The GIG Economy Podcast
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The GIG Economy Podcast
Delivering An Ice Cream Cone Should Be Illegal | Ep 294
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A million-dollar GoFundMe for a DoorDash driver. Champagne requests inside an Uber. Robotaxis that stall out so often cities invent a new emergency category. That’s the gig economy right now, and we’re not pretending it’s normal.
We start with what drivers are actually seeing on the ground, then get into Uber Elite, a new premium rideshare tier pitched above Uber Black with meet-and-greet airport pickup and luxury “extras.” We talk through what counts as a “luxury vehicle,” how expensive this will get, and why platforms keep stacking new tiers while everyday trips feel worse.
From there, we unpack the viral DoorDash story that’s approaching $1M in donations and why crowdfunding is so unpredictable. We also hit the practical side of delivery work, including the hilariously painful “deliver an ice cream cone” problem, and then dig into gig worker pay data across apps like DoorDash, Grubhub, Walmart Spark, and TaskRabbit. We talk about active time versus real time, why customers pay more while companies take a bigger cut, and why tips make food delivery a totally different game than rideshare.
We wrap with safety and policy: creepy driver messages that justify women-only matching, debates about decals and getting targeted, accessibility rules around service animals and wheelchairs, Waymo’s growing impact on public resources, Amazon’s push for one-hour delivery, and a skeptical look at Amazon Flex drivers trying to strike. Subscribe for more real talk on Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Amazon Flex, autonomous vehicles, and driver pay, then share the episode and leave a review so more drivers can find us.
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Cold Open And Road Stories
SPEAKER_02I didn't have the stream deck up, so I was like scrambled scrambling it to get it off editing. I was like, oh, click, click, click, click, click. Oopsie. Oopsie. Too busy looking at Airbnb, Airbnbs.
SPEAKER_04Let's try it. Vacation time.
SPEAKER_02Hi guys, welcome to the Geek Economy Podcast. Uh wouldn't be the podcast without me forgetting something or some technical issues. Uh, this is episode 294, creeping on that 300. Hope you all are having a great evening. How's it going, Larry? It's going well. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04The uh weather's wack-a-doodle here. Uh we were 78 on uh Sunday and snowed like crazy on Monday. Oh my goodness. I was 34.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's it's been crazy here too. Today we got like 11 o'clock, we got ice. Like it just oh man. People were sliding all over the road and stuff like that. So it was pretty pretty sketch. So yeah. Stories from the road. Do you have anything? Because I have zero.
SPEAKER_04So I did go out last night um for St. Paddy's Day for for a few hours. Uh again, I hate that they it always falls western spring break falls during St. Patty's Day, so all the college kids are in Florida or Mexico or wherever. And so um that's a huge part of the Uber clientele here. So that slows things down. But it did stay pretty pretty decently busy. Um it's discouraging. It seems like every time you go out to seeing how the prices are, they throw you these crappy ass rides that nobody wants to take and you just decline them. But uh had a few decent ones.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. I mean, I showed those those trips last show that were just trash, you know what I mean? And it's just it's just terrible um what they're offering right now. Every once in a while I'll see someone post in one of the groups and they it just an amazing trip, and I'm like, God, that's what it used to be like back in the days. Like, how did you even get that?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, we used to just roll with those all the time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that was common. Well, maybe not like uh all day, but like you get at least one uh a nice night, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_04Where you'd get a Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Like you, we were out there on on the pral, and because you knew you were gonna, you know, if if you waited long enough and and were strategic about it, you'd get good rides. And now, I mean, you can be you can decline all night or whatever you want to do. And yeah, that's uh very, very few and far between uh rides that are that are good nowadays.
SPEAKER_02For sure.
SPEAKER_04Um, so you any any uh drunkies or anything or just oh everybody was pretty chill, didn't have anybody that was staggering drunk, had some that had definitely you know, definitely been partying, definitely been drinking a little bit. Um, but yeah, nothing too wild and crazy. Nobody nobody pissing outside my car or anything.
SPEAKER_02Oh, no, nothing finished completes a night of driving uh with uh piss outside your car.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, while they're staring right at you.
Uber Elite Luxury Ride Debate
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's crazy. I swear when I shared Traveler's thing, I saw the eyes move, and maybe my eyes were I tried to do it again. Like I shared the c the comment, and I swear to god the eyes moved. I'm like, no, I must have been not high on crap because they're not. I was like, is that really cool? Does it actually do that? Okay, back to reality. You drank too many energy drinks today. Yeah, I'm actually gonna I was so tired. I was laying on the couch. I'm like, I gotta go to the store, get a zero sugar, Dr. Pepper, because I'm dying. I need some caffeine. So uh yeah, no driving for me, but yeah, because I was busy all weekend doing other things. Um, busy, busy. All right, stories from the road, get right after it. Uh, Uber just moving and shaking. They are trying out a more upscale clientele with Uber Elite. Now, I thought Uber Black was the highest, but apparently it's like an upgraded version of Uber Black. Yeah. Uh Ridebook through Uber Elite will be operated by a professional chauffeur driving a new model luxury vehicle less than three years old. An elite-only meet and greet feature allows riders to pre-arrange to be picked up in the airport terminal after they arrive from a flight with a chauffeur. Chef, why am I having such trouble? Chauffeur. Chauffeur dutif duty dutifully awaiting at the bad. Fuck you and your words. God. Uber says all elite riders include chargers, bottled water, mints, and premium hand wipes. If those perks are deemed too basic by the customer, they can also request sparkling water or champagne in the app ahead of their ride. And Uber says it'll work with its partners to accommodate them where feasible. Once an Uber elite trip is booked, the rider can also take advantage of round the clock phone support. So uh just like anything, you can book uh up to one hour in advance or 90 days ahead, launching in LA and San Fran and New York to follow. So I don't know. I mean, the alcohol's interesting.
SPEAKER_04No, it's it's uh it's it's kind of confusing, but you know, it's one of these things Uber does. I mean, he had they had comfort for a long time and then they had, oh, right, let's do extra comfort.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And now they have, you know, we've had Uber Black for years, uh, and now it's just a a tier above that, I guess. Uh I don't know how you can offer champagne at like a thought, you know. That's what I'm saying. That's not gonna, that's not gonna fly with the local popo.
SPEAKER_02And I'm curious what new model luxury vehicle means. I mean, what's luxury? You know, like we'd we need to make that list. Yeah, we need a list for sure. Baba Seuss, Jason can't read tonight. Just tonight? Are you kidding me? No. Tonight's different than any other night, right? Yeah, welcome to the show. I can't read. I mean, I I'd be interested to it'd be fun to try, but God, that I bet that would be so expensive.
SPEAKER_04Okay, is that what we're doing in Gatlinburg? We're gonna do the Uber from the airport, all the way from the airport. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I I don't think uh I don't think Gattenburg has Uber Elite.
SPEAKER_04Well, maybe Knoxville does, so you know, there you go.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it could be, I guess.
SPEAKER_04That'd be a pretty penny from uh from Knoxville.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no thanks. No thanks. Um, so yeah, that'll be interesting to see what happens with that. I don't know. Is it really something that we need? I I guess. Maybe in the in the bigger cities, you know what I mean? I mean, they might as well uh sorry people who will do it. Yeah, I they might add what was that one that had like was it Wolf, Wolf, uh where they had like security?
SPEAKER_04Like you might have people, the armed, the armed people, yeah. I mean, and uh I'm guessing they're still around.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you might as you might as well pair that with the Uber Elite. Like, let's just step it up one more notch.
SPEAKER_04Have like a rocket launcher mounted on the hood, you know, if the machine gun out the back.
SPEAKER_02So uh all right, Larry. You're not gonna like the take I take on the next story. You're gonna think I'm a jerk, but that wouldn't be different from any other day.
DoorDash Driver GoFundMe Goes Viral
SPEAKER_04So all right. So this uh this uh video. Um do I have a video?
SPEAKER_02Oh, I do have a video, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, we'll play the video real quick and then and uh I'll add some additional information there.
SPEAKER_00Just really difficult to believe that there's that many people that are that generous, people they don't even know us.
SPEAKER_01Britney Smith's doorbell camera video of a man delivering DoorDash in Manchester has taken on a life of its own. The man in the video is Richard. Richard says he started delivering food after his wife lost her job. He worked long days to help make ends meet and pay for his wife's medications. Brittany started a GoFundMe when she learned about Richard and Brenda's story, and donations started pouring in. So she met them at Jiffy Burger in Manchester in person to show him everyone trying to help.
SPEAKER_00Are you fascinating?
SPEAKER_01Brenda says it's harder for older folks to get hired. That's why Richard turned to DoorDash. Within a day, Britney's social media post turned into hundreds of thousands of dollars for the couple. The donations could mean fewer hours on the road, a chance to breathe again after years of hard work.
SPEAKER_00It's just really difficult to believe that there's that many people that are that generous to to try to help us. People they don't even All right.
SPEAKER_04Go ahead, Larry. Yeah, so on there it said it ran it raised you know hundreds of thousands of dollars. So I checked an updated um story on it as of yesterday. Uh the GoFundMe was up to nine hundred and forty thousand dollars.
SPEAKER_02We're at nine fifty-eight, I just checked it.
SPEAKER_04Okay, nine fifty-eight. And then um DoorDash's CEO kicked in 20 grand, which is not included in that as well. Yeah. So yeah. Um, you know, it's heck, if if if somebody's gonna raise a million bucks, man, when I'm 75, I'll go do a few DoorDashes.
SPEAKER_02Well, this is what GoFundMe is is funny to me because you'll have like you're dying of cancer and you don't have money to pay for that, and you'll get a thousand bucks, but some kid returns a wallet for some lady and they pay for the the that kid's college and his kid's college with the amount of money. It's so random.
SPEAKER_04It is. I agree a hundred percent with you. I've I've noticed that same trend. When you're watching stories, you're like, oh, this family, you know, their house burned down and and they'll raise five thousand, ten thousand dollars, uh, and get somebody in another story, and it you know, it'll raise a million or you know, whatever, five hundred thousand. And it is, it's it's very random. You you don't you know it's it would be nice to know why certain things seem to catch people's eye and and prompt them to donate when other things don't, but seeing uh more important, I guess.
SPEAKER_02I wonder if it's just the the tragedy, like we see it all the time, so it's it's we're kind of desensitized, like I am. I'll be honest. You know, you see a house burn down, I'm like, oh, that sucks. And then you just go, you know what I mean? You just you know, unless it unless it touches you like personally, you're really just gonna go on for another day. But I mean, I guess seeing this old guy struggle, because guess what? We all have grandparents and we don't want him to struggle. But the take that I did want to say is like what the guy what this guy do his whole life, where's his fucking money? You know what I mean? Like, I and this is gonna sound so harsh and it's gonna sound so mean, but like, why is you know, is it is it because he didn't save enough when he was younger, and so they're living just on social security. I mean, did he raise 20 kids and he just couldn't save enough? Like all that stuff. And maybe that's the wrong take to to do, but um, I do like that it went viral. Like, this is one that I'm fine going viral on it. Yeah, but to have a million dollars, I'm just like I it's blown away.
SPEAKER_04And and I it doesn't say how much, you know, how what he did for a living or anything like that, but it did say that um his when his wife got sick, they uh you know they had um doctor's expenses and and the very costly medication that she was taking. Doesn't say what it is, but said they they went through their life savings uh paying for that stuff.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'm sure, you know, and that that could be part of it, and because the healthcare is not great, but um yeah, I'm I'm glad that he's able to do that. You you know this kind of reminds me of this is a little off topic, but you ever like see funerals of got people that like are pieces of shit and they're like, Oh, he was great. No, fuck you. Tell him yeah, no, you will never hear me go to a funeral. Well, I won't be there anyways. Yeah, but it's just always it just I don't know. I don't know why I brought that up because it seems random, but it just kind of feels like this like sure, we don't know his story because what if he beat his kids or something?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mean, you know, who knows? I know, I know. That's that's not the point. But yeah, yeah. But uh yeah, I I know what you mean though, because there's been people I've I I I've gone to I didn't go to the fruit, I went to I think I went to the visitation of a guy that I grew up with, and he was just a punk ass kid, man. Yeah, a bully and full of crap. Supposedly, but people were talking nice about it. I was like, is this the same guy that's supposed supposedly now from everybody that I talked to, like in the last three you know, three to five years of his life or something, he you know, he found Jesus and turned his life around. It was super, and I was like, Man, I would have and and my my big thing is I was like, man, I really would have liked to have met him in that period, yeah, just to see because we were neighbors growing up, man, he was a shit. And I would have I really would have liked to seen that change and and you know been able to experience that. You know, I there were people who are like, man, I'm going, I'm gonna go in just so I can piss on his casket, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yep, yep. Um so just wrapping this up, this always makes me one last comment on this is makes me make sure you guys are do good stuff and like if something happens, go do it because you never know who's gonna videotape it, and then all of a sudden they're like, Oh, he's a lowly bus driver, he doesn't make enough money. Like, let's do a GoFundMe, and you could be rich too.
SPEAKER_04Hey, you know, if I get to be 75 and and and I'm in hurting for some money, I might I might go do some of this and you know, pay some marketer to make try to get you go viral.
SPEAKER_02Yes, for sure. It's an investment, and it and also it also brings up the good point. This is what DoorDash is for, though. Look at this guy, he said, I I no one's gonna hire me. Right. And he's gonna make more money DoorDashing than working at the greeter at the grocery store. You know what I mean? They're gonna pay him 15 bucks an hour. He can go out there. I mean, he moves a little slow, but like he's getting it done.
SPEAKER_04So he's getting it done. Yeah, it's funny. Uh uh, one of the um one of the things that said here in the story said that uh he said that um the girl who set it up, you know, was talking about him and you know, talking to the papers. She said, I don't think he slept in two days because he can't stop watching the GoFundMe.
SPEAKER_02Oh, the old man? Yeah. Oh, can you imagine? I'd be re I'd have that on my phone. I and oh, and props to the old guy for using a phone. Like, I mean, that he should get the million just for that. A 78-year-old or whatever the hell old he is, he's using a smartphone, using an app. But yeah, I'd be refreshing that bitch just like dude. I'd be making plans. I'd be like, Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_04We're terrible. Yeah. So hey, we just want to say a shout out to Jeff who's in the chat tonight. Said he's uh two years removed from ride share and delivery, but still enjoying our show.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Jeff. That means a lot. Shout out to you Jeff.
SPEAKER_04Do you want to start a GoFundMe for us? We would greatly appreciate it.
The Ice Cream Cone Delivery Problem
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh. Okay, uh, moving on. This video that we're gonna watch made me laugh so freaking hard. Oh, yeah. Because we talk about this all the time. But this guy is funny. It's 47 seconds, it's about delivering ice cream.
SPEAKER_04Some good videos.
SPEAKER_02Oh, does it? I've never seen him before. Delivering ice cream on DoorDash. So check this out.
SPEAKER_00Hi, DoorDash for Mike. Oh, yep, right here. Oh, that it?
SPEAKER_05That's it.
SPEAKER_03Oh, oh, okay.
SPEAKER_05Oh, hold on.
SPEAKER_02I was hoping he put it in the bag.
SPEAKER_05Oh.
SPEAKER_04I love that, man. It's so funny because it resonates with us, because we've been there. I know. I mean, I've delivered milkshakes, and you're like, Well, what do you it's it's a middle of June, it's 98 degrees out, and you're ordering uh, you know, a milkshake.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and also when you're delivering it, you got two other ones that you gotta deliver, so it's not gonna be right away.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. Yeah, you're third on the list, and you're gonna get this milkshake in 30 minutes, and yeah.
SPEAKER_02Can you imagine if they did give you a like his face when they gave him the cone and be like, like, what the fuck am I gonna do with this?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. I don't I yeah, it's I don't even know if I'd I wouldn't take it.
SPEAKER_02I I wouldn't either. I'm like, absolutely not. Yeah, that's not happening. Even if they said, sir, you're gonna get deactivated from the platform. Don't care. Sorry. I'm done. I'll go to somewhere else. I'm not delivering a freaking ice cream cone from a dialogue. Yeah. And then, you know, obviously for the audio listeners, he's like driving down the road and he's trying not to lick the side of it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. And at the end, is at the end, you know, it's it's on his fingers and there's something he's got something in his mustache.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I I God, when I watch it, I just died. I'm like, I love this so much. Not that it just is perfect fitting to uh um, you know, as a gig worker. He's he's not a gig worker, is he? He just does bits.
SPEAKER_04I think he does bits, okay. But yeah, I tell him, look, look, if you want to you know turn it upside down in a cup and put a lid on it, but leave the cone on it because the person wants a cone, right? I'll take it, you know. But just a single an ice cream cone. I'm not holding an ice cream cone.
SPEAKER_02That's you know, honestly, I think restaurants now are a little bit more professional, have kind of gotten the gist of things. Yeah, but I bet that happened. Like I bet that happened to somebody at some point.
SPEAKER_04I'm sure it has. I'm sure it has many times.
What Gig Apps Really Pay
SPEAKER_02Like early on in the the delivery business where it was everything was new and we didn't have to, you know, be clean about it. But uh, all right. Uh Larry, gig workers per hour, and I think that was from Gridwise again. I don't know if this is an updated from one. I know we talked about it at some point. Well, that was a while ago.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and this one um I had to get a different story because the other one is from this one of those stupid paywalls, you know, shouldn't get to it. So I found kind of the same story. So this is just talking about what apps are paying the most and the least and how prices are going up uh for the customers, but not so much for the gig workers. So um grid wise, again, they do tons of research, they've got lots of great data if you ever need any about uh the gig economy. But they looked at just the different you know hourly rates uh for for different apps, and uh one called TaskRabbit uh offers the highest hourly pay at$38. Um so TaskRabbit, I think it it offer you can do lots of different things through Task Rabbit. So it might be uh somebody may hire you to put together their IKEA furniture and you know uh you know different things like that, or do different handiwork, you know, handyman jobs around the house. Uh all sorts of different things that that are offered through TaskRabbit. And then the um DoorDash is down on lower end at$11. And Walmart says it's kind of in the middle there at$26. Uh so though last year in our in 2025 the customers paid uh almost 10% more for gig work services than in 2024. Uh but uh hourly pay for workers rose less than half of that. So the companies uh increased their cut by more than 33%. So customers are paying more, the companies are making more, and the gig workers are getting the shaft. Of course, is what this story uh said. So um so they analyzed over 11 billion dollars in driver earnings to get this data, uh, over more than one billion gig task. Uh so yeah, that that's a lot, a lot of gig work out there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think the task rabbit one is skewed because I think you set your own prices for that.
SPEAKER_04You may, yeah. I that's not one that I've used, um, but I think it is uh I think that's some look that up real quick.
SPEAKER_02Well, you're looking that up, but like I knew Walmart would be high on there because you know it's just it is pretty good. Their base pay is pretty high. Um, and then when you get tips, it's even better. Uh Joe uh talking about real side empower making a statement. Uber and Lyft's scared now, they better reduce their take percentage. You know, uh Joe, I I love the idea of empower, but without insurance, they'll never survive. No one, I mean, if you have your own insurance, then it's then it's a no-brainer, right? But I want them to survive, but I'm I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole without any insurance. Like I just I'm sorry I wouldn't. And most gig workers can't afford commercial insurance and they they rely on Uber, which and I'm not, you know, I'm not uh I'm not shitting on people that can't afford it because I can't afford it either. You know what I mean? It wouldn't be it wouldn't work for me.
SPEAKER_04So um So yeah, Tash Rabbit, you can set your own rights. Task rabbit will will provide a suggested rate. Yeah. But you're it's totally up to you.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's why I think it's skewed so much because like if you're going around putting furniture together at$100 an hour and people are paying it, well, of course that number's gonna be really high.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_02Um not to not to shit on it. It's a great idea. Excuse me, but um, yeah, I don't know. I but and then you said Walmart was second, right? With like 26 or something?
SPEAKER_04It was kind of in the middle, yeah. And then uh among the food delivery apps, it says Grubhub was 1867 an hour, which it was higher than DoorDash, Uber Eats, Instacart, GoPuff, or one called Favor.
SPEAKER_02Which which that does make sense because Grubhub, when I started doing it, um, it was always the best out of everything. Did wasn't DoorDash eleven dollars an hour on that list too that I see? I think so, yeah. I mean, that can't be real, right? I mean, they're they're pulling the data.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of data.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I think eleven dollars an hour on DoorDash.
SPEAKER_04That's uh that's disgusting. Like sure. Yeah, that's that's ridiculous. And and but part of it too, it says, you know, it's harder for them to compare these apps because you know, different uh apps will consider you know hourly rate, different things for hourly rates. You know, some of them only only consider like what utilized hours. So, you know, like when Uber you know tells you their hourly rate, it's gonna be the uh you know the time that you're actually driving. Correct. So it's kind of hard to compare apples to apples on these kind of studies.
SPEAKER_02I feel like the DoorDash one seems so low though. Like, I mean, yeah, I mean, I guess if you're doing an eight-hour shift and you're just taking everything, maybe it would be. But if you're cherry picking, although I cherry pick and I couldn't put a whole day together on DoorDash. I I mean I have to multi-app with Uber Eats if I'm gonna stick just to food delivery.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, another interesting uh statistic in here said uh rideshare drivers got uh 10.1% of their pay from tips while food delivery workers collected 49.8% of their money from tips.
Creepy Driver Texts And Safety
Waymo Robotaxis Drain City Resources
SPEAKER_02And again, why why you tip somebody bringing your cheeseburger? Uh well, again, it's a bid for service, but you don't tip somebody that drives you A to B and you know in shitty weather and no one died. Yeah. I I don't get that. Uh Joe's Joe's talking about doing he does Uber Black and private black car service. So obviously he has insurance, so empower is great for him, right? Um I'm not gonna read that whole thing, but if you're uh you know, I think it's great. Don't get me wrong, I ain't hating on Empower or any of that. I just it's not for the common folk that just wants to do it part-time. I mean, you're obviously doing it full time and probably making decent money on that, so um that's where I'm at on that. So just know that I I think it's a great thing, but it just wouldn't work for me because I'm not paying a thousand dollars a month or whatever it is in fucking Michigan for that kind of insurance. So uh all right, moving on. Oh god, so this just brought up a good point. Uh, we were talking about the women-only driver thing, and then here is this. It says this this is why the woman driver option exists. This is Donald that says, Hey, I got your sexy ass again, lol. Ha ha ha ha. Sorry, my bad. Traffic's bad right now, but I'll be there soon. So he's obviously reaching out to some chick, and this is this is the exact reason. This is the shit that uh you gotta deal with, and and and not just as a driver, you know. You know, guys, as if it was a woman driver and and you know, dealing with you know, men passengers, that's kind of the same thing too. But and he's driving a Silverado. Yeah, yeah. What a great time to s to have that though, like uh just when it gets announced and they're like, Yeah, look at this, look at this. This is what I got. So stop being a creep. Don't be a douchebag. Please. Uh Waymo's, here we go again, are a huge drain on public resources. I'm interested to see what this says about it, because what isn't a public drain on resources?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so you know, we talk every week about Waymo's and all the autonomous cars that are coming onto the market. You know, Uber is doing their robo taxi, and you got uh uh just you know numerous companies trying to uh get a piece of the autonomous vehicle pie. But um this article talks about how much of a strain it's become on some of the cities that like San Francisco, where you know autonomous vehicles are are very uh common out there, but it said they're starting to really drain city resources because what happens is um when these cars stall or they get you know, we've we played videos where they get stuck and they you know they they can't move. They're you know sometimes it'll be a couple Waymo will will not you know not be able to move because uh they're each they're they're kind of near each other and and they're just kind of get uh into a loop there. Um so yeah, so uh stall cars, it says um in taxi in June of 2024 when they phased out uh the safety monitors so they don't have anybody you know actually in the car. Um the city's municipal transportation agency had to create a new category for emergency and transit dispatchers known as driverless car incidents. So it says since since then call times from uh TMC to Waymo to resolve these issues average about 20 minutes per call. It says robo taxis impurse impose burdens on other road users that are not there with human car drivers. Because again, they get stuck.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Uh a few months ago there was a uh a blackout and took out traffic lights, and Waymo taxis were says they were just stuck everywhere. They didn't know how to operate. So there there were nearly 1600 separate stoppage incidents during that time. So the situation uh ended up uh the mayor of San Francisco uh reported that they they had made 31 different calls to the company that operates Waymo um during that blackout? Yes. So while we cannot document this in detail, so a large majority of this time was spent on hold. So one one staff member remained on on the Waymo first responder hotline for 53 minutes, most of that time on hold.
SPEAKER_02The first responder hotline. So that's basically saying we this is an emergency.
SPEAKER_04This is this is yeah, Waymo has a special hotline just for emergency responders to call to deal for things like this. You know, a stop car uh is is causing a problem with first responders. So it says after texting and calling the Waymo CEO with the location of all known Waymo stalled cars, the mayor finally received a response from the company in the form of a thumbs up reaction.
SPEAKER_02Is that great? That's like the when someone does a thumbs up, what it's like a low-key just being a snarky asshole. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04So um, yeah. Uh Waymo sparks uh spokesperson said that you know, due to all this, they're they're establishing even closer communication with San Francisco emergency uh uh officials and developing additional capabilities to facilitate smoother interactions between our operations and transit workers. Uh yeah. So yeah, so so now it says you know the public isn't isn't only you know being being used as the crash test dummy, but uh they're also paying for it. Yeah, no kidding. They're they're the guinea pigs to try out these cars, but they're also having to underwrite it because their tax dollars are spent on all this time that uh you know they're having to deal with these stalled cars instead of Waymo dealing with them, you know, the city has to deal with them.
SPEAKER_02Did you ever did you do you think they ever talked about that like when they went to the city council meetings and stuff like that? Like I don't know if I would even think about that because you know they they're talking about the technology, how great it is. Did anyone say, Well, what happens if it stalls? What do we do? And and maybe they said, Well, we got a hotline for first responders, and you we'll we'll get you taken care of right away.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, 53 minutes later.
SPEAKER_02No, I get it. During a blackout, everything's offline, so it it's it's can their their phones are probably ringing off the hook. I'm not trying to defend them by any means, but I'm just saying giving somebody a little grace. But if you have a hotline that you have to have people that can answer it quickly, just no matter what the point of it is an emergency.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I need to try to find an in-depth uh something in-depth article or something that covered that blackout and read it more because remember, we talked about it one night. We could we still hadn't figured out what caused such a problem because when there's you know, if they're you're on a road with no stoplights, the cars have no problems.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So I mean, if it was blacked out, are they just well we're all uh the world is it it's probably an internet blackout?
SPEAKER_04Could it could be?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because we they're done without the internet. That's the thing. Like we all we all want to go to these driverless cars, and then we someone drops it, and I know it's never happened on on US soil, but I so when I say this, it doesn't mean it couldn't. An EMP or they're able to hack the system so and all of a sudden the city just goes to I mean it it can happen, it can happen. It maybe it's not happened in my lifetime. It's uh I've only been on this earth for 50 years, and the tech's only been around for like five or ten, you know. So I mean it could happen, but uh it if without internet, those cars are useless.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, definitely. So yeah, 1300, man. Can you imagine that?
SPEAKER_02That's crazy.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh anything else on that?
SPEAKER_04No, no, that's just uh yeah, like I said, it's it's one of those things that you know the public's really paying in a couple ways.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, what else is fucking new? All right. Exactly. Waybo in the news. So perfect place to put that. Got a video to show you. Uh I'll just play it and then we'll chat about it. Yeah. So for the audio listeners, uh, it's two Waymo's. One is waiting at the light, but what you see is the light is out, but the other Waymo went around that Waymo and just went through it like you're supposed to do, it becomes a four-way stop. So why that Waymo being in the left lane decided that it couldn't go any further for whatever reason. And there was a guy standing there kind of looking at it. And I I thought to myself, don't fucking cross in front of that thing. Although it probably would stop, but like, I don't know. You know, you know how it is. Like, if you have room to cross and people are stopped, you're probably gonna do it. But I wouldn't have crossed over that thing, I would have just like gone behind it or something like that.
SPEAKER_04I don't know, man. If it's if it's at a stop so it doesn't have time to get a lot of speed, I might cross in front of it because man, that thing hits me.
SPEAKER_02I'm I'm cashing in. You're looking at the GoFundMe cash in.
SPEAKER_04I'm cashing in.
Faster Amazon Delivery And Store Competition
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm I'm sue I'll I always tell Megan if something happens to me in the world, you sue the shit out of them. Unless it was a hundred percent my fault, you sue them. And if Waymo hits me, you'd be best knowing I'm getting an attorney and I'm gonna make sure they they pay out. Um, because fuck them. But yeah, we have hundreds of these videos, guys. These Waymo's like uh we have a couple, well, not a hundred in our chat, but like we've seen hundreds of them, and we have a couple more already queued up in the chat of just how idiotic these cars are, and um, they're not ready for mainstream, I believe.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. They they still have kinks to work at, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I like kinks too, but not in my cars. So hey, oh maybe in the backseat, yeah, of the car. Hey Gabe. Uh, all right, so that was Waymo. Okay, so the uh Amazon is introducing one hour delivery and three hour delivery. And honestly, I think it's in my area for the three hour, just due to the fact, and maybe even the one hour, because I've seen them post one hour routes, and maybe that's not the same thing that this article is talking about. Um, in my area, there's like one and two hour routes, although two hours have been pretty common, but uh same-day delivery not fast enough for you. They are revving up its delivery service, obviously, to compete with big box stores, local drugs, drugstores, and realtors, which I had an experience with that at Lowe's, if you spend$25 or more, they will ship it, they'll deliver it to your house. And I'm assuming it's on Uber Eats. And the lows that I get, I felt bad because I was gonna throw a tip in there. You can't tip, and I somebody took it, and I'm like, it had to been paying like shit, right? Like, I every one, every Lowe's one I get is just terrible. So, um, so they're trying to compete with that. I thought it was a great option. Actually, my toilet seat broke, and so I had to order a new toilet seat, and it got there in like two hours, and I'm like, shit, this is amazing.
SPEAKER_04Um, if it had only been delivered by drone, it would have been better.
SPEAKER_02It would have been quicker. Yeah, you know, Lowe's Lowe's could have their own drone system. I mean, I live about two miles from the store. I mean, that would have been amazing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that would have been awesome.
SPEAKER_02Um, so the one hour, three hour delivery, Amazon's one hour is in Chicago, Houston, LA, Nashville, Tennessee, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Washington, D.C., and some smaller cities, Des Moines, Boise, Idaho. Well, geez, all over right there in America, American Fork, Utah, random. Three hour deliveries available in more than 2,000 large, mid-size, and small cities. I would assume that's part of ours. Um oh, it said see here where okay. Well, that didn't help me. It just brought me to I clicked on the link and brought me to Amazon, but it says shop products across multiple categories and get delivery within three hours. That didn't tell me the areas. So so it caught it does cost though for the one-hour delivery. If you're a Prime member, it's ten bucks. Well, the three hours$4.99 and non-prime$20 and the three hours$15. Um, so yeah, they gotta compete. You know, I can get a lot of stuff from Walmart uh very quick. Um I mean they they Amazon can't compete with it. I can get it less than two hours maybe for whatever I want without paying out. Now, if I want it quicker than that, I do have to pay a little bit more, but yeah, it's uh it's it's interesting for sure.
SPEAKER_04It it's just amazing how everything is moving toward this. You know, it's gotta be here now. It's gotta be here immediately now, you know. And you know, you even you know, we grew up you need something, you know, you go get it, or you'd wait for it. You order it, you know. You might we didn't even have much ordering stuff, you know, when I was young, unless it was from the Sears and Robot catalog, and it'd be here in like two weeks, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I think, yeah, I think honestly what it's what's happened is is we're just not going to the store anymore. Like when we needed something, we go to the store. Now we just order it and we get it in two hours. Like if you don't need the part or whatever, if you're not if you're working on some, I mean I even do it with Lowe's. I rarely shop in the store. I buy it on the app and I go pick it up. I don't even go in there unless I don't know exactly what I need.
SPEAKER_04Right, right. If you don't know exactly the part you need or whatever, and you need to kind of compare or yeah, but like why why go in there?
Should Drivers Display Uber Stickers
SPEAKER_02Why have some employee shop it for me? I mean, they know exactly where it is, they're they're professionals, they're there shopping that shit all the time. Why should I waste 20 minutes dicking around? No one's gonna help me because that's just not what it were, what it, you know, Lowe's and home depot are. So yeah, I mean, I I love the technology. The thing is though, man, God, it puts, and I'm not an environmentalist, but I do think about it, it puts so many cars on the road. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, all this stuff that you know, uh all these things that we've done, you know, even rideshare, they yeah they first kind of tatted it as a way for there to be less cars, but anybody uh with eyes knows that it puts way more cars. You go in a big city and then you look out, and half the cars are rideshare cars just circling around, driving, you know, looking for rides, looking for rides. Looking for rides are you know on their on the you know, might have a passenger on their way to pick up a passenger, but you see them just with their little light up signs everywhere, and yeah, way, way more cars on the road.
SPEAKER_02I don't know why the the light up sign. I never was I never did I ever have one. I may have bought one, but didn't use it very much. I know Jesper loved his little light up sign as and it said yesper on the bottom of it or something like that. Like he just fucking loved that thing. I was like, nah, I don't want to identify as a as a driver. In fact, I took all my stickers off too.
SPEAKER_04I'm still I know you told me that, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm still doing ride share not at the airport per se. I mean, I have done one without the stickers, but yeah, I just took them off. I don't know. I don't want to be identified, not like I'm embarrassed by any means. Just I don't know. I think it puts some sort of target on your back or people looking at you. I don't know. It's just like, nah, I don't I don't need to do this. I don't need to identify as an Uber driver.
SPEAKER_04I've had them in my car so long, I don't I just I don't even think about them, you know.
SPEAKER_02I think one day I was cleaning my window and it annoyed me, and I just ripped them off. It wasn't like anything like super intentional. I was just tired of it.
SPEAKER_04I could do that as well. But yeah, I remember having the lift light, you know, that the amp. That was a big thing. The amp was cool. I yeah, I liked the amp, you know, and then in the middle. And then uh then when my car got totaled coming back from the picnic that year, and uh my the I think that did a number on it because something inside it would rattle after that. Oh, the lift amp. Yeah, and then also, you know, the little thing it set on was stuck to my dash, and I didn't have another one. So I think that may have been when I kind of ended the the uh I never had an Uber light up sign, I don't think. No, I did have like a uh just like a little one, not the official Uber one like that they they handed out. I don't think we ever got any of those, and I never bought one. Um I but I think I had a little one at one point that I ended up sending to John. Had Lyft and Uber on it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, I think like I said, I think I had one. Did Uber ever they had the Uber beacon, right? Yeah, like that was the official thing from Uber. Um and it did say Uber and lit up. I mean, yeah, I don't hate the idea, but like even when he when I'm going to work uh in the morning, I see on my I'm like, oh there's an Uber driver, there's an Uber driver. Like, I don't know, I I don't know why, and you know, um Traveler says he agrees to I assume about being identified as it. I don't know why it bot bothers me. Um it just I don't know. It's just I don't know. I feel like something would be gunning for me, but I don't know how. Like I I can't explain it. I just like nah, I'm good.
SPEAKER_04Well, the the the I've um there's been times when I've taken him out intentionally just because like if I'm not driving, I mean you you know uh I'll be pull up to the store and my wife runs inside and somebody tries to get in your car.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, good point.
SPEAKER_04And you're like, what are you doing? You know, you're not because you're not expecting it, so you're not, you know, you're not on guard. And but I've had people try to get in the car, and I'm like, what do you do? I'm not working, dude. I'm not your Uber. Get away from that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because they're drunk. Um Gabe says he doesn't use the decal. I know it was a requirement for a long time, and people were very like for airport, they're like, No, you have to fucking have it. And maybe that's still a case in some of them, but I'm not too concerned about it.
SPEAKER_04I think Nashville would nail you if you put it in the back. Oh, yeah, they're pretty strict. Nashville, the airport, and the Ryshare drivers have con they it's always been a constant battle down there. We I mean, you know, they they have that that group down there that's always trying to to get me to come down to the meeting so I can vote to not let myself drive in their state.
Philadelphia Per-Ride And Delivery Taxes
SPEAKER_02Yeah. You know, that's so funny. I did reach out to them, and then I eat they're the worst. I did too. Well, no, I got them to finally communicate. I got them to communicate on on um Instagram, and then I think I emailed them because I said, hey, can I have your email address? It's just easier for me to connect via email. And I think I emailed them and I never heard anything back. I'm like, if you're trying to build, like I'm I'm giving you a platform. Well, it's not the biggest platform. Fuck.
SPEAKER_04I'm giving you it's concentrated on Roger. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Like you you can get your voice out to several hundred people and and and hear about it, but you won't email me back. This is why you guys are never gonna be successful. So um, Gabe says, I dislike Randos walking up asking me about Uber or Rando's trying to get in. Oh, you like Rando's, you like them. You know you do.
SPEAKER_04Only after a few jello shots.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yes. Love you, Gabe. All right. Uh, Larry, this new tax, of course it's a frickin' tax.
SPEAKER_03Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_02Could increase Uber lift and delivery fees in Philadelphia.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so in Philly, they are uh talking about uh putting on a tax. Uh it would add a 20 cent fee to every Uber and Lyft trip that starts in the city, and also looking at imposing a 25 cent fee on any uh our most of the retail delivery orders from platforms like Amazon and GoPuff. Um the mayor says that you know, I don't take any uh uh proposal to raise taxes lightly. We've done very few such thing, you know, uh actions during my first two years in office. And these proposed taxes will be paid by companies doing business in Philadelphia. Well Uh says the idea are that the charges are meant to be a business tax rather than a direct tax on residents, but we all know they're gonna pass it right along. Yeah, they're just gonna pass it right along. So yeah. So uh 20 cents on any ride show trips uh such as Uber or Lyft. So this they estimate this 20 cent uh per ride fee could bring in about nine million dollars annually. It says while nine million may seem pretty substantial, it's actually a small slice of the city's overall budget. It said it would, you know, they think it would only add a few dollars per month to uh frequent ride share riders bills. They figured out you know, if a commuter takes five ride shares a week, extra 20 cents per trip would add up to approximately$52 a year. So yeah, but some people, you know, some of the residents arguing that um the revenue from these fees combined with delivery tax, you and enough money to to do make any really big transit changes, which is what they're talking about, use it to fund the transit system. Um but you know it's one of those things. Again, it's gonna get passed, it's gonna get passed on to the customers and not do the the companies aren't gonna pay it.
Service Dogs Wheelchairs And Compliance
SPEAKER_02Well, just just like the one we talked, I think last week, LA is they had the new ride share or the new people mover, and it was gonna be twelve dollars if you wanted to get picked up in this spot compared to using that, and that's gonna get trickled down to the customer. I mean, no one's paying that but the customer, so yeah.
SPEAKER_04But some of the you know, some of the people who are um you know for this tax argue that ride share and delivery services, you know, place unique strains on city roads and public services. Which is true, which is true, which is very true. So they say, you know, these small per transaction fees can be uh a way to have companies kind of share that part of that cost. Yeah, so they're gonna uh vote on it. It says uh uh June 30th. I guess they're gonna debate it until then. Um well it's gonna pass.
SPEAKER_02I mean, it always does, right?
SPEAKER_04You think so, yeah. And it said if it would if it does pass, it would likely take effect in 2027.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_04Well, so yeah, not until next year.
SPEAKER_02Good luck in Philadelphia.
SPEAKER_04Brotherly Love.
SPEAKER_02This was a uh service dog named Alfred, and uh no picture of it, so it doesn't really mean anything. Cute dog, but there was a settlement reached in a Minnesota um issue. Of course, someone denied it. Um the gist of it is is like, hey, you gotta take you know, service dogs, and you have to do what they said and blah, blah, blah. So the terms require Lyft to so this is the terms in the lawsuit they settled. The terms require Lyft to train his drivers on the rights of passengers with disabilities and warn them that they could be deactivated and lose their ability to drive for Lyft if they violate the law. Drivers can't cancel or refuse to ride because a passenger on a service animal or service animal or a wheelchair. Um, the state will monitor Lyft's compliance for three years, she added, and and she will get sixty-three thousand dollars from the settlement. So this is where it gets interesting. We expect all riders in Minnesota, in fact, across the United States, will benefit from these changes. Lift downplayed the significance of the settlement, saying that it didn't agree to any policy changes because of the relief the state sought was already in place. Lift also disputed the company, violated a law saying an alleged violations were by an independent driver. So, but again, this is what we're talking about. They're they're gonna they're they're starting to have to pay out these companies because they the driver doesn't have shit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Like if you're gonna get money and get some change, you gotta you gotta go after the company. And I'm I'm you know, you can deny all you want that you don't agree with it, and it's the the uh driver's fault. I mean, but the reality of the fact is you're you're the one that hired them. And so I just like that it's finally starting to come down on the companies, like the sexual lawsuits and stuff like that. It doesn't fall. I mean, obviously, criminally it would fall under the the independent contractor, but like liability-wise, it needs to fall back on on the company.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, it's such a you know a weird situation. Um, you know, they say we're independent contractor. Um when it benefits them. When it benefits them, and we should, you know, we should be able to accept or deny anything. We're like, no, if they have a service animal or you know, disability or you know, wheelchair or something like that, you cannot you cannot not take that ride. Right. But yeah, I mean, that just didn't make sense.
SPEAKER_02No, what what what's interesting about this one compared to like the safety part of it is like what else can they do? We always talked about like they they could do other things for safety, you know, the cameras and yada yada or be more aggressive on the background checks, but like for this, it's it's it really is the I mean I I'm not I'm agreeing with Lyft a little bit, it's a little bit the independent contractor because what what else is Lyft supposed to do?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they can't force any of the drivers to not you know cancel a ride.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and unless you have a live stream to every Lyft car in the country, you're not gonna be able to monitor if they do that. So that that would be the only next step to prevent this from happening, and then you still couldn't prevent it because they still could deny it. I mean, you'd be able to deactivate them right on the spot, yeah. But yeah, I don't know. I don't know what else, you know. Again, I don't feel bad for Lyft, but I don't know what else they can do. They already have it in place, you get the notifications. Um, I get I get more notifications on that than anything else from the apps, and and dogs and wheelchairs, wheelchairs, yes, service animals, I guess, in wheelchairs. The dog thing doesn't bother me. I mean, I am a dog person, but the wheelchair, man, that would I mean, we're not set up for that. You know what I mean? If if if if if I gotta take apart your wheelchair, where does where does my job stop? If this person can get themselves into the car, take it apart and get it in the back, then I guess it's fine. But then if it's in the middle of winter, like can I charge a cleaning fee? Like it gets the wheelchair thing is is is interesting. It's it's it's tough.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I did have a uh uh repeat passenger. I probably took him, I don't know, probably eight, ten times uh who was wheelchair, super nice guy. But yeah, I mean yeah, he was able to get you know get himself from the chair into the car, but then I had to take the wheels off off the wheelchair. Okay, you know, you gotta stow it in the trunk, and then it's always a jigsaw puzzle trying to get trying to get the wheels to fit right. You know, sometimes you're like, all right, I'll just set them in the back seat, uh, you know, the floorboard in the backseat, you know. But again, if it's if it's muddy and rainy and wet and all that, you don't really want to put them inside the car. So you take the extra time to, you know, it does, it does add a little bit of extra time uh for sure to the ride.
SPEAKER_02The time, the time part doesn't bother me. It's just I I'm not mechanically inclined, so I I have to get this apart. Okay. And then what happens if I fuck it up? Now I'm liable because I broke your wheel. I mean, I'm not trying to say I don't want to take people in wheelchairs, but you see the list of how many more issues could pop up. The dog is easy. You hop in, you're like, let's peace out, let's go.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, or if the dude gets out in the wheelchair and he starts rolling off and the wheel falls off, and yeah, the wheelchair falls over and he gets hurt, and you're like, Oh yeah, yeah, because I didn't put the wheel back on, right?
SPEAKER_02Right. There's so many things that could go wrong, and I've definitely done wheelchairs. I've honestly thrown it in the back. Like I've done it before, like it hasn't been it's not like it's never happened to me. I think maybe twice, but I can see why people deny the wheelchair, but I would I don't think I could. I'd feel so bad. I mean, I'm gonna do it, right? I mean Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04And and it's you know, um especially when you're not expecting it, it it you know, it catch you by surprise. Uh I think they said in there now that that they're doing more where they'll send out a notice, I guess, in advance, yeah. Um, that it is. Um yeah, what if I mean what if you don't what if your trunk's not empty? You know, what if you don't have room? Yeah, I mean if you're driving a person's like, you know, oh you're just denying me, I'm gonna sue.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, if you're driving a Toyota Corolla, which is a great car, I don't think it's gonna fit a wheelchair in the back.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I don't know. I mean, um because my cameras got a pretty decent trunk, and sometimes it's it's kind of tight.
SPEAKER_02Well, it depends on how it breaks down, of course, right? Yeah. Um, so Gregory says that he uh as far as service animals, why doesn't Uber and Lyft make the passengers with service animals show proof of it being a service animal? I do Uber pets, so it's never I never refuse any animals. Well, it's actually against federal law to do that, and and I've been a big proponent of that. That they didn't like there's a driver's license for things, there's licenses for everything. Why can't we just make it yeah, just an ID card? Yeah, that's it. Like I think that would be great. I think that would solve 95% of the problem if they had it, and if they didn't, then fuck you. If I if I don't want to take it, then no. I don't I don't know why the big hang up, why people like, well, I have a disability, I shouldn't have to. Okay, I get that, but the reality is there's always gonna be problems at restaurants and Ubers until y'all get a certificate or or a license that says this is a licensed service animal. I'm I who would other than people that are like high on their horses being disabled or or needing that animal, who would say no to that?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the reason it doesn't is because all these people who have animals that don't they don't want it to change because they're they know they're not service.
SPEAKER_02I mean, it it very well could be. They could be lobbying against it because they have an emotional support animal, which I don't hate either, but I don't think you should be able to get a license or or uh as a service animal just because you know what I mean, like or or do it. I don't care. Just give me some identification.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, just just have something in place. It's not just you know a free-for-all.
SPEAKER_02I mean, you have to have a a wheelchair plate or a placard if you're yeah. I mean, what's what's the what is the big deal? I've never like dove into it to figure out why it's so no one wants to do it, but I think it's kind of silly for people not to do it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and and I'm I'm I'm the same way as far as animals. You know, I keep uh I keep that poncho on the back, I'll lay down on the my seat and stuff. But I do remember like I had just bought this car, and like it was my first time doing Uber in this. My first ride, I pull up, I pull up to a um one of the uh you know car lots uh where somebody had we was getting their car worked on. So the car lot had set up the lift ride and pull up there, and she's got two big giant dogs. And she tries to tries to claim their service dogs. They get in as soon as they get in, the one jumps through the seat into my front seat. It was raining, wet, muddy paw. I don't remember. And I was loo, I was about to lose my shit because I knew this was not service animals. The service animal won't will not do that.
SPEAKER_02No, absolutely, they'll lay on the floorboard.
SPEAKER_04They'll lay on the floor, exactly, and behave. And oh man, I that's the only time with an animal that I've gotten upset.
SPEAKER_02Well, but then you're like caught between a rock and a hard place because she said it was.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I'm not gonna throw her out now. I've you know, got her in, you know, then yeah, and then she tells me about how she trains, you know, trains these dogs, and I'm like, they're you said they were service animals, they're not, you know, and she tells me that they do, you know, these uh I forget what she trained them for, but it wasn't service animal.
Amazon Flex Drivers Try To Strike
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Bubba Sue says I need an emotional support dog. I mean, I do too. I have three dogs, but they're all well, the one's not a dick, the other two are dicks. I don't want to take them out in public. I can't even take them to the pet store because they'll rip somebody's ankle off. You know what I mean? I guess I don't understand. Like, if you're gonna be shady about it, what's the point of bringing your dog out in public if it's not gonna provide? Like, I don't know. I I I'm trying not to be insensitive about it, but like if you truly need it, then yeah, great. But like if you're just trying to scam the system just so you can have your fucking chihuahua in a bag, like yeah, there's so many times I I'm in Walmart and I see a dog in there in a bag. Not so many, maybe like once a week, and I'm just I'm just like, whatever. I don't even fucking care. Just as long as it didn't uh doesn't, you know, run around if it's in your bag, I I literally don't give a shit.
SPEAKER_04But yeah, I don't yeah, who cares?
SPEAKER_02If it's not bothering anybody, but like yeah.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. But yeah, yeah, I guess, you know, it's we just gotten soft, man. That's just it. We've just gotten freaking soft.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so soft.
SPEAKER_04Gotta have emotional support animals, gotta have my 64 ounce cup of water with me all the time. Gotta stay hydrated.
SPEAKER_02Well, that that's that's the ladies with their with their three bags, their coffee cup, their their Stanley. Yeah. Uh all right. Last article. Speaking of Nashville, uh, Amazon Flex Drivers are striking. I don't know how this is possible, but again.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I don't either. So uh anyway, there's a group uh in Nashville called Amazon Drivers United. So yeah, on Tuesday, it was uh roughly a dozen uh drivers gathered to strike in South Nashville. I don't I don't think that's gonna put a big game.
SPEAKER_02A dozen? You say a dozen. It said roughly a dozen. Roughly a dozen, so not even confirmed a dozen.
SPEAKER_04Roughly. A dozen. Yeah. Uh so yeah, they're complaining. Uh gathered to strike in South Nashville, bringing up concerns. Uh said they're being asked to deliver more packages and make stops that are further away. Uh they don't think the pay has kept up. It says, you know, another big issue is they have to drive home after the routes to take them over an hour away from where you know where they live. Says, you know, normally they would book three hours for 80 to 100 uh for three hours. Now with more work, it's only$70. Um they want, you know, they're demanding higher pay. They want to know the mileage before they accept. Uh, they want more safety protections during inclement weather. Um they said, let's see, representatives from Amazon responded, said uh Amazon Flex is meant to be a side hustle, not full-time work. They said drivers are told what they'll make before accepting a route, and they should have enough time to make their stops when it comes to safety. Drivers never expected to make the delivery if conditions aren't safe. Most delivery partners finish their blocks early, have flexibility to take breaks as needed. Safety remains a triority.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, if you're gonna strike anything, it's not gonna be Amazon Flex. You you get all the information up front, other than where you're gonna go, like wrong place. Go to try doing it for Uber. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And and get more than roughly a dozen.
Weekend Plans Weather Whiplash
SPEAKER_02A roughly, yeah, I know, roughly a dozen people for not for the Nashville. Yeah, I uh I don't understand why people do this. Like again, I'm I'm pro-union. I'm if you need to do it, I I'm all for it. But like for independent contract work, we're not employees. Like, it's just it's just not gonna work. Uh, I'm not saying it would never work if you had every you know, or 75% of flex drivers in that area really pushing it and talking about it. Maybe you could sway them, especially if you all just stop working.
SPEAKER_04Well, I mean, they had 12. There's probably what, 15 in Nashville?
SPEAKER_02It's South Nashville, sure. South Nashville. South Nashville. Roughly, roughly, roughly South Nashville. So some little dinky town for sure. So oh goodness. Oh my goodness gracious, yeah. So well, Larry, uh, as we're wrapping up, what uh Mary joined TikTok. Hey, Mary, she's the only one I know, like know on TikTok. The other people join, I don't know. Oh, Jason joined. Oh, wait, that's me. Uh, you doing any gig work this weekend?
SPEAKER_03Let me think. What is going on this weekend?
SPEAKER_04Um, yeah, it's supposed to be back up like 83 by Saturday.
SPEAKER_01Jeez, 83?
SPEAKER_04I think so. Yeah, maybe even higher.
SPEAKER_02Let me check the I know we're in the 60s on Saturday, so that doesn't surprise me or in the 80s, but it's March.
SPEAKER_04I don't know. It's that crazy weather. Like I said, we we it was pouring down snow Monday.
SPEAKER_02This this morning when I walked out, it was it with the wind, it felt like 10, and now like 10 degrees, and now we're gonna be high 62 on Saturday.
Patreon Plug And Sign-Off
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's crazy. Uh yeah, so we were like 37 yesterday, 30, like 34 yesterday for the high. Today it was up to 56, then uh Friday's 81, Saturday's 84, and Sunday's 90. Jeez, you're gonna have to turn the air on. And then Monday high 57.
SPEAKER_02You know what the worst part of that is is the headaches that I get. When those fly like it won't be fluctuates, yeah, it just floats when when the the pressure goes up and down so rapidly like that, it's terrible. It'll mess you up, man.
SPEAKER_03It will.
SPEAKER_02So uh this weekend, I don't think I'll be doing any work Saturday. I'm actually getting uh new tires put on my car. We'll take my winners off and getting my, you know, but I had to buy new ones for my regulars, getting that put on. And Meg and I are going out Saturday night, and then so I'll probably do Sunday again. I had a good Sunday night last two weeks ago.
SPEAKER_04So I'll I'll probably get out Saturday. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Sounds good. Well, we got the Patreon uh in uh six minutes. Go to patreon.com slash the gig econ podcast. If you want to join, you can join us live. Um, it's always riveting with us too. We we sometimes take deep dives and shit that doesn't have anything to do with gig work, you'll be on the edge of your seat. Yeah, always. You should be the entire time. Yeah, so as always, don't put up with anyone's bullshit. And we'll see you on the road. All right, peace out.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, thanks everybody for uh being in the chat tonight.
