Uber for X is indeed another way to describe a servant economy as this Atlantic article points out. Madrigal points out to what ails the idea of Uber for X in general
The basic economics of moving human beings and stuff around the physical world at the touch of a button is not an obviously profitable enterprise.
An unkind summary, then, of the past half decade of the consumer internet: Venture capitalists have subsidized the creation of platforms for low-paying work that deliver on-demand servant services to rich people, while subjecting all parties to increased surveillance.
As with any servant service, when the market is inundated with providers, it becomes a race to the bottom with the consumer demanding the lowest price possible. The conditions become ripe for the servants to seek other job options. And as they gain upward mobility and flee the the servant service market, the consumer has to pay more for less. Comes a time when the convenience gained is not matched by the cost of service. If the servant in question was fleeing from one Uber for X to another, there is no place left to flee after a point. Everyone returns to where they started from.
The basic economics of moving human beings and stuff around the physical world at the touch of a button is not an obviously profitable enterprise.
An unkind summary, then, of the past half decade of the consumer internet: Venture capitalists have subsidized the creation of platforms for low-paying work that deliver on-demand servant services to rich people, while subjecting all parties to increased surveillance.
As with any servant service, when the market is inundated with providers, it becomes a race to the bottom with the consumer demanding the lowest price possible. The conditions become ripe for the servants to seek other job options. And as they gain upward mobility and flee the the servant service market, the consumer has to pay more for less. Comes a time when the convenience gained is not matched by the cost of service. If the servant in question was fleeing from one Uber for X to another, there is no place left to flee after a point. Everyone returns to where they started from.
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