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Uber Q3 Results

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Re: Uber Q3 Results

#51

Post by gok »

ganitarashid wrote: post #17

Having new “one-time” charges every quarter means those are not one-time charges. They’re part of the business, which means the business doesn’t work. One of Ubers biggest problems is that they have zero brand loyalty. For a company that sells a utility (get me, or my food, from A to B) rather than an experience (like a cool vacation in a unique mansion), I will always pick the cheapest option. Whether that’s Uber or…

Which one-time charges are we talking about? Neither the linked results nor the supplemental call any out.

Re: Uber Q3 Results

#52

Post by trimbo »

ganitarashid wrote: post #17

Having new “one-time” charges every quarter means those are not one-time charges. They’re part of the business, which means the business doesn’t work. One of Ubers biggest problems is that they have zero brand loyalty. For a company that sells a utility (get me, or my food, from A to B) rather than an experience (like a cool vacation in a unique mansion), I will always pick the cheapest option. Whether that’s Uber or…

> That means this whole business is a race to the bottom.

Seems like that's why they started limiting hackney carriages and regulating rates in London in 1662.

Also the horse had to be less than 14 hands high!

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/statutes-realm/vol5/pp351-...

Re: Uber Q3 Results

#53

Post by kn0where »

rauchp wrote: post #46
glofish wrote: post #44

Basically they lost 10% of their gross bookings. Does this mean that raising the price by 10% has them breaking even? Maybe. It does show the immense potential though, their bookings are so large that 10 percent change would net them billions more. They are booking 1 billion dollars worth of rides every week.

> their bookings are so large that 10 percent change would net them billions more. Kind of a hot take, but this is why I'm long Uber. They're processing an insane amount of orders, and getting a huge amount of people using their app. If Lyft dies, or if a merger occurs, then we have a large ride share company that is still a lot more than 10% better than taxis. Most customers will still be taking Ubers, regardless of…

No way a Lyft merger could be approved in any kind of sane society. It would turn a duopoly into a monopoly.

Re: Uber Q3 Results

#54

Post by kn0where »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #16
sremani wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not smart , but before the phoenix accident that statement may have some basis but after that the uber autonomous car is tainted to an extent couple that with theft of intellectual property from Alphabet autonomous trucking and the subsequent deal made, it is hard to argue Uber is going to lead the autonomous revolution when it happens. Their current moat is their driver network (one of the moats), once that is…

Waymo/Alphabet/Tesla are one push notification to their apps away from building a driver network.

I've seen Waymo's cars driving around plenty of times in Arizona. The ones without a human safety driver are so rare I haven't seen one in person yet. If they were actually confident they were close to FSD they would have more cars without human safety drivers.

Re: Uber Q3 Results

#55

Post by angstrom »

ENOTTY wrote: post #31
ganitarashid wrote: post #17

Having new “one-time” charges every quarter means those are not one-time charges. They’re part of the business, which means the business doesn’t work. One of Ubers biggest problems is that they have zero brand loyalty. For a company that sells a utility (get me, or my food, from A to B) rather than an experience (like a cool vacation in a unique mansion), I will always pick the cheapest option. Whether that’s Uber or…

They do have a loyalty program now, which is designed to drive brand loyalty. Whether it actually works is up to the market.

I'm in the NYC market. I use Lyft to get around and Uber Eats to order things that could never have a business model delivering to me. To me market capture is just as bad as the original Taxi model, but even Taxis have gotten around to handling this problem. You can switch to the app in the middle of a ride and pay with the code on the back seat tv screen. The convenience factor is only there for food until another competitor enters that arena.

It's a race to the bottom and I suspect after all the hard work is said and done Uber will be the Yahoo of ride share. Tesla may very well swoop in and say "Thanks for blazing the trail"

Re: Uber Q3 Results

#56

Post by rauchp »

kn0where wrote: post #53
rauchp wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> their bookings are so large that 10 percent change would net them billions more. Kind of a hot take, but this is why I'm long Uber. They're processing an insane amount of orders, and getting a huge amount of people using their app. If Lyft dies, or if a merger occurs, then we have a large ride share company that is still a lot more than 10% better than taxis. Most customers will still be taking Ubers, regardless of…

No way a Lyft merger could be approved in any kind of sane society. It would turn a duopoly into a monopoly.

If both companies are approaching bankruptcy trying to outlast the other, wouldn't the lesser evil be a world with a ride-share monopoly rather than a world without (large scale) ridesharing?

With the amount of people that use these rideshare companies as their primary job or to make their daily commute, it seems hard to imagine going back to the pre-Uber/Lyft days. Not that the government or any regulatory body would see it this way. I just think consumers are better off with a monopoly here. Plus, whatever rideshare service that survives will still have to compete with local taxi companies.

Re: Uber Q3 Results

#57

Post by trimbo »

heyflyguy wrote: post #11

I'd love to hear some smart people opinions on this idea: "Uber doesn't need to be profitable, they just need to survive until their autonomous cars are deployed"

Who's going to give them more captial to build autonomous cars?

Re: Uber Q3 Results

#58

Post by dclusin »

ganitarashid wrote: post #17

Having new “one-time” charges every quarter means those are not one-time charges. They’re part of the business, which means the business doesn’t work. One of Ubers biggest problems is that they have zero brand loyalty. For a company that sells a utility (get me, or my food, from A to B) rather than an experience (like a cool vacation in a unique mansion), I will always pick the cheapest option. Whether that’s Uber or…

I use Uber and don't have any inclination to switch because the price difference is negligible. I also Uber to the airport maybe 1-2 times a year. So it's rarely used and there's little benefit to switching. Why change?

Re: Uber Q3 Results

#59

Post by henrikschroder »

ganitarashid wrote: post #17

Having new “one-time” charges every quarter means those are not one-time charges. They’re part of the business, which means the business doesn’t work. One of Ubers biggest problems is that they have zero brand loyalty. For a company that sells a utility (get me, or my food, from A to B) rather than an experience (like a cool vacation in a unique mansion), I will always pick the cheapest option. Whether that’s Uber or…

> Uber has only made finding the ride more efficient but it has not made the actual ride itself more efficient.

Back when Uber was new and everyone in SF was exclaiming how awesome it was and disruptive, one of the major taxi companies in Stockholm launched a new version of their app that basically had a big button going "I want a taxi to my location now", and you pressed it, and you got a "Hey, your taxi will arrive in X minutes".

And that's like the entire value of Uber right there, replicated cheaply by local competition.

Re: Uber Q3 Results

#60

Post by X6S1x6Okd1st »

heyflyguy wrote: post #11

I'd love to hear some smart people opinions on this idea: "Uber doesn't need to be profitable, they just need to survive until their autonomous cars are deployed"

They'd need the following to really make it with autonomous cars:

1) Own the technology, not lease it

2) Have the capital to build out a fleet

3) Have the technology before others for long enough to build a moat.

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