<story><title>We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments</title><url>https://caretaker.com/blog/we-replaced-rental-brokers-with-software-and-filled-200-vacant-apartments</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>TeMPOraL</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;It is now cheaper for the average person to get a ride to an airport&amp;#x2F;bar than it was before.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;On average, in certain locations. In others, not so much. And let&amp;#x27;s not forget surge pricing. Or people living, or wanting to get to a place, along low-profit routes. Or people with disabilities.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;more predictable with pricing&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Depends. Regular taxis tended to cost a bit more, but had much lower variance.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;Uber drivers make more money today than taxi drivers used to&amp;#x2F;or do today.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;That seems implausible at best.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;There are also way more job openings in this than there used to be&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;These aren&amp;#x27;t &lt;i&gt;jobs&lt;/i&gt;, though. They&amp;#x27;re gigs. And highly unpredictable ones, wrt. your take-home pay.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;The world is not a zero sum game. Technology made this a win-win long-term&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Absolutely true.&lt;p&gt;The problem isn&amp;#x27;t &lt;i&gt;technology&lt;/i&gt;, it&amp;#x27;s businesses - particularly businesses that purposefully play a &lt;i&gt;negative-sum game&lt;/i&gt;, where the losing side is society at large. Externalizing risk, costs, performing regulatory arbitrage. Making owners much better off, customers a bit better off, at the cost of making &lt;i&gt;everyone else&lt;/i&gt; slightly worse off. And much like with greenhouse emissions - a bit here, a bit there, barely measurable puff, up until it adds up to a global crisis - these companies are killing civilized society, one VC-subsidized shiny app at a time.</text></item><item><author>handmodel</author><text>Uber and Lyft are 100% a win though.&lt;p&gt;- It is now cheaper for the average person to get a ride to an airport&amp;#x2F;bar than it was before. It is safer, more predictable with timing, and more predictable with pricing.&lt;p&gt;- Uber drivers make more money today than taxi drivers used to&amp;#x2F;or do today. There are also way more job openings in this than there used to be, with less friction to get involved.&lt;p&gt;The world is not a zero sum game. Technology made this a win-win long-term although there were already some people caught in the middle with old business models. However, that really cant be a reason for us not to move on.</text></item><item><author>boringg</author><text>Caretaker:  The redfin of brokers.  Take all the value for themselves freeze out the brokers (who provide a service but are universally disdained).  Ride that wave of positive news for a couples years.  Eventually everyone will hate the fraction of the market Caretaker has as they raise prices to make investors happy and people realize there are problems.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s like the same idea of Uber and Lyft.  Less human involvement = better world &amp;#x2F;S.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bko</author><text>&amp;gt; On average, in certain locations. In others, not so much. And let&amp;#x27;s not forget surge pricing. Or people living, or wanting to get to a place, along low-profit routes. Or people with disabilities.&lt;p&gt;You can always take a regular cab. Low profit routes were pretty much impossible to get pre-Uber. I am almost certain that Uber is more likely to obey disability laws than &amp;quot;Joe&amp;#x27;s taxi&amp;quot; with a few cars.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Depends. Regular taxis tended to cost a bit more, but had much lower variance.&lt;p&gt;My experience with cabs is calling a dispatcher while in route and getting a price. I was charged $30 for a two mile trip to the train station before. No reasoning. Also they were much less likely to pick up minority passengers, or people in poorer neighborhoods. Also &amp;quot;credit card machine was broken&amp;quot; very often. Also you don&amp;#x27;t know the route the driver will take. I guess my experience with cabs pre-Uber was different from yours, but it was incredibly high variance.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; That seems implausible at best.&lt;p&gt;Many places you had a gatekeeper. You can&amp;#x27;t just ride a taxi, and would have to purchase a medallion or sign on to an existing vendor where there&amp;#x27;s much less competition. They would also be much less flexible with hours</text></comment>
<story><title>We replaced rental brokers with software and filled 200 vacant apartments</title><url>https://caretaker.com/blog/we-replaced-rental-brokers-with-software-and-filled-200-vacant-apartments</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>TeMPOraL</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;It is now cheaper for the average person to get a ride to an airport&amp;#x2F;bar than it was before.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;On average, in certain locations. In others, not so much. And let&amp;#x27;s not forget surge pricing. Or people living, or wanting to get to a place, along low-profit routes. Or people with disabilities.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;more predictable with pricing&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Depends. Regular taxis tended to cost a bit more, but had much lower variance.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;Uber drivers make more money today than taxi drivers used to&amp;#x2F;or do today.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;That seems implausible at best.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;There are also way more job openings in this than there used to be&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;These aren&amp;#x27;t &lt;i&gt;jobs&lt;/i&gt;, though. They&amp;#x27;re gigs. And highly unpredictable ones, wrt. your take-home pay.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;The world is not a zero sum game. Technology made this a win-win long-term&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Absolutely true.&lt;p&gt;The problem isn&amp;#x27;t &lt;i&gt;technology&lt;/i&gt;, it&amp;#x27;s businesses - particularly businesses that purposefully play a &lt;i&gt;negative-sum game&lt;/i&gt;, where the losing side is society at large. Externalizing risk, costs, performing regulatory arbitrage. Making owners much better off, customers a bit better off, at the cost of making &lt;i&gt;everyone else&lt;/i&gt; slightly worse off. And much like with greenhouse emissions - a bit here, a bit there, barely measurable puff, up until it adds up to a global crisis - these companies are killing civilized society, one VC-subsidized shiny app at a time.</text></item><item><author>handmodel</author><text>Uber and Lyft are 100% a win though.&lt;p&gt;- It is now cheaper for the average person to get a ride to an airport&amp;#x2F;bar than it was before. It is safer, more predictable with timing, and more predictable with pricing.&lt;p&gt;- Uber drivers make more money today than taxi drivers used to&amp;#x2F;or do today. There are also way more job openings in this than there used to be, with less friction to get involved.&lt;p&gt;The world is not a zero sum game. Technology made this a win-win long-term although there were already some people caught in the middle with old business models. However, that really cant be a reason for us not to move on.</text></item><item><author>boringg</author><text>Caretaker:  The redfin of brokers.  Take all the value for themselves freeze out the brokers (who provide a service but are universally disdained).  Ride that wave of positive news for a couples years.  Eventually everyone will hate the fraction of the market Caretaker has as they raise prices to make investors happy and people realize there are problems.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s like the same idea of Uber and Lyft.  Less human involvement = better world &amp;#x2F;S.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>handmodel</author><text>I would love a carbon tax but if that existed I don&amp;#x27;t see how you can blame Uber for making society worse. In additions to all the economic gains you talk about it has saved thousands of lives a year due to less drunk driving. Additionally, it has enabled millions of people in cities to skip buying a new car&amp;#x2F;any car which saves tons of emissions.&lt;p&gt;More predictable as in you know the fair before you get in. I did have to take a taxi in Los Angeles from the airport earlier this year and the guy wouldn&amp;#x27;t tell me how much it would cost. Gave me a ballpark that was $22 less than what it ended up being.</text></comment>