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Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue

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Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue

#41

Post by MarkPNeyer »

duaneb wrote: post #32
ylhert wrote: post #30

My understanding is that in mature markets, Uber is profitable. The issue is that it takes a few years to become profitable in a market and so it's extreme growth pushes out profitability on the whole for a few years

Not before destroying any competition with cripplingly low rates. That's the problem: I can't hail a goddamn taxi anymore, despite it being cheaper by any back of the envelope calculation for society as a whole.

> despite it being cheaper by any back of the envelope calculation for society as a whole.

Can you explain this? Not challenging, just curious.

Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue

#42

Post by revelation »

ylhert wrote: post #30

My understanding is that in mature markets, Uber is profitable. The issue is that it takes a few years to become profitable in a market and so it's extreme growth pushes out profitability on the whole for a few years

You mean once they have burned VC money to price dump transportation in a given market, they start charging higher rates to make money and run pet R&D projects.

Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue

#43

Post by Analemma_ »

ylhert wrote: post #26
antiviral wrote: post #6

Uber is making the rest of us in SV look terrible. 1. Collect a huge pile of money at sky-high valuations from those who really should know better. 2. Ignore any sensible unit economics and undercut local taxi/transport services until those small businesses go bankrupt since they don't have Uber's money pile. 3. Evade local regulations that everyone else follows in the name of 'innovation' even though the reality is…

Uber does background checks, not sure where the idea that they are skipping them comes from

It might come from the fact that they ragequit Austin rather than do background checks.

Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue

#44

Post by brianwawok »

jamez1 wrote: post #15
Cyph0n wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried Lyft the other day, but after they charged me $25 as an "authorization hold" without notification, I cancelled my ride and decided to stick with Uber. Note that Uber's auth charge is usually around $1. $25 may not be a significant amount for some, but it's non-trivial for a college student like myself. I would have been happy had they just notified me first instead of my bank. Terrible UX to be frank. I actua…

A $25 hold for a fare that might be $15 doesn't sound unreasonable? Is ride-sharing that big of a cost for your day to day?

Yes if you don't have $25 you really should walk or take a train. Not sure that is a big reason to pick or not pick it.

Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue

#45

Post by toomuchtodo »

NegativeLatency wrote: post #38
toomuchtodo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I tried Lyft the other day, but after they charged me $25 as an "authorization hold" without notification, I cancelled my ride and decided to stick with Uber. Note that Uber's auth charge is usually around $1. $25 may not be a significant amount for some, but it's non-trivial for a college student like myself. Most gas pumps authorize $100. Use a credit card.

Personally I've never experienced that

https://www.card.com/faq/will-preauthorization-hold-always-e...

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/2k761i/gas...

Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue

#47

Post by duaneb »

realstuff wrote: post #8
LeoPanthera wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lyft may be more expensive on paper but I always use it instead of Uber where it is available and they send me so many discounts and coupons that I almost never pay the full price.

Out of curiosity, why do you prefer Lyft?

They aren't Uber and they exist.

Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue

#48

Post by revelation »

rubicon33 wrote: post #33
antiviral wrote: post #6

Uber is making the rest of us in SV look terrible. 1. Collect a huge pile of money at sky-high valuations from those who really should know better. 2. Ignore any sensible unit economics and undercut local taxi/transport services until those small businesses go bankrupt since they don't have Uber's money pile. 3. Evade local regulations that everyone else follows in the name of 'innovation' even though the reality is…

Huh? What's the end game? The end game is a company with self driving cars, having SIGNIFICANTLY less overhead than they currently do with human drivers. And, probably a ton of technology patents to boot? Yea, they're definitely a brazen company, but do you really expect anything less from a unicorn company? Very few make it this big without cutting some corners, having some connection, etc.

In this particular iteration of the game, what exact benefit does running a $800M losing ride-hailing service confer?

If the entire value proposition is "taxi using self-driving cars", then surely they would be much better off dropping the money burning ride-hailing operation with cars they don't own to spend more on R&D...

Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue

#49

Post by mindcrime »

antiviral wrote: post #6

Uber is making the rest of us in SV look terrible. 1. Collect a huge pile of money at sky-high valuations from those who really should know better. 2. Ignore any sensible unit economics and undercut local taxi/transport services until those small businesses go bankrupt since they don't have Uber's money pile. 3. Evade local regulations that everyone else follows in the name of 'innovation' even though the reality is…

Evade local regulations that everyone else follows in the name of 'innovation' even though the reality is they are just taking a free pass on conducting background checks, and skipping safety guidelines.

When they replace all taxis, do they really think they can just permanently ignore all driving laws?

Since when do hackers bleat about obeying laws and regulations? What happened to having a "we can do better" mindset? Has everybody wigged out and flipped their "I want a nanny state to protect me 24/7" bit?

And as far as that goes... I guess no "certified" taxi driver has ever turned out to be a criminal or done anything to harm a passenger? Me personally, I prefer to exercise some personal discretion and simply decide whether or not I will ride with a particular Uber driver, or cabbie, or Lyft driver, or whatever, based on my own judgment in the moment, as opposed to abdicating responsibility to either the State or a corporation.

Re: Uber's Loss Exceeds $800M in Q3 on $1.7B in Net Revenue

#50

Post by jlarocco »

antiviral wrote: post #6

Uber is making the rest of us in SV look terrible. 1. Collect a huge pile of money at sky-high valuations from those who really should know better. 2. Ignore any sensible unit economics and undercut local taxi/transport services until those small businesses go bankrupt since they don't have Uber's money pile. 3. Evade local regulations that everyone else follows in the name of 'innovation' even though the reality is…

> When they replace all taxis, do they really think they can just permanently ignore all driving laws?

Why wait? https://www.wired.com/2016/12/ubers-self-driving-car-ran-red...

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