After losing $1 billion in the first quarter of the year, Uber Technologies Inc, the biggest ride-hailing operator in the world has a trick up its sleeve. It wants to make up for the unexpected loss but at the expense of its workforce. To that effect, Uber has partnered with Fair.com to create a new ride-hailing plan which is a scam in disguise.
Uber Reveals its First Quarterly Report
On May 30, 2019, Uber revealed its first quarterly report which shows that the public company made a huge loss of $1.01 billion. The loss was unexpected after it forecasted a $3.1 billion revenue for the quarter. On the other hand, its stock which began trading on May 10, 2019, is currently valued less than its IPO price of $45. As of Thursday, it closed at $39.80.
In a bid to curb these losses, gain market share, and probably make its investors happy, a new scheme has been devised. It is coming at a time when Uber drivers earn meager net hourly pay and have to rely on vehicles whose depreciation has been accelerated from enhanced use. What the latter does, is to take out the equity from a driver’s vehicle.
It may be interesting to note that Uber has done this while hiding behind the facade that it allows drivers to monetize using their cars. People were even promised good annual earnings only to be served with ripoff automobile financing where the take home at the end of the day, leaves very little to glory off.
Uber’s Scam in Conjunction with Fair.com
Now, the latest scam is in conjunction with Fair.com, a company that was once owned by Uber. The Uber-Fair collaboration wants to entice people who don’t have cars but need a job. It, however, comes with a cost and that is requiring a driver to rent a car from Fair.com for $185 per week. The bitter part of the pill is that if a driver makes 70 trips in a week, the fee has to be repaid.
On the other hand, an Uber-Fair driver can still rent a car from Fair.com but for $185 per month. The limitation evident in the latter is also waved off if only a startup fee between $700 and $1000 is paid. However, a driver can decide to pay the fee gradually within the space of two years. This would mean having to pay $225 per month in order to cover the expense required.
When one considers the expenses that will be paid for insurance, gas, and rideshare commission, the driver’s revenue will mean very little because a huge chunk will be taken out to cover these costs. Nonetheless, Uber will be on the receiving end since its drivers will be generating revenue for management.
Fair.com Leaves Bad Impression in the Minds of Customers
Asides from the major scam deal, Fair.com has left an impression in the minds of people as one of the worst companies in the world and the latter can be tied to a number of reasons. First, its customer care doesn’t really offer any support given that people have to wait on hold for hours unending just to get assistance.
If having to wait was the only problem, then it would be less mind nibbling but this is not the case because there are instances where such issues are not resolved. A media outlet, for instance, revealed that the chat feature on their app requires a 20 minute wait period. Its callback technology is also non-functional.
These aside, Uber’s reported loss for the quarter is larger than what was recorded by its rival Lyft Inc. throughout last year. It can be recalled that Uber made a profit of $3.75 billion in 2018 from selling international assets, but its current losses can be said to be double from what was obtainable in 2018.
