#28172

Ah yes, the “sharing” economy. So Airbnb have started using that word, just like Uber, the facilitator of “ride-sharing”.

Ride-sharing, Uber ain’t. Ride-sharing is when a car owner takes in some passengers to go from A to B because the driver is going there anyway and it provides a convenient benefit. I had such an arrangement a few years back with a couple who lived nearby – the three of us drove from Manly to North Sydney so that we could use the Transit Lane, halving our journey time in peak hour. And critically, the driver was going there for his work anyway.

Uber is not that. Uber is a for-profit business, effectively an alternative taxi service. The driver has no interest in going from A to B for any reason other than to make money.

Uber and Airbnb use the caring and sharing vocabulary to obscure their true reason for existence, which is that they are money-making enterprises.

Every time you see the word “share” in their communications, please point this out. It’s classic BS.