymore.
SPEAKER_04Well, not for not from here, yeah. Because like I said, you know, used to be 9,500 bucks and now they're like $42.
SPEAKER_03Do you even have an airport in bowling green?
SPEAKER_04We do have airport in bowling green. It has no uh has no uh customer flight. It's all private planes.
SPEAKER_03There's no commercial flights.
SPEAKER_04That with a almost a couple of times, they had some fly to Atlanta, they had some that flew to Destin, Florida, and they just they apparently weren't getting enough, you know, people doing it. So yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's weird that people would rather fly or fly, drive to Nashville to get a flight, which is a big city, but I mean, you know, yeah. What would so is Nashville the closest airport then?
Airport cancellations trigger Uber timeouts
SPEAKER_03Yes. Okay. Yeah, that would that would that would be a pain in the ass.
SPEAKER_04It is. I mean, it's you know, from uh depending on traffic if there's no traffic, I could be at the airport in about an hour and hour and ten minutes, maybe. Yeah. Right around there.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I guess if we didn't have one here, it would be us to like driving to Detroit, I guess. Yeah. Which I'm sure, you know, back when Grand Rapids, I mean, I don't know how long the airport's been around, but it was shitty for a long time. So I bet a lot of people did drive to Detroit.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and our airport is kind of landlocked. Um, it's it's right off the busiest road in Bowling Green. Okay. It's kind of crazy. They talked about they built a trans park out north of town, and the whole talk when they were building this trans park was going to be they were gonna move the airport out there, they're gonna have you know rails coming in there and trucks coming in there. And I don't know what exactly happened, but you know, they built the trans park and it's booming now. I mean, they're they they're having to try to acquire more land because so many factories and stuff have moved out there.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_04But the airport never, you know, something happened and it never got moved. And you know, I don't know all the politics that go behind that, but I think if it was able to get moved to somewhere else with a little um a little more cushion around it, yeah. Because right now there's apartments on one side, there's a main road, restaurants, everything right on the other side of the airport, and there's neighborhoods right there. It's it's all right there.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I'm sure a politician put money in his pocket and then moved on. Yeah. Yeah. All right, moving on. Uh, so we've talked about, you know, autonomous. This is a DoorDash. Uh, this is the DoorDash. It's called Introducing Dot, the first company, the company's first commercial autonomous delivery. So we'll watch that real quick.
SPEAKER_00Meet Dot, DoorDash's first commercial autonomous delivery robot rolling out around Phoenix. At just one tenth the size of a car, DoorDash says this all-electric bot can travel up to 20 miles per hour on sidewalks, bike lanes, and even roads using built-in navigation tech like GPS, radar, lighter, and cameras. Dot stands at four feet six inches tall. But don't think that it's cute headlights means it can't do the heavy lifting. At 350 pounds, the company says Dot can carry six large pizza boxes or up to 30 pounds at once.
SPEAKER_03Okay, for those on TikTok, uh, get the full show at YouTube. We're not quite yet to a thousand. We can't stream all our stuff. So you wonder why we were just staring and not speaking, that's why. Uh so Dot, the delivery, uh, I that thing's stupid looking, by the way. It reminds me of, and maybe maybe this is before no, I feel like it had been around when you're a kid. The cozy coop, you know, the little tyke's cozy coop. Did your kids ever have that? Yeah, and I was shocking about it. Yeah, it had the yellow top, but then the red sides, and you push it around. That's what it reminds me of. It does, yeah, yeah. I I can definitely see that. So, yeah, it says it holds up to 30 pounds, six large pizzas. I don't know. It just looks a little uh childish. It's weird that they went that route. The Uber is Yeah, they try to make them look friendly or you know, something cute, I guess, something non-threatening. I don't know. Maybe they're tired of everything else getting the shit kicked out of them, like Waymo's and Uber ones, and they're like, well, we'll cute it up a little bit. Maybe they'll be less likely to beat the shit out of it with a bat. I doubt it. I doubt it. I don't think it'll help. Yeah, it didn't really uh that that video I I guess kind of dropped the ball there. I didn't really say where they were coming out. I thought we talk about so much shit. I
DoorDash’s Dot robot and autonomy limits
SPEAKER_03already assumed that DoorDash was doing this.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it it is. It's like the uh um favorite drivers in Uber. You know, you you you hear we do we do. We've talked about how many different companies doing autonomous deliveries now, uh a bunch. Yeah, and different iterations of that too, you know, different methods, whether it be drone or these autonomous vehicles, or the uh, you know, the big pizza band that they had and all that kind of thing. Yeah, um, it does all run together after a while, and you're like, oh man, I I thought they had done that already.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it it it it absolutely does. Uh Bubasou looks either in Arizona. Um, yeah. I mean that's where all the autonomous stuff is. Well, I was gonna say, I was thinking about my area. I'm like, everyone hates the snow, but well, you'll be able to keep your job here because they're not running those fuckers in the snow. You know, I mean, maybe, but like we'll see.
SPEAKER_04We'll see. It'll be interesting. Uh yeah, when we were in Nashville last night, I was really looking for the Waymo's, man. I didn't see any, but I was I was looking for them.
SPEAKER_03Uh, are they are they live now? Can you no? I think they're still I think they're still testing. Well, Jesus, how long does it take to do that? Like, I don't know, man. I mean, how do they have to map everything? The the the maps on have been around, I don't know, maybe they actually actually have video of it uh before they can can do that. But it just seems like, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'm hoping I get an email from Waymo, you know, when they when they get in this area, you know, I've got their app.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I actually downloaded it too. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I think we downloaded it when we were in Nashville. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I'm assuming they will send you an email when they're I hope so.
SPEAKER_04I'll keep checking. Uh, but I'm sure I'll see it on the news here somewhere whether I get an email or not. I'm I'm hoping anyway. But yeah, as soon as that happens, man, I'm gonna run down there and and uh take a trip and video at all.
SPEAKER_03You might have to take a poverty uh airport ride to at least get a little something.
SPEAKER_04At least, yeah, at least make a little money to get it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it might pay for your Waymo ride. There you go. Uh Traveler says the dot can hold one small child. Yeah, that tracks. Yeah, you could probably do that. 35, what'd it say, 30, 35 pounds? 30 pounds, yeah. Yeah. It would be cool. This is like totally squirrel moment. Speaking of toddler, wouldn't it be cool that you could like I don't know who would do this, but put your kid in one of those and like you are out of control over it and you drive it over to like grandma's house or something like that. So you didn't have to like or not even not even you drive it, just it's like uh you program it in, yeah, and you just hit grandma's and it's just like all right, kids, seeing a bit, and just you know, buzz down the sidewalk. I mean, that'd probably be a little little dangerous, you know. Probably, yeah. Because someone could pick it up and take it. I mean, it's 300 pounds though, that that machine.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, just check them in a way-mo, be safer.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it actually would be safer. Um all right, uh, so I didn't read this, but I hope this applies this this mileage one, Larry. This you want to go ahead with that?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so uh I'm gonna close this ad. So yeah. Uh this story talks about um a person, you know, getting in uh their Uber ride, their Uber car and that they hired, and gets in and having to glance over and look at the odometer. And um he's he was a he's a car contract creator already. Uh, but he was just taking Uber, he wasn't you know working really or anything. But he gets in glanced down at the odometer and it had 398,000 miles on it. And uh of course, you know, this caught him by surprise, and he was pretty excited about it. So uh he made sure you know he struck up conversation and talked to the driver, you know, kind of asking him about what the vehicle's history was. And he said it turns out that the guy bought the 2019 Jeep Cherokee brand new with just 25 miles on it. So and so the guy's put almost 400,000 miles in about seven years. And of course, you know, reading this whole story reminds us of of one
Waymo vs floodwater and rollout pace
SPEAKER_04of our faithful listeners, yeah, North Carolina, who has a Honda Civic with 700,000 miles on it, and his has original engine, original transmission, everything. And uh, so this one, um, you know, the guy asked him if he did any really big repairs on this uh on this Jeep Cherokee, Jeep Cherokee, and then the guy told him he didn't really have to do anything major. He said he's done uh alternator once, uh one starter, uh he's gone through a couple batteries, uh, had to change a radiator at once, and then uh, you know, tires, normal maintenance, stuff like that, but no engine problems, no transmission problems, anything like that. So um that's it's always neat, you know, to hear these kind of things. Um a Jeep with that that surprised me with 400,000 miles on it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'll be honest with you. Fucking Chrysler sucks. And Jeeps, uh, mechanics love Jeeps because they're always in the freaking shop. Uh no offense to anyone's got a Jeep. I mean, yours might be great. And you know, there is you know how they have lemons. This is a lemon, this is an orange. So this is not an a lemon, but it I think it's very rare for a 2019 uh what is it? A Jeep Cherokee. Now the Cherokees were the best of the Jeeps, yeah, I will have to say, as far as quality. Um but uh that's that's wild.
SPEAKER_04Um yeah, the guy said that um the driver said that he's he he does do name brand tires, he swaps them out regularly every 50,000 miles. Um uh and then he took the driver was joking with him. He's and the guy asked him, you know, uh, so no major problems on you know on the Jeep with almost 400,000 miles on it, and the guy said, No, I think it's divine intervention is the only way to explain it.
SPEAKER_03Well, exactly.
SPEAKER_04That's why I say it's not a lemon, it's an orange. Exactly, yeah. Um that's that's a lot of miles for a Jeep.
SPEAKER_03It is, and and honestly, if it if it's in uh Illinois, I mean my daughter, the pilot I have, it's got 285,000. Yeah, the back is rusting out like a mofo. Like that, I'd be wondered what hit that body look like it'd be in Illinois because they have the road salt like we do. Oh, yeah, yeah, a lot of road salt, man. Yeah, um, and I we've put more than he has on that pilot. I mean, we still have original engine transmission, but we had to put like power steering, like the whole power steering thing had to be replaced. Um oh, and uh, you know, I fell in that hole too, so that yeah, that had to be all replaced. Uh so the radiator isn't original. That I had to get a radiator fixed. Um but yeah, I but that's a Honda, and John's is a Honda. That's expected.
SPEAKER_04It's not yeah, Honda's and Toyotas, man. That'll they'll they'll go and go if you take care of them.
SPEAKER_03I mean, 700,000 is unexpected for any car. Crazy. I don't care. And he doesn't, it's not like he, you know, I mean, he he d obviously drives the shit out of that thing. Yes. Um, but I mean it's not like he's like, I mean, uh, he'll probably kick me in the throat, but I don't see him being like super meticulous on maintenance. I mean, obviously he gets the oil change and stuff, but I don't know. It just feels like he really hasn't quote unquote babied it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, no, I I didn't sound like it. I mean, never, never has. He's he's not always talking about, oh, I just you know had to do this or did this on the car or did this on the car. Yeah, he's just driving it, putting tires on it and everything like that.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, that's cool. I mean, the guy he he should get in Guinness's book of world records with a a Jeep that has that many miles on it, I'll be honest with you.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. Some of the some of the comments uh were pretty funny. Uh one of them said this one belongs in the mileage impossible Facebook group. And another one said, I spy a check engine light on the dash.
SPEAKER_03Well,
Octopus tablets, tips, and driver earnings
SPEAKER_03that doesn't mean shit. I yeah, that I bought my pilot with 77,000. I think at like 150 the check engine light came on and it's been intermittent since. And every time I brought it in, my mechanics, like, yeah, it's emissions. I was like, Well, fuck that. I'm not doing yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I have a light on that's you know, the the um tire, the I have two tire, two of my tire sensors are out, and every time, you know, every time I take it in for something, they they'll call, yeah, you know, just want to let you know your your tire pressure sensors are out, you know, on two of the two of the wheels. You want to get those replaced. I'm like, nah, you know, I drove 35 years without knowing what my tear tire pressure was. I can look at them every now and then.
SPEAKER_03Nah, I would get those replaced. There's there's they're so affordable, it's not even that expensive. They're like 25 bucks a piece. It's like that would drive me nuts. No, that would be me. I mean, the cat the emissions thing is probably catalytic converter. It's gonna cost me two grand to replace whatever's going on. Like, I don't live in California or wherever you have a smog or emissions test, so I don't even care. Yeah, no, they were saying like 200 bucks. What? Where did you go?
SPEAKER_04I go, well, this is at a dealership.
SPEAKER_03Oh, well, there you go. That 200 bucks with no lube.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, a piece. Yeah. A piece? A piece? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I mean, maybe I've never priced out those sensors, but I feel like discount tire would be like like 30, 40 bucks. Okay, I'm upping it from 25. I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Maybe it's buy them um the sensors because uh I can't remember if I told you, but our um where I work where you know my our college, we have clouds. Oh, yeah, and so I get I get I can get work done there for just yeah, because they gotta be programmed. So yeah, I might I might uh ask them the um uh professor over there if that's something they do, and then I can just I can just buy the parts and yeah, have them put them on.
SPEAKER_03Might be a good idea. I don't know that the tire thing would drive me nuts. I if uh if the light was on, I'd be like always checking them. I'm kind of a you know, with my car it birds through rubber because it's heavier. I mean, tires, yeah, the one thing that kind of sucks with the EVs, but yeah, I like it.
SPEAKER_04You know, it's one of those things it's been on so long, I don't even notice it. And then like one day my wife drove my car and she calls me, she's like, Hey, I just want to ask you about this light. I'm like, nah, nah, it's good. It's good. At least she asked you.
SPEAKER_03My wife, like the other day I got in and it says maintenance due. And I'm like, babe, this is for an oil change. Oh, I didn't know. Like, she's not dumb, but she's just like, she's like, I figured you take care, but I'm like in your car once every three months. Like, I don't know. Yeah, you gotta tell me. Yeah, just tell me. Like, I'll take care. In fact, I'm going Saturday to get the tires rotated and the oil change. So there you go. Uh, Doordash drone fail. Um, I thought this was kind of funny. No. Um shit. Do I not have it in here? Okay, then maybe this is it. That's not it. Motherfucker, did I not download it?
SPEAKER_04I hate my life. No, I know you did. No, you did, because I watched it when I was looking prepping for the show. Are you sure it's in there? Yeah, I don't think it's in there. It's not maybe I maybe I just clicked on it. Maybe I just clicked on it in the show notes. That's it.
SPEAKER_03That's it. Hold on a minute. Son of a bitch. Every freaking time I do this. Alright, hold on a second.
Airports carve out AV pickup zones
SPEAKER_03No, I don't want this. What am I doing? It's all good. No, it's not. I freaking hate this. I prep for the show. I literally what I started doing is like um the second I put it for the show, like I go into my because there's all bootleg apps to get this shit to dominate. Yeah. I immediately go to my and do it right away, so I have it. So I don't know if I forgot to hit that, but here we go. It's loading in here now because I'm a semi-professional and I know what I can, I know what I need to do and fill time, but it's spinning right now because you know it is a video. So it does take a there we go, here it is.
SPEAKER_01No fucking way.
SPEAKER_03So oh man. So for the audio listeners, it's just it's door, it is DoorDash. Yeah, it looked like a DoorDash bag, and it's up there spinning the drone, and then it's going to drop it down and it like breaks free.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, it's it's starting to come down. It's probably, I don't know, a good 50-75 feet in the air. And the I it looks like the string that it lowers down or the cable that it lowers down from the drone on broke for some reason because you can see it coming down too. Yeah, but yeah, they they airmailed that thing, and it and then it lands on the roof.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, at least if it was like not food and it was maybe like I don't know, that although if it was like a can of uh or a glass jar of like tomato sauce, that's everywhere. So I bet she still didn't get a rebound. What'd you say? It's the breaking bad pizza up there. Oh my god. That lady, oh my, she did she finally sell that thing? Did she put it up for sale? Yeah, I think so. She's so dumb. You know what she should do? She should just like Airbnb that bitch. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_04Or yeah, people would pay uh pretty much Oh my god, you it would pay for your mortgage plus.
SPEAKER_03Like, what are you doing here? You're acting like a Karen because everyone's driving by taking pictures. It's fucking be smart about it, people. Be smart.
SPEAKER_04Be an American, make money off of it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly. Merkel. Uh all right, now we have the Waymo. Waymo in the news. So there's some flooding, I can't remember where, but this Waymo is on the struggle bus. Okay, Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona. Okay, first of all, there's several things. Jason doesn't watch the whole video, so he starts talking about a fucking eagle at the end. I'm like, oh god, what is happening? Dead catfish in the yard. Yeah, yeah. He's more like a hillbilly, not an Arizonian. Um, and then I love that that it floods that much, like they have a sign. Like that's that shit is dangerous.
SPEAKER_04But he said the controlled flood zone. Controlled. That's what he said in there. So uh it looks like maybe, yeah, I don't know. I don't know what
Cleanliness, policies, and practical autonomy
SPEAKER_04I don't know exactly what that means, but uh that's why he mentioned that at the beginning. Yeah, so he said this Waymo went to the controlled flood zone.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, so if it's yeah, if it meaning, I mean, are you hinting at that they opened the dam and it did that on its own? Yeah, maybe.
SPEAKER_04I mean it looked like it looked like maybe that that was that ditch or whatever was kind of built maybe for to for some kind of controlled release of water or something. I don't know, but we've we've seen similar videos, we played similar videos, but the other one like that the way we like went out into the middle and then just stopped and and just stayed. At least this one, this one backed up, right? Got got out of there.
SPEAKER_03I often, if it's controlled, I'm pretty like put some like gates up. I don't know, maybe it's not feasible because it goes all the way down, but it's weird that you would flood your street where I mean if you see the video, the traffic on the other side, I mean it was busy. I mean, that wasn't the flood area, but it's not like it was like some rural area.
SPEAKER_04No, no, no, Scott's show is not not rural.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I don't know. That seems kind of weird, but yeah, the Waymo actually kind of didn't go all the way through. I I thought this was the one I saved. There was another one where it did go all the way through. Maybe that's the one you're talking about.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03But um, yeah, so good old Waymo there. All right, octopus tablet. This is something you want to get if you're a ride share driver because you want to make a little extra money. Um, this is uh trivia, all this fun stuff that they do. Um, they really localize, well, I don't know if they localize it, but they at least for like you know, the baseball playoffs are going on right now and just kind of have a lot of cool stuff. And uh, I know Larry was gonna do a test. He says he's gonna do everything, but he never does. But we'll we'll talk about that in a minute. But you can get this tablet for free. They give you the tablet, the charger, the case, all that stuff. And you know, if you're if you're you know, a weekend warrior, you might make 50. If you're full-time, you make uh definitely a hundred dollars a month. Um, so did you test this out at all with the tipping on Uber?
SPEAKER_04I don't know how you were gonna do that, but well, I drove I drove Thursday, but I didn't drive the weekend, so not not not a whole lot of uh points there. I probably need to you know drive a fair amount for maybe a month or so and and kind of get you know a good amount of data to look at and then look at the you know previous months and kind of compare things.
SPEAKER_03But um But I guess uh we were looking at if you could still do everything on the tablet with the Uber app part uh portion.
SPEAKER_04Well, yeah, I mean I I'll need to get somebody in the car that I know uh and say, hey, look, can I stop for a minute and look and start or can you video this and show me what's going on on the screen?
SPEAKER_03Next time you get one of your friends in there, just say, Hey, I'll give you a I don't know, give them a second.
SPEAKER_04I'll give you yeah, I'll give you a free ride.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, or so yeah, just yeah, refund it after you're done and then then they can get the data on it. But yeah, yeah, check it out. Uh that it's free, everything's free, and so why wouldn't you?
SPEAKER_04That doesn't yeah, and they replace it. If something breaks, I've had a couple cables break, even or somebody even steals the tablet, you just email them and they replace it for free. And people love it, they really do. Uh playing the games, they love playing trivia, and it's fun to watch the person in the front seat that has no idea there's a tablet back there, wonder why these people are shouting these random words.
Patreon aftershow and weekend plans
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so for sure. Uh entertainment for the driver.
SPEAKER_03Uh Larry, this is a picture that someone saved. It is uh there we go.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so this is in uh San Jose, uh California airport. Uh it they have a um this shows airport pickup spot, and they have a specified place and a big sign says um autonomous vehicle ride chair. Yeah. So they have a specified pickup place for the autonomous vehicles in San Jose to pick up passengers from the airport.
SPEAKER_03I wonder why they're they're differentiating it. Um maybe it's just safer for the the Waymo's if they're all in a collective area instead of like.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's a good question. I did not think about that. But yeah, you wonder why it has to be separate from just the ride share pickup.
SPEAKER_03I mean, they should be able to navigate any other car. So if it's I don't know.
SPEAKER_04They probably they probably know how stupid some drivers can be, and they're like, Yeah, we're gonna put the Waymo's by themselves so they don't get involved in all this mess.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, or or is someone paid something to, you know, like to be like get their own spot, yeah. Um which I don't blame them. I mean, if if they can do that, it you know, it kind of highlights that this is autonomous.
SPEAKER_04Um, I mean they're owned by Google.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I don't know if Google has any money, but last time I checked, they were barely making it. Barely scraping by. Yeah, barely scraping by. So uh this is it's it's kind of cool. I mean, I'm not too worried about it. I I'm ready. I mean, I'm ready when I'm traveling to take a fucking Waymo. Like I don't want to, I don't want to be with people. Like, I'll be with you, but like I don't want to have to deal with a driver.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we don't have to tip, we don't have to do that, not worry about some some you know, person up there who doesn't know how to drive and didn't speak the language and didn't smell good and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_03Well, I mean, we had we had stories, even though they weren't wild stories, but when we were in Nashville, each driver was a little like didn't have the air on or yeah, whatever. Oh god, that would have pissed. I'd have one starred that shit.
SPEAKER_04If I if I you would have said something. I know I might have. If I I think we would, I think all of it, I think we would have, especially. I mean, there's olives there. We're like, yeah, we're gonna say something.
SPEAKER_03Well, I wouldn't have said it until I was getting out. I'm like, hey, dude, you can't you can't hold your freaking phone.
SPEAKER_04That's so dangerous. That is so dangerous. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean, in Tennessee's an uh, you know, hands-free state, you're not even supposed to touch your phone.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't even know why that even just even without the law, how does that feel safe? Don't you feel like you're gonna get in an accident? Yeah, you're driving one-handed. One, yeah. And then it's down, so you're looking down at the maps like this, or you're blaring the audio, and we, you know, it's annoying as shit. One of the two, it's it's just not a good situation all around. No. Uh Bubba Sue said drivers would block them in. I mean, I guess, but you also want to make money. I could see them like you know, grouping together to pull a stunt about blocking them in, but I don't know if they do it on the regular.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, or they skip up there in the lot and talk about okay, when you go to pull up, just pull up in front of the Waymo, and then as soon as that guy leaves, somebody else pull in front of him. You know, if you're coming in, somebody's leaving in front of the Waymo, make sure you pull in front of the Waymo.
SPEAKER_03Right. I really, you know, it's in regards to the Waymo, I really want to know. I haven't seen a lot of talk about like how trash the car is.
SPEAKER_04Like, are you getting how often are they taking them back to get it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I want to know the inside like deets about the the process for that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, yeah. I haven't seen a ton uh on.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it'd be great to have an interview or see an interview with somebody who who was worked on the back side on the cars and and could tell you, yeah, they come, you know, we bring them in every fourth ride, or we bring them in twice a day, or you know, things like that. And oh or we only bring them in when there's blood.
SPEAKER_03That's right. Yeah, we bring them in once a week, whether they need it or not. Right, right. Oh my gosh. I I feel like it's not as much as it probably should be. I'm sure because they're losing money when they're cleaning. Yeah, I mean, you're not paying a driver, but if it's back there getting cleaned, I mean it's not making money.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, they just need to they just need a car where they can just um as soon as the people get out, these these nozzles come out and just like pressure wash the whole thing, and then these big blowers come out and just dry it real quick, and then on the, you know, pick up the next person.
SPEAKER_03That it does sound crazy, but I wouldn't I wouldn't hate some sort of sanitizer that just kind of missed it through the car, just to like you know, I don't know how long that like Lysol has to be on a germ before I think it's I don't know, maybe a minute or so. Maybe it's I don't know. I'm just throwing it.
SPEAKER_04If they did it as soon as the people got out, you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_03The second the door closes, just yeah, you know, just yeah, miss that thing and yeah, I I think because nine minutes right here right here, Rick. Come to the Patreon. Uh if you are on the seven dollar tier, you can join us in the actual live stream and you can be on camera. You don't have to, but like it'd be fun to talk to you. Love to have you. Love to have you. Yeah. Uh patreon.com slash the gig econ podcast. Uh, there you can uh sign up there for a seven-day free trial. We'll be there at in eight minutes at 8 10 p.m. eastern. And Larry, work this weekend. I remembered.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Uh yeah. Thursday, uh I will be driving uh tomorrow night, and then this weekend we don't have any plans, no kids in town, anything like that. So yeah, I will be out doing some gig work.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Uh for me, I don't know. I have a field trip Saturday night taking band out again. Um I probably won't because I'll probably take Sunday off because the Lions play off. Watch football. Yeah, I'll watch football all day like intermittently, but uh the Lions play Sunday night, so I'll be real crabby Monday morning. Even if they win, I'll be fucking tired.
SPEAKER_04Uh who you who they play Sunday?
unknownThey play the Chiefs.
SPEAKER_04Oh Kansas City Chiefs.
SPEAKER_03I'm not I'm actually not worried about it. No, I mean I'm more worried about the Bucks and the Vikings that'll pull one out of their ass. That's what I'm worried about. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, I mean, we we we pulled another one out last week. All four of our wins. All four of our wins have been either last second field goal or you know, last minute drive. I was like, man, you know, I like watching good. Games, but can we win one by maybe you know 10 points or something where I don't have to be on the edge of my seat to the last second to have a heart attack about whether or not we're gonna win?
SPEAKER_03And who would have thought the Ravens would be shit in the bed this year? I mean, they've just always been competitive.
SPEAKER_04That's why you play the game.
SPEAKER_03I think we rattled them. We beat their ass to the pult, and they're like, yeah, fuck this shit. We're we're we're done.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, Eagles got beaten last week.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that could have gone either way. That's I'm not too confident uh confident about that one. And same with the Bucks. I mean, honestly, it could have gone either way every single game. So, I mean, while they're very good, that I mean, they could easily lose too.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, their record could be totally one and four. Yeah, it could be for sure.
SPEAKER_03All right, guys, uh 8 10 p.m. for the Patreon. As always, don't put up with anyone's bullshit. We'll see you on the road. All right, good night. Hey, good night, everybody. This podcast is produced and edited by Hey Guys Media Group. Want to start a podcast? Check out heyguysmedia group.com.
