Uber Revenue Slows as Quarterly Loss Surges to $1.1B • Hacker News Board

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

#181

Post by adjkant » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 12:29 AM UTC

Right now honestly I don't see much of a difference between Uber and Moviepass when you (realistically) rule them out of winning the self-driving race. They are offering a service for less than it costs but have no way to stop customers from switching if they raise prices. And to boot Moviepass has a better corporate reputation than Uber somehow. I feel like this has been obvious for a year now, but as others said, I guess it has to be too big to fail now?

The only thing that looks like it could ever be profitable is Uber Eats, but there's no way that keeps the company afloat.

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

#182

Post by da02 » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 12:31 AM UTC

dschep wrote: post #50

swozey wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So long as I don't ever have to deal with a cabbie lying to me that his credit card machine doesn't work or they won't drive a short distance I will happily continue using the apps, even if the vehicles have gotten worse (most of my rides lately have been Minivans obviously bought to cab in). That still gives me a much better experience than dealing with their bullshit.

Cabbie drivers lying about their credit card machine is a moot point if your jurisdiction has a decent regulatory body. In DC if they pull that shit, I just get out with out paying as they're not abiding by the law and the dept of for hire vehicles will have my back.

Right. But, people like me hate dealing with confrontation and govt offices. I would just pay with cash and go to a competing service next time (Uber, Lyft, mass transit.) If only there were startup mass transit providers in cities.

Just out of curiosity, does DC limit the number of cab drivers?

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

#183

Post by anigbrowl » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 12:31 AM UTC

manigandham wrote: post #172

anigbrowl wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. The fee is only charged if the driver returns the item, so if they cant or dont want to then there's no fee.

What if the driver doesn't want to charge a fee and is happy to just circle the block and drop the item off to a thankful customer, as described in this episode? Maybe things won't be as convenient for some drivers, in which case a fee is appropriate. But imposing a fee without asking the driver or allowing the driver an easy way to notify the customer of the lost item is dishonest; Uber is not doing it on the driver's behalf but acting in loco parentis of the driver and deciding on their behalf, thus robbing the driver of autonomy.

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

#184

Post by Aeolun » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 12:31 AM UTC

Part of that is probably that the uber apps and website are so ridiculously bare bones that I can’t imagine a company burning 1B cash per 3 months is behind them.

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

#185

Post by akkartik » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 12:32 AM UTC

notyourwork wrote: post #147

cynicalkane wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Converse to this, I get a lot of bad behavior when I try to book Uber, especially late at night or in odd areas. Drivers who cancel, intentionally drive in the wrong direction to force you to cancel, who don’t wait or drive to the wrong place to pick you up, who don’t know where to go, who are rude, who refuse to turn off music... I started using Uber because it was worth paying more to not deal with taxis. Now Uber…

> Lyft is kind of that but isn’t quite there. Since my impression is a large population of drivers drive for both I don't think you would find different behavior in Uber or Lyft. A dickhead is doing to be a dickhead whether driving for Uber or Lyft right?

A lot of the time, bad behavior is caused by external situation and incentives rather than intrinsic character.

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

#186

Post by yalogin » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 12:35 AM UTC

How can they incur that huge a loss? According to Crunchbase they have 5000-10000 employees. They have a backend to manage. They have limited sales and marketing expense.Where is their money going? R&D or just employee pay?

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

#187

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 12:35 AM UTC

agrippanux wrote: post #117

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/…

I have found that the drivers for Lyft are much happier than the drivers for Uber. This holds true even when a driver drives for both services. I asked several drivers why this is and the universal response was that Lyft treats them better, so they are happier to pick up Lyft customers. I switched over to only using Lyft, but like the OP states, if Waymo came out tomorrow I'd probably switch to that.

[deleted]

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

#188

Post by torpfactory » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 12:39 AM UTC

lotophage wrote: post #178

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.

That's pretty misleading. You are not charged to contact the driver in the app, you are charged once the item is returned. I've been through this process myself, and it's even stated on their FAQ: > A $15 fee is charged to you once your lost item is returned.[0] [0] https://help.uber.com/riders/article/lost-item-return-fee-?n...

Does the driver get all of that fee? Or does Uber take a cut?

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

#189

Post by Barrin92 » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 12:40 AM UTC

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/…

To this day I don't even really understand the value that Uber et al are supposedly adding that justifies the size and evaluation of their companies.

At the end of the day they're a layer on top of a taxi business. Sure this is useful in some way but like Airbnb or weworks or all these other companies that just throw one layer of service over the actual business I don't understand why they are treated like high tech companies.

The most extreme example was possibly moviepass which was basically just a subsidy from investors to movie goers.

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

#190

Post by ashelmire » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 12:42 AM UTC

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?

It's been a theory of mine for some time that the current pattern of VC investment in unprofitable startups is part of a clever scheme to turn illegal money into legal money - even at a loss.