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Uber is facing the biggest crisis in its history

economist.com

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Re: Uber is facing the biggest crisis in its history

#71

Post by sbov »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #60
sbov wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire point is that tipping shouldn't make the difference between being able to pay your heating bill. Tipping, as it exists in the US, is pretty much a dark pattern.

"Shouldn't" and "doesn't" are worlds apart. I think most people hate tipping because they hate when people ask for tips. But a formal tipping system might reduce the number of Uber drivers who already ask for tips.

I hate tipping because the rules are arbitrary, random, and unspoken. I have a few friends who work as servers in restaurants: anecdote, but they view anything under 20% of the bill total (including tax) as a "bad tip". This is partially because credit card receipts only include the total, not the tax separated out. So really, anything under around 22% is a bad tip.

I tip 22% for full service, 10% for partial. If I go to the bar, I tip 10%, or a dollar/drink if I'm paying cash. If I'm ordering takeaway somewhere, I tip around 5%. I have no idea which of these are reasonable or not, because there is no "tipping class". I have no idea if places I regularly go like to spit in my food because I tip like shit.

Re: Uber is facing the biggest crisis in its history

#73

Post by teach »

imh wrote: post #52

>Two questions face the company. One is whether Uber will continue prospering under Mr Kalanick’s leadership. Silicon Valley and its denizens may celebrate his type, but ... Well fuck you too, Economist. That seems like an unnecessary and ignorant jab.

"Though the most successful founders are usually good people, they tend to have a piratical gleam in their eye. They're not Goody Two-Shoes type good. Morally, they care about getting the big questions right, but not about observing proprieties. That's why I'd use the word naughty rather than evil. They delight in breaking rules, but not rules that matter." -Paul Graham in "What We Look for in Founders"

http://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html

There's definitely a sense in which Kalanick's "boundary pushing" is the sort of thing Silicon Valley encourages.

Re: Uber is facing the biggest crisis in its history

#74

Post by frgtpsswrdlame »

thecopy wrote: post #58
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but Uber will have to raise prices at some point. Will you be loyal then?

What do you base that on?

Here's a link from a comment a bit further down the thread: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/uber-true-cost-uh...

If you really want to go down the rabbit hole I'd recommend reading this series on nakedcapitalism. They're at nine parts now: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/?s=can+uber+ever+deliver

Re: Uber is facing the biggest crisis in its history

#75

Post by decker »

67726e wrote: post #3
CamperBob2 wrote: post #2

Honestly, how many other companies, government agencies, or other organizations would hold up under the kind of coordinated, orchestrated drubbing that the media has dished out to Uber over the last couple of months?

I'm not at all a fan of Uber, but at this point it seems like a coordinated smear campaign.

Doubt that, Uber became a company that's popular to hate, and any negative news on the company is going to get a lot of eyeballs.

Re: Uber is facing the biggest crisis in its history

#76

Post by smallgovt »

twblalock wrote: post #63
smallgovt wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to elaborate on why? The initial condition here is founders having full voting rights. In a free marketplace, they're free to sell shares without (or with little) voting rights as they wish. If investors aren't happy with it (which doesn't seem to be the case), they're free to not invest. You seem to be stating that there's a moral imperative that founders voluntarily give away voting rights to investors.

I don't know if I would call it a "moral" imperative, but it's a basic tenet of good corporate governance that the board, which represents the shareholders, should be able to prevent the management from harming the company or the shareholder's interests. In the case of Uber, the CEO could run the company into the ground, and nobody would be able to prevent that. A trend toward worse corporate governance could harm th…

Got it, I can buy into the argument that pro-rata voting rights would lead to better performing companies than founder-controlled companies (in the long run and on average).

But, I don't see any reason why founders should be obligated to give away voting rights.

In other words, I would argue that if founder CEO's want that level of control, they SHOULD get it.

It's sort of weird to even phrase it as "get it". They already have it by default, and I don't see why we should have any right to force them to give it away.

Re: Uber is facing the biggest crisis in its history

#77

Post by st3v3r »

shostack wrote: post #10
twblalock wrote: post #6

Here's the money quote: > If Mr Gurley and the rest of the board cannot find an experienced candidate willing to work with Mr Kalanick, calls for him to step down may grow louder. But that is his decision to take. Uber is a prominent example of founders’ power at fast-growing tech firms. On its own, Uber’s board does not have the clout to change the CEO, because of his super-voting shares and those of his co-founder,…

While I'm not sure I disagree with you, devil's advocate here...do you think you'd feel the same way as a founder who could prevent yourself from ever being fired from your own company? I can think of several situations where retaining that kind of control would be hugely beneficial and important (in the right hands of course, which is the whole issue here).

Problem is, every founder thinks theirs is the right hands.

Re: Uber is facing the biggest crisis in its history

#78

Post by dkarapetyan »

valuearb wrote: post #51
dkarapetyan wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they actually can't survive. You're assuming the current demand can offset all the money they're burning.

Your assuming their ridesharing business is not profitable in mature markets. There is evidence it is. No outside analysis has yet been able to break down how much of their losses are investment in new businesses and markets.

Yes. I'm assuming the ridesharing component is indeed not profitable.

Re: Uber is facing the biggest crisis in its history

#80

Post by st3v3r »

valuearb wrote: post #54
robbyking wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's important to remember that Uber users aren't loyal: if a ride isn't immediately available through Uber, they use Lyft; if Lyft isn't available, they go to the next app. While I agree that the service is here to stay, the individual players are likely to shift.

I have Uber in my phone, not Lyft.

And I have Lyft, not Uber. Your point?
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