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Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B

bloomberg.com

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

#161

Post by anigbrowl »

manigandham wrote: post #134
guelo wrote: post #100

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 driv…

You were not charged to connect to anyone. That is a Returned Item Fee for drivers to give the item back to you: https://help.uber.com/riders/article/lost-item-return-fee-?n...

Whether or not the driver wants it? Pull the other one.

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

#162

Post by anigbrowl »

segmondy wrote: post #135
guelo wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't have the driver's phone number so I had to use the Uber app to contact the driver, that's when they charged me the $15.

Well, not having the driver's phone number is good. Can you imagine passengers calling drivers and harassing them for whatever reason? It will happen. Should the driver drive for free to return your jacket? What if the driver is already en route to another passenger and they told the passenger 5 minutes, and your cost will be additional 10 minutes. Do you think another passenger will understand and be forgiving that…

Why are you inventing new facts to rationalize this practice? The other poster told you that the driver noticed the forgotten jacket and immediately attempted to contact the rider, but couldn't. Uber is choosing to interpose itself between the two and collect a fee that neither of them wanted to pay.

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

#163

Post by ChuckMcM »

nwmcsween wrote: post #149
ChuckMcM wrote: post #58

That is not a happy balance sheet. They have raised over $24B, then they shifted around the cap table when Soft Bank came in[1] where they valued the company at $48B. I have never played poker where the lowest valued chips were a million dollars but it has to feel like that to senior management at the company right? And their investors, they have serious money in the pot too. It feels like they have managed to create…

This is reminding me of the dotcom boom, the markets are badly overvaluing a lot of tech companies in my opinion anyways.

Critically though it isn't retail investors who would bear the cost of a failure, that would be born by the folks like Softbank and the hedge funds who have invested.

Of course the employees are also victims. I have been in the situation of holding untradeable (by me) stock being valued a high number (woohoo! I'm rich) only to watch helplessly as it became worthless (uh, I'm not rich). While the value of things change is understandable intellectually it is also painful.

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

#164

Post by prostoalex »

janesvilleseo wrote: post #126
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/…

Doesn’t UBER know this and that is why they are aggressively working on self-driving. Cut out the middle (hu)man and cut rates?

Sure, they and a hundred other competitors.

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

#165

Post by maxxxxx »

beaconstudios wrote: post #63

what the fuck is going on when a company can lose over $1 billion a quarter with no profit in sight and still receive further investment? Would they be hugely profitable if not for reinvestment in expansion and R&D?

I definitely wouldn't call this "business" anymore. It's something else.

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

#167

Post by ams6110 »

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…

> McDonald's and Burger King get the same meat form the same vendor trucks

No, they don't. They have their own suppliers and logistics for all their raw ingredients and supplies.

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

#168

Post by prostoalex »

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…

This ringed true to me in Tokyo and Barcelona - local taxi apps were significantly cheaper and had better availability than Uber.

When they were competing with Grab in most southeast Asian markets, Grab would usually out-compete on both parameters, too.

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

#169

Post by Balgair »

cm2012 wrote: post #51

I am a pretty loyal Uber user, and probably spend around $400 a month with them. But... I was stuck out in the cold in the boonies of long island recently, and Uber kept bugging out and not finding rides since I was fairly rural. I downloaded Lyft for the first time and it found me a ride instantly. I'm going to have to use them more often. Just my random anecdote.

$400/mo. Woah! Why not lease a car at that rate? Leases go for ~$150/mo there.

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

#170

Post by prostoalex »

lozaning wrote: post #65
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…

How did the scammy uber drivers not get kicked off the platform for poor ratings? If you take me to an address that isn't the one I entered you can't tell me I entered something wrong.

They likely do, but then sign up for a new account or have their friend sign up for them.
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