Uber Just Made a Deal… This Could Change Everything for Drivers | Ep 295

Robotaxis, rising costs, and shaky app promises are colliding fast, and we’re starting to see what that means for drivers who count on rideshare and delivery money. We break down Uber’s latest autonomous moves, the arrival-time lawsuit, and the everyday strategies that keep gig work from turning into a financial trap. 
• Uber’s Rivian robotaxi plan and why it matters for drivers 
• the coming squeeze as automation grows and layoffs push more people into gig work 
• app waitlists for Spark and Grubhub, and the case for diversifying across platforms 
• the Uber arrival-time class action and how “priority” options can mislead riders 
• DoorDash gas relief tiers and a reality check on fuel math 
• EV adoption whiplash and why manufacturers keep changing direction 
• a Grubhub pickup from a restaurant inside a car dealership 
• DoorDash “tasks” and the link between gig work and AI training data 
• Amazon Flex gear talk and why visibility can feel like a risk 
• Waymo’s train-crossing near miss and ongoing safety doubts 
• big weekly Uber earnings numbers and what they hide in expenses and hours 
• the no-tip DoorDash skit and the awkward truth behind tipping culture 
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Transcript

Welcome And Weather Talk

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Hello, hello. Welcome to the Big Economy Podcast. Episode two hundred and ninety-five. I'm here with Larry like I am every week. Appreciate him so much. How's it going, Larry?

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Yeah, it's going well. It's going well. The uh spring is starting to spring here a little bit, so uh liking that a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

For sure. I feel like we talk about the weather every time we get on. We're like, hey, we're old men. How's it going? Oh, the weather's great today. Start talking about our ailments next time. Oh, yeah. My hips a little sore. Had to put some bengay on that just to make sure it was uh all good. You know it. Yeah. So yeah. So again, I'm the weather today was beautiful, but now tomorrow's gonna be high of 39. So literally one day this week it's gonna be nice, and the rest it's gonna be cold, cold-ish.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

So ready for it to get warm and stay. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

All right, stories from the road. I have none. I I worked. What did I do? I was off Sunday, and then I ended up working uh clean buses, and then I had a trip, and I ended up working like eight hours on Saturday for the old people. So uh that's all I did. So I have no stories. Looks like you had a slow weekend with students on break.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

Yeah, they're they're on uh spring break, so it was pretty slow out, nothing exciting happening. Uh did some did a few rides, but yeah, nothing story worthy. So what is move on?

SPEAKER_02 2:18

Okay. Uh 92 degrees in Denver right now. Jesus Christ. Wow. Dag on. 92? It's March. What is it? 25 today.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

Yeah, it's crazy. We hit uh what day was it? Was it Sunday? Two days ago, we hit we hit mid-80s, we hit almost 90.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Yeah, because I remember you talking on the show, because again, last show we talked weather, and you were saying that you had that one day that was gonna be really warm. Crimey sakes.

SPEAKER_03 2:46

Yeah, and then it got then the next day it was like 35 degrees cooler for the high, and then it's slowly kind of going back up. Today was mid-70s, I think tomorrow's low eighties. Of course.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

All right, we're gonna jump in gig economy news, get it right away, and and I I I am finally gonna say it. I think if you're an Uber driver, you're fucked. Uh Uber is to invest up to$125 billion in EV maker Rivian to launch 50,000 robotaxis, and that is a lot. I I was really shocked by this. Uh, and I was shocked they went with Rivian because while I really love Rivian, I they haven't really produced a low, not low quality, but like a more affordable. I know they they starting to, but um, yeah, 50,000. Uh looks like their Uber's expected to invest an initial 300 million in Rivian after deal signing.

SPEAKER_03 3:47

Um, so yeah, I mean and it's not just Rivian. They're I mean they're they're you know they're introducing their own robotaxis, they're partnering with with a bunch of people, and yeah, the writing is on the wall.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Yeah, but but 50,000, I mean that that I haven't seen a number that high.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

Yeah, but I mean what what do we say? How many Uber drivers are there in California?

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Yeah, I know, but that's different because that's based on like part-time and full-time. You gotta remember, full time is such a low percentage. Although I didn't read the second part of the article, which I probably should have.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

Is that just is that just US or is that worldwide?

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Uh or does it say several countries?

unknown 4:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

So the 50,000. I mean, that's still a lot. It sounds like a I mean, it definitely sounds like a lot, but if you think about worldwide.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

Yeah. Well, let me let me finish the second paragraph. The tie-up includes expectations for Uber for or its fleet partners to purchase 10k, the autonomous version of Rivian's R2 electric vehicle, with the option to buy up to 40,000 more Robo taxis beginning in 2030. So again, I should have read all the way through. I mean, I read it, but you know how it is. I'm like, okay, whatever. So that's not as not as bad as I th initially thought. But yeah, I know it's not just Rivian that they're working through. I think they talked about um the well, this was Rivian, but there was somewhere everyone. But anyways, yeah, it's not just Rivian. I don't know. I haven't seen that number. 50k is a lot.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

It is, yeah, because you read about some of these, you know, I'll talk about Waymour, one of these companies being in a in a city, and then you read and it's like, yeah, they have a 10, you know. Yeah, 10 of them running around. Right. Yeah, you can't that's not certainly nothing uh to um sneeze about, but uh.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

I mean it yeah, as at least it's it's you know, in a few different countries, but but but that's the thing. We're not Uber's not the only one. It's just it feels like it's such it just keeps feels like it's piling on, like okay, it's growing exponentially, yeah. Like we got Tesla and then Uber and then Amazon and then Waymo. Like we're we're so worried about Waymo, but like I don't know if they're the biggest player at this point in in self-driving, you know?

SPEAKER_03 6:13

Yeah, that I I think they are in the United States anyway.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

Yeah, but I mean as looking at it as a robo, um, I mean, I guess looking at it as what am I trying to say? Like a company that we always already work for replacing us, like Waymo is like doing it, but they were never a a rideshare company to big begin with, you know what I mean. Um, so it just feels like, and I guess Amazon really isn't either, but yeah, I don't know. I mean it's it's not it's no skin off my nose. I'm like, whatever. If I can never drive again, that's fine. But when it starts affecting deliveries, then I'm gonna be like, okay, I I guess we're done.

SPEAKER_03 6:52

Yeah, and I mean what's who was it, Waymo? They've already talked about that, you know, delivering, delivering, you know, making deliveries in their autonomous vehicles. Yeah, you know, we're we're lucky that we don't rely on this income to, you know, to get by. Uh we we can live without it. But there's a lot of people who are relying on this, and as people get laid off from other jobs due to AI and other things, they start coming into things like ride share, all the gig jobs, and that's just gonna the next five years is gonna be wild, man. It really is. Yeah, really is.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Yeah, that's such a good point about people getting laid off because like it's such a quick job you can pick up and like, oh, I'm fucked. I have no savings. I need to get some income to pay rent and maybe eat a little bit, and I'm just gonna do DoorDash or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

And then that may not be there.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

Yeah, well, going back to your comment, your previous comment about like Waymo delivering food, I honestly think I think people are too lazy to want to do that. They don't even want to go out to the car because they're gonna have to go out to the car, right? The customer.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Sure, yeah, just like with the delivery robots, you know, the little robots that we see.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Yeah, you're gonna you have to get off your fat ass and go out there and get it, which is whatever. I mean, I would do it, I don't care. I mean, if it's if I only got to what walk 20 steps to get my food, I think I'm okay with that.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

That sounds so weird. Like people are first are too lazy to go get their own food, and then if you're too lazy to go out to the car, you know. You're laughing about it, but you know I'm not lying. I know you're not, and then that's what I'm laughing. That's what I'm laughing about. It's so so abs you know, absurd 20 years ago to think, you know, if we thought uh that this is what we would be dealing with, you know, 20 years ago, you got pizza delivered, maybe if you live in town, close to the pizza place.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

Yeah, there was usually like a like a five-mile radius around the pizza place, and if you lived outside of that, you're fucked.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

That was the only food you could get delivered in now. Uh it's just everything's changed so much. But yeah, it is it's gonna be. I I really think that the next five years are good, it's gonna be a wild ride, man.

App Waitlists And Diversifying Income

SPEAKER_02 8:59

I really do. Traveler says you can't rely on this kind of work. I mean, yes and no if you're diversified.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

I had somebody And it depends on the market.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Yeah, I had somebody reach out to me today that she, I don't know if it's a she actually, uh, is on the wait list for Walmart, which I do want to bring this up since there's people in the chat, which I appreciate Bubba Sue, Traveler, Steve, and um Rick. I appreciate you guys. Um she is on the wait list for Walmart, and I'm like, Well, are you diversified? Like, that's I always ask that question. There, she's like, Yeah, I do all this other stuff. And so I guess my question for you guys if you know, most of us are on Spark, but she's on the wait list, and she asked if you know what she can do. And I'm like, Well, I think you can just email support, but then the email that they have, it's not a monitored email. And then I was like, Oh, okay, well, I'll go give her the support. And they I said just you know, email every month, just bug them. Well, I go into my support chat, and there's or support thing, there's only room to chat, there's no email in there. So I does anyone know this uh the Walmart? Will they answer an email from like regular support? I don't know. I haven't emailed them in so long.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

Yeah, I don't know that either. And speaking of being waitlisted, uh, I got my notification back from Grubhub as well. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

On the last show on the last Patreon, Larry and I tried to get out back on apps.

SPEAKER_03 10:22

Yeah, we both of us hadn't been on Grubhub in a while, so we both tried to fill out the form and uh I had to wait because my driver's license was downstairs, and so I did it the next day. But yeah, I got the first I just got an email back and it said your your ticket has been you know closed or your your thing has been answered, whatever. So I tried logging in and I'm like, no, it's still not working. So I sent him an email and then they sent me back the one said nope, you're waitlisted. Try again in two weeks.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

So yeah, that is interesting that they said try again in two weeks, and I I snoozed that email so I can go back in and try because like I mean I should be on Grubhub. I I don't know why I got mad at them and decided to like I don't know. I don't know if if Uber Eats launch and DoorDash and those were like making bank and I was like fuck Grubhub.

SPEAKER_03 11:07

Everybody used to trash Grubhub because I used to do that. Y'all were all doing door, it's kind of switched over to DoorDash, and I was still doing because like DoorDash, I I never get nothing. So I did Grubhub for a long time, man. Y'all used to y'all used to make fun of me for doing Grubhub.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

Well, I I didn't because early on Grubhub was I I mean, I was when Grubhub came to Grand Rapids, I was getting paid hourly from them. That's how like when they didn't have business, like that's what they did. You got like 10 an hour to sit home, yeah, or something like that. I mean, obviously not a lot, but enough to like I sat on my couch and watched. Yeah, exactly. So I love them. They were the kind of the first to do it, and I used to make really good money, but then when Uber Eats and DoorDash launched, all of a sudden I'm like, Well, they're they're a hell of a lot busier than Grubhub. Yeah. So don't say I beat you up because I don't think I did, because I love Grubhub back.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

I'm gonna have to search through our chat.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Oh God. Should we look at the stats real quick? We haven't done that in a bit.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

Yeah, let's see what the stats are, man. It's how many messages am I gonna have to search through before I can find one where y'all email me for doing great.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

Uh 86,831 voice messages, a 12,000 photos. 12,000 photos. Oh, that's 665 videos and 7,100 gifts or gifts, depending on how you say it.

SPEAKER_03 12:35

I'm gonna get those 12,000 photos and put them on a on a USB drive. I'm gonna have that. That's what's gonna play at my funeral. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Can you imagine? Or the gifts. Remember when Sam used to post those gummy bear butt gifts all the time. Right, bouncing off the ass.

SPEAKER_03 12:52

Yeah, and then she did put like eight variations of them every time she did it. That was funny, man.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Yeah, that was good times. So yeah, oh, yeah, yeah. Join the telegram group.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

There you go. YouTube can reason to have the uh uh you know, have our gathering in in GR again. So having seen Sam.

Uber ETA Lawsuit And Priority Rides

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Yeah, exactly. Have uh if you want to go through 12,000 photos, be my guest. So uh Bubba Sue says took her a year and a half to get on the sp off on the or she was uh one and a half years on the spark wait list. Yeah, this person said they started in 2025, and I'm like, okay, well, you haven't waited long enough. I think they said they were in Charleston, North Carolina. I'm not sure. Um, and then she says, if you have Wonder a restaurant, you can make bank on Grubhub. Don't know that. That's not here, but um, yeah, it's good to know. All right, moving on, another class action lawsuit uh for some inaccurate arrival times, which surely not. I mean, but why well yeah, but why are they suing? I'm just I did not read it, so this is gonna be surprised for me, too.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

Yeah, so yeah, Uber is facing another uh a class action lawsuit uh that alleges it misleads customers about their arrival times. So um this lady Lisi Lucy Yi um filed a suit, a class action suit that says that um Uber advertises its rides or services with precise arrival times, and that gives the impression that customers will be picked up at that time. So their lawsuit claims though that Uber frequently fails to deliver, leaving customers to pay a premium for a service they don't receive. Said that um it will show arrival times to the minute, such as three minutes, you know, five minutes away uh you know, for that option, which is often pre-selected and labeled as faster, other than you know, than other options like the wait and save option. Um but it says, you know, if you're paying that extra, you think you're gonna get extra service and you're gonna get there faster. But says Uber rides, she claims that Uber rides often take as long as longer than the wait and save option. Um she says that it's she thinks that it's not accidental, but it's a calculated move to um just make more money, uh you know, money grab from the customers. She said that uh Uber tailors its arrival time and prices to make certain options appear faster, even if they're not. Um she says that Uber's app doesn't provide any disclaimer about the imprecision of its arrival times, which is very you know further misleading to customers. And she claims they're failure to offer refunds for later arrivals as to the unjust uh actions uh uh that Uber's doing.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

So basically the the bottom line is they're giving times and then not fulfilling them, but then charging them more because it got busy or well then it's charging more.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

So if you you know if you pulled up at the wait and save, say what you pull it up and it says a wait and save. If you want to wait and save, it's gonna be you know five dollars. Okay. But if you want just a regular Uber X, it's not a wait and save, maybe it's gonna be eight dollars. So you choose the what you know the the uh eight dollar one because you think it's supposed to get there faster. Right. But she's saying it doesn't get there any faster than you know the wait and save. Gotcha, or you know, what time they say that it would take for the wait and save. So um, you know, again, she's um she's trying to file class action lawsuit, so she's seeing a certification of the lawsuit, uh, seeking damages, fees, costs, and she wants a jury trial.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

I don't understand as a driver, why are we seeing because you'll see it what the customer ordered, like exclusive, which I don't know what that is. It typically tends to be higher as far as like the month the you know what we're getting paid out, the wait and save. Like, why are we getting shown that? Just like like why are I guess if the cust I mean I know they're trying to be transparent, but what does that do for me? It really doesn't do anything but annoy me that the price isn't good.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

I I I don't know that I've ever seen one that says wait and save really and see them all the time. I thought exclusive was just one that uh an offer that's exclusive to you, it's not on the radar.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

How do we fucking not know this? You're driving rideshare all the time and you haven't even seen a wait and save. Maybe they don't have wait and save in your your backwards city. Well, you can't you can't you'll have to turn it on. Do you have to get a request?

SPEAKER_03 17:21

Because it's I'm saying what we say when we No, I mean let me see if it's even offered to me as a passenger.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Oh, gotcha. If you're gonna request a ride, I get it. Yeah, hey Mary on TikTok. I mean, I understand the frustration. The problem is they're gonna say, well, you know, they're independent contractors, so they you know, because it's probably people canceling too, right? I mean, and that's why the arrival time isn't right, because you get part you get paired with a driver, they say it's three minutes, the driver gets another gets a a better order on DoorDash or Instacart and cancels, and then now they got a repair. So of course the ETA is gonna change.

SPEAKER_03 17:58

Yeah, so no, I do not have a wait and save option. I have UberX, I have uh we'll see, it's different here. I have UberX that I have one called priority. I've I don't think I've ever seen that. That must be new. Uh it's three dollars more uh or two and a half dollars more, then uh Uber XL, of course, and then a reserve, Uber X reserve.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

So I wonder if the priority is like the exclusive. So yeah, you're saying that the exclusive is for us, like this is just for you, but I assume when I get a ride, it's just for me, anyways.

SPEAKER_03 18:31

Yeah. Unless it's a radar, unless you know.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

Well, yeah, other than radar, of course. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:36

Um so yeah, this one instead of the wait and save, I th I think Uber X here is just is the cheapest. And then priority, it even says shorter wait time. Well, this is great. Uber X says 13 minutes, priority 12 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

So I can pay three dollars more for one minute earlier, which according to this lady doesn't happen.

SPEAKER_03 18:57

Doesn't happen anyway.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Traveler says lift has wait and save here. Yeah, I think lift does something. I don't know if it's called that. It might be, I don't know. I the amount the last time I took a lift ride has been a long time. I keep forgetting to because like uh dovetails typically lift is the only one left by the time I get to it at like 8 30 in the morning.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

Yeah, you gotta be on top of it.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

Yeah, now that everyone knows about it.

SPEAKER_03 19:25

But let's see what I got on Lyft nowadays.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

So lift, I do have what's called a priority pickup. It says seven minutes. Standard is nine minutes. A wait and saves ten to twenty minutes.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

Oh god. That's right. It it that's right, it is a lot longer.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

Yeah. Well, I mean ten to twenty minutes. It could be ten minutes, it could be one minute later than standard and three minutes later than priority if it was on the low end. Uh extra comfort, XL, and pet is what we have here.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

So you don't have Uber Pet on your because you didn't list Uber Pet as one of your options. Mary on TikTok says Lyft has wait and save in my area. I had to use it today. I'm like, okay, well, there you go.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

Yeah, we used to have Uber Pet because I know I mean I'm signed up. It used to be one of my selections. Yeah. See if I had it as an option under my right. They changed things so freaking much.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

I know. I mean, if you can't order it, then you probably don't have it as as a driver anymore either.

SPEAKER_03 20:25

I'm sure, I'm sure I probably don't.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

And then they make it hard to even find anything of course, because why make it easy?

SPEAKER_03 20:32

All right.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Oh, you're trying to go online? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

Of course I have to take a picture first.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Oh, yeah. See, when you don't go on the apps very long, it's like you have to update this. You have to agree to our terms and services.

SPEAKER_03 20:45

I have to take a picture every time I go on Uber. Really? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

Are you switching phones? You're not switching phones, are you?

SPEAKER_03 20:52

No. Nope.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

Huh? Nope.

SPEAKER_03 20:54

That's every time. And I always try to remember to do it in my garage before I take, you know, start driving.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Yeah, because they want you to be safe and you can't do it while you're driving. You gotta pull over. I mean, geez, idiots. All right, well, we're gonna move on. Um, DoorDash. No, I got and what's up?

SPEAKER_03 21:12

Uber pet. It's on there. Oh it just doesn't offer it to me when I when I go to take a ride.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

Maybe that's so few many drivers that will do it that you uh that's why it didn't show up when you want to take a ride.

SPEAKER_03 21:25

Or maybe I have to maybe there's do you have to you don't have to turn anything on in your passenger app, do you?

SPEAKER_02 21:31

I have no idea. I've never even looked at it.

SPEAKER_03 21:34

Well, I'm even asking you.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

Yeah, no shit. I don't even take Uber. Or I mean, I mean I two a year maybe.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Yeah.

DoorDash Gas Relief And Cost Math

SPEAKER_02 21:43

All right, moving on, DoorDash gas update. So here we go. They're the first company to quote unquote fold into helping drivers with you know the gas relief. So I gave Steve shit in one of his again uh is YouTube short about complaining about the money that they're giving, but at 125 miles you earn five, at 200 miles you earn 10, at 250, you earn 15. Um, also you can do the um if you have their crimson card, they offer an extra additional 10% off. So um, yeah, Steve was complaining about that, and you know, I I look at it this way at least they're doing something. They don't have to do shit. We're independent contractors. They don't owe us anything. And, you know, you decide to take the ride. So be more responsible when you're accepting trips. If gas is a big deal, which it has gone up. At least it's 420 in our area or 419. Really? Look at your face. Yeah, it's 419. And you know, what was it a month ago? Like before this went up, what was it like 320? So it's gone up like a dollar.

SPEAKER_03 22:56

Yeah, it's it's probably gone up for about a dollar.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

Let's look at let's look at the big picture. Okay. It's gone up a dollar a gallon. If you have a 15-gallon tank and you use all of it, it's gonna cost you 15 more dollars for the same amount. Why don't you just go out and do one more fucking order to cover that? You know what I mean? Like I always try to think of it and not get and now again, I have an EV, so I'm not worried about it at all. Yeah, but I try to look at it as you know, big picture on saying, like, is this really as detrimental as as it is? And I get it. If you work every day,$15 a day adds up. I get it. But most of us are part-time, so yeah, you know, even when I when I take a trip far away, let's say I do a shop, I do try to get a DoorDash or something in the area to kind of pay for my time drive back so I don't deadhead. So it's just kind of you got to just reevaluate, like, you know, should I be taking this at a dollar a mile? And can I just do one or two small orders to cover that difference? And let's not freak out about it because everybody on the chats and the groups are like, oh my god, what are we doing? It's the end of the world.

SPEAKER_03 24:12

Yeah, and you know, it's it's we'll get to that. I mean, gas was higher than this, you know, a couple years ago. Yeah. Uh you know, this is not the highest gas is gone by any means. And I it I really think it's gonna be a short-term problem. I think once this stuff in the Middle East settles down, uh I I think gas is gonna go back down.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

But I I also want to, you know, I don't know if I agree with you on a hundred percent. I mean, it's gonna go back down eventually, but I don't think it's short term personally. I think it's gonna last a little bit longer. But when do you when do you start freaking out? Now, if it goes up two two dollars more than what you're initially paying, then it's then it starts getting a little serious. Now you're paying thirty dollars extra a day, you know.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

If I was driving as much as I used to, it would impact me a lot more, just like just like you, uh, you know, it would have impacted you a lot more before you got your oh my Christ with my frickin' uh pilot that gets like 16 miles to the gallon. Yeah, that would have been a big deal.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

I still can't believe I did that. There were times where I was filling up. Now, this was back in the day when I would get laid off in the winter instead of the summer when I was doing lawn care.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

I would fill that fucker up every other day because I was doing like and I I can't believe I just I mean that now, isn't it? Well, I mean, especially what I'm paying now. I I can't believe I just I didn't bury my head, but I was well, it was the reality of what it was, right? I wasn't gonna get rid of the cost of doing business, it was a cost of doing business, and I just I didn't like bury my head in the sand, but I definitely didn't do math and to figure out, you know, I was like, do I really want to take my expenses of how much I actually just made on this route? You know, I just kind of okay, let's fill her up and do it again.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you do, and you get used to it, you know, you get used to doing that filling up all the time, you know, getting getting old changes all the time, you know, going through tires and brakes and everything, you know, a lot quicker. Uh, you know, it just kind of gets to be normal. And then when you're not doing it, you're like, man, I haven't filled up I haven't filled up my car like in a week, you know, or you know, 10 days or something. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

But uh I wonder if people uh are starting to look like because everyone's it's it's crisis mode, right? Whatever it is, are they starting to look at EVs again?

EV Demand And Automaker Pullbacks

SPEAKER_03 26:35

They are I actually read an article about that. Um you know, for EVs were were on the upswing, and then we had the change in administration and and you know, a lot of the benefits and uh break tax breaks and different things started going away and it started swinging back the other way. But yeah, I just happened to read the article when I was looking for news, you know, for the show and uh skimmed through an article, they were talking about that. People are starting to look at EVs again. He according to their research, it really takes like four high gas prices for four to six months for people really are serious about it, you know, two months, month or two is not really gonna do it. Uh but yeah, that you know, that's one of those things that's gonna swing back and forth. I I I I hope that this you know didn't didn't continue for a long time. Um not gonna get in too much politics or anything over this, but hopefully it it is a short-term thing and we come out in in the long run. Uh you know, not just gas-wise, but safety-wise and everything else.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

Yeah. What's interesting about the EV thing is all these manufacturing jump manufacturers jumping ship. Ford's out.

SPEAKER_03 27:46

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

I mean Toyota is out, or no, not Toyota, um, Honda is out.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

They they they took a$15 billion loss. And I'm like, Yeah, why would you be out of it? Like, just tone it down a little bit. Like, okay. Dial it back. Dial back. Like, why would you just take a$50 billion?

SPEAKER_03 28:05

You're just gonna be like, I mean, it's uh you would you would hope and and think that that they're doing it because you know they can uh take that that manufacturing capacity and make more money, not doing it, you know, you would think they're doing it for a logical reason. They're not just saying, okay, we're out and we're gonna lose more, you know, lose this 15 billion and just throw it in the wind. You know, that's they usually don't uh companies don't stay around when they make decisions like that just willy-nilly. So I you would think there there's got to be some reasoning and stuff that behind that. But yeah, it it's weird how fast it can change.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

Well, that's that's what I'm saying. Yeah, of course they're gonna use it for something else, but do you think that it's just not gonna go away? Like that, I mean to to say, you know, they they they brought Honda brought out one EV. It's and I can't, it started with a P, the Prolong or something. I don't know, which used Chevy's system in it. But I mean, I just don't understand to just go the completely other route. Now, again, it I don't think the EVs are for everybody. I think hybrid, like a plug-in hybrid, is is the best technology. Um, but like Chevy's all in, like they're not backing off at all. And obviously, Tesla and Rivian, those are EV companies, right? Um, yeah, it's just it's just strange to me. I was shocked when I heard that about Honda. Like they tried one car and then they're like, nah, we're out.

SPEAKER_03 29:29

Yeah, and that's gotta be just here because I know uh Europe and a lot of places uh EVs are are a lot more common. Well, think about China. Yeah. Um so I would assume that they're making because there's a lot, you know, you always hear about these models that companies make overseas that they don't make over here, or we don't have access to them. Uh so I'm sure Honda and and companies are doing stuff in in different places. For sure. I just don't understand.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

I just don't understand why you'd make one. I don't even know if they made a second-year model of it, and then they're just like deuces.

SPEAKER_03 30:03

Yeah. We're just joking. Just kidding.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Yeah. And then and then Ford, I don't know if Ford made anything other than their Ford Lightning. I don't know if they made a an EV car or a SUV, but they're done.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

Yeah, didn't they have didn't they have like uh didn't they have an electric Mustang?

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. They had the Mustang. I don't I don't think they're out on that. I think they're out just on the lightning. I think there's the Mustang sold well for them. So anyways, not an EV uh podcast, but it just so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:31

Look and and I've been looking through my Lyft settings just to see if I could or my Uber settings, uh, to see if I could find you know how to how to turn on uh if there's a way to turn on Uber pet as a well, we can look at it on Patreon.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Yeah. Um so Grubhub, speaking of car dealerships, Grubhub driver surprised to pick up food from a restaurant inside a car dealership. I'm assuming uh this is one of those ghost kitchens that aren't for real because we've talked of I feel like we talk about these from time to time about someone doing something out of their kitchen or whatever. Again, I did not read the article, so um yeah.

Grubhub Pickup Inside A Dealership

SPEAKER_03 31:13

So actually, no, this is this is uh this car dealership actually has uh a pretty decent restaurant inside their dealership for their customers. So um I'm on the wrong article there. Well that that'll do it. Yeah, so yeah, the scrub hub driver uh he gets a delivery and the dealership. I mean the uh address for the pickup is a is a Honda dealership, and he's not sure what's going on. He he did had to do a little video uh that he did, but he goes to pick it up and ended up at a full service restaurant inside the Honda of Fort Worth dealership and Fort Worth, Texas. So yeah, he said the inside the car dealership they had it's called the Twin Creeks Cafe, okay uh located inside the dealership. It's got a whole coffee shop. Uh they've got uh they serve like enchiladas, everything from uh this is a video um showed everything from a Philly cheesesteak to a Twin Creek salad, um and stuff like blackened chicken for lunch, uh yeah, burrito. They got a little bit of something for everyone, it says. So yeah, it showed, you know, in the video, it showed a little bit of uh of him going in to get it, and it looked like a a decent little, you know, decent little, you know, not very big, but decent little uh restaurant. I know you know our car dealership, I have they have you know, they have a coffee machine, you can make different kinds of coffee and you'll popcorn. Popcorn, yeah. I think I think ours has that as well. Um but this is this is definitely definitely more than that. I mean it's not a full full-size restaurant by any means, but they had a lot of decent items and uh seemed like it was a pretty popular place.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

Well, I mean, you know what's funny about that is my son, when he worked in I don't know if it was Kalamazoo or Battle Creek, I can't remember which one, but he worked at a place where they had a full service restaurant at a uh more of a high-end airport for like like what am I trying to say? Like not for commercial, but for like private planes. Yeah, yeah. So they could come up there and get drinks and stuff like that. But I'm sure, you know, that would be a weird request too. You're like, oh, I'm going to, I can't remember what it was called. But I'm going to the air, the air airport hangar, and you know, but yeah, it was it was really nice in there, and the food was good and affordably priced. So I I guess it wouldn't be totally out of you know, out of pocket to have something like this.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

Well, that's good. I mean, most airport, most airport food is not reasonably placed.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

Well, yeah, I mean, again, this is this is for you know uh private private planes, and it's mostly for the pilots. It's not even because like it's a mechanic shop and like a refueling station. It's not like for the passengers, it's for the pilots.

SPEAKER_03 33:58

Exactly. Yeah, it's not commercial flight, so you're not having passengers. Oh, hey Jerry, just saw Jerry uh from Bowling Green is on here, and then Boba Seuss said the Honda has the crow log, so that was the P Yeah word you're looking for. And again, she mentioned the Ford Mustang as well. So and uh there's Faith is joining. Hey Faith.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

Awesome. Um, yeah, uh the Ford Mach E. That's what it's called. Maki Maki Maki.

SPEAKER_03 34:22

So yeah, that would be weird. Yeah, I that's what I would think too. That's you know, like some kind of a ghost kitchen, but uh dealership, that that's just a yeah, you just a weird place.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

I often feel like when you see stuff like that, it's like whoever owned it really loves food and always wanted to have like a small, you know, like a cool little restaurant. You know, those if you own a dealership, you got bucks, and he's like, I'm gonna invest in this because I like it. I want to have great food, or maybe he didn't want to go out to get food. I who knows. But if it's good food, who gives a shit?

SPEAKER_03 34:53

Exactly. Yeah, it's uh it's it's pretty cool. Yeah, uh pretty cool little idea.

DoorDash Tasks And Training AI

SPEAKER_02 35:00

All right, moving on. Uh DoorDash is introducing tasks, um, just like what we need more things to do on DoorDash. Um, so like just like it sounds tax helps businesses, tasks help businesses to get on the ground insights they need to quickly and at scale. While giving dashers a new way to earn tax or ta why do I keep saying tax? Probably because it's tax season. Tasks are short activities dashers can complete between deliveries or on or in their own time. Uh, examples helping a restaurant showcase their menu by taking real photos of the dishes, helping a hotel hotel make a delivery driver, confine on location, blah blah blah. Uh, since 2024, Dashers have completed more than two million tasks. So, yeah, I mean, is have you done any of this or anyone in the chat? Have you done any tasks? I know every once in a while they'll ask, like, where did you find this in the aisle, but you don't get paid for it. It's just like if you want to, and I always say no. Like, fuck those other dashers, they can find it on their own.

SPEAKER_03 36:06

Hey, I found it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

I found it, you can do it.

SPEAKER_03 36:10

I've not seen that, but again, I don't don't do a whole lot of the uh food delivery.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

Uh also they're piloting piloting a new standalone app where dashers can complete activities like filming an everyday task or recording themselves speaking in another language. This data helps AI robotic systems understand the physical world. Pay is shown up front and determined based on an effort and complexity of the activity.

SPEAKER_03 36:34

So there you go.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

Yeah, I mean, I I honestly like this seems like right up my alley the tasks. And of course, it depends on how much it's gonna get paid, but like let's see, no human interaction. I mean, not maybe some of it. Um, the one example they gave though, like taking pictures of a restaurant's dish, are they are you ordering it and taking it, or like they set it up with you to come there? Like, I I guess I don't understand why a restaurant wouldn't take their own pictures and upload it to the DoorDash platform. I mean, I'm I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_03 37:08

Yeah, that that is strange, but who knows? Yeah, that's uh maybe this is easier for them to outsource it.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

I mean, it might be, it might be. I don't know. I just uh I want to all these things sometimes. I get like I see these and I'm like, I want to do this, but then it never comes to my area.

SPEAKER_03 37:26

So I'm just like Yeah, we don't have the opportunity because yeah, we would uh we would you know we would certainly try a lot of this stuff if we had the opportunity, but we read about it, but it never comes to our markets just because we're not, you know, sometimes it's because we're not the big giant markets, and certainly your market's bigger than mine. Uh so yeah, a lot of it never comes here.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

We're the second biggest city in Michigan. Like we should be getting some of this shit. Detroit gets it all, fuckers. All right, so this picture, uh Faith loves this. I thought it was kind of nerdy, but um, so this. Oh, sorry, this is yours. My bad.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

Oh, so uh yeah, this one shouldn't. I thought you were gonna show the other one. Which one? Not the not the vest, the uh light up thing. Oh no. So yeah, this is uh for the audio listeners, this is a uh Amazon vest, and on the back it says, Show me your flex, and it has uh patches on it, and then it has you know the neon, kind of neon green uh X on it, and then down at the bottom it says tell your dog I said hi.

Amazon Flex Gear And Visibility

SPEAKER_02 38:34

Which I love that. But what's funny is they literally like embroider this, and those those patches are like your rewards on flex when you like do a certain amount of packages or yeah, it's like the octopus rewards you get. Well, not really. I mean, you don't get paid for any of these. Well, I guess like the octopus badges you get, yeah, just like a statistic or whatever and stuff. Like, not the the thing is like this is only for other flexers because although I don't even know what any of these mean, like maybe the the on time one the clock or yeah in the rocket or something like that, but I wouldn't be caught dead in wear wearing this. Um the only thing I'm gonna be caught dead in is an official official vest that identifies me as Amazon. I don't know. I mean, I guess if you love I mean, if it reminds me of like putting a giant DoorDash sticker on your car, like letting you know like delivery driver for DoorDash. I'm like, do you want to identify that? I mean, I don't know. I just we talked about like the stickers, right? Like I didn't want to be identified anymore in that. Not as like I don't I don't know. It just it adds an extra spotlight to you if something happens.

SPEAKER_03 39:46

Yeah, I even get some sparkly beads, man, put it all over that.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

I mean, I uh if I'm getting sparkly beads, I hope I got it in the way that you normally get beads in the world because then I'll be happy with that.

SPEAKER_03 39:58

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

But yeah, no, I wouldn't be wearing that. I was waiting for Faith Must Be Working because I I she was like, I remember her saying, Oh, I love this so much. I'm like, okay, you do you, girl. If you want to wear it, then I'll buy you one for your birthday if you want. Oh god, I love my light up sash. I wouldn't wear that stupid thing either. Why? First of all, you're delivering in a rich neighborhood that has literally zero traffic at 4 30 in the morning. Like you're not running across a four-lane highway. Like, why do you need that freaking thing on? Like, Jesus, you just want it because it's fun. And and you know what? I can't hate you for that. If you want it because you you like it, but I mean, does it what what does it really do? I mean, does it give you enough light so you can see when this is the one thing I hate about flex. I'm squirreling right here, but when you go to like at night, if you take a picture, it'll it'll light up for you, and then after it takes a picture, it's dark. Like, why put something in the app that lets you leave that little flashlight on until you get back to your car or something like that? Yeah, yeah, that'd be nice. Because you know people don't put their lights on, but I'm curious if this is bright enough to uh for her to um like see walking so you don't trip on you know the curb or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 41:17

But I mean the picture looks pretty bright, but that can be deceived.

SPEAKER_02 41:20

Yeah, it did look right. In fact, I looked at it and then looked away because it was blinding me. But she goes, I fucking love my light up, Sash. I'm bringing it to Gatlinburg for when you guys go out and pee in the woods so we don't get lost. So when you see the bear eat us, you can see uh oh, the boys are in trouble.

SPEAKER_03 41:37

Yep.

Patreon Shoutouts And How To Join

SPEAKER_02 41:38

All right, moving on. I would love, absolutely love for you to join the Patreon. Uh, we haven't had anyone join in a while, and we provide tons of extra content, and it really helps the show. If you go to patreon.com slash the gig econ podcast, and I want to shout out my Patreon members that we have right now Samson, Bud, Omar, Frank, Tom, uh, Jim, Miguel, Linda, Jerry, Faith, Metal Kickass, and Anna. They have faithfully supported the show for years and years, and we would love for you to do it too. So three dollars a month, you get a seven-day trial, you can try it out. You can also do a higher tier two that gets you more perks. But patreon.com slash the gig econ podcast. Faith says they gave me a headlamp for that. Okay, well, how much fucking gear are you wearing? Do you do you are you just adding yeah, she's added like four pounds every time she steps out of the car? I want to see a picture of your headlamp on. All of it, all of it, your your light up sash, and what didn't she get a little thing to put in her um window to, which that was kind of cool. I tried to get that, but it sold out.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

Um, see a picture with all of it. Anything Amazon's giving you to wear or put on your car, we want to see it all at one time.

SPEAKER_02 42:54

And you know, the the running joke, I'm surprised you actually get to use it because you always get freebies anyways.

SPEAKER_03 43:01

Exactly. I mean, she uses it to drive over the warehouse then to tell her, Oh, sorry, we canceled it.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

You know, she probably lights it up in her car while she's driving just because that's the only time it's gonna get it, get used. All right, moving on. Waymo in the news. All right, here we go again. Waymo in the news. Um, this one, I don't know how this happened, but its front bumper is kissing a train while it goes by.

SPEAKER_03 43:29

Man, if you were in the backseat, yeah, you'd be shitting your pain. Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

With safety concerns at this railroad crossing for a driverless Waymo vehicle in Austin, Texas. The car stopped between the safety arm and the tracks just as that train passed. Waymo says there was no passenger in the car. Company says its vehicles have crossed that location hundreds of times without incident, but says it will now review that location. Waymo has insisted its self-driving cars are safer than human drivers despite recent incidents.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

So safety concerns at this railroad. So it's on the other side of the vehicle in Austin, Texas. Right.

SPEAKER_03 44:11

It's going past the arm. I guess the arm came down behind it and it's front tires.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

There was no computer in the car.

SPEAKER_03 44:18

Barely off the railroad track.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

Okay. That's close.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

So you think that it was just why did it stop initially? Though I feel like it may have come down when it was just starting to go under and then it panicked because it maybe heard the bells. Because I guess I'm saying, why would it stop there and not just drive through? If there's no train, there would be no unless they make unless Waymo makes them stop at railroad crossings, like a school bus.

SPEAKER_03 44:46

Yeah, I don't know. That's a good question.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

Yeah. I'm just trying to figure out how it ended up in that position.

SPEAKER_03 44:51

Exactly. How did it get stuck there? Yeah, because you think if I mean obviously it didn't go, it didn't go around the arm. So it must have come the arm must come down behind it. So if it got through before the arm came down, why not just go over the tracks? Yes. Like you said, go on across. Uh yeah, I don't know. I don't know why it stopped there. Uh but man, if I was in the backseat, I would be.

SPEAKER_02 45:10

Oh, I'd be out of the car.

SPEAKER_03 45:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:13

I mean, I I I personally think as it was driving over, it started coming down, and it somehow can recognize maybe the the bell sound and it immediately stopped. Or again, like I said, there's they're half they have to clear railroad tracks like school bus. Who knows?

SPEAKER_03 45:29

But either way, I mean But it can't see the big red stop sign on the bus.

SPEAKER_02 45:34

I mean, yeah, here we go with red lights again. Like we what was that? What was that last one last week? The red light was out, and the one car went around, the other one couldn't figure it out. And it's like, guys, this isn't rocket science. You you keep saying your stuff's safer than human drivers, but you're not showing that it is, so shut up.

SPEAKER_03 45:56

But just to play devil's advocate, we could show hundreds of thousands of pictures of people driving doing stupid how many people go around railroad track arms to try to beat it. We could look at you all the time.

SPEAKER_02 46:15

You're right. We could we could go out of our neighborhood right now and see something like that. Well, not really.

SPEAKER_03 46:20

Open my window and look out here at this intersection.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

Uh Jerry said it sent the flag on the other side. I mean, it's possible. I mean, I think an arm came down the other side.

SPEAKER_03 46:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:30

Well, I mean, it probably well, I'm saying it had sensors in the back too, but maybe it saw it come down and then just immediately stopped. And, you know, either way, I think that's what happened. So either way, they need to fix it. Yeah, either way, fuck off. So this was on uh Reddit, uh greatest week in Atlanta Uber history. Uh so this is three thousand five hundred and eighty-four dollars for online for sixty-nine hours, which is again wild. 197 trips. His tips were only$459 and about$777 promotion. So the net fare was$23. So still, even without the promotions and um the tips,$23 is pretty good. But$69 hours, so what is God?

SPEAKER_03 47:17

That's like that's 10 hours a day.

A Massive Week Of Uber Earnings

SPEAKER_02 47:19

That's$10. Yeah, that's 10 hours a day. I mean, God, if you could do that, I mean if the first comment, wow, what what and what earth is wow, what in the world? And uh the OP said, I still can't believe it either. I mean, if you could do that for like a year, like you I mean, that's that's decent money for a no education job. Now, again, it doesn't account for his expenses. If he's driving a Honda pilot, he's gonna be eating his ass and gas.

SPEAKER_03 47:50

But uh I wonder how much of that time was he was spent sitting in traffic.

SPEAKER_02 47:55

Well, I what I love about DoorDash is it gives you your active time and your dashing time. So when you were on the platform but not didn't have an order.

SPEAKER_03 48:05

Yeah, that'd be nice if the uh I don't I don't think Uber and Lyft wants you to know that.

SPEAKER_02 48:10

Right. And then and then the question is, do we and I think we've asked it before, do you take into the account like let's for DoorDash, for example, are when you say let's say you made a hundred dollars in two hours, are you taking the account of the whole time you're on the app or the app the whole time?

SPEAKER_03 48:30

Yeah, I'm always whatever time I'm out, yeah, and on and on the clock, you know, or on the clock.

SPEAKER_02 48:34

Well, yeah, because you're still you're not doing something else, you're still focusing on on DoorDash.

SPEAKER_03 48:39

Yeah, besides not doing anything watching TikTok videos.

SPEAKER_02 48:43

This is why I love having two phones because like I have DoorDash or whatever on my other one. Then I can use my personal one for Telegram, TikTok, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 48:51

That's why that's that's one reason I still have two phones when I'm out working.

SPEAKER_02 48:54

Exactly. Someone else commented, same here in Houston. It's been a great month so far. It's like, has it like is it I thought it's still slow now? Like, I don't know, man. Like it's market again, I know, but God, one day he did 757. I didn't see these pictures. It's a big day. Yeah, that's a that's a good fucking day. Yes, but yeah, market specific. It says he's in Atlanta, but might be in rich Atlanta. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 49:22

Yeah, I'm sure he's not, yeah. If you're I mean, you're you're gonna hit so much traffic if you're like downtown Atlanta.

SPEAKER_02 49:27

Yeah, isn't it like the worst traffic?

SPEAKER_03 49:29

No, it's it's not good. It is not good.

SPEAKER_02 49:32

Uh so oh, so more things is that uh Uber X. He goes, I drive a Tesla Modus Model 3. I do mostly X and Comfort. Oh, so he'd be charging a lot too. Like I mean, damn. He's not charging I mean he may be charging at home, but um yeah, that's that's a lot of miles. What was the total trips again? I think it was one.

SPEAKER_03 49:56

Yeah, go out and work part of the day, then charge, then work part of the day, then charge.

SPEAKER_02 50:00

Well, you know, again, it part of the issue with the charging is is if you're taking short trips, it's not as bad. You you regenerate quite a bit and it can keep you on the road a while. But if you're doing any kind of highway trip, yeah, um, and it's Atlanta, so it doesn't get as cold either, so that that plays a big role.

SPEAKER_03 50:18

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 50:20

But yeah, although I don't think I could do, I mean, 70 hours a week with the app on it. You know he's not sitting home that 70 hours. Like your your ass is in that that saddle for 70 fucking hours.

SPEAKER_03 50:35

Yeah, I mean, I I I think I could do it for a week, but to do that for any length of time, I think would just yeah, that'd be worrying, man. Yeah, that's definitely grind.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

And honestly, the promotions are good, but I don't think they're well, I guess they're pretty good. That's that's pretty good for 70 hours, 777 bucks, but whew, no thanks. Hope I hope he's young because my ass would be I that one week would put me out for a month. I'd be like terrible. I'd be in so much pain.

SPEAKER_03 51:08

Do that for I mean, just do that one week a month, and the other three weeks would be recuperating.

SPEAKER_02 51:12

I mean, yeah. I mean, if you could if you could consistently turn 3,500 a you know a week, I'd be like, all right, I'm done. Yeah, I'm working one out of four. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm gonna do anything else I want to do for the next three weeks. All right, this is our boy. I don't know his name. Uh this is not I I'm gonna be fully transparent. This is not near as funny as the ice cream one, but I didn't like it. So this is him talking about what happens when you get no tip.

SPEAKER_04 51:40

Uh you just want to watch Grays. Yeah, I'm down. Oh, there's a DoorDash. Yeah. Yay!

unknown 51:45

Hi.

The No-Tip DoorDash Skit Breakdown

SPEAKER_04 51:46

Hey, order for Barry? Yep, that's me. Thank you. No problem. Have a good night. You as well. Yes? Hey Barry, I couldn't help but notice you didn't tip. Oh, yeah. I usually wait until like after the order's complete to leave the tip. Just in the past, I've you know had my order wrong or didn't show up or something. So yeah. Okay, well, you uh you'll make sure you tip. I will, I will. I got you, man. I promise. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good night. You as well. That was weird. Babe, you should seriously see what this. Oh man. This is when we got married in 2016. Wow. Baby. I didn't know you were inviting your high school bestie over. That's not my high school bestie. Go take Charlotte, go down to Jenny and George's house and call the police right now. What do you mean? What's going on? I don't. This man is our DoorDash driver. He's broken into our house. Mary, she was just being so gratuitous about you guys dashing to make.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

What's happening?

SPEAKER_04 52:40

What do you should ask? He didn't tip. He didn't tip. He didn't tip. How much was the order? 1648? Well, what's 10% of 1648? I don't know, baby. I'm unemployed. I don't have extra money today. Oh my god, I'm so sorry. That's ridiculous. Here you go. I'm so sorry. It's so cheap. Baby, what's wrong with you? Wait all?$20? Baby, that's my betting money for the Super Bowl. Are you hungry? Do you want to stay? We got something. No! That's my quarter pounder. We're watching Gray's Anatomy. Oh, I like Grays. Yeah, I know how it is. I was in the service industry too. I want a divorce.

SPEAKER_02 53:18

That freeze frame.

SPEAKER_03 53:19

Yeah, that's good. So yeah, this wasn't as funny, but he does he's he does good work and I like his videos. That point when he's like, I noticed you didn't tip. And he's sitting and then he's just smiling at him real big and just staring at him. So for the audio listeners, the guy uh he he comes up to deliver the door dash, the guy answers, gives him the food, door closes, he knocks again, the guy opens it up, and he's telling him, Hey, I just noticed you didn't, you know, you didn't tip. He's like, Oh, I'm going to, I do it afterwards in case I didn't get good service. So he's going, okay, just remember to tip. He closes the door, the guy walks back into his bedroom, and we, I mean to his living room. When he gets there, the dasher is is sitting on the couch with his wife, with his arm around her, and she's going through the scrapbook or the picture book and stuff. And it's just funny. He he does good work. I like his videos.

SPEAKER_02 54:07

Yeah, we should uh we should try to get him on, I don't know, just for a quick interview or something, because he's fucking hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 54:14

Hey, you know me, I'll reach out to him. I don't care.

SPEAKER_02 54:16

Yeah, you you have a zero success rate reaching out to people.

SPEAKER_03 54:20

Who got who who got the karaoke queen on our show? You no, no, you didn't. I did. You did? Yes, I did. I tracked her down and I reached out to her, and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:31

She doesn't know what day it is when you talk to her, but hey, you at least okay. I retract my statement. I thought I got her on. But anyways, yeah, that was funny. The funny part in that is like she asked about the tip. She's like, what's 10% of six? I'm like, you're gonna tip them a dollar sixty? Because that would be that's ten percent of 10%, yeah. I'm like, what I don't know if that was part of the bit, but I'm I mean, I'm sure the whole thing was a bit, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:57

He's like, I don't know, I'm I'm unemployed. And then what are you ordering DoorDash for then if you're unemployed? Right, and that husband was so whiny, yeah.

Gas Prices Push Drivers To Quit

SPEAKER_02 55:08

All right, uh, last article before we head into the Patreon at 8 10 p.m. ride chair deliveries. The so this is like uh I think it's Australia, but it's just talking about the the high gas prices on rethinking things. And um, so we're talking about uh some part-time drivers are giving up on the gig economy as their tight profit margins are squeezed by escalating costs. I I be I mean, I bet some of that is true. If you are like really part-time, like once a month, maybe you're like, you know what, I don't think it's worth it this month and stuff. But one guy uh quoted saying, even through his scooter, even though his scooter is much more fuel efficient than a car, last week he earned$140 with 10 hours of work, which that isn't great, but that's not horrible. I mean, I don't want to do it for that much. Um, so then this article just goes in and talks about some of the um different apps in that area, like an all-female ride share company Shiba. I don't know if we've ever talked about it, but they've added a dollar levy on each trip, which directly directly goes to the driver, which that's good. Like if DoorDash did that, you know what I mean? So if you do 20 trips, they give you 20 bucks, like that would be amazing.

SPEAKER_03 56:34

Yeah, they're an Australian company.

SPEAKER_02 56:36

Yep, yep. I did say at the beginning this is Australia. Uh and then another one, uh DIDI, don't know how to pronounce it, D D introduce a five cents per kilomet kilometer fuel surcharge, which again, I I don't know if I'd do the math. It doesn't sound great. Five cents. Um well no, I mean if you think about it. Well, um hey Siri, what's five dollars divided by 125? Four cents a mile. So that's what DoorDash is paying. Right? That's what Siri says. Are you are you there? Did I disconnect?

SPEAKER_03 57:17

No, I'm here.

SPEAKER_02 57:18

Oh, okay. So I wanted to do uh I want to do the mileage and see. So so they're paying better than DoorDash with that. Well it's kilometer, so that's not all right, we're not getting it kilometers, 2.2 miles. Okay, so that's not even great at all, then so yeah, just to talk about it and and you know, just wrapping up, like just be smart with your stuff. Like if if if uh if things are tight for you and that extra dollar is is gonna put you over the edge, then maybe just sit it out for a while. What are you laughing at?

SPEAKER_03 57:53

Because this is why we don't do math. A kilometer is 0.6 miles.

SPEAKER_02 57:58

Well, you know what, you said it, and I'm just like I'm just like, I think that's fucked up, but I'm just gonna go with it because I don't want to.

SPEAKER_03 58:08

It's very messy. I went the wrong way. It is so bad you weren't even close. No, I went the wrong way with the conversion. Okay. Oh my goodness. Did you do it in your head? No, it just popped into my head, and I thought I remembered it.

SPEAKER_02 58:21

Oh my god. I was gonna be like, that that is me trying to do math. I asked the computer and it did it right. Like, at least I asked an AI person. Larry just took a number out of his head and said, 64.

SPEAKER_03 58:36

See, this shows you if you say something confidently, people will disbelieve you.

SPEAKER_02 58:40

Well, I didn't believe you, but I just wasn't gonna call you to the table because you know what?

SPEAKER_03 58:44

Come on, you throw me under the bus at a heartbeat.

SPEAKER_02 58:46

No, because I wasn't confident that wasn't right or wrong. I thought, okay, well, whatever he said, like fuck it.

SPEAKER_03 58:52

Kilometer equals 0.62 miles.

SPEAKER_02 58:55

Yeah, because it because on on your speedometer, the kilometer is higher than the miles per hour. Okay, I don't feel so bad. You're smarter than me, but you fucking 5K is like 3.1 mile. Yeah, I I don't I my brain was like already done with the show. So when you said it, I was just like, yeah, fuck it.

SPEAKER_03 59:14

I've done it, we'll end on that.

SPEAKER_02 59:16

We'll we'll end it. Uh Faye said her flex routes this week are surging crazy. I think a lot of drivers bail. So that's interesting because ours here, I see people complaining left and right about why are you taking these at such low rates. I mean, they're not taking them at base, but still lower than they probably should.

SPEAKER_03 59:34

Yeah, when gas is as much more.

SPEAKER_02 59:36

509, I mean, that's I mean, that's what is that? Here's math. It's 89 cents more than what we're paying. So um, God. But anyways, back to my original ending point. Make sure it's worth it for you. If it's gonna stress you out, it's not worth going out there killing yourself and spending all this extra money that he can't afford. Because like a lot of these drivers are living paycheck to paycheck, so it is it is something to think about. So, Faith, now that you did the mileage conversion, you also have to no, absolutely not. Absolutely not. USA, baby, USA. All right, uh, eight minutes. We're gonna on the Patreon, go to patreon.com slash the Gigacon podcast. Uh Larry, any ride share this weekend?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:21

Let me think what's going on this weekend. Um yeah, yeah, I'll I should be out one day. Um Saturday is uh Pop's birthday, so we're having a surprise party for him.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:35

Oh hope he's not listening.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:38

Yeah, he's not. Uh he's turning 80. Uh, but yeah, my sister set it up, and yeah, we're gonna have like 45 people. Damn. That he doesn't he he know nothing about it. So I love I love surprise parties.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:50

Yeah, yeah. Nope.

Weekend Plans And Final Sign-Off

SPEAKER_03 1:00:55

That's a no, huh? That's a yeah, yeah. The students are back, so yeah, it should be busy.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:59

Should be yeah, I plan going out. When my wife ends up working on the weekends, I typically go out a little bit more. I do have a trip for the old folks Saturday night. Uh, but other than that, that's all I have committed to. So I'll probably be out. I'm looking forward to it, kind of missing it again.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:14

Um, yeah, so I'll be out. Uh, all right, as always, don't put up with anyone's bullshit.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:19

And we'll see you on the road.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:21

All right, peace out.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:22

Yeah, good night, everybody. Thanks for tuning in.