Granted, that was artisinal grade meth.
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That’s true in a few megacities. In 95% of the country, smaller or medium cities, small towns, suburbs, rural areas, you’re lucky to get a cab within 2 hours if you know the right number to call and the arcane incantations to describe your (possibly unfamiliar) location over the phone. Then you have to explain to them how to get to your destination (which may also be unfamiliar). And it’s nice for them that it’s a good paying job, not so nice for the customer that has to spend a day’s pay to get a ride across town.
In those areas, Uber and Lyft have totally changed the game. What was formerly an expensive 4 hour journey now takes minutes and costs a reasonable amount. And it may not be the best possible thing for the drivers, but it’s relatively easy for them (compared to working yet another corporate minimum wage job) and they seem pretty positive about it.
Not really. It started (and got its name from) renting an air mattress in somebody’s place - basically couchsurfing. A step up from that is the sweet spot - people renting out their places while they’re not there (vacation, etc.). Some people still do that and it’s great. (Had a great vacation in a comfortable house with a bunny, sometimes a cat, lots of interesting books and cool decorations - while every nearby hotel/motel was sold out.) That’s especially good in areas with a lack of hotels and/or only skanky cheap motels - not every place is a tourist trap or megacity. AirBnB in that mode is not a cheap hotel, it’s more of a room for rent or a hostel model, which is an alternative that the U.S. is sorely lacking in.
However, there are also a number of places where people have specifically bought and fitted-out properties for AirBnB rental. They’re sterile and corporate (with signs screwed to the walls and so on). But they also serve a niche that nothing else does. They’re a good way to rent out a larger space for something like a family gathering or small company retreat. That niche where a cheap motel wouldn’t be appropriate and you don’t need a whole conference center.
All we have is single-family owned houses, small long-term rented apartments, cheap motels, and expensive hotels and conference centers. AirBnB fills the missing niches quite well.
That however, is a problem. But I think that the profitability of short-term rentals edging out affordable housing is a symptom that there’s something deeper that’s wrong with housing and the market. Deeming short-term rentals illegal could treat the symptom (at the cost of killing that niche) but leave the underlying problems to get worse.
In both these examples, the companies serve a real need that goes unfulfilled by megacorporate hotel chains and monopolistic cab companies, which is why they’re so successful and popular with both customers and the workers. They substantially improve the quality of life for people who aren’t wealthy, companies that aren’t megacorporations, and enable travel and events outside of major megacities. Clearly they are valuable and shouldn’t just be eliminated as “illegal because they don’t meet regulations designed by the monopolies to prevent competition and block out poor people”.
But abuse and misuse is possible, does happen, and can have negative effects on the communities as well as on the workers and the customers. So it makes sense to say that they do need some regulation. But they need regulations that fit the niches that they fill and the ways that they operate and what their customers want, not regulations that address the needs of a luxury hotel in Manhattan or a monopoly cab company in downtown Chicago.
I think that these things, and the ‘gig economy’ are here to stay. At least until we solve the wealth inequality and urban/non-urban divide. And that’s good because it allows the less-wealthy to participate in a lot of things that they couldn’t before. It makes transportation and lodging more varied and reliable, and available in a lot of places they weren’t before. We just haven’t figured out how best to integrate them yet. But there’s no reason that those niches couldn’t be filled in a way that’s good for the community, the workers, and the customers. Just probably won’t be the same way as luxury hotels and cab cartels.
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I know folks that rented out a house by Joshua Tree for two weeks through AirBnB in order to run a small (three or four person) Buddhist retreat there. Even with AirBnB’s overhead, it was STILL cheaper than renting a retreat center in order to have a place with a common room for meditation, rooms for people to sleep in, a kitchen, etc. They wound up getting a fairly unique building in a beautiful setting as well.
Is that just a cheap hotel? Maybe… except it is a house that the owners live in for part of the year, that they rebuilt from a half-destroyed building, and which they rent out for the rest of the year. This certainly isn’t a market that was being filled, except by one off Craiglist listings, before AirBnB.
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Would you consider asking a medallioned cab driver and maybe a mid level manager or housekeeper at a hotel chain how they like the way they make -their- living? I wager they will be every bit as biased towards their own situation as the uber driver or AirBnB users. Thanks for saying!
The job of ‘driver’ has been around a long time now. since the wheel met roads and trade. It’s a job that we need, and I think it’s incumbent on us to make sure it’s survivable and not no-prestige. A good driver keeps us all safer.
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Do we pick one that owns the medallion or just rents it for daily use from its rent seeking owner (which is a common thing)?
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In the situation I am describing, it would depend on which of your personal bias’ you’ve acknowledged and wondered about challenging. In yours, I would ask both of those, to fully inform my own POV.
First I’d have to get a cab to show up. Last time, three in a row didn’t so I downloaded and installed Uber and got a car 10 minutes later. Not even joking.
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sure. i’ve also worked as a housekeeper at a big hotel/casino, so i can at least speak to that from experience: it SUCKS, and housekeepers are underpaid and overworked, and it’s a thankless job. the other people i worked with were largely there because they had no other options.
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