{"ancestors":[],"descendants":[{"id":"111934158353835531","created_at":"2024-02-15T06:48:29.000Z","in_reply_to_id":"111933564432455957","in_reply_to_account_id":"109606224363698309","sensitive":false,"spoiler_text":"","visibility":"public","language":"en","uri":"https://aus.social/users/ajsadauskas/statuses/111934158227243337","url":"https://aus.social/@ajsadauskas/111934158227243337","replies_count":1,"reblogs_count":0,"favourites_count":1,"quotes_count":0,"edited_at":null,"content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"h-card\" translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://social.lol/@cory\" class=\"u-url mention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@\u003cspan\u003ecory\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"h-card\" translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://mastodon.online/@parismarx\" class=\"u-url mention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@\u003cspan\u003eparismarx\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e Uber's profit has been driven almost entirely by enshittification (credit to \u003cspan class=\"h-card\" translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic\" class=\"u-url mention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@\u003cspan\u003epluralistic\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e for the term).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1. They raised a truly epic amount of capital, off the back of promises of self-driving taxis and food delivery by drones.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2. It used basically false claims (we're not a taxi service, we're a ridesharing app and our drivers are entrepreneurs) to bypass laws that protect consumers and workers.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2. It used the money to subsidise the cost of rides or meal deliveries to consumers. \u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e3. It used surge pricing to entice drivers. No job interviews, which meant it attracted a lot of people who had difficulties finding work otherwise, and were easily exploited.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e4. It enticed restaurants with the prospect of a huge pool of existing customers, and not needing to (directly) pay and manage staff for home deliveries.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e5. It leveraged it's size and scale to push competitors out of the market.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen came the big bait and switch.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e6. There are no flying robotaxis. There were never really going to be flying robotaxis.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e7. Consumers were slugged with higher fares, new charges, and hidden admin fees. Some of these could be avoided if you agreed to pay a monthly subscription. Things that were once free now carry a fee.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e8. Worker's pay and conditions were slashed. If they're lucky enough to be allocated enough jobs and complete them all, you they might even earn minimum wage.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e9. Restaurants were slugged with additional fees and commissions too. Nice burger joint you got there buddy, would be a shame if you disappeared from our app and all our customers were redirected to your competitors across town.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e10. The cheap labour pool was hired out to big retailers and companies as a courier service. Cheaper rates, at the expense of blue-collar jobs with a decent salary.\u003c/p\u003e","reblog":null,"account":{"id":"109295283277409993","username":"ajsadauskas","acct":"ajsadauskas@aus.social","display_name":"Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au","locked":false,"bot":false,"discoverable":true,"indexable":true,"group":false,"created_at":"2022-11-05T00:00:00.000Z","note":"\u003cp\u003eThis account is inactive. Follow me at \u003cspan class=\"h-card\" translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://gts.sadauskas.id.au/@aj\" class=\"u-url mention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@\u003cspan\u003eaj\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","url":"https://aus.social/@ajsadauskas","uri":"https://aus.social/users/ajsadauskas","avatar":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/avatars/109/295/283/277/409/993/original/0d91dab90fe85132.jpg","avatar_static":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/avatars/109/295/283/277/409/993/original/0d91dab90fe85132.jpg","header":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/headers/109/295/283/277/409/993/original/1c25cad55c26ab7e.jpg","header_static":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/headers/109/295/283/277/409/993/original/1c25cad55c26ab7e.jpg","followers_count":274,"following_count":413,"statuses_count":12142,"last_status_at":"2026-02-10","hide_collections":false,"moved":{"id":"114318657713405850","username":"aj","acct":"aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au","display_name":"AJ Sadauskas","locked":false,"bot":false,"discoverable":true,"indexable":false,"group":false,"created_at":"2025-04-11T00:00:00.000Z","note":"\u003cp\u003eAustralian urban planning, public transport, politics, retrocomputing, and tech nerd. Recovering journo. Cat parent. Part-time miserable grump.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCities for people, not cars! Tech for people, not investors!\u003c/p\u003e","url":"https://gts.sadauskas.id.au/@aj","uri":"https://gts.sadauskas.id.au/users/aj","avatar":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/avatars/114/318/657/713/405/850/original/a7f33ab09d35f22f.png","avatar_static":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/avatars/114/318/657/713/405/850/original/a7f33ab09d35f22f.png","header":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/headers/114/318/657/713/405/850/original/0b2f3ea4cd480212.png","header_static":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/headers/114/318/657/713/405/850/original/0b2f3ea4cd480212.png","followers_count":3637,"following_count":763,"statuses_count":9944,"last_status_at":"2026-04-19","hide_collections":false,"emojis":[],"fields":[]},"emojis":[],"fields":[{"name":"New account","value":"\u003cspan class=\"h-card\" translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://gts.sadauskas.id.au/@aj\" class=\"u-url mention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@\u003cspan\u003eaj@gts.sadauskas.id.au\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e","verified_at":null}]},"media_attachments":[],"mentions":[{"id":"109606224363698309","username":"cory","url":"https://social.lol/@cory","acct":"cory"},{"id":"109262933516997525","username":"parismarx","url":"https://mastodon.online/@parismarx","acct":"parismarx@mastodon.online"},{"id":"108726420199771843","username":"pluralistic","url":"https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic","acct":"pluralistic@mamot.fr"}],"tags":[],"emojis":[],"quote":null,"card":null,"poll":null,"quote_approval":{"automatic":[],"manual":[],"current_user":"denied"}},{"id":"111934269001116609","created_at":"2024-02-15T07:16:37.000Z","in_reply_to_id":"111934158353835531","in_reply_to_account_id":"109295283277409993","sensitive":false,"spoiler_text":"","visibility":"public","language":"en","uri":"https://cloudisland.nz/users/jonathanharker/statuses/111934268896925306","url":"https://cloudisland.nz/@jonathanharker/111934268896925306","replies_count":0,"reblogs_count":1,"favourites_count":1,"quotes_count":0,"edited_at":null,"content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"h-card\" translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://aus.social/@ajsadauskas\" class=\"u-url mention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@\u003cspan\u003eajsadauskas\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"h-card\" translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://social.lol/@cory\" class=\"u-url mention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@\u003cspan\u003ecory\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"h-card\" translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://mastodon.online/@parismarx\" class=\"u-url mention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@\u003cspan\u003eparismarx\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"h-card\" translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic\" class=\"u-url mention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@\u003cspan\u003epluralistic\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e and next up: billionaire investor pump and dump. Finally we're showing a profit, time to gtfo before everyone realises it's on fire.\u003c/p\u003e","reblog":null,"account":{"id":"109437236104384321","username":"jonathanharker","acct":"jonathanharker@cloudisland.nz","display_name":"Jonathan Harker","locked":false,"bot":false,"discoverable":true,"indexable":false,"group":false,"created_at":"2022-12-01T00:00:00.000Z","note":"\u003cp\u003eWellingtonian, Python developer, Wikipedian, wine nerd, player of bass and contrabass trombone, cimbasso, serpent, clarinet, and boardgames, dad, hubb, housekeeper for two Birmans (former Bengal staff), gardener of chillies, and lots of other things I never get time to do properly. Unless stated otherwise, photos/video taken by me is licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0 International.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e(Avatar pic: me with silly glasses on; Header pic: close-up of a cimbasso with five Hagmann valves.)\u003c/p\u003e","url":"https://cloudisland.nz/@jonathanharker","uri":"https://cloudisland.nz/users/jonathanharker","avatar":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/avatars/109/437/236/104/384/321/original/9c0ea8826d60cdff.jpg","avatar_static":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/avatars/109/437/236/104/384/321/original/9c0ea8826d60cdff.jpg","header":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/headers/109/437/236/104/384/321/original/93673a999ad69fdb.jpeg","header_static":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/headers/109/437/236/104/384/321/original/93673a999ad69fdb.jpeg","followers_count":138,"following_count":155,"statuses_count":2100,"last_status_at":"2026-04-19","hide_collections":false,"emojis":[],"fields":[{"name":"Matrix","value":"@johnno@harker.kiwi.nz","verified_at":null},{"name":"Bookwyrm","value":"\u003cspan class=\"h-card\" translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://bookwyrm.social/user/jonathanharker\" class=\"u-url mention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@\u003cspan\u003ejonathanharker@bookwyrm.social\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e","verified_at":null}]},"media_attachments":[],"mentions":[{"id":"109295283277409993","username":"ajsadauskas","url":"https://aus.social/@ajsadauskas","acct":"ajsadauskas@aus.social"},{"id":"109606224363698309","username":"cory","url":"https://social.lol/@cory","acct":"cory"},{"id":"109262933516997525","username":"parismarx","url":"https://mastodon.online/@parismarx","acct":"parismarx@mastodon.online"},{"id":"108726420199771843","username":"pluralistic","url":"https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic","acct":"pluralistic@mamot.fr"}],"tags":[],"emojis":[],"quote":null,"card":null,"poll":null,"quote_approval":{"automatic":[],"manual":[],"current_user":"denied"}},{"id":"111934211437608642","created_at":"2024-02-15T07:02:00.000Z","in_reply_to_id":"111933564432455957","in_reply_to_account_id":"109606224363698309","sensitive":true,"spoiler_text":"","visibility":"public","language":"en","uri":"https://sfba.social/users/Frances_Larina/statuses/111934211392530922","url":"https://sfba.social/@Frances_Larina/111934211392530922","replies_count":0,"reblogs_count":0,"favourites_count":1,"quotes_count":0,"edited_at":null,"content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"h-card\" translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://social.lol/@cory\" class=\"u-url mention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@\u003cspan\u003ecory\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"h-card\" translate=\"no\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://mastodon.online/@parismarx\" class=\"u-url mention\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e@\u003cspan\u003eparismarx\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Workers and customers get squeezed so investors can make off like bandits\"\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWait; isn't that the purpose of corporations in America?\u003c/p\u003e","reblog":null,"account":{"id":"110030544351880197","username":"Frances_Larina","acct":"Frances_Larina@sfba.social","display_name":"Frances Larina","locked":false,"bot":false,"discoverable":false,"indexable":true,"group":false,"created_at":"2023-03-16T00:00:00.000Z","note":"\u003cp\u003eParent, spouse, sewing geek, data engineer \u0026amp; modeler. I'm on most platforms under the same name. I am a Friend of Tylenol \u0026amp; my Blåhaj's name is Cassandra\u003c/p\u003e","url":"https://sfba.social/@Frances_Larina","uri":"https://sfba.social/users/Frances_Larina","avatar":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/avatars/110/030/544/351/880/197/original/d353d32e86d8bcde.jpg","avatar_static":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/avatars/110/030/544/351/880/197/original/d353d32e86d8bcde.jpg","header":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/headers/110/030/544/351/880/197/original/df06fe3ba187f1a6.jpg","header_static":"https://s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com/social-lol-media/cache/accounts/headers/110/030/544/351/880/197/original/df06fe3ba187f1a6.jpg","followers_count":592,"following_count":540,"statuses_count":9046,"last_status_at":"2026-03-30","hide_collections":false,"emojis":[],"fields":[]},"media_attachments":[],"mentions":[{"id":"109606224363698309","username":"cory","url":"https://social.lol/@cory","acct":"cory"},{"id":"109262933516997525","username":"parismarx","url":"https://mastodon.online/@parismarx","acct":"parismarx@mastodon.online"}],"tags":[],"emojis":[],"quote":null,"card":null,"poll":null,"quote_approval":{"automatic":[],"manual":[],"current_user":"denied"}}]}