• ERROR: UserNotFound@infosec.pub
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    4 hours ago

    I know this is a parody, but:

    In the US, you might soon need a white “walking buddy” when they re-instate Jim Crow laws, because you wouldn’t be allowed to travel without a white man leading the group.

    • AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works
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      2 hours ago

      Honestly in some areas of town late at night, I would totally make use of a service like this…

      …but I’d also expect the service be abused by people seeking people to harass.

    • muusemuuse@lemm.ee
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      3 hours ago

      Dude there’s probably a business in that. People typically just get hookers for that weird situation where a rich powerful man has to go to an event and bring a plus one, and he can’t find a woman who doesn’t hate him so he has to rent one by the hour.

      Make it an app. Fuck it. Lets let the business majors ruin that too.

    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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      3 hours ago

      unlike other comments, I’d argue, like most tech, it was incredibly profitable for anyone except the people funding it.

      Business is not about extracting money from goods and services, it’s about tricking VC funders to give you 50 million dollars a year

    • theotherbelow@lemmynsfw.com
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      4 hours ago

      Hilariously unprofitable. They even came up with creative accounting to show how, despite never being profitable they may turn a profit if you don’t count their debts and losses.

    • ryedaft@sh.itjust.works
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      5 hours ago

      Never has been Earth astronauts gun meme

      No, but fr Uber is a masterclass in creative accounting and strategic acquisitions for further creative accounting.

    • ickplant@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 hours ago

      “In 2023, Uber reported its first annual profit since going public in 2019, with a net income of $1.9 billion. This follows a period of consistent losses for the company.”

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      7 hours ago

      Their whole business model is “wait for self driving and then $$$” as they’ll no longer have to pay anybody.

  • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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    9 hours ago

    I don’t say this much but that is actually a good idea, considering the amount of people that live very lonely and isolated lives. Maybe this can help some people to talk, enjoy another’s company, etc. Maybe. Everything else the effing internet and tech companies tried only managed to push people apart…

    • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      Except that it gives predators an easy way to be alone with drunk women. I wouldn’t trust Uber’s security checks.

    • e$tGyr#J2pqM8v@feddit.nl
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      9 hours ago

      sure, it’s nice to do something about loneliness. Makes me think of human libraries, where you can borrow a human to have a talk with. But please, let’s do these things voluntarily and not for profit. There’s something nasty about “I’m only willing to speak to you if you pay me”.

      • qyron@sopuli.xyz
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        8 hours ago

        Isn’t that a japanese thing? With cafes where you go to talk with a person?

        But back to the subject at hand.

        I could see this as a way to get someone’s help to take some groceries home or some large object a single person can’t, as it is too akward to hold alone.

        Or as a personal guide or to have company to go to/through somewhere someone does not feel comfortable.

  • JeSuisUnHombre@lemm.ee
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    13 hours ago

    Honestly this is a great joke but also could legitimately be a good service for someone who didn’t feel safe walking alone, or needs help navigating

          • LeninOnAPrayer@lemm.ee
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            7 hours ago

            Not really the same. Charging for this would discourage people from using it. They have to make a choice on feeling safe vs. spending money.

            This gives everyone the option and subsidizes it to the entire community.

            This is exactly why socializing things like this is beneficial.

            Every service has a cost. That cost is the value of the labor being provided. But we decide as a society that providing services like this benefits everyone living in society. Regardless of if they use it directly or not.

            When people say “free” in this context that’s what they mean. They mean the decision based on personal finance is removed.

            We don’t want people choosing personal finance over safety or health. Removing that dependency benefits everyone.

      • exasperation@lemm.ee
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        11 hours ago

        John Mulaney has a joke about how his parents knew Bill Clinton that way, from all going to undergrad together at Georgetown. Apparently all the women loved being escorted by Bill Clinton, and the men were all jealous.

    • KoboldCoterie@pawb.social
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      12 hours ago

      Especially if they’d help carry your bags and whatnot; that could be very helpful for someone who has mobility issues or just has a lot of things they need to bring. Well worth $7.50

    • stebo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 hours ago

      how can it be this cheap though? sure it doesn’t require gas but it takes longer so the guy would need more pay for the service right?

      • wunami@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        The business model is to make it cheap initially by subsidizing it with investor capital. So, the gig worker may be paid more than the user is being charged. Then, eventually raise the price once the user base is large enough and dependent enough on it (or the prior alternative is sufficiently put out of business).

      • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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        8 hours ago

        If they actually matched up with the routes other people might take, I would do it. I’m always walking around downtown anyways, but I’m a relatively large poor-looking man so I never get hassled.

  • db2@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    It’s at least 5 years old and it seems every single year the news outlets “fact check” it and declare it false.

    Meanwhile we have actual conspiracy theories on official government websites and those same outlets say nothing.

    I hate this timeline.

  • boonhet@lemm.ee
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    10 hours ago

    For the first time, I saw a car with Uber stickers in my country. Wanted to peel them off, but I also don’t wanna get in a fight over it. Pretty sure it’ll mostly be used by foreigners because the local alternative has several years of advantage and is also a multinational now.

    • Match!!@pawb.social
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      10 hours ago

      friend, if i gotta burn down shit while facing forced disappearance to el salvador, you’d better be peeling the corporatists’ stickers off cars to protect your local alternative

      • boonhet@lemm.ee
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        10 hours ago

        Friend, I live at least 7 timezones away from you. I appreciate you burning shit down, but the people who voted the orange fascist into power are your friends and family, not me.

        • SpacetimeMachine@lemmy.world
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          9 hours ago

          America is so large that it’s very possible that person has no friends or family who voted for trump at all. I know I don’t.

          • jaybone@lemmy.zip
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            7 hours ago

            Suddenly everyone is on their high horse about number of time zones away.

            Also is Uber really the number one corporation we need to be fighting right now?

        • Match!!@pawb.social
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          7 hours ago

          is your nation so removed from the world as to be immune to the resurrection of fascism and the march of billionaire monopolists? i suppose I’m nearly 12 timesones away from North Sentinel Island

          • boonhet@lemm.ee
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            4 hours ago

            If the fascists here take over, it’ll be the local ones tbh. But don’t worry, I’m already running a personal trade surplus with the USA. Trump would hate me.