Woman Explains Why App Services Like Uber Are So Expensive

Another day, another dollar … for me to lose! Let’s get this bread, but only if it’s on sale. If I had a nickel every time someone said inflation, I would have enough nickels to still not be able to afford anything.

Excuse my rambling, but I’m just trying to find the words to describe this broken economy without being disrespectful.

These days, everything — and I mean everything — is rising in price. Going grocery shopping has become a fun game of thinking there’s a mistake on your bill, but then realizing that the mistake was that you foolishly wanted to eat in this economy — how greedy! Honestly, it makes sense that people are literally leaving the country to get cheaper groceries. We’re all just doing what we can to survive.

But, do you know what the problem is?

OK, that’s a loaded question, but do you want to know one of the reasons why everything is so pricy these days? Well, it’s because we thought we could fix economic inequities with technology.

You see, one user on Twitter just explained how a lot of the technology that was once introduced to make life easier and more affordable is now doing the complete opposite.

Keep reading for her spot-on explanation of how advancements in technology are only going to end up costing us more in the long run.

Twitter user @notdanilu took to the platform in a series of tweets to debrief us on an article she read about the “end of the subsidized millennial lifestyle.” She claimed that the article said that platforms like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash were initially able to offer low prices due to investor subsidies and favorable market conditions.

However, times have changed (read: the economy is now a dumpster fire) and these companies are stretching us for every last dollar.

“I think about this often in the context of how we were sold this idea that ‘big tech’ would democratize things,” she wrote. “Making life easier, and little luxuries affordable. But now we’re stuck constantly witnessing how these platforms exacerbate the same issues they were supposed to fix.”

If you think back to the dawn of Airbnb, all of this is true. The service, which stands for “Air Bed and Breakfast,” was marketed as a cheaper alternative to getting a hotel. An Airbnb was somewhere you could stay at a reduced rate. But as @notdanilu writes: “Airbnb’s and hotels are the same price” now.

Meanwhile, Uber was introduced to make transportation more accessible and affordable for people in cities around the world. And while the ride-share service delivered on the accessible part, the fares sometimes trump those of a taxi.

Essentially, these services that were supposed to disrupt the economy while making life easier for us are now just money-hungry corporations constantly working on new features or new streams of revenue to dip their heels into.

“We’ve lined the pockets of corporations that simply cannot give us the quality of life we want,” she wrote, adding that the “ever-present and readily available solution” is to fight these escalating costs is organizing as a collective.

And you know what? She’s not wrong.

The problem is that organizing anything in the U.S. is easier said than done. Not to mention that these technology bigwigs have ways of silencing those who speak out against them. The struggle continues and likely will for the foreseeable future.