I Really Would Like To Go On A Rant . . .

I would really like to go on a full fledged rant. Before I was part of this association, before I had to conduct myself as an intelligent human being . . . I was able to go on a rant over damn near anything. Now, I have to behave. Instead of wanting to raise hell, make threats, and get offensive I am required to conduct myself as a professional and seek cooperative means to resolve issues between the Association members and our TNC’s.

But, how am I supposed to do so? Should I write a polite letter to Mr. Kalanick asking that he grant me a meeting to discuss how we can be friends and share the wealth in our efforts to make him enough money so that he can replace us and our jobs with his autonomous cars? This is what a future working with Uber truly is. Travis Kalanick intends to replace all of the Ride-Hail Drivers with autonomous cars as soon as he can bring them to the street. Of course this means, we the current drivers that provide these services will be unemployed and to put it bluntly, “Ass out, without.” You see, as Independent Contractors when we become unemployed by Mr. Kalanick’s dream of robotic vehicles cruising the streets much more efficiently and far less costly than human operated cars, we will have nothing to fall back on. We do not earn enough to save some of our cash for the needs we will have once unemployed. As Independent Contractors, we get no unemployment benefits. So, why are we hanging around letting Travis Kalaninck treat us like crap and helping him put us out of a job?

I think many of us do not doubt the reality of the autonomous car coming to our streets in the near future. Face it, it is going to happen. This is one of the reasons that Kalanick does not fear the local governments shutting us down or trying to impose other regulation upon us. He is confident that he has enough of a public following that if necessary public outcry at our not being on the street to serve the community will keep us on the street long enough for him to bring a few of his cars in for testing. Then if the local governments shut us down, he will be there with the ability to satisfy the needs of the community transportation issues with his fleet of autonomous cars ready to roll. And, when it happens local government will be happy to cooperate with bringing the cars on line.

Now we are all intelligent hard working men and women. We understand that sooner or later we will be replaced, and I believe that most of us will accept this when it happens. So why are we here making money for Kalanick to do this to us? Myself, I believe Kalanick will be very successful with the autonomous cars I think it will be a very cool system that will likely be more efficient than we ever were. So, what do I want out of this? I simply want to be able to ride this pony until it is time to take her to the “dog food maker.” If Travis Kalanick wants me to make him money to replace me, then Travis Kalanick should at least allow me to also profit from my efforts that serve his goals.  Should Kalinick have reason to not cooperate with my wants in this situation? Not really, because it would serve a common goal and further encourage my helping him achieve his goals. And, face it, if I am going to be put out on the street after making Travis Kalanick the money to replace me, why shouldn’t I also profit from it.

What Travis Kalinack needs to do is work with us to allow us to make some money before we end up jobless and broke working with him . . .

Hey TRAVIS, are you listening . . .

How about you get on the stick and cooperate by giving us a decent rate so we can live a half decent life before we are screwed out of our jobs. $4.00 Base, .35 per minute, 2.10 per mile nation wide is fair, although more would be better.  Maybe a share in the company after it goes public for those of us that ride it through to the end with you. These are just ideas that any “partner” would extend to his fellow partner in such a situation. Think about it. You would not have to recruit more drivers. You would get the cooperation of your existing drivers to serve the community well. Your best drivers that are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what you intend to do will be back on the street. And, Uber will continue to profit from our labors in furtherance of your goals.

And then, get the government off our ass. Talk to the PUC’s or their equivalent nation wide and get us a license similar to Limousines and Taxi’s that gives us a TCP number for $100.00 each and we comply with their requirements with backgrounds and stuff. Then let’s work with the Insurance companies to provide us an actual “Commercial” insurance policy for under $300.00 per month per driver. Kill your insurance policy, and give us the “Safe Rider Fee” to help us pay for our own insurance. 

I do not know how the drivers would feel about such a deal, but this is the kind of deal you should be offering us instead of destroying us financially with your rate cuts and disregard for our futures. The point I guess I am trying to make is you have a whole bunch of angry drivers out here, in every major city in most States and we know where we are going to end up in the end, but we are still here and many of us will cooperate with you. It one thing to work with you to lose my livelihood in the end, but an entirely different thing to do so without getting paid to do it.

The preceding is not an offer, suggestion of offer from any driver, drivers, drivers group, or drivers association to any of the Transportation Network Companies such as Uber, Lyft,, or SideCar. The preceding is merely an example of what kind of offer one “partner” should make another partner when the company goals are to put that partner out of work in the near future. I mean I do not know about anybody else but this not making enough to eat on is for the birds. If I am going to work to give him money for his autonomous cars, the least he can do is pay me a decent rate to do it. Keep in mind. the drivers are still the only true income producing part of any of the TNC’s. We are the ongoing income for every other person employed by the TNC’s . . .  Why shouldn’t we get paid. They will still have a job when it is all done, won’t they?