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Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B

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Re: Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B

#91

Post by buzzdenver »

tyre wrote: post #86
buzzdenver wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stand corrected. Their UI mislead me because the price is only shown after you hit a Confirm button, but that does not order the car as I thought, only takes you to the next screen.

I just opened the Lyft app and tried it. After entering a destination, I was taken to a screen showing the prices for the various options. There was no confirm button Or anything else hiding prices. (This was on iOS)

As somebody else in this three said, the Confirm button is only for airport destination when you select the airline where you want to be dropped off.

Re: Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B

#92

Post by alaskamiller »

Androider wrote: post #30

Uber doesn't have much of a moat or lock-in effect. I just switched one day from being a frequent Uber rider to 100% using Lyft, simply because I don't like Uber's behavior as a company. The prices are so close it doesn't make any practical difference to me. Anecdotally, among my friends I also see Lyft becoming the default, and sometimes price-checking with Uber. If Waymo or whoever came out tomorrow with a cheaper/…

This is one of those no-shit responses, parroted over and over again.

At the end of the day, Pepsi and Coca-Cola sells you sugar water. McDonald's and Burger King get the same meat form the same vendor trucks. You charge a credit card whether Visa or MasterCard.

The point isn't who brings you the convenience, it's that you have convenience at all.

Uber/Lyft has commoditized driving to a product sold at ~$2/mile. That's why this week they both launched loyalty programs, back to back.

And from there they'll just keep trying to add more value bit by bit. Not surprised at all if in 10 yrs Uber doesn't have cab hailing anymore, but you ended up on an Uber flight to Shanghai.

Re: Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B

#93

Post by albertgoeswoof »

zhobbs wrote: post #88
Androider wrote: post #30

Uber doesn't have much of a moat or lock-in effect. I just switched one day from being a frequent Uber rider to 100% using Lyft, simply because I don't like Uber's behavior as a company. The prices are so close it doesn't make any practical difference to me. Anecdotally, among my friends I also see Lyft becoming the default, and sometimes price-checking with Uber. If Waymo or whoever came out tomorrow with a cheaper/…

Agree that the lock-in is weak compared to other markets. Their strategy has been to incentivize drivers and riders to not split usage between other apps. Uber drivers who do a certain number of hours or rides per day/week often get bonuses, so they'd have to forego these bonuses to split time with Lyft. On the rider side, they're pulling a play from the airline playbook, with their version of frequent flier miles an…

2 potential fixes on the rider side:

- Uber prime

- Uber points

Re: Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B

#94

Post by deminature »

Ftuuky wrote: post #17

Speaking as a infrequent user (1-3 times per month) in Lisbon, Portugal, I can't choose Uber anymore. There are so many other apps providing the same service with cheaper prices (some of them such as Taxify do not have surge pricing) and better drivers. The drivers' quality declined a lot: sometimes they don't speak portuguese or english and if they notice you're drunk they try to scam you (leave you in some random s…

Not meaning to be accusatory, but it's possible you're seeing lower quality drivers because your rating is low?

Re: Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B

#95

Post by NeedMoreTea »

keyle wrote: post #4

Side note, I'm getting fed up with Uber... I'm a decent user, I use it 1-2 a week. Drivers have become worse. They used to have clean cars and were of all ethnicity. There also used to be a lot of women drivers. Now it's basically taxi drivers with their mate's cars. Cars are now often dirty, greasy interiors, dirty outside and bad smell. And as soon as you have a 'usual' route, or you use the app a lot, you get char…

You're just seeing why metered taxi rates came to be a thing in the first place. Rather than individual drivers it's the platform getting creative about distance and price.

Re: Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B

#96

Post by moocow01 »

alaskamiller wrote: post #92
Androider wrote: post #30

Uber doesn't have much of a moat or lock-in effect. I just switched one day from being a frequent Uber rider to 100% using Lyft, simply because I don't like Uber's behavior as a company. The prices are so close it doesn't make any practical difference to me. Anecdotally, among my friends I also see Lyft becoming the default, and sometimes price-checking with Uber. If Waymo or whoever came out tomorrow with a cheaper/…

This is one of those no-shit responses, parroted over and over again. At the end of the day, Pepsi and Coca-Cola sells you sugar water. McDonald's and Burger King get the same meat form the same vendor trucks. You charge a credit card whether Visa or MasterCard. The point isn't who brings you the convenience, it's that you have convenience at all. Uber/Lyft has commoditized driving to a product sold at ~$2/mile. That…

I think the problem really is profit. Pepsi and Coca-Cola both sell sugar water, a commodity, at a profit. Lyft and Uber have made rides a commodity but at this point it looks like commoditization of rides is not able to be sold at a profit. I think they both are touting that scale and technology will lead them to profitable rides but its not obvious that this is going to ever come true in a way that justifies their value. To me the scary part for them is that they already have commoditized their product.

Re: Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B

#97

Post by kchhina »

deminature wrote: post #76
nemo44x wrote: post #8

Their prices are often worse than yellow cabs in NYC. They act like locals won't be able to tell but it's pretty obvious when it's a $10 more ask at a time that isn't even busy and there are yellow cabs everywhere.

Pool is an option in NYC though, which is usually 1/3 of the price of a taxi/X and effectively reduces traffic.

Via is another great option in NYC that I use all the time.

Re: Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B

#98

Post by TylerE »

gjreda wrote: post #67
paulddraper wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The extent of their lock-in is that of any C2C company: the marketplace. Can one side be confident there are enough on the other side? And then it becomes about brand recognition and marketing. (And in this particular case, the Uber brand has some issues....) No different than, say, consumer rental companies like Airbnb.

Does this change when the two options are perfect substitutes? As a rider, there's no "cost" to having both apps, so I'll just check both. Similarly, as a driver, I'll just sit with both apps open and see which one I get a rider on.

Makes you wonder why no one has built an app that interfaces with all of them, and finds you the cheapest rate, while taking a kickback.

Re: Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B

#99

Post by eiaoa »

keyle wrote: post #4

Side note, I'm getting fed up with Uber... I'm a decent user, I use it 1-2 a week. Drivers have become worse. They used to have clean cars and were of all ethnicity. There also used to be a lot of women drivers. Now it's basically taxi drivers with their mate's cars. Cars are now often dirty, greasy interiors, dirty outside and bad smell. And as soon as you have a 'usual' route, or you use the app a lot, you get char…

> And as soon as you have a 'usual' route, or you use the app a lot, you get charged more!! It's so disgusting.

> I tried to book a trip to the airport for my inlaws using both my account and my wife's account. She rarely uses Uber, and hers showed a 10-15% cheaper rate. Do they think we're stupid? They targetted 'smart' people for using ride sharing as opposed to taxis, and now they try to play us.

> Let's not even get started about dark UX patterns. It's hard to see peak rates now, and unless you get a bad gut feeling, you wouldn't know you're currently paying more than a cab rate.

> ...

> The same ride I used to pay $8 for is sometimes $25-32 now. Let's be honest, if anything better came along, I wouldn't look back.

The world now is rediscovering the valid motivations for the old taxicab regulations that so many were claiming were holding "innovation" back.

Uber's prices were so low mainly because they were using VC money to try bankrupt traditional taxi companies. Once the subsidies run out, Uber will probably at least as expensive as traditional cabs, if not more so, but with consumer-hostile pricing tricks that were once illegal.

Re: Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B

#100

Post by guelo »

My "Uber sucks" story is that I left a jacket in the back seat of a car. I immediately tried to figure out how to call the driver but Uber decided they needed to make money off my misfortune. Not only did they charge me $15 to connect with the driver but they refused to let me message the driver directly, so what could have been a few minutes of time turned into a week long saga. Once I finally got a hold of the driver several days later she had the same story as me where she had immediately tried to contact me and return my item but Uber didn't let her contact me.

That permanently cost Uber a customer because now I know that they'll try to use dark patterns to screw me over any chance they get.

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