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Uber, Mired in Corporate Scandals, Sees Uptick in Bookings

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Re: Uber, Mired in Corporate Scandals, Sees Uptick in Bookings

#81

Post by will_brown »

Z1nfandel wrote: post #75
will_brown wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>For every one person saying: "Uber is evil, don't use them" There are ten saying "Meh, its cheap and convenient." I guess there is actually an 11th person saying, awesome I can financially support this evil company in the short term and make a quick buck. I've been talking a lot about boycotts lately on HN to curb unwanted corporate behavior, in particular as it relates to a lot of the recent 1st Amendment issues an…

>If you don't mind, I guess like a sort of prelaunch feedback, what would it take for someone like you, willing to profit on bad corporate behavior, to instead become a leader for change? I think it would take a few things, and I'll try my best to elaborate on why. 1. Ability to affect change. I like to be successful, its one of my primary drivers in life. If I spend X hours working on some task, I want to see the re…

Thanks for the response, it's thoughtful and well reasoned.

>However, if you've solved those problems, you have no need for me.

You would exactly be they type of person needed, based on the very idea of what you did/have been doing, you are smart, informed and most importantly not afraid to act(literally put your money where your mouth is).

If I could build a platform that successfully addresses these issues it would be nothing without people, same goes for platforms like Uber or even Facebook and Google. The pre-internet examples would be individuals like Gandhi and MLK who obviously solved problems to effect change, but even they were just leaders who relied on the support of people.

I think this second comment of yours is as encouraging/motivating as the first, it just reinforces my belief the opportunity is really about changing attitudes and thoughts about these power dynamics, rather than the power dynamics themselves.

Re: Uber, Mired in Corporate Scandals, Sees Uptick in Bookings

#82

Post by FeepingCreature »

will_brown wrote: post #64
FeepingCreature wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't wish away a tragedy of the commons. All you're doing is rewarding bad behavior.

As to your first point I don't disagree, but are you saying taking steps to organize boycotts is trying to wish away something? I was thinking organizing boycotts would have been an affirmative step towards turning wishes into action. Therefore, could you explain how organizing boycotts to address (at least) bad corporate actors behavior would be rewarding bad behavior? Is that a any press is good press argument or a…

Boycotts only work for goods with fixed demand. The stock market is designed to be maximally responsive. You can't boycott a stock for moral reasons; you're effectively just donating money to people with no moral qualms.

You have to realize that the stock market is an engine for predicting profit. If you're boycotting something for reasons that are not represented in profit, then all you're doing is turning yourself into the sort of damage that the stock market is best at routing around. The only way to punish companies is to impact their bottom line, and boycotting their stock does not have that effect unless you control enough of the market that the rest can't pick up the slack, and if you don't have that influence then the effect will be negligible.

If, as they say, the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent, then certainly the market can stay rational longer than you can stay obstinate.

Re: Uber, Mired in Corporate Scandals, Sees Uptick in Bookings

#83

Post by ugh123 »

askafriend wrote: post #2

Of course Uber sees an uptick in bookings. None of the people using the service in almost 200 countries worldwide are tuned into the daily drama of Silicon Valley. Normal people want to get from point A to point B in the most comfortable, efficient, cheap way possible. If that means Uber then so be it. If that means Taxis then so be it. If that means Didi Chuxing then so be it. It just turns out that Uber is well pos…

I'm tuned into the daily drama but really don't care. I want something reliable and quick. Lyft had a bug for a few months where they wouldn't accept my credit card anymore (no reason, just a generic system error). I've used Uber exclusively since.

Re: Uber, Mired in Corporate Scandals, Sees Uptick in Bookings

#84

Post by abritinthebay »

For me it’s because Lyft continues to get dramatically worse.

I’d love to use it more (and I hear drivers prefer it) but between the app UI being so poor, booking taking longer, frequent cancellations by drivers, etc... I only check it second if there are no Uber drivers around.

It’s a shame as I really like parts of it more but the overall experience has always been worse for me

Re: Uber, Mired in Corporate Scandals, Sees Uptick in Bookings

#85

Post by emmab »

Z1nfandel wrote: post #15
askafriend wrote: post #2

Of course Uber sees an uptick in bookings. None of the people using the service in almost 200 countries worldwide are tuned into the daily drama of Silicon Valley. Normal people want to get from point A to point B in the most comfortable, efficient, cheap way possible. If that means Uber then so be it. If that means Taxis then so be it. If that means Didi Chuxing then so be it. It just turns out that Uber is well pos…

So true. Most people just don't care. I've used this to my advantage over the past few years, as soon as a "big corporate scandal" breaks the stock tends to fall. Check their financials, buy the stock if it looks good, then wait a few months for it to all blow over. My most recent was Wells Fargo during their opening accounts scandal. Bought early Oct, Sold late Jan. 20.06% profit. There were so many headlines callin…

> I've used this to my advantage over the past few years, as soon as a "big corporate scandal" breaks the stock tends to fall. Check their financials, buy the stock if it looks good, then wait a few months for it to all blow over.

Why aren't there any financial firms doing this and consistently beating the market?

Re: Uber, Mired in Corporate Scandals, Sees Uptick in Bookings

#86

Post by LeoPanthera »

jandrese wrote: post #52
askafriend wrote: post #2

Of course Uber sees an uptick in bookings. None of the people using the service in almost 200 countries worldwide are tuned into the daily drama of Silicon Valley. Normal people want to get from point A to point B in the most comfortable, efficient, cheap way possible. If that means Uber then so be it. If that means Taxis then so be it. If that means Didi Chuxing then so be it. It just turns out that Uber is well pos…

One thing that I've wondered about with Uber is if they're so horrible to their drivers, why don't those drivers switch to Lyft? Does Uber really have that many more passengers? Or is the almost constant barrage of negative stories about Uber part of some attack campaign and the majority of them are overblown? Maybe there is a Boy Who Cried Wolf factor to the negative Uber press?

In most places outside the US, Lyft does not operate.

Re: Uber, Mired in Corporate Scandals, Sees Uptick in Bookings

#87

Post by LeoPanthera »

inverse_pi wrote: post #55
jandrese wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that I've wondered about with Uber is if they're so horrible to their drivers, why don't those drivers switch to Lyft? Does Uber really have that many more passengers? Or is the almost constant barrage of negative stories about Uber part of some attack campaign and the majority of them are overblown? Maybe there is a Boy Who Cried Wolf factor to the negative Uber press?

how do you know they're horrible to their drivers? AFAIK, they actually have more driver friendly features than Lyft

I mostly use Lyft, and 95-99% of the drivers who pick me up work for both. So far, everyone single one I've asked has said they prefer Lyft.

Re: Uber, Mired in Corporate Scandals, Sees Uptick in Bookings

#88

Post by pktgen »

gajjanag wrote: post #68
will_brown wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>For every one person saying: "Uber is evil, don't use them" There are ten saying "Meh, its cheap and convenient." I guess there is actually an 11th person saying, awesome I can financially support this evil company in the short term and make a quick buck. I've been talking a lot about boycotts lately on HN to curb unwanted corporate behavior, in particular as it relates to a lot of the recent 1st Amendment issues an…

> I guess there is actually an 11th person saying, awesome I can financially support this evil company in the short term and make a quick buck. Well, unless you belong to the minority of people on this forum with no assets in the stock market whatsoever (either directly or indirectly via a bank account, pension fund, etc), you are part of the system that profits off corporate activity. The only exception is if you tr…

> Well, unless you belong to the minority of people on this forum with no assets in the stock market whatsoever (either directly or indirectly via a bank account, pension fund, etc), you are part of the system that profits off corporate activity. The only exception is if you traced your holdings in such companies (Wells Fargo is the example given here) and where they are getting used to within reasonable limits (some activity may not be disclosed to you as a member of the public for instance), and divested from all of them. A priori, I would find such a situation highly unlikely.

As appealing as it is to just use Vanguard index funds for my retirement account and be done with it, I have so far resisted the urge to do that for this reason. If I don't want a company to exist, I don't want to own that company, even if it only makes up 0.05% of my money. I think cheap, broad, cap-weighted index funds are the best way to invest in stocks, but I want the ability to exclude stocks of companies I find unethical.

There's an opportunity for a roboadvisor to replace all index ETFs with directly-replicated indexes. Vanguard TSM has around 3500 stocks and the international index also has thousands. I'm sure it was impractical and not cost-effective a few decades ago to buy thousands of stocks in fractional units for each customer account, but I think the large roboadvisors could pull it off today: they have scale, automation, and the ability to aggregate and batch all customer trades daily (minimizing trading costs). Wealthfront's direct indexing is a good start, but it's only for US large-cap stocks, and the lack of support for fractional shares means a 6-figure minimum account balance and potentially meaningful tracking error.

Re: Uber, Mired in Corporate Scandals, Sees Uptick in Bookings

#89

Post by princeb »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #86
jandrese wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that I've wondered about with Uber is if they're so horrible to their drivers, why don't those drivers switch to Lyft? Does Uber really have that many more passengers? Or is the almost constant barrage of negative stories about Uber part of some attack campaign and the majority of them are overblown? Maybe there is a Boy Who Cried Wolf factor to the negative Uber press?

In most places outside the US, Lyft does not operate.

in these places, alternatives definitely exist. addison lee, hailo, ola, grab, didi, some traditional cab companies also have their own hailing app.

Re: Uber, Mired in Corporate Scandals, Sees Uptick in Bookings

#90

Post by [deleted] »

jsfitzsimmons wrote: post #63
School-Cotton wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How? Buying stock doesn't transfer any money to the company (unless it's newly issued stock)

The act of buying stock signals demand and reduces supply, which will effectively cause the price to rise. Indirectly, rising stock prices are a positive indicator for the health of the company. Directly, if the company chooses to sell stock, it will be able to sell it at the higher price.

[deleted]
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