Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Another passenger cancelled the order after the driver arrived at the boarding point: this is not the first time for Wang Jun, a ride-hailing driver.

It was a rainy evening peak. Wang Jun received an order three kilometers away in Gaode and dared not delay at once. after he finally arrived at the boarding point after a long traffic jam, the passengers hung up on him. Soon a familiar message template came from the platform: just a moment.

Ten minutes later, Wang Jun did not wait for the passengers, but waited for the system prompt: "passengers cancelled the order."

There is no empty driving compensation, which takes up the evening rush hour, which is nothing. What makes Wang Jun most difficult to accept is that the last time a passenger cancelled an order like this, a scarlet exclamation mark popped up to remind him that he was found to be in violation by the system. The reason for the violation is "missed passengers". Wang Jun immediately intercepted the photo complaint of the traffic jam. The next day, the complaint was dismissed, and all he could do was quietly turn the steering wheel to take the next order.

"I feel aggrieved, obviously it's not our fault, but we always bear the loss." Wang Jun said that one colleague once "ruined" after being cancelled for no reason and punished many times, took a lot of reservation orders and did not pick up passengers, in retaliation for the platform and passengers: "but most people generally don't do this." because we have a basic conscience. "

In fact, this is just one of the contradictions between ride-hailing drivers and Gaud-to be exact, it should be the contradiction between ride-hailing drivers and aggregation platform. Angry, helpless, aggrieved. After the dividend ebb, more and more drivers surfaced, exposing Gaode's structural contradictions.

On the other hand, more giants are "touching Gaud to cross the river", trying to carve up the cake. Under the internal and external troubles, Gao de, the number one player of the converged taxi-hailing mode, has ushered in a great test:

The contradiction has reached a tipping point.

Friendliness to passengers is a variety of complaints against drivers who are cruel to drivers, mostly pointing to Gaud's bottomless favouritism to passengers. However, the rise of Gaode is a history of blood and tears of drivers who attract passengers with concessions such as low prices and more rights and interests.

The value is conserved, and if the platform gives more rights to passengers, then the driver will correspondingly lose one point.

For the ride-hailing industry, it is difficult to really form a so-called moat. After all, ride-hailing passengers are generally more sensitive to prices, and the cost of user migration is too low. It is an indisputable fact that who has a low price and who is more likely to get customers. Take Hua Xiaozhu, who was once very popular and was once regarded as "ride-hailing pinduoduo" as an example, its essence is the product nurtured by Didi in order to circumvent its own heavy system.

However, this war of attrition is too heavy for Didi, which has not yet lifted the ban and made a profit. Even though Didi, as a leader, can bring the hourly wage of drivers and vehicle wear to the extreme, the "new forces" in the aggregation platform tend to please passengers at all costs in order to seize the market.

Take the frequent cancellation of Gaud's orders by passengers above, for example, behind it is Gaud's "indulgence" of passengers. Wang Jun said that at Didi, users who cancel orders after exceeding the time limit often have to pay liquidated damages. However, in Gaode, as long as the passenger membership reaches gold, they will be exempted from spending three times a month, even if there is no reason to cancel the order. There is no need to pay liquidated damages.

"that membership level is determined by the accumulated mileage of passengers in Gaode. It can even be said that Gaode has a per capita golden member. Once I saw a post in the post bar, which was a taxi-hailing strategy shared by passengers. He said that every time he would call cars on several converging platforms, such as Gaode and Meituan, and then let them 'race'. Whoever arrives first, cancel the others, and be complacent about the time you have saved. "

Wang Jun said his first reaction to the word "race" was funny, followed by a deep sense of powerlessness: "after all, some passengers can bully our drivers in this way, essentially conniving at or even acquiescing in the platform." he also asked the platform for empty driving compensation and was finally prevaricated by the customer service on the grounds of channel alone. "

For ride-hailing drivers, they can watch their rights eroded over time: Li Dongliang, a driver in Changsha, Hunan province, told another story. When a passenger got off the bus in September last year, he said that his mobile phone would be secret-free. However, after three or four days, he did not receive the payment from the passengers.

"because the order has long been over, passengers can no longer be reached through the virtual number of the platform, and there is no result in appealing to the platform, do we drivers deserve to pay for the passengers?" A few months later, Li Dongliang was still very indignant when he mentioned this order:

"do you know what scares me the most? at that time, I called the driver's customer service, but I didn't get through several times, and then I tried to call the passenger's customer service, and I got through instantly. What's the matter?"

For the platform, passengers and drivers are like both ends of the balance: constantly adding yards on the passenger side means that the driver's rights and interests are constantly eroded. In other words, the various pleasing behaviors of the aggregation platform to passengers, to some extent, is a kind of "generosity" that transfers the cost to the driver: being friendly to the passengers is cruel to the driver.

With few orders and low prices, Gaud and his drivers also had a brief honeymoon period when Gaud had just risen.

Especially after Didi was removed from the shelves, a large number of ride-hailing platforms took advantage of the false entry, using preferential measures such as low threshold, high entry benefits and commission-free as bait, attracting a large number of drivers to settle in. According to Chen Liming, the subsidies given by various platforms were particularly high at that time, and the reward for his T3 travel was even higher than the income of sports cars every day.

Because of this, Chen Liming resolutely jumped into the wave of car-hailing "change of flag", looking forward to a high school education can also have a monthly income of more than 10,000. To this end, he became the "roll king" among online ride-hailing drivers-driving for an average of 14 hours a day, even for a month. "there is really nothing we can do. There is nothing we can do about it. One of the children is in junior high school and the other is in primary school. It's time to spend money."

At that time, he did not know that this was only the beginning of stepping into another besieged city, and the coveted encouragement could not be copied. With the "fight for drivers" between the platforms calmed down, the cruel truth of the industry gradually emerged: as a large number of orders poured into Gaud, drivers gradually switched from active to passive.

Even for "liver emperors" like Chen Liming, it is obvious over the past two years that money is getting harder and harder to earn: "now I can earn 6000 or 7000 a month after deducting car rental, commission, insurance, and illegal fees." this is still the result of running out with your life. we have some buddies who have just got a sports car, and they only get 4000 or 5000 a month. "

After the introduction of the model of getting customers at a low price, such as a price order, it makes drivers complain incessantly. Chen Liming said that now that he has opened a price order, he can't make any money at all. at the lowest point, it costs more than one yuan per kilometer, and traffic jams are not counted as money, and there is no cost-effective delivery yet. But do not open a price order, the order is too few, the running water can not run up, simply can not eat the single quantity reward of the platform.

"and the mechanism of the platform is very 'chicken thief'. It seems that it will send you one or two high-quality orders among several one-mouthful orders, hanging us." Chen Liming said with a wry smile, "this is like occasionally exposing some good equipment when playing legends, giving you the illusion that you continue to invest money in it."

In fact, it is not that Chen Liming has never thought of changing the platform, but in this city, Gaode has the most orders. "even Didi can't get orders all the time." After the decline in income, he briefly tried to take orders on multiple platforms like those old drivers who stuffed four or five mobile phones in their cars, but in the end it was counterproductive.

Chen Liming revealed: "the advantage of taking orders on multiple platforms is that you can pick passengers and get a thankless order and call the passenger on the excuse of no electricity or a punctured tire to persuade him to cancel on his own initiative." it's just that some passengers clearly promised on the phone, the backhand will give you a report. "

On the other hand, all ride-hailing platforms follow similar scoring rules-only the more orders and the longer the sports car time, the points can be improved and the orders are more likely to be given priority. During the time when he tried to take orders on multiple platforms, due to less points and more active cancellations, it was difficult for him to upgrade on each platform, and the dispatch was even less than before.

"in the most extreme, I park by the side of the road for hours a day waiting to pick up the order." Chen Liming sighed.

Liu Guoqing, who has been running Didi in Chongqing for many years, said that Didi platform is also difficult to take orders now, especially when it is becoming less and less friendly to private cars. If you want to have more orders, you have to rent Didi official vehicles.

Sociology scholars Sun Hui and Zhao Daojing have pointed out that ride-hailing drivers seem to have the freedom to take orders on their own, but it is actually a kind of "pseudo-freedom." The reward requirement for the driver on the platform is that the driver must complete a certain quantity within a specific time, such as the rush hour in the morning and evening. When these conditions are tied to a model such as an one-price order, it means that the driver is more passive.

Liu Wei, a car-hailing driver in Chongqing, used to be the owner of a Chinese restaurant. At the height of the epidemic last year, his store of more than 300 square meters was forced to close down and lose 100,000 yuan a month, so he had to close the shop and go out for a ride-hailing transition. Taking orders on a single platform, having a good service attitude, and decades of driving experience, although Liu Wei has only registered on the pommel horse for more than two months, he has already upgraded the platform to a full level.

Even if the order is non-stop, it is extremely difficult to get the order reward. Last week, he left the car at 8 o'clock, close to 12:00, just barely finished the 35 singles required for the single reward, and got a total of 60 multiple rewards from Gao de and the pommel horse.

"it's much more tiring than opening a restaurant, and it's not a tired way. Running a restaurant is busy every day, and driving is purely exhausting. After my sports car, even if I quit smoking and drinking, I still can't stand it. I still have a backache every day. Even after I finish the car, my brain is still driving fast, light and dizzy. When I got home, my daughter asked," Dad, why don't you play with me? I still don't have the strength to play. "

In this regard, drivers have no way to compete with the platform, can only accept or leave. After letting go, Liu Wei, who is quite fond of messing around, also decided to stop running for another half a year and think about some new opportunities.

Ben wanted to ask questions in the car, but the end came soon, and he received the next order before he reached the finish line, and then disappeared into the huge traffic, waiting for him is another long evening rush hour.

Compared with the apparent contradiction between the ride-hailing driver and Gao de, the conflict between the ride-hailing driver and his own platform is often more covert and more intense.

The logic behind it is that under the "double certificate" compliance wave, the logic of the current ride-hailing industry has gradually evolved from part-time sports cars of private cars to full-time logic similar to taxis.

Xiaoyi, a ride-hailing driver in Shenyang, is deeply impressed by the changes in the industry in recent years. Xiaoyi only has "witness". After the policy was introduced, he obviously felt a sharp drop in the number of orders he took: "as soon as the policy came out, I couldn't get any good orders at Didi, and they seemed to give priority to dispatch orders to drivers with double certificates."

With the tightening of supervision, the major platforms are also "intensified", from the initial reduction of orders, to the back directly do not dispatch orders. In this context, Xiaoyi had to move from Didi to a relatively loose platform. "although linked to Gaode, the unit price is very low, at least you can run again."

In addition, Xiaoyi, who does not have a double certificate, dares not easily go to the "concentration places" of high-quality orders such as high-speed rail stations and airports. After all, transportation management in these places is quite frequent. If you are caught once without a license, you will be fined tens of thousands of yuan.

In spite of this, there are still veteran drivers who "get their wealth from risks" and remain calm at high-speed rail stations and airports. "I have a friend who hangs the platform backstage and receives messages with Bluetooth headphones. When asked by the transport management, he will pick up his friend and make money on the knife tip. But the best I can do is to take the bus stop order and send the passenger near the station to beg him to take two more steps. There is no need to take too many risks."

In fact, it's not that Xiao Yi didn't think about getting a double license, but he once calculated that getting a "car license" not only means that his car will become an operating vehicle, running 600000 kilometers or eight years will have to be scrapped, but will also face more than 10000 insurance premiums every year. "Insurance alone has more than a thousand a month. Even if I don't get out of the car, I have to spend it, so I'm trapped by a ride-hailing car."

In other words, once you get a double license, it means you have a deeper bond with the ride-hailing industry, and many drivers don't seem to want to be tied to this industry that consumes people. "ride-hailing is just a temporary measure. You can't run a ride-hailing bar all your life."

With the spread of compliance, the decline in superimposed orders, the intensification of the volume in the industry and other factors, drivers have less and less living space, many drivers have quietly changed trams to save costs, and some drivers have even directly become "workers" of the platform.

Sunshine Travel, as a group of players with the lowest unit price in Gaode aggregation platform, follows this logic. According to a Sunshine driver, compared to the time of running and not running in the past, the car is now rented from the platform, and he is more like an employee of the platform. "when I signed the contract, the platform gave me two choices: one is to get a basic salary for work, the majority of the running water is given to the platform, and the excess belongs to me; the other is to rent a car from the platform and rent + insurance 200 a day."

Obviously, this standard is rather stringent for him, who has just started the profession. "after running for more than two months, I found it difficult to make money, and I wanted to return the car forcefully, but a few thousand deposits were wasted. I had to grit my teeth and keep running to see if I could get better after letting go."

In other words, the rise and fall of the industry has little to do with the ride-hailing platform, even if the passengers do not make money can be accepted, as long as they can rely on low prices to support the quantity to ensure the basic operation of the platform. It only needs to invest a lot of marketing costs, launch advertisements to recruit drivers, and live on vehicle rents, membership fees, and even deposits paid by drivers to escape from the industry.

After all, in the employment environment of the past few years, the story of "monthly income of more than 10,000" carefully woven by the platform is quite beautiful. Groups of drivers entered the industry confidently and left gloomily one after another, while the platform enjoyed the benefits of fishermen.

However, no matter how beautiful the story is, there will be a day when it is exposed. Returning the car and escaping seems to have become the unanimous choice of drivers, and the vehicles that have been rented out have also become "online car-hailing cemeteries" in news reports.

With the intensification of the contradiction between the platform and the driver, it is difficult for Gaud to become a winner.

Structural problems of aggregation platform Zhao Yan, a Chongqing driver, had a fierce quarrel with his platform manager at the end of last year: at that time, he had decided to change professions and return the car immediately. When signing the contract, the car rental company said that the process could be completed within 30 days when the car was returned. However, when you really want to return the car, the deposit that should have been returned within a month has been delayed for more than two months.

"the reason for trying not to get us out of the car is to cut us like leeks. There are always people who can't survive and want to go to the sports car. They've already got an eye on it." Zhao Yan said, "now not only do we hold on to the deposit, but they also don't settle the unpaid orders for the month before returning the car."

Zhao Yan rented a car with a monthly deposit of nearly 4000 yuan. He didn't make money at all for several months during the epidemic, but he still had to pay car rental fees and commissions. Even if it was postponed for a month, there was a lot of pressure, and now it almost belongs to "loan work." In addition, according to him, almost all platforms with car rental business seem to give priority to dispatch orders to drivers who rent their cars, which also makes him stop thinking of buying a new car and then "running and raising a car."

In this confrontation among drivers, car rental companies, Gao de, and passengers, Gao de, sandwiched in the middle, is often the most powerless and anxious.

As a converged taxi-hailing platform, Gaud is undoubtedly the last party to want a large number of drivers to be lost. It can be seen that under the change of attack and defense, Gao de also introduced a lot of measures to retain:

On the passenger side, the "commission-free alliance selected drivers" with higher unit prices occupy a central position on the taxi-hailing page. On the driver side, it is free of commission for drivers during the morning peak holidays, and cooperates with the online ride-hailing platform to launch customer acquisition activities for new drivers.

However, limited by the characteristics of the aggregation platform, Gao de's pacification measures are slightly weak in the routed army of drivers. After all, although aggregation can quickly roll out the business through the light asset model, Gaud is more like an intermediary providing traffic entry than Didi, which is difficult to get deeply involved in the service chain.

Gao de has structural problems in driver resources, and even if the platforms have become a mess, what Gao de can do is very limited-- he cannot face the driver directly, nor can he really give him welfare, and it is very difficult to reconcile the "household chores" between the platform and the driver.

From the perspective of Gao de's conciliatory measures, even if the "commission-free alliance selected drivers" are given priority, it will not change the status quo that passengers choose cheaper preferential orders after multi-party price comparison. Activities such as extending the length of commission-free hours are also palliative rather than permanent, says Zhao Yan. Although the morning and evening rush hour is commission-free, it is often wasted by traffic jams.

As shown in the "single quantity" on the new driver recruitment page, for Gaud, no matter how frequent the activity is, it is the massive orders brought about by the "flow" that can really encircle the driver.

However, even if it is a "traffic" barrier, it is also being impacted by players such as Huawei, Tencent and byte.

In July last year, Huawei began mass testing of "Petal travel" to its members, offering aggregate travel services in Beijing, Shenzhen and other cities; in the same month, Tencent tested the taxi-hailing function in Wechat's "travel service"; and at the end of last year, media revealed that Douyin had opened the qualification of platform service providers for transportation and travel services.

It is worth mentioning that as soon as Douyin's entry qualifications are opened, T3 travel will be online in Douyin, "T3 taxi-hailing" Mini Program. Before that, according to a T3 driver, in his city, half of the T3 orders came from its App and half from Gaud, and other channels were basically negligible.

At present, "other channels" are on the rise, including players such as Tencent and Douyin, and the "traffic" that Gao de is proud of may be shared. It can be predicted that with the influx of new players, the competition between converging taxi-hailing platforms will become more and more fierce, fighting for subsidies, rights and interests, "loss-making", is likely to become the norm in the future.

In the giants' Game of Thrones, drivers gradually wake up, leaving a lonely figure for the industry. As Xiaoyi said:

"New Year's Day has a lot of orders during the festival. in the past, I would certainly be full of expectations for the new year, but now, it is more tired and uncertain about the future." Although there is still a glimmer of hope, but in fact, everyone knows that the golden age of ride-hailing is gone forever.

This article is from the official account of Wechat: photon Planet (ID:TMTweb). By Wen Jiehao.

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