A paper arguing that gig companies like Uber use "algorithmic wage discrimination" to string along workers with just enough work and just enough to pay to keep them working

LAT:

In most cases, workers are given only two choices for each job they’re offered on a platform — accept or decline — and they have no power to negotiate their rates. With the asymmetric information advantage all on their side, companies are able to use the data they’ve gathered to “calculate the exact wage rates necessary to incentivize desired behaviors.”

One of those desired behaviors is staying on the road as long as possible, so workers might be available to meet the always-fluctuating levels of demand. As such, Dubal writes, the companies are motivated “to elongate the time between sending fares to any one driver” — just as long as they don’t get so impatient waiting for a ride they end their shift. Remember, Uber drivers are not paid for any time they are not “engaged,” which is often as much as 40% of a shift, and they have no say in when they get offered rides, either. “The company’s machine-learning technologies may even predict the amount of time a specific driver is willing to wait for a fare,” Dubal writes.

If the algorithm can predict that one worker in the region with a higher acceptance rate will take that sushi delivery for $4 instead of $5 — they’ve been waiting for what seems like forever at this point — it may, according to the research, offer them a lower rate. If the algorithm can predict that a given worker will keep going until he or she hits a daily goal of $200, Dubal says, it might lower rates on offer, making that goal harder to hit, to keep them working longer.

Massive indoor wedding in Brooklyn; Hiring a gig worker to keep your place in line for a Covid test; An alternate suggestion for Thanksgiving

Insane footage here of a 7,000 person indoor wedding held in Brooklyn two weeks ago. It’s psychopathic. https://t.co/k4Kka4f6iX pic.twitter.com/peYjNVcaAb

— Tom Gara (@tomgara) November 23, 2020

"New York's attorney general announced plans Thursday to sue New York City for $810 million for inflating the price of taxi medallions"

NBC:

The city made $855 million on sales of medallions, the licenses that allow a person to operate a yellow cab, between 2002 and 2014 when it stopped holding medallion auctions.

The value of a medallion has plummeted from over $1 million in 2013 to less than $200,000 now

Related, a popular thread on Twitter today:

Me: "What do you mean? Aren't they all ubers and lyfts?"

Him: "Yeah, but the drivers lease the cars off the same guy. I met him." (2/9)

— Imran Khan (@imrankhan) February 19, 2020

"The set-up means that when these drivers complete a ride, the payment goes direct to the guy who owns the car.

The driver sees precisely zero cents until they hit a monthly quota. The money's in the owner's account; he then transfers it once the quota's hit." (4/9)

— Imran Khan (@imrankhan) February 19, 2020

"Uber drivers and other gig economy workers are earning half what they did five years ago"

Recode:

On average, drivers who transport people (Uber or Lyft) or things (Uber Eats or Postmates) through an app made 53 percent less in 2017 than they did in 2013, according to a new study by the JPMorgan Chase Institute that looks at online gig economy payments into Chase checking accounts.

"St. Louis Uber driver has put video of hundreds of passengers online. Most have no idea"

StlT:

The women are among hundreds of St. Louis area Uber passengers who have been streamed online without their knowledge by their driver, Jason Gargac, 32, of Florissant.

Gargac has given about 700 rides in the area since March through Uber, plus more with Lyft. Nearly all have been streamed to his channel on Twitch, a live video website popular with video gamers where Gargac goes by the username “JustSmurf.”

...

First names, and occasionally full names, are revealed. Homes are shown.

...

He had gone over 30 minutes without passengers and his stream was losing viewers.

“This better be (expletive) content, I swear to God. This better be (expletive) content, that’s all I’m saying,” Gargac said as the two women approached.

"As a scooter charger you're a legitimate bounty hunter"

TA:

“It’s really fun to grab a few scooters, charge them, and in the end it pays for a fancy dinner,” Abouzeid says. “It’s like a game and I would do it even if the prices were halved, which they probably will be.”

Like Pokémon Go, when you enter “charger mode” the Bird app displays a real-time map of Birds across your area that require charging. The reward for capturing and charging these Birds can range from $5 to $20 depending on how difficult the Bird is to locate—and some can be really hard to find. Bird chargers have described finding Birds in and under trash cans, down the side of a canyon, hidden in bushes, or tossed sideways on the side of the street.

“Finding the really hard ones is so awesome,” says Lucas, a young teenage Bird charger in L.A. who didn’t want his last name or his age listed since he technically hunts under his parents’ account. “It’s become a big trend at my high school. People are like, ‘Oh are you gonna charge tonight?’ I have friends send me Snapchats like, ‘I just got 18 in one night!’

...

But while Bird hunting is fun and games for some, other chargers take the job much more seriously. Charging in some cities, like San Diego, has become a cutthroat competition between workers where every last dollar counts.

Hoarding in particular has become a problem in these crowded markets. Bird and other companies will pay a $20 reward for missing scooters, so some chargers simply keep the scooters in their garage until they’re reported missing by riders or the bounty goes up to $20, then claim the finder’s fees.