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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

#191

Post by nsp »

thechut wrote: post #177
cylinder wrote: post #72

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.

What exactly is the Juno model? Just a clone of early Uber?

To some degree, Juno's stated differentiator is being the best ride hail app from the drivers perspective by: - 50% of founder equity goes to drivers - 10% vs 20-25% cut of fares - no pooled concept (this may be purely because they're too small to support it, though it is also unpopular with drivers

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

#192

Post by badlucklottery »

stuckagain wrote: post #115
rubicon33 wrote: post #100

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.

He probably means as a wide release.

I also believe Uber will probably go wide first because the risk (people get injured, they possibly go down in flames from legal issues) is worth the reward (they have a chance of surviving as a business by automating human drivers out of the equation).

Google has money falling out of their ears and will do a wide release when it's boringly safe.

I much prefer companies waiting until it is boringly safe but I don't think that's compatible with the money fire Uber has built.

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

#193

Post by pzh »

mattnewton wrote: post #68
realstuff wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, why do you prefer Lyft?

It used to seem to be the drivers of Lyft tended to be more doing it part time and fun to talk to, versus the much more business oriented and cold Uber community made up of former taxi drivers and truckers. I always assumed this had to do with the branding and the way they targeted potential drivers. I liked the Lyft feel a lot more. But lately they both seem to be a mix of both communities to me, so I don't know if…

My experience has been that pretty much every Lyft driver I've met also drives for Uber.

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

#194

Post by johnny22 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #18
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…

> 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.

not everybody has a credit card.

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

#195

Post by Guest98123 »

potatolicious wrote: post #179
jpalomaki wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would the monopoly plan really work? Is there something that would prevent competition from reappearing when prices are raised? At least from customer perspective it would be pretty easy to use couple of apps and shop between different providers. For drivers this might be of course more difficult, since Uber can use contracts and other mechanisms to prevent them from working with other providers.

> "Would the monopoly plan really work?" IMO no. Others mention the network effect, and while it will certainly be a factor, I don't think it will be anywhere near strong enough to make the monopoly plan work. The network effect for Uber is really local - at the city level. An "Uber, but only in Austin" service can easily compete with a national-level Uber, since the vast majority of cab rides are taken within a user…

I think Uber has a huge advantage. If you start a new transportation service in NYC, Uber can just flip a switch, undercut your NYC prices by $2 per ride, and make up the difference by raising prices $0.10 per ride in other cities without competition.

How do you compete with that? You'd be burning money to compete, and Uber would just wait it out until you're bankrupt.

If you launch a global competitor that gains traction, Uber would just lower prices worldwide. If they can sustain a billion dollar loss every quarter, then you're quickly going out of business, and once that happens, they'd raise prices again and return to be profitable.

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

#196

Post by TheSageMage »

animex wrote: post #167

Uber will be a dead Unicorn in the medium future. They've got too many legal pressures, competitors with native advantages (i.e. the automakers), and their expansion plans have them overextended. Here in Edmonton, AB, Canada, regulatory changes have pushed the Uber prices to almost 2x during non-surge times over regular taxis. Taxi's have stepped up. Local competitors have sprouted. Carshares are abounding. It's all…

... and that exactly what the Taxi industry should do, step up. Not just in price, but in technology. IMO the best feature of Uber is the app and transparency like features of taking a trip. If I can pull the app up, input where I am and where I want to go, how much it will cost, and when my driver will be here, I'm happy.

The few experiences I've had with local Taxi systems, coming from a everyone-drives-a-car suburban background, have been awful. Overcharging, credit card machine breakdown, and unreliability of driver arrival estimation have made me seek out more expensive alternatives, just to avoid the hassle.

I now live in a city where I take public transport 90% of the time. But that 10% has been made so much easier by Uber and Lyft(they offer the "same" features, so they are the same in my book). They tell me; How long until the driver is here(often incorrect, but only by a small factor), how long the trip will take(often incorrect, by only by a small factor), and how much it will cost(often correct or guaranteed).

None of the features above sound unique to Uber/Lyft, the only difference between them and Taxi's are subsidization by Capitalization. I've heard of Flywheel offering the same app features Uber/Lyft do, but Uber's are often under ~$10 where I am, which a Taxi can take anywhere from $25-$45. But if Uber's subsidization goes dry, as long as there's an feature-like alternative, I'd still pay for that.

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

#197

Post by [deleted] »

cstejerean wrote: post #183
animex wrote: post #167

Uber will be a dead Unicorn in the medium future. They've got too many legal pressures, competitors with native advantages (i.e. the automakers), and their expansion plans have them overextended. Here in Edmonton, AB, Canada, regulatory changes have pushed the Uber prices to almost 2x during non-surge times over regular taxis. Taxi's have stepped up. Local competitors have sprouted. Carshares are abounding. It's all…

What I love about Uber is that I can use the same service pretty much everywhere I travel. I don't see them dying anytime soon. They have huge mind share at the moment and are better funded than any competitor. At a minimum Uber can pivot into being a front-end for these other players, providing a unified booking and payment experience.

[deleted]

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

#198

Post by aianus »

nsp wrote: post #191
thechut wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly is the Juno model? Just a clone of early Uber?

To some degree, Juno's stated differentiator is being the best ride hail app from the drivers perspective by: - 50% of founder equity goes to drivers - 10% vs 20-25% cut of fares - no pooled concept (this may be purely because they're too small to support it, though it is also unpopular with drivers

Why do I care what the drivers like? I don't buy any other products or services based on the happiness of the workers.

Uber still has the most drivers and the cheapest prices.

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

#199

Post by flylib »

cylinder wrote: post #72
nharada wrote: 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.

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.

Uber will long outlast Juno, Juno won't be able to finding funding long enough and will go under

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

#200

Post by WhitneyLand »

nazka wrote: post #136
nharada wrote: 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 2…

Whoa there that's very different business. In oil there are huge barriers to entry and big costs to ramp down and ramp back up production.

If Uber ever tries to raise prices too high competitors wil swarm into the market.

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