Deregulation, Lease Truckers, and Uber

[catnhatnh]

It's all the same deal just downsized from 18 wheels to 4. When trucking was deregulated thousands of people bought or leased road horses and made big money for 2 or 3 years...then deferred maintenance caught up to them and they went bankrupt.Back in reality world responsible people running fleets were running programs that changed oil and filters real quick and expensive stuff like injectors, pumps, and turbos by mileage and never waited for them to fail. The numbers showed we won and made a profit. The bankrupt "independent" truckers were caught time and again by equipment failure which was catastrophic. This is going to happen and soon to Uber drivers when their equipment grows old.

This is what happens when you deregulate-it is a republican dream and gives a short term decrease in price. But long term who wants to ride in a junky Subaru? In time, and if you make it cheap enough it will fail. And half of our politicians like it that way...

[we can do it]

1. Exactly. And our roads continue to go to shit.

Gawd forbid anyone pay for anything.

[elleng]

2. And ironically,

it began under Jimmy Carter.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=30038

[Travis_0004]

3. Ill take uber over a cab anyday

Better service, driver is more polite, and Ive never riden in a junky subaru.

[FrodosPet]

4. Even though I am NOT a religious man

I am praying for a car of my own so I can start Ubering AND chasing cab flags without paying the company lease. At 75 cents a mile (minus Uber's take), Uber is a crappy way to make a living, but it fills in the gaps. If you are used to poverty anyhow, you can survive.

Of course, with 8 years in the personal transportation business, I understand that your bread and butter has got to be taken care of. Gotta save up for the "Oh Shit!" fund. OTOH, many of the poor, naive Uber drivers who think gas is the only expense are going to be hurting soon.