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

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

#251

Post by paulddraper » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 2:41 AM UTC

majani wrote: post #220

TylerE wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Uber forbids price comparison in their TOS and actively threaten to shut down price comparison sites that use their API: https://www.wired.com/story/uber-and-lyfts-never-ending-ques... I guess the plan for Uber was always to use low prices to win the market and jack them back up later. Price comparison would interfere with this plan.

Did they make a buddy deal for Google Maps then?

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

#252

Post by sjg007 » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 2:43 AM UTC

prostoalex wrote: post #175

ProAm wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly think they will eventually license and lease their platform and technology to others and just rake in money (every cab company would pay for this type of access to customers, Uber Eats is an indication other delivery services could likely license it too for a reasonable price). That is where their true value is at. Being acquired is still a long ways off when they still have this insanely high imaginary va…

FlyWheel https://www.flywheel.com/about has been around for a bit but is far from massive. Even if a taxi company would pay for lead gen, how many Uber customers would stick around when introduced to statutory taxi prices?

I would, if it saves me the bullshit excuses that the credit card machine is broken or I don't have change.

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

#253

Post by ahakki » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 2:46 AM UTC

elhudy wrote: post #32

femto113 wrote: post #10

Uber's been buying revenue at the cost of margin in at least two ways by shifting rides to Pool (where they can declare the entire ride's cost as revenue, not just their cut), and ramping up Uber Eats (where they take a percentage of the total cost of the food and may actually lose money on the ride). Neither strategy can continue indefinitely.

Uber's new "cheap" pool option forces you to walk up to 5 blocks (!!) and is the same price that it used to be. Lyft's pool option doesn't make you walk and the prices have remained unchanged. Uber lost all of my (bi-daily) business when they moved to the pool express business model.

> Uber's new "cheap" pool option forces you to walk up to 5 blocks (!!)

Uber is disrupting the bus service.

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

#254

Post by 121789 » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 2:49 AM UTC

HenryBemis wrote: post #150

121789 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had a slightly different experience. My Lyft drivers have definitely been happier and nicer, but most of them say that there is no real difference between the two services from a driver's point of view. I'm not sure how that could be the case.

Sexual harassment cases were on the HQ, not the drivers. Also, most drivers drive for multiple companies. All they need is 'one more app' on their phones, and they're off to go. Since Lyft/Uber/everyone is monitoring their competitors' s prices, they make sure they adapt pricing to make themselves antagonistic. Thus the drivers won't care which app is running, since they will be making (more or less) the same $$$$$.…

I wasn't really questioning how the drivers can easily work for multiple companies. That is pretty clear. My question is really around how I can generally have nicer Lyft drivers, with drivers having no preference on what service they drive for. Why wouldn't I have similar driver experiences on each app?

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

#255

Post by why_only_15 » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 2:50 AM UTC

itronitron wrote: post #241

HenryBemis wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sexual harassment cases were on the HQ, not the drivers. Also, most drivers drive for multiple companies. All they need is 'one more app' on their phones, and they're off to go. Since Lyft/Uber/everyone is monitoring their competitors' s prices, they make sure they adapt pricing to make themselves antagonistic. Thus the drivers won't care which app is running, since they will be making (more or less) the same $$$$$.…

doesn't that negatively impact drivers by forcing prices down?

I feel like it would force prices down but it would also force Uber/Lyft to reduce their take, because presumably drivers don't care whether the ride was $10 or $11 if they get $7 either way.

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

#256

Post by sjg007 » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 2:50 AM UTC

Balgair wrote: post #169

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.

Dude probably lives in NYC.

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

#257

Post by dabockster » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 2:52 AM UTC

shubhamjain wrote: post #212

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…

At this point, I would have zero doubts about betting against Uber. The fact that company with ginormous loss continues to pursue loss-making ventures is beyond me. Food delivery was already an established market in India, and UberEats had no competitive value compared market leaders when it came--except, of course, zero delivery fees. The market itself is extremely challenging and not even the biggest companies have…

Honestly, I've been seeing so many ads advertising referral bonuses for new Uber drivers lately that I'm surprised no one is calling them a pyramid scheme.

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

#258

Post by sjg007 » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 2:52 AM UTC

nemo44x wrote: post #244

chrisseaton wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm just pointing out how ridiculous Uber is by trying to charge me significantly more than a yellow cab They charge more... for a better service. It's not some kind of con or scheme or a rip-off.

They charge 2 different prices at the same time for the same ride to 2 different people. And they aren’t clear about this. I didn’t say it’s a con and sometimes they charge less. But it’s certainly a practice that makes me skeptical and check out other services.

I am pretty sure that Amazon.com and Sears.com do this too.

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

#259

Post by abrookewood » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 3:00 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/…

No moat? Of course it has a moat! So far Lyft has raised $1.5 BILLION dollars in order to compete [1]. Capital requirements are absolutely a barrier to entry and protect their position.

[1] http://fortune.com/2017/12/05/lyft-gets-1-5-billion-funding-...

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

#260

Post by dreamcompiler » Thu, Nov 15, 2018, 3:08 AM UTC

abrookewood wrote: post #259

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/…

No moat? Of course it has a moat! So far Lyft has raised $1.5 BILLION dollars in order to compete [1]. Capital requirements are absolutely a barrier to entry and protect their position. [1] http://fortune.com/2017/12/05/lyft-gets-1-5-billion-funding-...

Why do these ride companies need so much capital? They don't buy cars; the drivers aren't employees. They're a mobile app with a big backend. So why do they need more capital than, say, a game company?