<br /><ul><li><strong>The University of Delhi witnessed a gender gap in student enrollment in its colleges.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>The varsity recently directed 17 prominent colleges to extend 1% relaxation to female applicants, to boost female participation.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>Dyal Singh College and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College recorded nearly equal gender distribution at 45% for 2018-19.<br /></strong></li></ul>Colleges under <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/concessions-or-not-gender-ratio-remains-skewed-at-most-du-colleges/articleshow/69779302.cms?from=mdr">Delhi University </a>are struggling with gender parity as it is skewed majorly towards men. There are as many as 90 colleges under the university. And, major gaps are noticed in The Hindu College and Kirorimal College. <br /><br />Girls comprise of 30% of the total student body in Kirorimal College, principal Vibha Singh Chauhan told TOI. This is in spite of the fact that the college provides equal amenities to students, regardless of gender.<br /><br />Several colleges under the University of Delhi (DU) provide concessions on the aggregate percentage criteria for female students, for a few subjects. <br /><br />Recently, the varsity recently directed 17 prominent colleges to extend 1% relaxation to female applicants, to boost female participation.<br /><br />The move is aimed at “supporting girl students and encouraging females from the minority sections to step forward,” said I S Bakshi, Principal of Dyal Singh College. The college aims to have a gender parity amongst its students, with at least 50% female participation.<br /><br />Dyal Singh College, Shivaji College and Acharya Narendra Dev College are amongst those which have<a href="https://www.theindianwire.com/education/17-colleges-du-approve-1-concession-female-students-colleges-join-row-139865/"> implemented</a> the university’s directives. <br /><br />These special concessions led to a significant rise in overall female participation, said Vipin Aggarwal, Principal of Aurobindo College. According to him, the female percentage in the student body has increased from 25% to 35%, due to the rebate.<br /><br />Despite that, the statistics are largely skewed towards men. According to a TOI report, Indira Gandhi Institute for Physical Sciences had the least women count, at 16% in 2018-19. While Dyal Singh College and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College recorded nearly equal gender distribution at 45%.<br /><br /><strong>See also:</strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/delhi-university-tie-up-with-cbse-for-document-verification-for-new-admissions/articleshow/69555052.cms">University of Delhi, CBSE will now use ‘forensics’ to detect fake documents submitted by students</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/modi-government-announces-50-million-scholarship-for-minority-students/articleshow/69750288.cms">Indian government introduces ₹50 million scholarship for minority students — dedicating half of it to girls</a><br />

One of the largest universities in India has historically been male skewed — but it is now trying to fix it

<p dir="ltr"><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:480px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/51d728e7ecad047e0f00000e-618-463/shopping-bag-phone.png?maxX=480" border="0" alt="shopping bag phone" width="480" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolyncoles/7332289876/">Flickr/Carolyn Coles</a></p></div></div>It’s a fact that women are now responsible for <a href="http://www.she-conomy.com/facts-on-women">85 percent</a> of all purchasing decisions in the United States and recent research shows that they overwhelmingly prefer to shop in physical <keyword id="6354851" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Retail">retail</keyword> stores.</p>
<p dir="ltr">They like to touch and feel the products they’re considering buying and they enjoy the social interactions that come from <keyword id="6368952" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="shopping">shopping</keyword> with friends and family.</p>
<p dir="ltr">What’s new is that they do so with their smartphones in hand while shopping at brick-and-mortar stores. <br /><br />Their mobile devices have become valuable decision-making tools for what and where to buy. Retailers have a unique opportunity to take advantage of these new habits by first understanding the purchasing preferences of women: the ones who are choosing when and where to open their designer purse strings.</p>
<p dir="ltr">An <a href="http://www.swirl.com/pr-04-18-13.html">independent study</a> of 1,000 women found that 76 percent of them prefer to shop for apparel and clothes in-store, while only 22 percent favor online shopping and less than 2 percent would rather shop on a tablet or smartphone.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But that’s not to say that women aren’t using their smartphones. In fact, according to a <a href="http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/mobile-in-store.html">recent survey</a> commissioned by Google, over 66 percent of smartphone owners use their phone to help them shop while in a store. Much has been written about showrooming, the practice of using smartphones to search for lower prices and buy online after visiting a brick and mortar store, but women are also using their smartphones to get style advice and feedback, search for product information, and look for special offers and discounts while they shop. Rather than fear this smartphone-enabled behavior, retailers can find ways to use it to their advantage.</p>
<p dir="ltr">How? By implementing mobile strategies and technologies that enhance the in-store shopping experience.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Women shop in stores for a variety of reasons, including the ability to see and touch the product (92 percent), try on clothes for fit (90 percent) and explore and discover new styles (70 percent). It’s a sensory and immersive experience that will never be fully replicated online, and it represents a critical consumer touch point for brands.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Savvy retailers are thinking creatively about ways to encourage engagement with consumers while they shop, and in doing so, indirectly reduce showrooming behaviors. Giving consumers something of value on their smartphones rather than discouraging smartphone use in stores is the best way to engender loyalty, increase purchases and drive repeat visits.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Consumers and retailers alike know that sales and offers stimulate purchases. A <a href="http://www.swirl.com/pr-04-18-13.html">study</a> of female shoppers revealed that 31 percent had purchased apparel or shoes more than once from a flash sales site and 33 percent love it when a sales associate reminds them of in-store sales. But what happens when that offer is presented in a much more personalized and relevant way on a mobile device?</p>
<p dir="ltr">The number of women who would be thrilled if they received a personalized offer on their smartphone while shopping in-store jumps to a whopping 58 percent. It’s all about context. The most powerful time and place to deliver offers is when and where consumers are shopping.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Interestingly, although privacy and mobile phone location data are becoming increasing concerns for consumers and legislators, women are so interested in receiving relevant offers while they are out shopping that they are willing to make concessions to get them.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In fact, 47 percent of women would share their location information in return for a $5 store credit. Make that a $25 in-store credit and the percentage of women who would volunteer their location increases to 83 percent.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The good news for retailers is that women WANT to shop in stores. The personal and sensory experience of shopping in stores is so strong that they prefer it much more to shopping from a computer or a mobile device.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Yes, the majority of them use their smartphones while they shop in stores, but this behavior represents an incredible opportunity for retailers. Smartphones and location-based marketing have created an entirely new way to engage with consumers and personalize the in-store shopping experience.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It’s <a href="http://www.swirl.com/insights">what women want</a>, and it’s here today.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Hilmi Ozguc is the CEO of <a href="http://www.swirl.com/welcome.html">Swirl</a>, an in-store mobile marketing platform provider.</em></p>

How Mobile Marketers Can Use Perfect Timing To Win Droves Of Female Customers

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Piper Sandler released its "Taking Stock with Teens" survey for the fall of 2022.</li><li>The survey found a shift toward discount retailers among upper-income teens. </li></ul><p>Gen Z is spending slightly more across the board in 2022 as wealthier teens turn to discount shops, according to Piper Sandler's latest "Taking Stock with Teens" <a href="https://www.pipersandler.com/1col.aspx?id=6216">survey</a>. </p><p>The firm's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-teens-are-spending-money-2014-4">44th semi-annual report </a>is based on a sample of 14,500 US teens surveyed from August 21 to September 23, 2022. Piper Sandler's teen spending survey project first kicked off in 2001, and has amassed over 56.5 million data points across the years. The survey discovered that "self-reported" spending for teens jumped 3% over year, although it dropped 2% from spring 2022. </p><p>The survey delved into the brands and spending trends beloved by the Gen Z cohort. Over 39% of respondents work a part-time job to earn extra cash, up slightly from last year.</p><p>Here are some highlights from the latest report:</p><h2><strong>Not all the goods purchased were new. </strong></h2><p>Secondhand shopping occupies 7% of teens' shopping time.Piper Sandler found that nearly half – 47% have purchased items secondhand and 58 percent have sold goods in the secondhand market.</p><h2><strong>Females 'led the increase in teen spending.' </strong></h2><div type="image" title="Piper Sandler" height="478" width="789" msid="94820587" hostid="261" sizebytes="21500"></div><p>Female teens reported a year-over-year spending increase of 10%.</p><h2><strong>Skincare was the biggest category for beauty spending.</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Piper Sandler" height="551" width="1009" msid="94820588" hostid="261" sizebytes="26966"></div><p>Cosmetics was a close second, followed by hair care.  The percentage of teens who report wearing makeup every day rose to 41 percent, from 33 percent. </p><h2><strong>In the realm of dining, chicken rules.</strong></h2><p>18% of respondents said their favorite spot was Chick-Fil-A. Starbucks trailed just behind at 17%, with Chipotle rounding out the top three at 13%.</p><h2><strong>As for e-commerce, 52% of survey participants said they favored Amazon.</strong></h2><p>Next on their list were Shein, Nike, Lululemon, and PacSun.</p><h2><strong>In terms of social media platforms, TikTok soared with a 38% share.</strong></h2><p><strong></strong></p><div type="image" title="piper sandler" height="230" width="979" msid="94820589" hostid="261" sizebytes="12042"></div><p>Snapchat and Instagram came in at No. 2 and 3.</p><h2><strong>Upper-income, lower prices.</strong></h2><p>Upper-income males spent the most on food; female teens, on the other hand, spent the most on clothing. Upper-income teens have also pivoted toward discount shopping.</p>

Gen Z spending on the rise, survey finds. Here's how teens are spending their money – and which brands, products, and e-commerce sites they prefer.

<p class="enhanced-subtitle">The outrage misses the real scammers</p><p class="drop-cap">After leaving the workforce to raise her five children, Emily Paulson found herself feeling overworked, overwhelmed, and lonely. So when a high-school friend reached out to invite her to a beauty event at a nearby bar, the promise of a night out was enough to convince her to go. "I was like, sign me up, whatever. I don't care what you're selling or what we're doing," she said. </p><p>At the end of that night in 2014, Paulson, now a 44-year-old sobriety coach and author who lives in Oregon, walked away with an armload of beauty products for herself and an "initial business kit," which contained skincare products to sell to others. The $1,000 kit, the most expensive one offered that evening, was Paulson's entryway into a new community that would come to dominate her life. She had been sucked into a multilevel-marketing scheme. </p><p>"From the outside, it seemed to check all the boxes," she told me. "There was a community connected with it, there was a potential to earn income from it, and it seemed very possible and lucrative."</p><p>Paulson was involved with the MLM company for six years. Her earnings peaked in late 2017, when she was making about $40,000 a month. But the money she made wasn't from selling skincare products. Most of her income came from recruiting other people to join the group — who then recruited even more people. "The products are just really kind of the way to get people in," she said. </p><p>Over the past few years, MLM companies have been under <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/business-guidance-concerning-multi-level-marketing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increased scrutiny</a>. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-lularich-lularoe-mlm-lawsuits-founders-workers-2021-9">Critical documentaries</a> have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/young-living-gary-young-founder-essential-oils-2020-7">highlighted the industry's</a> most predatory practices. Social media is flooded with MLM "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzOt_Hmjcbo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">horror stories</a>," while others have flocked to the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">antiMLM subreddit</a>, a group with over 800,000 members that markets itself as a community designed to "stop MLM schemes from draining your friends dry."</p><p>Anti-MLM groups often focus on the people selling the products — <a href="https://www.dsa.org/docs/default-source/industry-fact-sheets/dsa-2021g-ofactsheetv3.pdf?sfvrsn=51c6d6a5_3%27" target="_blank" rel="noopener">76% of whom are women</a> — calling them "huns" in reference to the way sellers often start their reach out messages with "Hey, hun." But while lambasting the people shilling products with formulaic and intrusive messages can feel cathartic, the blame doesn't lie entirely with the salespeople: MLMs thrive by targeting people who are seeking a community and economic stability. Instead of blaming or ridiculing the women who are lured in by a chance to gain a stronger financial footing, the ire should be directed at the companies built around exploiting an economic system that undervalues women's work.</p><h2>Misplaced target</h2><p>The MLM model — made famous by brands like Tupperware, Mary Kay, and Amway — has been around for decades. Also known by names such as network marketing, pyramid selling, social retail, and referral marketing, the model involves selling products to people you know and recruiting them to sell the products as well. Recruiters get a percentage of the sales from people they add to their network, known as their "downline," while those higher up the chain are known as the "upline." Given this structure, it is much more lucrative to add people to the network than actually sell the end products.</p><p>While the business model of MLMs is a timeworn tradition, the tactics used by salespeople have come a long way since the Tupperware parties of the 1960s. Facebook provided an easily accessible network of high-school acquaintances to target, and Instagram gave recruiters a space to show off their extravagant lifestyles as a kind of FOMO marketing. Despite TikTok <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-bans-mlm-pyramid-ponzi-scheme-content-promotions-2020-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">banning</a> MLM content in 2020, marketers still find sneaky ways to captivate users on the platform. </p><p>"On TikTok, because the video format is so short and concise, they can get away with very misleading content or content that doesn't tell the whole story," Jennifer Rajala, an MLM whistleblower who uses her <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@jennifer.rajala?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok account</a> to warn people about the dangers of MLMs, said. "For example: 'I just made enough $ to take my family on our dream vacation. Ask me how.' There's no mention of the MLM so people reach out because they are genuinely curious."</p><p>While social media can help boost MLM content, it has also opened up new avenues to alert people about industry practices. But a lot of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/01/anti-mlm-reddit-youtube/617816/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the online vitriol toward MLMs</a> is <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/shelbyheinrich/mlms-call-outs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">targeted at participants</a>, who <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/shelbyheinrich/mlms-called-out" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are often portrayed</a> as stupid or selfish for getting involved. Mary Wrenn, a senior lecturer of economics at the University of the West of England, and the author of an upcoming paper on MLMs, explained that calling out sellers can be cathartic for the anti-MLM crowd.</p><p>"There is the straightforward Schadenfreude you might feel if a girl from high school who wouldn't give you the time of day suddenly appears in your DMs," Wrenn said, adding that the "boss-babe and lifestyle posts are cringey and sometimes quite obviously faked." </p><p>But behind the surface-level critiques, Wrenn said that the "manipulation and opportunism that distributors are encouraged to use in order to sell and recruit" is what causes a lot of anger. For example, sellers might invite people to a party and "surprise — it's an MLM demo!" Or sellers may pitch products inappropriately, such as in response to someone asking for medical advice on social media. </p><p>But those tactics don't stem from the sellers themselves — it's the companies and people at the top of the companies who encourage these approaches. Paulson, who discusses her experience as an MLM marketer in her upcoming book, "Hey, Hun," described the women who get roped in as "victims that become perpetrators."</p><h2>Selling a dream</h2><p>Many MLM participants genuinely think they are doing something helpful by asking people to join them. Jo Stimson, a 54-year-old self-employed sales specialist in the UK, was struggling financially and looking for ways to lose weight when her friend suggested she join Herbalife, an MLM company that develops and sells dietary supplements. Stimson thought the friend was earnestly trying to help her improve her life.</p><blockquote class="pullquote-wrapper pullquote-right"><q class="pullquote-quotation">MLM companies largely appeal to those who are disconnected and looking for a way to get on solid financial footing</q></blockquote><p>At first, Stimson felt optimistic. She was convinced that she was helping other people earn extra money and lose weight. She even talked her family into lending her £20,000, or about $25,000, to invest in Herbalife products and build out her network. "It was encouraged by the upline to borrow money and buy stock so you could attract more people into your downline. Obviously, I now know because it earned everyone above us money," she said.</p><p>Meg Conley, who researches and writes about power, money, and the home, told me that MLM companies largely appeal to those who are disconnected and looking for a way to get on solid financial footing — in particular, they target caregivers like stay-at-home parents or people looking after elderly loved ones. In 2021, AARP estimated that caregivers provide <a href="https://www.aarp.org/ppi/info-2015/valuing-the-invaluable-2015-update.html#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20the%20estimated%20economic,value%20of%20%2416.59%20per%20hour." target="_blank" rel="noopener">$600 billion</a> in free labor each year in the US. MLMs offer caregivers validation, Conley told me, and a path toward financial independence that their unpaid work may not provide.</p><p>"Most MLMs are very, very good at saying, <em>'</em>I see the work that you're doing. The work that you're doing is real work and it's really valuable. We don't have a way to pay you for that as a society. But we — the MLM — have created this neat hack where you can still do the care work that you have chosen to do or have to do,'" Conley explained. </p><p>These companies have also co-opted the language of female positivity, solidarity, and empowerment, Wrenn told me. By playing on these themes, MLMs promise a sense of community that they rarely deliver. Instead, MLMs encourage social disconnection and competition between members. "All of the individual distributor's relationships transform into potential transactional exchanges," Wrenn wrote in her paper, adding that turning every interaction into a possible sale is "amplifying the alienation" people already feel.</p><p>In the initial stages of her MLM career, Paulson felt weird about trying to sign up family and friends. But when she told her recruiters that she felt uncomfortable messaging people to try to recruit them, those in her upline told her she should push herself out of her comfort zone. According to a recent AARP survey, feeling awkward pitching friends and family is the <a href="https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/aarp_foundation/2018/pdf/AARP%20Foundation%20MLM%20Research%20Study%20Report%2010.8.18.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most common reason</a> people leave MLMs. It wasn't until she became sober in 2017 that Paulson began to realize how the MLM mindset had warped her interactions with those close to her. "Once I was no longer drinking, the first thing I noticed was, 'Oh gosh, I can't say these things anymore,'" she said.  </p><h2>Sinking slowly</h2><p>In addition to a sense of community, MLMs sell themselves with the promise of freedom. In many cases, the companies encourage their members to look down on those who are "stuck"' in corporate America, Wrenn said, and paint their salespeople as entrepreneurial spirits. </p><p>"They just give vague platitudes, like,<em> '</em>You go, girl<em>,'</em> or <em>'</em>Boss babe building her empire<em>,</em>'" Wrenn told me.</p><p>Meanwhile, the companies push all the typical retail-overhead costs onto members by requiring them to buy a certain amount of products to theoretically sell to customers.</p><p>"The distributors are responsible for their own marketing, sales, and the distribution of their downlines. They have to create their own giveaways, discounts, sales drives, and inventory storage, and they are charged for website maintenance fees," said Wrenn.</p><blockquote class="pullquote-wrapper pullquote-breakout"><q class="pullquote-quotation">They just give vague platitudes, like, 'You go, girl,' or 'Boss babe building her empire'</q></blockquote><p>Those costs eventually add up, and if participants can't sell enough products, they end up in a deep hole. A 2017 <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/public_comments/trade-regulation-rule-disclosure-requirements-and-prohibitions-concerning-business-opportunities-ftc.r511993-00008%C2%A0/00008-57281.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> for the Federal Trade Commission found that 99% of downline MLM participants lose money. And a 2018 AARP <a href="https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/aarp_foundation/2018/pdf/AARP%20Foundation%20MLM%20Research%20Study%20Report%2010.8.18.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> found that just 25% of MLM participants made a profit. And by subtly shaming women for being unable to "have it all," MLMs manage to convince them that they're failing because <em>they</em> aren't working hard enough, distracting them from the fact that they're part of a rigged system.</p><p>As the front-line sellers struggle to make ends meet, the MLM corporations themselves are able to make money hand over fist. US direct-sales companies, which include MLM companies, earned $42.7 billion in retail sales in 2021, according to the <a href="https://www.dsa.org/docs/default-source/industry-fact-sheets/dsa-2021g-ofactsheetv3.pdf?sfvrsn=51c6d6a5_3%27" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Direct Selling Association</a> — a 21% increase from 2019. That same year, the global direct-selling industry was valued at <a href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/direct-selling-market-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$189.7 billion</a>.</p><p>Stimson started off optimistic because she saw how successful others had been, but then she had a hard time selling her products. She found it difficult to recruit other people, because she didn't want them to spend lots of money buying excess stock like she had. </p><p>After two years, Stimson reached a breaking point. Her mounting debt made it clear that Herbalife was not going to help her make money, so she decided to quit. To pay her family back, she had to take on additional part-time retail work alongside her sales job. "It was a hard lesson to learn, and while it taught me some sales skills, it's something I wished I hadn't embarked on," she said. After leaving Herbalife, Stimson never heard from the friend who had introduced her to the program.</p><p>Paulson was one of the rare MLM participants who made a lot of money from the model, but she began to realize that wasn't the case for other people she was recruiting. That "gradual collection of red flags," as she described it, was what made her leave the industry. "I realized that I had been selling this dream that maybe was being fulfilled for me, but nobody else who I'd recruited," she told me. </p><h2>Breaking free</h2><p>The increased pushback on MLMs from documentaries, TikTok, and YouTube videos can be misdirected — but the criticism may also be helping to turn the tide against the industry. A growing number of MLM salespeople are becoming disillusioned: According to the AARP survey, <a href="https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/aarp_foundation/2018/pdf/AARP%20Foundation%20MLM%20Research%20Study%20Report%2010.8.18.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over half</a> of participants said their company's representation of achieving financial success was "not too accurate" or "not at all accurate." And two-thirds of MLM participants said that "knowing what they know now, they would not join the same MLM company again." </p><p>The vast amount of information available about how predatory MLMs work means that Gen Zers are less likely to get sucked in, the anti-MLM TikToker Rajala explained. "Anti-MLM has become such a large movement more recently than in generations past," she said.</p><p>It's not just social media that's turning people away from MLM schemes — government agencies are also taking action. In 2022, the FTC <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/02/ftc-takes-action-combat-bogus-money-making-claims-used-lure-people-dead-end-debt-traps" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ramped up efforts</a> to "combat bogus money-making claims" by MLMs. It also sued two companies — Herbalife, for over $200 million in 2016, and Advocare, for $150 million in 2019 — for "alleging they promoted high earnings even though most participants made little or no money."</p><p>But ultimately, breaking the sway of MLMs and other predatory companies, Conley said, will require wholesale changes to the ways society compensates care work and treats financially disenfranchised people. Instead of blaming MLM "huns," we should direct our anger at the companies that are knowingly putting so many people in debt and alienating them from their communities. And we should focus on building a system that empowers and supports everyone. </p><p>"If we could make sure everybody is at a baseline and that they're not just surviving — which we also don't have in America right now — but thriving," Conley said, "then we can reach a point where there will be fewer predatory things like MLMs that make their way into our homes."</p><hr /><p><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/aimee-pearcy" rel="">Aimee Pearcy</a> is a freelance tech journalist based in the UK. She covers digital culture and the creator economy. </em></p>

Why Reddit and TikTok are hating on MLM 'huns'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d94efac0428350f737705c5-2400/gettyimages-597623736.jpg" border="0" alt="Roller coaster" data-mce-source="Randy Risling / Getty Contributor" /></div></div></div></p><p>Hello,</p><p>Welcome to this week's edition of Trending, the weekly newsletter highlighting the best of BI Prime's tech coverage. I'm Alexei Oreskovic, Business Insider's West Coast Bureau Chief and Global Tech Editor.</p><p>If you're anything like me, you're in split-screen mode these days, monitoring the impeachment inquiry and the WeWork debacle at the same time. I've got plenty of updates for you on the latter, but before we get started, a quick reminder to <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/trending">tell your friends and colleagues to go here and sign up for this newsletter.</a></p><h3>This week: WeWork's stomach-turning rollercoaster</h3><p>Not long ago, WeWork was known for parties so wild that the sight of vomiting employees (or worse) was as common as the "hustle harder" signs in its co-working spaces.</p><p>If any WeWork employees are feeling nauseated today though it's probably from the emotional roller coaster of the past week.</p><p>The hot, $47 billion startup that was bound for a blockbuster IPO has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-people-in-adam-neumanns-inner-circle-left-wework-2019-9">crashed into a wall of austerity</a>. The corporate jet is on the auction block, acquisitions are being spun off, and the IPO has been somberly put on the shelf, right next to the $140-a-bottle tequila that founder Adam Neumann once poured so freely.</p><p><strong><em><a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/trending">If you're not yet a subscriber to Trending, BI Prime's tech newsletter, you can sign up here.</a></em></strong></p><p>To get a sense of what a shock this must be for the more than 10,000, mostly millennial, WeWork employees, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employees-inside-adam-neumanns-wework-reveal-a-wild-culture-2019-9">check out the remarkable feature story</a> by Megan Morris and Julie Bort that reveals what it was like to work at the company. Morris and Bort spoke to more than 20 current and former employees, and paint a stunning picture of a company in delirium.</p><p>These weren't the "growing pains" that many startups experience. At WeWork it was the culture created by the founders.</p><p>The big question now is whether an organization like WeWork can be rehabilitated into a "normal" company. Without Neumann, WeWork is now rid of the excesses and liabilities, but <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-startup-founders-act-like-cult-leaders">it's also bereft of the special energy that fueled</a> its rapid rise. </p><h3>Read the full story here:</h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employees-inside-adam-neumanns-wework-reveal-a-wild-culture-2019-9">Sex, tequila, and a tiger: Employees inside Adam Neumann's WeWork talk about the nonstop party to attain a $100 billion dream and the messy reality that tanked it</a></h3><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d8e71dd2e22af018a14c60b-1200/wework company culture 4x3.png" border="0" alt="wework company culture 4x3" data-mce-source="Theo Wargo/Getty Images for iHeartMedia; Samantha Lee/Business Insider" /></div></div></div></p><h3>The strange story behind WeWork's occupancy rates</h3><p>The health of WeWork's business will be critical to any WeWork comeback, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-faces-cash-crunch-but-partners-likely-bail-it-out-2019-9">especially as it faces a cash crunch</a>. And as Troy Wolverton and Alex Nicoll report, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-used-disounts-to-convince-tenants-to-relocate-new-locations-2019-9">there's cause for concern in the occupancy rates that WeWork brags about</a>.</p><p>To fill all the new office space that WeWork took on during its rapid expansion, WeWork made a habit of offering deep discounts and other incentives. In some cases, WeWork offered discounts of 50% or more to entice tenants in older, existing WeWork spaces to move into new WeWork spaces.</p><p>While discounts are not unusual in the real-estate industry, the dynamics are different with WeWork. Unlike tenants in traditional office deals, who sign longterm, multi-year leases, WeWork tenants sign leases that are on average only 15 months. That means there's less time for WeWork to recoup the discounts through higher rents later on. </p><p>As one real-estate analyst in the story put it: WeWork's business is essentially "a short-term lease that may very well wind up with nothing left at the end of it."</p><h3>Read the full story here:</h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-used-disounts-to-convince-tenants-to-relocate-new-locations-2019-9">WeWork opened 400 locations in 3 years. In some cases, it used deep discounts to convince existing customers to relocate to help fill them.</a></h3><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d8a5c922e22af0c836d04fd-2400/gettyimages-1156680511.jpg" border="0" alt="wework NYC" data-mce-source="TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images" /></div></div></div></p><h3>Silicon Valley is trying to diagnose what's ailing it</h3><p>In the wake of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-ipo-sofi-anthony-noto-public-markets-2019-9">WeWork IPO implosion</a> and disappointing debuts by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-stocks-how-uber-lyft-become-profitable-glen-kacher-picks-2019-9">Uber, Lyft and other high-profile startups</a>, Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs are scrambling to diagnose the cause of the problem.</p><p>As Megan Hernbroth reports, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/benchmark-bill-gurley-valuations-are-causing-disappointing-tech-ipos-uber-2019-9">VCs are looking for answers</a> to explain the recent troubles, and for alternatives to protect their paydays. </p><p>The new fixation is the direct listing, which was the topic du jour at a special summit convened by VCs this week. But one of a few recent direct listings to look to - Slack - is down roughly 17% since it listed in June. Another narrative is that impostor tech companies are the real problem, with some VCs positing that the public markets have simply rejected old economy businesses masquerading as software companies. </p><p>The debate is far from resolved. And with several high-profile startups, including Airbnb and Postmates, still eyeing the public markets, expect more discussion and finger-pointing.</p><h3>Read the full story here:</h3><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/benchmark-bill-gurley-valuations-are-causing-disappointing-tech-ipos-uber-2019-9">Uber and WeWork are being thrashed for pretending to be tech companies. But the VC whose firm bet big on both startups says that argument is all wrong.</a></h3><h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/558021ed69bedd4d053304f3-2400/rtxc0wb.jpg" border="0" alt="germany stock frankfurt trader doctors" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach" data-mce-caption="Two stock traders are dressed as doctors as they joke in front of the German share prize index DAX board at the German stock exchange in Frankfurt, February 24, 2009." /></div></div></div></h3><h3><strong>Other recent tech highlights:</strong></h3><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pagerduty-ipo-developers-jennifer-tejada-2019-9">Executives at $2.15 billion PagerDuty explain how it's keeping its 'love affair' with developers alive, almost six months after IPO</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/10-key-skills-to-succeed-as-a-cloud-architect-2019-9">An Amazon training guru and other experts explain the skills you need for a job as a cloud architect, a key job in the cloud market that pays as much as $200,000 a year</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jesse-dorogusker-explains-how-jack-dorsey-enticed-him-to-square-2019-9">A former Apple design chief explains how Jack Dorsey convinced him to quit and join Square</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/female-led-robotics-startup-diligent-raises-seed-funding-2019-9">Female-led robotics startup Diligent raises $3.15 million in seed funding to bring its hospital assistant robot Moxi to Texas hospitals</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-audio-shows-softbank-hyping-up-weworks-valuation-to-100-billion-in-2018-2019-9">SoftBank thought WeWork could be a $100 billion company, and audio from 2018 shows how it inflated the hype</a></li></ul><h3><strong>And more from across the BI newsroom:</strong></h3><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/list-of-top-dealmakers-in-the-cannabis-industry-cannacord-gmp-2019-9">Here are the top bankers raising money, putting together deals, and raking in millions in the global cannabis industry</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmarts-smart-flower-pots-prototype-at-health-clinic-in-georgia-2019-9">Walmart is working on a mysterious 'flower-pot' device that can monitor your health from afar - here's the full story</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/draftkings-raising-funding-at-2-billion-valuation-2019-10">Fantasy-sports site DraftKings is looking to raise new funding at a $2 billion valuation in march toward IPO</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ken-griffins-citadel-cut-team-due-personal-account-trading-violations-2019-9">Citadel cut a team managing more than $1 billion after an analyst and a data scientist broke internal compliance rules about trading in personal accounts</a></li></ul><p>Thanks for reading. And as always, I'm eager for your feedback, thoughts, and tips - you can email me at aoreskovic@businessinsider.com.</p><p>See you next week,</p><p>Alexei</p>

WeWork's stomach-turning roller coaster ride

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Andrea, a 37-year-old woman going through egg-freezing, faced an $18,000 charge for her <keyword id="100798" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="prescriptions">prescriptions</keyword>.</li><li>The amount would have used up most of the $20,000 <keyword id="6414006" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fertility">fertility</keyword> benefit she had with her employer.</li><li>After a stressful process of arguing with her insurer and the <keyword id="6379262" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Pharmacy">pharmacy</keyword> she used, she found that if she paid in cash she'd be expected to pay only about a third of that amount.</li><li>Andrea's experience is one that patients in the US often find themselves in: dealing with a medical procedure while tackling the stress of trying to get a straight answer about how much that care costs.</li></ul><p>Andrea decided last year that she wanted to freeze her eggs. At 36, she wished to relieve some of the pressure of having kids before she was ready.</p><p>Andrea, who works at a major tech company, knew the process would be lengthy and expensive, but she figured the $20,000 fertility benefit provided by her company would cover most of the cost, leaving her on the hook for, at most, $4,000.</p><p>(We're not using Andrea's last name or the name of her employer at her request, to protect her privacy. Her last name and employer are known to Business Insider.)</p><p>In May, Andrea went in for an appointment at a Spring Fertility clinic in the Bay Area (she'd picked the clinic at the recommendation of a friend). She was prescribed medications routinely used as part of the egg-freezing process.</p><p>That's when the trouble started. She found that the cost of her prescriptions would use up nearly her entire benefit, leaving her with far larger bills than she expected.</p><p>"As a woman, I heard it can be taxing emotionally and physically, but I never realized there'd be this financially emotionally distressing component to it," Andrea said. "The financial part made it more stressful than I ever anticipated."</p><p>Unclear prices and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/man-who-thought-he-had-coronavirus-1689-bill-2020-5">surprise bills</a> are common in the US <keyword id="6354525" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare">healthcare</keyword> system, with patients left to navigate the complex world with little outside help. A poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation this February found that <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/poll-finding/data-note-public-worries-about-and-experience-with-surprise-medical-bills/">two-thirds of the Americans surveyed said they worried about unexpected medical bills</a>.</p><p>For example, Business Insider reported last year about the case of a student with type 1 diabetes who saw the cost of his medication <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/insulin-price-fluctuation-conundrum-type1-diabetes-2019-1">more than double for no clear reason</a>. Even after hours of calls and months of trying, the student's family couldn't figured out why the price they were being charged for the medicine kept changing.</p><p>In Andrea's case, she received a receipt showing an $18,000 cost for prescriptions. When she was prescribed the medications at her clinic, she'd been told they would cost less than a third of that amount. She was surprised, because she'd used a pharmacy called Freedom Fertility, which was in network with her insurer, <keyword id="208470" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cigna">Cigna</keyword>.</p><p>After getting the receipt, she contacted the pharmacy and representatives from Cigna's benefits team, as well as her employer. She also contacted Business Insider.</p><p>Here's what we managed to figure out.</p><p>Andrea's receipt showed she was charged the list price, or more, for several of her medications, not the lower prices that insurers often negotiate.</p><p>Cigna owns Freedom Fertility, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cigna-closes-67-billion-deal-with-express-scripts-2018-11">having acquired the Newbury, Massachusetts-based specialty pharmacy as part of a 2018 deal</a>.</p><p>A Cigna spokeswoman said the health insurer wasn't acting to benefit its own corporate interests over Andrea's, adding that Andrea didn't get a full picture of how her insurance would cover her prescriptions because the receipt she saw didn't factor in discounts insurers get from pharmacies. She also said Cigna negotiated lower prices for the drugs and would have used those lower prices to determine how much of Andrea's insurance benefit would be used up.</p><h2>Paying the same pharmacy <em>without insurance</em> ended up being cheaper</h2><p>Andrea's doctors prescribed her five medications as part of the egg-freezing process. She was sent the prescriptions with the following prices on an accompanying receipt.</p><iframe title="Fertility medication prescription receipts" id="datawrapper-chart-6YflO" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/6YflO/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% ; border: none;" height="307"></iframe><p>The prices for Gonal-F and Cetrotide were in line with the cost at which they're sold to wholesalers, the drugmaker EMD Serono said; the prices for Menopur and Novarel were also in line with wholesale prices, a spokesperson for Ferring Pharmaceuticals said; and the price for Leuprolide was higher than its $712 list price, a Sandoz representative said.</p><p>The amount patients pay for each drug is determined by pharmacies and health insurers — and not directly by drugmakers. Patients going through fertility treatment often run into trouble affording their medications, partly because of complications with their insurance, the website <a href="https://clearhealthcosts.com/blog/2019/07/how-much-do-fertility-meds-cost-or-how-to-shop-around-and-get-the-most-for-your-buck-on-gonal-f-menopur-cetrotide-ovidrel-follistim-etc/">Clear Health Costs</a> has reported.</p><p>Michael Ciman, the senior director of operations at Freedom Fertility Pharmacy, told Business Insider that the prices on Andrea's receipt reflected the prices that the pharmacy bills all insurers before any discounts. Typically, pharmacies then negotiate a discount off that price with the insurer, he said.</p><p>Patients can get a discount off the list price of the fertility medications when paying in cash, Ciman added. Because a large percentage of Americans aren't insured for <keyword id="9672778" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fertility-benefits">fertility benefits</keyword>, drugmakers have set up programs to help cover the cost of fertility medications at a price lower than the list price.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-prescription-drug-prices-are-high-graphic-rebates-healthcare-industry-2019-2">Everybody is talking about the high cost of prescription drugs. Here's who's actually responsible for the prices you pay.</a></em></p><h2>High drug prices are common in fertility treatment</h2><p>Peter Klatsky, the founder of Spring Fertility, Andrea's clinic, said he often sees patients hit with higher prescription costs, especially if their insurance doesn't specialize in fertility coverage.</p><p>Generally, health-insurance plans aren't required to cover fertility treatment, though coverage is mandated <a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/state-indicator/infertility-coverage/?currentTimeframe=0&amp;sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D2%7D">by more than a dozen states</a>. Sometimes, fertility coverage is provided separately, and it's a big business for companies like Progyny, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/carrot-tammy-sun-interview-series-a-2019-4">Carrot</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gv-backs-kindbody-as-it-bulks-up-its-benefits-business-2019-12">Kindbody</a>, as more companies look to cover fertility benefits.</p><p>Fertility treatments can cost tens of thousands of dollars. For in-vitro fertilization, the process can cost between $40,000 and $60,000 from start to finish, <a href="https://www.fertilityiq.com/ivf-in-vitro-fertilization/costs-of-ivf">according to FertilityIQ, a website that provides information on fertility treatments</a>. Egg-freezing itself can cost <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-freeze-your-eggs-2020-1">as much as $20,000 per cycle to complete, not including storage</a>.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fertility-startups-women-men-health-ro-hims-dadi-2019-8">There's a boom in VC funding for fertility startups. But female founders say they still have a hard time getting men to invest.</a></em></p><p>Spring Fertility said it has a team that helps patients figure out billing and insurance issues, such as whether and how their prescription costs will be covered. If a patient's prescriptions will take up a fair amount of the overall benefit, Spring's team would advise that patients pay for their drugs in cash, rather than use their fertility benefit.</p><p>Klatsky said Spring Fertility has negotiated with pharmacies to provide a lower cash price. The total cost can be anywhere from $4,000 to $6,000, depending on which medications are needed.</p><p>That's roughly how much Andrea ended up paying. After protesting the amount she was charged, she worked out a deal with Freedom Fertility to pay $4,687 in cash, and not use her insurance.</p><p>After lengthy conversations with her Cigna representative, Andrea said, she was told the insurer would cover 70% of the amount she paid out of pocket. The insurer had previously told her she'd have to pay the full amount, she said.</p><p>For her second round of medications, Andrea opted to use a different pharmacy recommended by her clinic, where the total cost of the medications came to $4,100 in cash. She has since completed both rounds of egg retrieval.</p><p>Andrea was reimbursed a portion of the costs for both rounds of medication, spending about $2,600 out of pocket.</p><p>In total, including facility fees related to the egg-retrieval process, she ultimately spent about $8,500 herself. That doesn't include annual storage fees.</p><p>Should Andrea go through the IVF process with her stored eggs, it would be another cost she'd be expected to pay herself.</p><p>But for now, the stress of getting to the bottom of her prescription costs is behind her.</p><p>"I'm relieved to have it in the past," Andrea said.</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/disruptive-pharmacy-startups-list-capsule-alto-truepill-pillpack">The coronavirus pandemic is upending the way patients get their prescriptions. Meet the 8 pharmacy startups competing to take a bite out of the $335 billion market for prescription drugs.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-primary-care-iora-health-chenmed-one-medical-2020-5">VillageMD just raised $1 billion and Oak Street is going public. Meet the 8 primary-care companies building a new future for medicine during the coronavirus pandemic.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/morgan-stanley-on-walmarts-growing-health-ambitions-2020-7">Walmart's ambitions are becoming clearer as it pushes into the $3.6 trillion US healthcare industry. Its plans make the retailer a 'sleeping giant to watch.'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/list-telemedicine-startups-put-to-the-test-by-the-coronavirus-2020-3">Telemedicine startups have raised hundreds of millions as the coronavirus puts them to the test. Meet the 12 startups forging a new path for healthcare.</a></li></ul>

A 37-year-old woman got an $18,000 charge for her fertility medications — and it reveals a disturbing problem for the US healthcare system

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b02f3331ae6622e008b48c5-691/pizza.gif" alt="Pizza" /><ul class="summary-list"><li>A handful of firms have started allowing customers to trade small slices of individual stocks, or have plans to roll out that offering. Those moves come on the heels of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/charles-schwab-td-ameritrade-interactive-brokers-e-trade-cut-fees-2019-10">fierce commission price war</a> among discount brokers this fall. </li><li>Firms invoke "democratization," the industry buzzword du jour, to describe the fractional trading feature. Startups and legacy players talk of leveling the playing field for all users regardless of whether they can afford a share of highly-priced stocks. </li><li>But companies have good reason to attract investors while they're still building wealth. For instance, they can lock in young customers with the hopes of cross-selling products to them down the line.</li><li>And depending on how brokers clear the shares, fractional trading could offer another revenue stream after axing commissions to zero.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime">Visit BI Prime for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Fractional share trading has quickly become a buzzword in the discount brokerage industry, signalling a new front in the fiercely competitive space. </p><p>In the fall, brokers <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/charles-schwab-td-ameritrade-interactive-brokers-e-trade-cut-fees-2019-10">raced to slash trading commissions</a> on stocks and options to zero, doing away with one potential revenue stream in the process. With that fierce price war behind them, startups and legacy brokers alike are now looking to stand out, lock in customers, and build out new ways of bringing in money. </p><p>Firms have been making noise about launching platforms that allow investors to buy and sell tiny portions of stocks. Many are marketing the offering as a way to democratize investing and allow average customers to own popular but <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/charles-schwab-to-offer-fractional-stock-trading-attract-young-clients-2019-10-1028611327">highly priced stocks</a> like Amazon and Alphabet.</p><p>Industry experts say fractional share trading serves as a way to lock in customers early in their investing careers with the hopes of cross-selling products to them down the line. It also hooks customers on a subscription-like model of regularly putting their cash into stocks - putting investing on the same kind of auto-pilot as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/td-ameritrade-developing-a-netflix-recommendation-engine-2019-4">paying your Netflix bill</a>.</p><p>"It's a broader effort to court younger investors," Jen Butler, the director of asset management and brokerage research at Corporate Insight, said in an interview.</p><p>And the process of splitting up shares and matching them with buyers and sellers could offer another source of revenue for the firms, even if the trade involved no commission.</p><p>The growth of fractional share offerings highlights firms' ongoing efforts to lure and keep a young set of investors that have grown accustomed to automated, dirt-cheap investment options - thanks to the rise of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rise-of-passive-investing-2016-8">passive indexing</a>, digital trading platforms, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/robo-advisors-wealthfront-betterment-attract-assets-2020-1">low-cost robo-advisers</a>. </p><p>Going after so-called "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-a-henry-millennials-earning-six-figures-feel-broke-2019-11">HENRYs</a>," or "high earners, not rich yet" customers and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-26-billion-charles-schwab-td-ameritrade-deal-2019-11">maintaining scale</a> in an ultra-competitive environment have become important themes for brokerage and wealth management firms, said Pauline Bell, an equity research analyst at CFRA Research. </p><p>"It's about volume, getting more customers, and cross-selling other products," Bell said in an interview.</p><p>Still, creating a portfolio of stock slivers is at once a complex strategy and one intended to capture newer investors. </p><p>"On the one hand, you have to be sophisticated just to know that this product exists, but on the other hand, they are trying to get younger investors to be involved," Bell said.</p><h1>Fractional shares at firms of all sizes</h1><p>Allowing investors the chance to buy portions of stocks is not entirely new. Many firms already offer the feature in the form of dividend reinvestment programs (DRIPs), which allow shareholders to reinvest their holdings' dividends into additional or fractional shares.</p><p>M1 Finance was one of the first adopters of fractional share trading, offering it when the fintech launched in September 2016. More than three years later, it has grown to be one of the largest fractional share utilizers in the marketplace, Brian Barnes, M1's founder and CEO, told Business Insider. </p><p>The Chicago-based startup, which averages 250,000 customer transactions a day, encourages customers to think of their portfolios in terms of percentages of different stocks as opposed to buying and selling specific shares. </p><p>"Don't care about price-per-share. Care about the value of the company and what portion of it is represented in your portfolio," Barnes said. </p><p>For Barnes, fractional share trading is about more than simply being able to afford stocks that might be out of a customer's price range. </p><p>Instead, he believes the approach is a good way to cater to customers' behaviors. Investments aren't typically one-off events, Barnes said. Instead, people are more likely to continue to put money into their portfolio, treating it like a monthly subscription service.</p><p>"The ongoing $500 every two weeks is just a smaller dollar amount, and being able to divvy that into the right amount of securities and across many securities, you sort of need fractionalization to support that," Barnes said. </p><p>The digital personal finance company <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/sofi-introduces-stock-bits-fractional-share-buying-made-easy-1028335234">SoFi</a> launched a fractional share program for customers last summer with a $1 minimum, though it offers access to only around 50 different stocks and exchange-traded funds.</p><p>Since going live, 51% of all trades on SoFi Invest are fractional, according to data provided by the company, and 78% of customers' first trades are fractional. </p><p>The investing app <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/micro-investing-app-stash-giving-fractional-shares-2019-3">Stash</a> launched fractional stock-trading in March 2019, and JPMorgan's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-you-invest-adding-planning-tools-options-trading-2019-9">YouInvest</a> launched fractional trading in November. </p><p>Others were earlier to offer the program to customers. Invstr, an app with 500,000 users that offers fractional trading through the fintech <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-cohens-vc-firm-led-a-21-million-investment-in-a-startup-that-wants-to-power-free-stock-trading-2018-4">DriveWealth</a>, launched the feature in 2017. </p><p>Acorns, the micro-investing app, launched in 2014 with fractional ownership as a key part of its offering - though its pre-selected securities differ from other self-directed platforms that place the ability to stock-pick in users' hands. Still, it's marketed toward a younger investor. </p><p>"Investing can seem like an intimidating act of adulting, especially when buying even a single share of certain companies can require hundreds of dollars," the company said in a recent blog post. "Enter: fractional shares." </p><p>But some firms have recently renewed interest with announcements to push into the space. And much like when they made the cuts to zero commissions, they have all tended to move together. </p><p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/charles-schwab-to-offer-fractional-stock-trading-attract-young-clients-2019-10-1028611327">Charles Schwab</a> has plans to allow fractional share trading, the Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/schwab-in-bid-for-younger-clients-to-allow-investors-to-buy-and-sell-fractions-of-stocks-11571334424">first reported in October</a>, which would make it among the first of the major online brokerage players to allow fractional share trading. Schwab did not disclose to the outlet when it would launch the program, and a company spokesperson did not respond to our request for comment. </p><p>The stock-trading startup Robinhood, which was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/robinhood-series-e-7-billion-valuation-2019-7">valued at $7.6 billion</a> in its latest funding round, said last month that it would begin rolling out fractional share trading, a feature it said many users requested, as well as a DRIP program. </p><p>"We believe that fractional shares trading will open up investing to even more people, and we'll continue to find ways to democratize the financial system so everyone can participate," the company said in a blog post.</p><p>Interactive Brokers, which rocked the industry early this fall when it said before its bigger competitors that it would launch a commission-free trading product, said in November that it would introduce the ability to buy and sell fractional shares of nearly any US-listed stock.</p><p>Robinhood began launching fractional share trading to one set of customers in mid-December, and will continue rolling them out to customers through early 2020, a company spokesperson said. </p><p>Business Insider reported last month that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moneylion-launching-stock-trading-2020-fintech-2019-12">MoneyLion</a>, the digital banking company geared toward people who need help managing their finances on a day-to-day basis, will roll out traditional and fractional stock-trading this year.   </p><p>"Right from the outset, it'll be fractional and full shares," Jon Stevenson, MoneyLion's head of wealth management and banking, said. "But right now the focus is so much on fractional, which is - it's an overused term, but it truly does 'democratize' access to investing in single stocks." </p><p>Fractional shares do have some complications for investors. Unlike regular shares, you may not be able to move them to other brokerages without liquidating them - and potentially taking a capital gains tax hit on gains for a portfolio of partial shares in pricey stocks.</p><h1>A new potential revenue stream</h1><p>Fractional shares also present a potential revenue opportunity for brokerages. The process can be done one of two ways. </p><p>One approach is batch trading, where the broker accumulates orders throughout the day, rounding up to the nearest whole number before executing them simultaneously. Considered the industry norm, it provides little in the way of a real revenue stream. </p><p>Real-time trading of fractional shares, however, has the potential to serve as a new revenue stream. Brokerages maintain an inventory of stocks which they trade directly with clients. Firms may be able to charge a slightly higher price for the same percentage of a share than what would be executed in the broader market, thereby making a slight profit. </p><p>Only a handful of firms have pushed to offer real-time trading. But as brokerages look to make up the revenue lost from dropping trading commissions in 2019, fractional shares could help to bridge that gap.</p><p>M1's Barnes said the process could be on par with the revenue generated from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sec-markets-and-trading-director-weighs-in-on-discount-brokerages-2019-10">selling order flow</a>, the controversial practice of getting paid to send customer trades to market-makers as opposed to executing them directly on exchanges. </p><p>More importantly, though, Barnes said there is also the possibility of increasing customers' trading activity. He compared it to lowering the minimum bet at a blackjack table. </p><p>"I think the question becomes does it massively increase the amount of transaction volume because people can trade $25 in and out and back and forth over and over again," Barnes said. "Are they going to trade a lot more than having to spend $200 in and out?"</p> <p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/10-up-and-coming-fintechs-2019?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=finance&amp;itm_campaign=10-up-and-coming-fintechs-2019-2"><img src="https://static.businessinsider.com/image/5dcb0cab7eece5025933c502" alt="Exclusive FREE Slide Deck: 10 Up and Coming Fintechs by Business Insider Intelligence" style="margin: 0 auto !important; width: 100% !important; min-width: 280px !important; max-width: 640px !important" /></a></p>

Brokers are touting fractional shares as a way to democratize trading pricey stocks. That's only part of the story - here's why they want to get you hooked on $1 slices.

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ad2e06bb3f730413c96d9-3499-2331/rtr1z2zy.jpg" border="0" alt="Wal-Mart shopper"><p class="source"><span>Reuters</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Wal-Mart is the nation's largest retailer.</p><p>The company has more than 11,000 stores globally, including nearly 4,300 in the U.S., and raked in $473 billion in sales last year. </p><p>But who, exactly, shops there? And how do those shoppers differ from customers at Target and discount stores like Dollar General and Family Dollar?</p><p>We gathered data from <a href="http://www.kantarretail.com/">Kantar Retail,</a> a consulting firm that polled more than 4,000 consumers on their shopping habits, to find out.</p><p><strong>According to the data, t<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">he average Wal-Mart shopper is a white, 50-year-old female with an annual household income of $53,125. </span></strong></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ad4746da811ec4fbb3e11-652-440/screen%20shot%202014-09-17%20at%2010.06.51%20am.png" border="0" alt="Wal-Mart shoppers" width="800"><p class="source"><span>Kantar Retail</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">By comparison, Target's shoppers are five years younger, on average, and they make approximately $12,000 more annually.</span></span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ad47469bedd06382c5ca2-795-424/screen shot 2014-09-17 at 10.05.20 am.png" border="0" alt="Wal-Mart shoppers"><p class="source"><span>Kantar Retail</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The income of shoppers at discount retailers Family Dollar and Dollar General are much lower, averaging below $46,000 for both chains.</span></p><p>And Target has a slightly larger percentage of shoppers who are female than the other chains. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ad474ecad04da2151021c-776-427/screen shot 2014-09-17 at 10.05.38 am.png" border="0" alt="Wal-Mart shoppers"><p class="source"><span>Kantar Retail</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The chart below shows the breakdown of each chain's shoppers by generation. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Dollar General has the highest percentage of shoppers who are Baby Boomers, while Target has the highest percentage of Millennials. </span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ad4746da811da4bbb3e16-776-465/screen%20shot%202014-09-17%20at%2010.06.08%20am.png" border="0" alt="Wal-Mart shoppers" width="800"><p class="source"><span>Kantar Retail</span></p></img></div><p></p></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Here's the breakdown for race and ethnicity of shoppers at every chain. </span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ad4746bb3f781453c96d9-668-339/screen%20shot%202014-09-17%20at%2010.07.31%20am.png" border="0" alt="Wal-Mart shoppers" width="800"><p class="source"><span>Kantar Retail</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wal-mart-stores-statistics-2014-3">9 Incredible Facts About Wal-Mart</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="dvNnhlbDqL24DRfw_ncyykwC326RUMQa" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'dvNnhlbDqL24DRfw_ncyykwC326RUMQa',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Meet the average Wal-Mart shopper

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ad2e06bb3f730413c96d9-3499-2331/rtr1z2zy.jpg" border="0" alt="Wal-Mart shopper"><p class="source"><span>Reuters</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Wal-Mart is the nation's largest retailer.</p>
<p>The company has more than 11,000 stores globally, including nearly 4,300 in the U.S., and raked in $473 billion in sales last year. </p>
<p>But who, exactly, shops there? And how do those shoppers differ from customers at Target and discount stores like Dollar General and Family Dollar?</p>
<p>We gathered data from <a href="http://www.kantarretail.com/">Kantar Retail,</a> a consulting firm that polled more than 4,000 consumers on their shopping habits, to find out.</p>
<p><strong>According to the data, t<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">he average Wal-Mart shopper is a white, 50-year-old female with an annual household income of $53,125. </span></strong></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ad4746da811ec4fbb3e11-652-440/screen%20shot%202014-09-17%20at%2010.06.51%20am.png" border="0" alt="Wal-Mart shoppers" width="800"><p class="source"><span>Kantar Retail</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">By comparison, Target's shoppers are five years younger, on average, and they make approximately $12,000 more annually.</span></span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ad47469bedd06382c5ca2-795-424/screen shot 2014-09-17 at 10.05.20 am.png" border="0" alt="Wal-Mart shoppers"><p class="source"><span>Kantar Retail</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The income of shoppers at discount retailers Family Dollar and Dollar General are much lower, averaging below $46,000 for both chains.</span></p>
<p>And Target has a slightly larger percentage of shoppers who are female than the other chains. </p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ad474ecad04da2151021c-776-427/screen shot 2014-09-17 at 10.05.38 am.png" border="0" alt="Wal-Mart shoppers"><p class="source"><span>Kantar Retail</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The chart below shows the breakdown of each chain's shoppers by generation. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Dollar General has the highest percentage of shoppers who are Baby Boomers, while Target has the highest percentage of Millennials. </span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ad4746da811da4bbb3e16-776-465/screen%20shot%202014-09-17%20at%2010.06.08%20am.png" border="0" alt="Wal-Mart shoppers" width="800"><p class="source"><span>Kantar Retail</span></p></img></div><p></p></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Here's the breakdown for race and ethnicity of shoppers at every chain. </span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/541ad4746bb3f781453c96d9-668-339/screen%20shot%202014-09-17%20at%2010.07.31%20am.png" border="0" alt="Wal-Mart shoppers" width="800"><p class="source"><span>Kantar Retail</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></p>

Meet The Average Wal-Mart Shopper

Remember the time when you might have moved cities for further studies? If your institute or college/university had a hostel with a vacant room for you, then you were one of the lucky ones. For most others, it has been a long, and often uncomfortable, saga of living as <keyword id="96046" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Paying-Guests">paying guests</keyword> (<keyword id="6356386" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="PG">PG</keyword>) or sharing small apartments/dorms or both. Costs have been sky-high and the quality of places to rent and put in a decent few hours of study have rarely ever matched up. <br /><br />‘Student living’, quite similar to a working professional renting an apartment in a big city, has been a sizable market for a while. The demand is always high and the supply...well. But for any market of this sort, sooner or later there will be people who recognise the need to organise it and optimise the opportunities. <br /><br />And as is with most unorganised sectors today, there are startups trying to change it. There are approximately 34 million students in higher education institutions and the unmet demand for student housing remains as high as <a href="http://www.jll.co.in/india/en-gb/Research/Student_Housing.pdf?92f28958-cb33-440c-9835-04cddda7728e">30% – 60%</a> across the top states.<br /><br />According to AS Sivaramakrishnan, the Vice President at Jones Lang LaSelle Incorporated, the student living market is expected to rise to <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/real-estate/student-housing-graduates-to-pampered-league/article9981882.ece">₹160-180 billion</a>, based on data on student loans, capacity shortage and parents’ growing willingness to spend. What was once a series of shoddy, semi-furnished, cheap homes, has now transformed to swanky urban service apartments for students.<br /><br />Companies like <keyword id="3844186" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="CoHo">CoHo</keyword>, <keyword id="6753430" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="homigo">Homigo</keyword> and <keyword id="2366577" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="zolo">Zolo</keyword> are moving towards a more “consumer-centric” approach and are trying to bring in facilities like gaming rooms, laundry services, WiFi, and even discount coupons for students looking for accomodation. <br /><br />The startups offer single, double and triple seater rooms and their prices range between ₹23,000 and ₹12,000 (excluding electricity), which is slightly higher than what student accommodations around universities like Delhi University (DU) cost right now. Of course, cheaper options are available, but living conditions in such accommodations have been <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/not-just-admission-du-students-also-race-for-rooms-on-rent/article19298616.ece">talked about aplenty</a>.<br /><br />The idea is to bridge the gap between what people want and what they get. The industry is less than five years old right now with most companies having begun operations around 2015-16. In fact, most companies are still battling it out in their home bases, but expansion is inevitable. Only Zolo, which started out in Bangalore, was able to move out to Pune, Chennai, Kota and Delhi-NCR.<br /><br />For instance, CoHo, which is based in Delhi, houses about 2,000 students. The CoHo residences are more than 45 in number and are mostly concentrated near DU’s North campus and Gurgaon region. They are clocking an annual revenue of more than ₹170 million ($2.5 Million) as of today.<br /><br /><br /><strong>How does it all work?</strong><br /><br />The companies lease residences on a long-term rental agreement with building owners, lasting between three to seven years. They redesign the residence before renting them out and students sign the agreement with these companies. They also have on-site staff, like wardens, housekeepers and security guards, for property management and are responsible for providing tenants with assisted living facilities.<br /><br />The revenue generated from tenants is shared with property owners on either fixed rental income or revenue sharing basis. Revenue sharing allows owners to take a certain percentage (30-45%) of the total generated each month, or they can also choose to get a fixed amount every month instead. The owners receive an increment of about 7-10% every year.<br /><br />“Leasing property out to these companies saves a lot of efforts and money. The companies redesign the property and take care of its maintenance, so I don’t have to run around. My income also doesn’t fluctuate as much now since I get a fixed amount of revenue irrespective of whether the room is rented out or not,” said Yesh Reddy, the owner of one of the Homigo properties.<br /><br /><br /><strong>A whole new world</strong><br /><br />Here’s the cool part, all of the founders are less than 30 years of age and have struggled while living in paying guest (PG) accomodations. Therefore, who better but these guys to figure out exactly what students need?<br /><br />“The focus of brokers and PG owners is only on money and not on the students’ lifestyles. Our experience with this difficulty is definitely a driving factor for us,” said Nikunj Batheja, the co-founder and CEO of Homigo.<br /><br />In terms of space design, the companies try to make the rooms thematic, fun, aesthetic and clean. A lot of these companies, like CoHo, have study halls, activity rooms and even gaming rooms. <br /><br /><br /><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/YiF1-do5ZVspiNaZHGA2ZGOskSTYEwyO5G3_zGtwRm_pY_2N8nCfBEgea08t8j3Qaah0-JNjuPHT6274sFARYl6ONSR-oY__9vYvhg4b3Tah7JnlkXbgOp-nzOWExMIhoavBvpph" /> <br /><br />(Study area at CoHo)<br /><br /><br /><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Zdx4d_sAj-TC6o8q6T6aaDpsF_fUrMfdron6jGKpTp-9JS-fMQbCEGZnSPeNtf_6Sn4PedXTgmX_gLPYUBsNQdgdJX48lkZQJ-t8RN3cXNIPqHdlzno26A-8vYqU4wpsUiqvkI62" /><br /><br /> (Gaming room at CoHo)<br /><br /><br />The residences may be better than regular PGs, but lag when compared to the rest of the world. <br /><br />“The ambience is amazing at CoHo. It feels more like home. It is well lit, ventilated, clean and has an open kitchen that you can use. However, what’s lacking is that residents can’t redesign their rooms as per their wishes.” Muhammed, one of the residents, added. <br /><br />Though the furniture can be rearranged, sticking posters or putting up hooks and nails on the walls is totally off limit.<br /><br /><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/YLM5CuGIIkqyWtAdsv6GETwpe3ci5on6nqf8QQPurxZQXKvTbZi4hq4zJN8_E3c3FZQ6ToNQaaBNblWxjEkPj6I3VWSzjdnSYfeMHuHaOh_luSKTuCBsmECqCpPFHsNa4jZkoBat" /><br />(Common dining area of a CoHo residence)<br /><br /><br /><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Af-OJe8p6BqRdleXPuwj98WKfcqwpTAX4S4rooccI7NCTUWviKrWc6R6AJrDqgiFQw5UL3YoT9sQrpZ5Ie4bNLKPPwX6M1nKs2rJ6j3hjFvtqwgM7RM-tq-P4pPfPapvMuGmBjDP" /><br /><br /> (Kitchen of a CoHo flat)<br /><br /><br />Furthermore, compared to traditional PGs, the room rent doesn’t differ based on its size. That’s because the companies take up the whole property from the landlords and then essentially sublet them. So, though two people might be paying the same amount in the same flat, one might end up getting the raw end of that deal.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Security and peripheral services</strong><br /><br />Another major change in the industry is the use of technology to strengthen security in the residence, with biometric cards, facial recognition, CCTV, sensors etc<br /><br /><br /><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/OHjTvBilznIs42GyH4i_j_fISXPCpeInF7tbYi3iGnvLNaAP6fKJUbrWRKDKOco-a1mtSXe3Fk4G4Bl_C2vtECkKbGyCzOHfPLkHfBUSojDxIEtDH7TuG_kFvpAOy3b2clAlXdjb" /><br /><br />(CoHo’s biometric security machine)<br /><br /><br /><br />The accommodations have further used technology to “make life easier”. They give students free Wi-Fi with a 24-hour backup service. There is also a facility to make online rental payments. CoHo also gives “CoHo credit” that is a payback as a way of incentivising tenants paying on time.<br /><br />Most of the companies have an app that helps students interact with them. The app lets you give ‘commands’ to the companies regarding housekeeping services. It can also be used for feedback and complaints, and keeps you updated about the progress in your residence, like upcoming social events and revised food menus. <br /><br />“It is sometimes way too systematic. So, if my friend comes over to stay at my place, I will have to register in advance with the app and even notify them if she’s going to be taking a meal. It gets chaotic,” says Khushi Agarwal, a student from Miranda, who has had first-hand experience of staying at these accommodations.<br /><br /><br /><keyword id="3347984" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="co-living">Co-living</keyword> or community living is the most distinctive feature of the sector. The companies conduct different social events, like stand-up comedy, and connect all residences through internal messaging apps. This makes their accommodations vibrant and also helps in their own promotion. <br /><br /><br /><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/bl9fk-zxncEVp3SRLJKns3vsKC0HTATNqcRBTdBg31vgsBiURmbqSQEjtSySqEv1wSpRrx_QGFAHBWuHr1YS2J5oU2jMdH3xS-TgVjFtQcUxzRzD0bSgtb05j_y9-a04Sdu5sQDR" /> <br />(Social Night at Homigo) <br /><br /><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9bdYJ-ZzJRMqbE_HQTPgvCkcVYHrlXUToq7kFmZQqxmLGUvyBvWKoR-yzYJ3A98g0zUbt-m7f6OxHMn1NTydRe0nMGy0yU3O5jn7KC4LX4X1FiYGMJTOhIGEnhTx9z5_v205mM1W" /><br /><br />(Friends Theme party at CoHo)<br /><br /><br /><br />However, Muhammed, a recent St. Stephen pass out who had been staying in a CoHo space in Kamla Nagar, for about two years, told Business Insider, “These places are expensive compared to the regular PGs and cater to only a certain class. It is not like I find people from all backgrounds here.”<br /><br /><br /><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/0K44DJJqw3Pd3bLeEoqHgd6SaNPaIIluI4qw7AW0Rf_hRcFQ_tVGwB8e4YwS0LxC38bJQE3bOM2Q6DaNmtdF_KfYCyb-REwNd3Dfe4_fJzTZ2yJJ0yko_VSa92AlXXqPo_g45fmh" /><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5BR6zEU2QThHFh89tbztL4qxdhSStjkpHYTCZPVmtzYP4VvGuFVslS51Qm4I39LJ-DPZr4pLio8r51XFeMYZcWoZthTs0mPMjORERZxlAhrjS8p2t3Kzq8R74DbbnMGCwKCTUFBn" /><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/qn2jBN6HYeU5GAB-Y6mKDthPA_OgsW71m0Elp-VbgxFDJVf6dzfXQC1pq-2u7zGArEIgu5kTxoVEUlZJk3lfgJhGL2O0kAd41vZcMfHft6z5q9n-jPUR4RcqVRqQrW6sRdzs-NWI" /><br /><br /><br />(Homigo’s hangout spots)<br /><br /><br />These companies, like CoHo, have also tied up with the community of local vendors and other known companies like Foodpanda and Uber, to get discounts for their residents. <br /><br />In terms of hospitality, these companies take care of all the in-house repairs, laundry services, on-demand room cleaning and even concierge services, irrespective of the kind of accomodation in which a student is living. There is no extra charge for these services.<br /><br /><br /><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/rdrrkZEubuUKx_Ssp58j2TsaFbs3bSIfosOfzesmWegWp4VI5VAFORzWoXgc49uQR2dkWeW00_WS4gcRcyHokgdhP8mhA6zt-WpcndNMf9tNTVazm3Dn4mMbFqea5ZPI_0UvAAfX" /> <br />(The balcony of one of Homigo residence)<br /><br /><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/p94_TMzIkAitw_L8y1OqNXix77AFcoP6dC0-GDrI-ZXYunuoNNPhb-hNTRadXa5kkAfIerVG7YWox4zxT2btw-zYg42Qd6_MPn230SG9CUvRPsTET9KcBntgFEOYwqvJ94hGt6Y6" /><br /><br /> (A Homigo residence)<br /><br /><br /><strong>The competition</strong><br /><br />Compared to what Homigo, CoHo and their brethren provide, traditional PGs don’t really make for much competition. The only real difference here is in the fact that these residencies are more expensive than your usual <keyword id="2630822" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="student-accommodation">student accommodation</keyword>. And given the shoestring budgets students usually live on, that could make for a big difference, as many told us. Both the students Business Insider spoke to, Khushi Agarwal and Arshad Mohammed, said you should try these only if you can afford them.<br /><br />The hassle of living in a PG, for the students, begins with the search. Students either look for a PG online or physically go out and roam about to find the suitable one. Otherwise, brokers take up a lot of money. Once a student finds a PG, the facilities provided to them are not very decent. Himanshi Baithla, living in Shakti Nagar, said she has shifted three PGs this year and is still not fully satisfied with her accommodations.<br /><br />Problems range from strict landlords, to bad food and curfew times. Though students can find PGs for as low as ₹4,000, the sacrifices are also considerable.<br /><br />So, essentially, it’s between the devil and the deep sea. While you get what you pay for, you cannot pin up that favourite poster. Alternately, you get better food and perhaps your laundry is taken care of. But at the end of the day, for students and their parents, it will come down to money. And in that scope, student living and the startups dealing with it, still have miles to go. <br />

From PGs to co-living spaces: How student accommodation is changing in India

<p><em><em><em><strong><keyword id="1737805" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Social-Media-Insights">Social Media Insights</keyword></strong> is a new daily newsletter from <strong>Business Insider</strong> that collects and delivers the top <keyword id="6354632" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Social-media">social media</keyword> news first thing every morning. You can <strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/newsletter">sign up</a></strong> to receive <strong>Social Media Insights</strong> <strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/newsletter">here</a></strong> or at the bottom of this post.</em></em></em></p>
<hr />
<p><strong><a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/01/why_2013_is_the_year_to_cut_ba.html">It's Time To Cut Back On Social Media</a> (Harvard Business Review)</strong><br />It has become increasingly clear that with the proliferation of new platforms, no person or company can become the master of them all. Nor should they. The harder decision is figuring out which ones you should prioritize, and which ones you should scrap. Establishing ROI has always been the holy grail of social media. We may still have a ways to go before we can quantify its objective, dollars-and-cents impact. But even anecdotally, you probably have some good operating theories. For instance, if you target women, <keyword id="939877" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Pinterest">Pinterest</keyword> is a great bet; if it's males, Google+ is currently their stomping ground. And blogging is the best way to demonstrate true content mastery and thought leadership. It's all about pruning and focusing on the platforms that have the most impact.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://socialmediatoday.com/derek-ian-vicente/1191926/are-you-aware-what-your-employees-are-saying-social-media">What Are Your Employees Saying On Social Media?</a> (Social Media Today)</strong><br />There have been numerous cases of employees commenting on undesirable workplace culture. Professionals understand that there are limitations, but they are also tempted by the freedom of social media. If companies truly wish to make social media work for them, they’ve got to start internally, and educate employees on what their role should be in building credibility and enforcing guidelines of what people outside the company should know, and what should be kept locked inside the office’s shining treasure chest of organizational secrets.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/01/26/watch-out-facebook-with-google-at-2-and-youtube-at-3-google-inc-could-catch-up/">Google+ Overtakes Twitter, Heads For Facebook</a> (Trendstream via Forbes)</strong><br />U.K. market research firm Trendstream updated its <a href="http://globalwebindex.net/thinking/social-platforms-gwi-8-update-decline-of-local-social-media-platforms/">Global Web Index</a> this week, showing that Google+ is now the second-largest social network in terms of active users. <keyword id="10879" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="YouTube">YouTube</keyword>, included for the first time in the index, is now third. The report estimates <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword>‘s active users in December 2012 at 693 million, compared to 343 million for Google+.</p>
<p><div class="image-container center" style="width:600px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5105aa8d6bb3f72f29000018-602-526/graph2-2.png?maxX=600&amp;maxY=524" border="0" alt="active social media users" width="600" height="524" style="vertical-align: middle;" /></div><p class="source"><a href="http://globalwebindex.net/thinking/social-platforms-gwi-8-update-decline-of-local-social-media-platforms/">Trendstream</a></p></div></p>
<p>There is obviously significant overlap between Google+ and YouTube in terms of users, so those two numbers cannot merely be added up for a total. But if all active YouTube users become active Google+ users, it would likely add a significant amount to those 343 million.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/women-at-davos-forum-increase-their-influence-through-social-media-according-to-kpmg-188247291.html">Women Use Social Media To Boost Influence At The World Economic Forum</a> (KPMG)</strong><br />Data from KPMG shows that women delegates are playing an increasingly prominent role in the public discussion at the <keyword id="69007" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="World-Economic-Forum">World Economic Forum</keyword> (WEF). While only about 17 percent of WEF delegates in Davos are women, they have accounted for more than a third of Davos delegate social media activity. Analysis of delegates' <a href="http://weflive.com/">Twitter activity</a> shows that on day one of the Davos meeting, delegates sent 2,376 tweets, of which 784 were from female attendees. KPMG's research also highlighted the growing involvement of the general public in the online debate, with a 31 percent increase in retweets, showing greater engagement with the discussions emanating from Davos.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/23/sv-angel-invested-30m-in-pinterest-secondary-sale/">SV Angel Buys $30 Million Of Pinterest In Secondary Sale</a> (TechCrunch)</strong><br />Last week, an SEC filing showed a new $30 million raise by <keyword id="1744420" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="SV-Angel">SV Angel</keyword>, for a fund called SV Angel-III Growth P. This $30 million is a Special Purpose Vehicle for SV Angel, specifically reserved to buy secondary shares in Pinterest.<em>TechCrunch</em> confirmed with SV Angel co-founder <keyword id="358457" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="David-Lee">David Lee</keyword> that this is indeed the case. The $30 million secondary investment, which closed last year, was at the same $1.5 billion valuation at which Rakuten made its investment in Pinterest last year. Most of the $30 million will go towards liquidity of early outside investors, and amounts to roughly 2 percent of the startup at the current valuation.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Facebook-Shows-Outsized-Influence-on-Social-TV/1009624">Facebook Shows Large Influence On Social TV</a> (eMarketer)</strong><br />According to a September 2012 survey of U.S. Internet users conducted by Nielsen for the Cable &amp; Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), people still most often talk about TV shows while in the same room, face-to-face, or over the phone.</p>
<p><div class="image-container center" style="width:325px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5105a92a69bedd723a000017-325-316/150451.gif" border="0" alt="methods to talk about tv" width="325" height="316" style="vertical-align: middle;" /></div><p class="source"><a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Facebook-Shows-Outsized-Influence-on-Social-TV/1009624">Nielsen for the CTAM</a></p></div></p>
<p>Among online channels, Facebook had the greatest influence on getting people to watch a show— 46 percent said they picked up a show as a result of the social network. That was followed by <keyword id="6354616" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> (14 percent), the websites of TV shows (9 percent) and then forums or discussion boards (8 percent).</p>
<p> <div class="image-container center" style="width:325px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5105a94fecad04f93a000039-325-301/150452.gif" border="0" alt="online influence for tv" width="325" height="301" style="vertical-align: middle;" /></div><p class="source"><a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Facebook-Shows-Outsized-Influence-on-Social-TV/1009624">Nielsen for the CTAM</a></p></div></p>
<p>TV watchers also showed a predilection for talking about shows— either in person, online or over the phone— after the show aired. About seven in 10 respondents talked about a show while it was on-air, while three-quarters did so right after its conclusion. The day after a show was broadcast, the percentage of people chatting about a show ramped up to 83 percent.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hr/feature/1076072/the-social-tools">Here Are The 10 Social Tools You Need</a> (HR Magazine)</strong><br />Workplace applications of collaborative social tools are becoming far more explicit and, coupled with the rise in more enterprise-oriented platforms, are providing companies with an opportunity to add value. Here are the top ten:</p>
<ol>
<li><keyword id="6636348" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crowdsourcing">Crowdsourcing</keyword></li>
<li>Social learning</li>
<li>Enterprise social networks</li>
<li>Microblogging</li>
<li>Social performance management</li>
<li>Online groups / Communities of interest</li>
<li>Mobile applications</li>
<li>Online presentation sharing</li>
<li>New-generation video conferencing</li>
<li>Online task management</li>
</ol>
<p>Are you fed up of the social yet? Hopefully not, because the trend for putting the word social in front of everything shows no sign of abating.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/1206-mobile-brands-who-ignore-their-fans-the-biggest-culprits-revealed">Brands Who Ignore Their Fans</a> (socialbakers)</strong><br />In today’s social media world, most brands are aware that it’s as important to respond to their customers online, as it is offline. In terms of the mobile phone manufacturer industry, here are some examples of brands that have a tremendous presence on Facebook but could handle their customer relations much better:</p>
<ul>
<li>LG Mobile proved to be the least socially devoted, earning a fan base of over 1 million with a zero percent response rate.</li>
<li><keyword id="6354356" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="BlackBerry">Blackberry</keyword> has nearly 12 million Facebook fans, however only earned a 1.46 percent response rate, answering 73 questions out of the over 5,000 posted.</li>
<li><keyword id="6354716" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nokia">Nokia</keyword> earned a 4.36 percent response rate.</li>
<li><keyword id="16129" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="HTC">HTC</keyword> earned an 24.94 percent response rate, with a a fan base of 2.5 million.</li>
</ul>
<p>Social media, by definition, is a natural environment for fans (customers) to interact. Not responding to customers is as arrogant as hanging up the phone on them.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-brands-case-study_b34731">The Impact Of Twitter On 5 Major Brands</a> (Wishpond via MediaBistro)</strong><br />Social media has changed the retail business. This infographic takes a closer look at the impact of Twitter on five major brands– LG, <keyword id="362535" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Virgin-America">Virgin America</keyword>, <keyword id="6399124" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cadbury">Cadbury</keyword>, Cirque Du Soleil and <keyword id="45673" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Porsche">Porsche</keyword>:</p>
<p><div class="image-container center" style="width:600px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5105a7286bb3f74827000007-900-2000/twitter-impact-brands.png" border="0" alt="twitter's impact on brands" width="600" height="1333" style="vertical-align: middle;" /></div><p class="source"><a href="http://corp.wishpond.com/blog/2013/01/21/infographic-the-impact-of-twitter-on-brands/">Wishpond</a></p></div></p>
<p>Thanks to platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, retail brands of all shapes and sizes can build highly engaged audiences that can help them raise awareness and drive sales.</p>

SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHTS: Is It Time For Companies To Cut Back On Social Media?

<p dir="ltr"><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/543ec7ec6bb3f7887bf8c044-1200-924/uber-nyc-protest-14.jpg" border="0" alt="uber nyc protest"><p class="source"><span>Maya Kosoff/Business Insider</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span>Some Uber drivers are unhappy with the company.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Several times this year, drivers have organized and protested the company's practices, in cities like New York, <a href="http://ktla.com/2014/09/09/uber-drivers-protest-unfair-wages-harsh-rating-system/">Santa Monica</a> and <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20130315/uber-drivers-protest-outside-the-companys-san-francisco-headquarters/">San Francisco</a>. </p>
<p dir="ltr">But the next step for the drivers is a multi-city protest on Oct. 22, which will take place in front of Uber's various offices from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST, in cities across the country including Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and London.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The multi-city protest is organized by a newly formed nonprofit group called the <a href="http://www.cadateamsters.org/">California App-Based Drivers Association</a> (CADA), <a href="http://www.local986.org/">Teamsters Local 986</a> (a Southern California-based union), and groups that have sprung up on social media, like <a href="https://www.facebook.com/uberdriversnetwork">Uber Drivers Network NYC</a>, who organized a protest in September outside Uber's New York City offices in Long Island City, Queens.</p>
<div><biembeddedobject id="8f07695c-a891-4eb7-dcd0-4434d21dcb1c"></biembeddedobject></div>
<p>"We're hoping we can coordinate a mass demonstration, potentially around the globe on Oct. 22 so that we can get the message across that these policies are not just affecting drivers in Los Angeles, but anywhere Uber operates," Joseph De Wolf Sandoval, an Uber driver and the president of CADA, told Business Insider.</p>
<p dir="ltr">However, one group of protesters - Uber Driver Network NYC - will not participate in the Oct. 22 protest. Instead, in solidarity with the CADA-organized protest, the drivers will simply shut off their phones, effectively disallowing potential Uber customers from hailing them.</p>
<p dir="ltr">What do these drivers want?</p>
<p dir="ltr">According to De Wolf Sandoval, Uber drivers have a handful of issues with the company, including Uber's reduced fares, Uber's tipping policy, the five-star rating system, and driver safety. "It's not just a small group of disgruntled or unprofessional drivers, as Uber would like to cast us," De Wolf Sandoval told us. "But it's a nationwide feeling of general unhappiness and unease with policies and programs that are being promulgated by Uber without the drivers' input whatsoever."</p>
<p dir="ltr"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5446af3decad04057613ceef-1200-924/uber-nyc-protest-17.jpg" border="0" alt="uber nyc protest"><p class="source"><span>Maya Kosoff/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">An Uber driver carrying signs to a driver protest outside of Uber's Queens offices in September 2014.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Uber made its fares too low</h2>
<p dir="ltr">In July, Uber reduced its UberX fares, effectively making Uber a cheaper option for getting around the city than a taxi. In September, Uber decided to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-discount-that-has-new-york-city-drivers-furious-is-here-to-stay-2014-9">extend its reduced UberX fare promotion indefinitely</a>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Uber said the cuts in fare - which were presumably made to keep Uber competitive with other companies like Lyft - would lead to drivers having a greater volume of customers, which would offset the lower fares Uber drivers were taking home.</p>
<p dir="ltr">However, many drivers are unhappy about this. They say they're unable to pick up more clients to make up for Uber's lower fares, as the company suggests. They say they're actually losing money. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Oris Fortuna, an Uber driver, told Business Insider at an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-new-york-city-office-protests-2014-9#ixzz3GDrQ6fDh">Uber driver protest</a> outside the company's Queens, New York, offices in September, "Since Uber implemented the 20% off discount on all Uber rides, I've been losing $200 a week. To make up for it, you have to work 20% more. That means more mileage and more gas. An $8 trip is not worth it."</p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-504a5a4a-153b-e0a5-c4ec-0f1fcb8aa706">"What the UberX drivers are finding out here in Los Angeles and around the country, from our discussions on social media, is that it's a lot of very short calls that can eat up their driving hours," De Wolf Sandoval said. </span></p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-504a5a4a-153b-e0a5-c4ec-0f1fcb8aa706">"I've asked them this: 'Are you doing better now than you were six months ago?' And not one single driver that we've spoken with, or one of our members, has been able to say, 'Yes, I am better off now than I was six months ago.' We asked the question: 'Do you think you're going to be better off six months now than you are today?' And unfortunately, they believe it's just going to be worse and worse because of the fare war between Uber and Lyft."</span></p>
<p>We reached out to Uber numerous times, and we'll update the story if the company responds.</p>
<h2><strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5446af99ecad04037713ceef-1200-924/uber-nyc-protest-18.jpg" border="0" alt="uber nyc protest"><p class="source"><span>Facebook/Uber Drivers Network NYC</span></p><p class="caption">Uber drivers congregate outside of Uber's offices in Queens in September 2014.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span></strong></h2>
<h2>Uber's tipping policy is confusing at best.</h2>
<div>
<p>At the September protest in Queens, Naresh Motwani, an UberSUV driver, told Business Insider that he <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-drivers-say-they-dont-get-any-tip-money-from-all-inclusive-fares-2014-9#ixzz3Gn30aK4l">signed up to be an Uber driver in April and regrets it</a>. </p>
<p>When Motwani signed up with Uber, he asked Uber about the tip policy. "The answer I got was 'we do not charge tip. We give an all inclusive fare to the customer.' I asked, what if the customer wants to tip anyway? Her response: 'Do not accept any tip from the customer.' I do not remember if she said to tell them the tip is included." </p>
</div>
<p>Motwani said many customers want to tip him, but Uber's app doesn't allow customers to add a tip, as Lyft's does. Some of his customers give him cash tips.</p>
<p>In December, a <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Uber-drivers-suit-over-tips-clears-hurdle-5044858.php">federal judge ruled</a> that Uber drivers could sue the company for deceptive marketing that told customers that Uber fares already included a tip, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5446b0e569bedd826d3ecd67-1200-924/uber-nyc-protest-20.jpg" border="0" alt="uber nyc protest" style="color: #000000;"><p class="source"><span>Maya Kosoff/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">The New York Police Department brought temporary fencing to the Uber drivers protest in September 2014.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>"Uber's marketing initially said 'The tip is included in the fare,' and that was absolutely not the case," De Wolf Sandoval said. "The fare has always been the calculation of the distance and the time and the base fare and any surcharges and any tolls.</p>
<p>"And never has there been, in UberBLACK, UberSUV or UberX's platforms, a calculation for the tip. And it's impermissible, from a labor standpoint, for management to take a percentage of tips. And surprisingly, Uber tried to get away with it anyway by saying 'The tip is included in the fare' - but that would also mean they're taking a percentage of the tip, if they're taking 20% off the fare."</p>
<p>Uber does have a system where 20% of the fare is added to the base calculations as a tip - that service is called UberTAXI. But drivers won't get tipped as long as you're in an UberX, UberBLACK, or UberSUV vehicle.</p>
<p>When Business Insider reached out for comment about Uber's tipping practice, the company pointed to a section of its website called "<a href="https://support.uber.com/hc/en-us/articles/202290128-Do-I-have-to-tip-my-driver-">Do I Have To Tip My Driver?</a>," which says: </p>
<blockquote class="blockquote">
<p>Being Uber means there is no need to tip drivers with any of our services.</p>
<div>
<p>When using uberTAXI (requesting a ride from a cab via the Uber app, available in select cities), drivers will input the metered fare into the Uber driver application. A default 20% of the metered fare will be automatically added and paid to the driver as a gratuity. You can select the percentage amount of the gratuity by signing into your account at <a href="https://www.uber.com/" target="_blank">uber.com</a> then clicking the 'Payment' link at the top.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>Customers are confused about the tipping system.</p>
<p>"Unfortunately the customer still believes there is no need to tip because the tip is included. I routinely speak with my customers about the tip issue and everybody I have had this discussion - frankly, they're shocked that there is no tip included," De Wolf Sandoval said.</p>
<p>"They insist that the tip is included, and that is what Uber has told them. Some of them felt that they have been misled and they're angry with Uber because they feel like when they leave the Uber vehicle and they haven't left a tip, really what they're doing is appearing cheap or unconcerned about customary gratuity norms."</p>
<p dir="ltr"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5446b08f69beddcf6c3ecd74-1200-924/uber-nyc-protest-19.jpg" border="0" alt="uber nyc protest" style="color: #000000;"><p class="source"><span>Maya Kosoff/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Dozens of Uber drivers protesting outside Uber's Queens offices in September 2014.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Introducing an option to tip within the Uber app, De Wolf Sandoval says, could solve many of the drivers' complaints. "Even with the higher commission and lower fare, if the tips were back on the table, drivers feel they may be able to earn a livable wage," he told us. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"They're a technology company, they could certainly figure out how to change their application to allow tips. Lyft has done it and it doesn't seem like it's been a great technological hurdle to jump. And you know, I recently read that Uber hired Lyft's former COO. So it seems to me that if Uber can't figure out how to add a tip to their phone app, maybe they can hire someone from Lyft who can."</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Uber's five-star rating system is a great idea, but it has serious flaws.</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Uber drivers we spoke to seem to agree that the rating system is generally a good thing: It keeps drivers in check, and it's one of the biggest differences between taking a cab and taking Uber. You have a pretty good idea what kind of service you'll be getting based on a driver's rating, and the driver knows what to expect based on a passenger's rating.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Drivers also seem to appreciate that customers can very easily write comments about their experience to give valuable feedback to drivers. The system works to provide a way for customers to let Uber know about problematic drivers.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But the rating system is also dreaded by drivers because of how easy it is to fall below the "acceptable" rating Uber requires its drivers to meet or exceed.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Drivers can potentially suffer a two-week timeout if they fall below 4.7 on the rating system, and they can be permanently deactivated if they fall below a 4.4," De Wolf Sandoval told us. "Customers, however, may continue to request rides even if their rating is below 2. I've picked up people who have had a rating of 1. So it's a sword that only cuts one way."</p>
<p dir="ltr">De Wolf Sandoval says drivers are always aware of the threat of a damaging one-star rating. In one case, he says, he picked up a customer running late for a flight out of LAX. The customer asked him to run a red light and speed, both things that violate traffic laws and California vehicle code. But if he didn't do it, he risked getting a one-star rating, and potentially being deactivated from Uber's system. </p>
<p dir="ltr"><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5446b1a8ecad046c7913cef7-1200-924/uber-nyc-protest-21.jpg" border="0" alt="uber nyc protest"><p class="source"><span>Maya Kosoff/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Uber drivers protest outside Uber's New York offices in Queens in September 2014.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span>Drivers say they fear their customers as well.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Drivers are subject to hostile environments and sexual harassment, assault, and being involved with people who are potentially dangerous, like extremely intoxicated people," De Wolf Sandoval said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"And the driver, essentially, has to grin and bear it. I've talked to female drivers who are hit on, sometimes actually touched by male customers who may have had too much to drink. Number one, they're afraid of saying anything because they're afraid of getting a bad rating. Number two, they financially can't just stop and cancel the trip and ask them to get out, because then they have lost a potential fare that could mean the difference between a half tank of gas and a full tank of gas. And number three, the customer, if you do stop and ask them to exit the vehicle and you want to cancel the trip for whatever reason, they become violent."</p>
<p dir="ltr">De Wolf Sandoval suggests Uber could create an incentive system for drivers that provide excellent service.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"I would suggest that if a driver has a weekly rating above 4.9, Uber would take maybe 15% of the commission rather than 25% of the commission," De Wolf Sandoval said. "And this would certainly be an incentive for drivers to provide the very best service - because the very best service would affect them positively, financially, and not just as an avoidance to being punished."</p>
<p dir="ltr">De Wolf Sandoval says Uber should meet with drivers - just not individually, as the company does now, but with groups, like his California App-Based Drivers Association, or the Uber Drivers Network NYC. De Wolf Sandoval would like Uber to listen to drivers' complaints.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"The drivers' representatives should be able to speak openly and freely and frankly about these issues, and without fear of retribution or deactivation," he said. "You go to the website and talk to them and they say drivers are our partners. But none of the drivers I know, that I've spoken with feel like a true partner because the risks are not shared.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"The drivers are taking all the risks; they're paying for their insurance, they're paying for gas, maintenance, everything. And it seems like it's a one-sided partnership."</p>
<p dir="ltr">De Wolf Sandoval cited the recent example of Google <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/10/03/google-to-make-security-guards-as-employees-rather-than-contractors/">bucking the independent contractor trend and hiring its security guards as employees</a>. He doesn't know if it's possible for Uber to do the same thing, though.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Uber's whole business model is built around having other people take the risks as independent contractors. And I don't know if they can change that; it's built into their business model. It's how they're making so much money," he said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"And from my perspective and CADA's perspective, it seems it's a gray area right now, whether we're truly independent contractors or employees. Because Uber does exercise quite a bit of control over how the drivers conduct their day to day basis. They really are reaching quite a bit behind that driver's wheel in how the driver does business. It's something that I'm sure will be looked at more closely because it is a pressing issue."</p>

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