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

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131–140 of 424 posts

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

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would just take Juno. The drivers here in NYC are only doing Uber to get enough ratings to qualify for Juno. Uber went way too far squeezing drivers, it's a mess. I've seen their Uber pool earnings ... It should be illegal.

Maybe they should just make Uber illegal and then there would be no predatory pricing.

It would probably be more efficient to make predatory pricing illegal.

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

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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" mindse…

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? Hacker News is fairly progressive/authoritarian. The kind of attitude you describe can still be found on slashdot.

It looks like they're pretty much on the side of government/against Uber in the story about Uber flouting DMV regulations:

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/12/15/1559226/uber-we-don...

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

#133
post #40

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…

Is there something akin to a city's uber manager that all drivers have to report to for the sake of noticing if someone should _not_ be driving for uber?

Are you asking if there's someone who looks over the driver pool and decides who looks like they should not be driving for Uber?

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

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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" mindse…

Since when do hackers bleat about obeying laws and regulations? What happened to having a "we can do better" mindset? Since when does hackerdom constitute blindly following dogma, whether it be libertarian or not?

Strange that you would respond with that, given that I'm arguing exactly against "following dogma". What I'm saying is that, as hackers, we have traditionally taken on a mindset that says "we can use our intellect, reason, science, etc. to figure out better solutions" without regard for dogma. And more and more people seem to be drifting away from that and just punting and saying "fuck it, the State will make everything OK". That's what gets me, is the way hackerdom seems to be losing that spirit of independence that it used to have.

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

#135

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?

Have talked to a number of drivers who seem to like Lyft a lot better than Uber.

For one thing, Lyft takes less of a cut and passes more to the driver.

More than one driver I'ved talked to complained that Uber was in the habit of delaying earned payments to drivers. Some complained that Uber was in the habit of under-paying and making drivers spend time to fight for money they've already earned. They do not seem to have similar experiences from Lyft.

In general, all else being equal (and the products are pretty close to equal), I'll prefer siding with the working stiff than multi-billion dollar multinationals.

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

#136
post #4

Presumably this is intentional -- Uber could raise prices and make more money, but right now they're choosing to keep prices very low in order to undercut Lyft and the cab companies with the assumption that having a monopoly will return more profits in the future. At least anecdotally, here in SF Lyft is almost always more expensive than Uber.

It is. It's a war of cash against other companies. The same way the OPEC has been dumping oil on the market to make its price crash to break competitors. So with a price at the barrel two times lower that their break even, oil companies in particular the US shale companies [1], will suffer or even declare bankruptcy and then the OPEC would have got their market share back and then would have raise its price like in 2012-2014. (They failed [2]).

But for Uber apart of China [3], Uber is winning and all VCs will make it that way anyway. Uber is the clear winner and they will continue to pool cash to the winner until it breaks all competitors. And then it will rise its prices and start piles of cash.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-04/u-s-outpu...

[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-10/non-opec-...

[3] http://qz.com/746930/the-battle-between-uber-and-its-fierces...

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

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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" mindse…

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? Hacker News is fairly progressive/authoritarian. The kind of attitude you describe can still be found on slashdot.

Hacker News is fairly progressive/authoritarian.

It has become more so over the past few years for sure. It was a lot more balanced in the past, as I recall.

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

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Took me 30 seconds on the FTC website to find it: https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-a... Can prices ever be "too low?" The short answer is yes, but not very often. Generally, low prices benefit consumers. Consumers are harmed only if below-cost pricing allows a dominant competitor to knock its rivals out of the market and then raise prices to above-market levels for a substantial time. A firm…

From the same FTC page: Pricing below your own costs is also not a violation of the law unless it is part of a strategy to eliminate competitors, and when that strategy has a dangerous probability of creating a monopoly for the discounting firm so that it can raise prices far into the future and recoup its losses. In markets with a large number of sellers, such as gasoline retailing, it is unlikely that one company c…

And it's not clear that Uber's strategy is to eliminate competitors, rather than engaging in a scheme to turn investment money into "growth" for raising further investment.

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

#139
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>you really should walk or take a train

Truly reliable and useful public transit is a luxury in the United States that isn't available to a huge majority of the country.

Walking also isn't an option for many people due to safety, health reasons, scheduling, childcare needs, and not to mention just too much stuff to carry.

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

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, Google drove a blind man to Taco Bell in 2012 and still hasn't released a self driving car 4 years later. Meanwhile, Uber's been in the self driving car business half that time? They already looks more likely to actually have these things on the road, and, they have the incentive, and cash pool to do it. Another reason people "get this impression" is that Google has a history of interesting projects that never m…

I don't understand how Uber "looks more likely to actually have these things on the road" when Google's cars have been driving people around Mountain View for years. Please explain.

I guess I wasn't clear enough. Let me try again.

Google has been in the self driving car business since 2009. Uber was FOUNDED in 2009.

Google has a history of starting cool projects, which never make it to market (Wave, Video, Glass, etc.)... That alone, doesn't inspire much confidence that their self driving car project will reach production.

Uber has the incentive, far more than Google, to actually see this through. If they can cut out drivers, their overhead shrinks significantly and their core business grows.

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