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Comment by bobz | Hacker News Reader

The comments on the internet suggest this. The number of people signing up to be drivers suggests otherwise.

That's marketing for you. There's been enough scandals in the past two years for it to be clear this is an evil company, but not many people know about this. For most, Uber is this cool new disruptive startup with awesome app and cheaper service, an underdog fighting the Evil Taxi Lords.

Lets unpack this myth of pure evil argument you've got going.

Uber is an evil company because they do some evil things?

Are they then not a good company because they do some good things?

Or are you saying ALL their actions are evil, and done intentionally, because they enjoy being evil?

The car requirement was a bit evil? 2008 foor door at one point, until they decided to lure Lyft drivers? 'Don't have the right car(on a ever changing list); 'we'll get you a good deal on a new Prius!' ( I know a guy who ruined his credit, and lost a huge down payment because he couldn't make what Uber said he would make with that new Prius. Yes--he was busy on Friday nights driving drunks from bar to bar, but their was not enough work to keep that Prius.)

... Wait, Uber is evil, because a guy you know bought a car he couldn't afford and Uber didn't pay him enough to pay it off?

So if I bought a ferrari, and I can't really afford to pay it off... the company I work for is evil. Got it!

If you have a bucket of honey and a bucket of poop, and you combine one with the other, you have two buckets of poop.

Given capitalism gives us the profit motive.

The profit motive inevitably leads to a company prioritising dollars over people (whether that is a consumer/supplier/employee/etc). Lets also agree that prioritisation is generally considered "Evil".

Are all for profit companies buckets of poop?

Is capitalism evil?

Or the number of people signing up suggests a very high turnover…

The number of people signing up to drive tells us a lot about the number of unemployed / underemployed individuals who have a car.

A job that's slightly better than starving to death is not a good job.

The best job opportunity for them is the best job opportunity for them. I wouldn't blame Uber for the fact that their driver jobs might not be some idealized version of the best possible job. For many of the drivers, it presumably is the best possible job they can get. I'd blame every other company who couldn't do better, not the one company who seems to be giving the best opportunity.

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