You forgot “cable television, but over the internet and no one has all the channels.”
“…and it all still has ads.”
🏴☠️
So, Internet cable TV
I swear that most commenters are young people because back in the 90s-2000s, taxis and hotels were hot fucking garbage.
Taxis would go on joy rides to up the cost or refuse you if you were black.
Hotels would tell you to go suck a dick because their price listed outside is not for you, and if you want a place, they have a room with roaches near the heater.
Uber/Airbnb were gamechangers that broke that monopoly.
Unfortunately, they have gotten to shit. But you know what? Taxis and hotels have cleaned up their act. Because the moment they go to shit again, Uber/Airbnb will come in and eat their lunch.
Where I lived and traveled, hotels never had a monopoly. Small B&Bs and hostels have always existed, it was never a choice between big hotel and staying in a tent. There was no need to wreak havoc on the housing market.
The problem with the gig economy is that these platforms are not content with being what they’re advertising themselves as. “Be your own boss”. “Make some money in your own time”. Guess what, if you drive for Uber, Uber is your boss. You’re an employee in anything but name. They penalise you if you reject too many jobs. They penalise you if you go on break too long. They penalise you for all kinds of other things. Here in Australia most rideshare vehicles have at least two badges, because the drivers can’t make ends meet driving for just one. And then they’ve gone and fucked up the delivery market as well. It’s an economy of rent-seekers and middlemen.
Taxis in my country would routinely ask for extra (usually 25-30% of the total fare) or have you pay them a fixed amount that’s way higher than if only the meter was used (about 2-3x the normal fare) . There are also taxis that have meters that are way too fast. Uber was a godsend when it first came out here.
Almost as if it’s not the commodities that are the problem, but the economy they operate. 🧐
When you call a cab it was often a game of 'will the can actually show up?"
Ah yes, I too remember the good old days of stumbling home drunk in the dark because my cab never came.
Uber and Airbnb DID break that monopoly but they got their competative advantage by simply breaking the laws that existing taxis and hotels were required to adhear too. Still do break those laws but weight of cash > law.
Laws that the taxi and hotel companies lobbied for to stop competition.
Personally I’m a fan of fake certificate that says you paid money for one of the plagiarism machine’s works
You mean the Amazon rain forest destroyer machine?
Calling AirBnB “a hotel chain” is an insult to hotels.
Hotels don’t require you to clean somebody else’s house while you are on vacation like a maid, and then charging you a cleaning fee for missing a spot. There isn’t even much of a price difference nowadays, so staying at a hotel wins every time.
I have two younger kids. We can very close to renting a hotel on our last in-state vacation. It would have actually been somewhat cheaper. The reason we still went for the AirBnB was because our kids are asleep by like 7:30 and we didn’t want to be ‘trapped’ in the hotel room and didn’t want to rent a second. AirBnB made it significantly easier to find a house to rent.
That said, the number of AirBnBs in that area of the state has really grown. I can’t imagine that’s doing the people who live there any favors.