> “We are focused on improving profitability in this market.”
Seems like some kind of collusive price signalling announcement to Lyft. Eg, “we’re going to up our prices, here’s your chance to do the same”.
Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
71–80 of 321 posts
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#72Pretty crazy with Juul, WeWork, DoorDash, and Uber / Lyft all struggling (or showing their true colors) that all the things they sought to kill are coming back. Taxis, cigarettes, picking up your own food! It's amazing to me that people were having food delivered from a half mile away.
With the food delivery and meal kits and stuff, they were just selling that stuff for less than it costs. I provided thousands of dollars of revenue for Blue Apron style meal kits and food delivery. As soon as they charged market rate for them, I stopped.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm assuming the population of dupes will eventually be depleted.
I doubt that the pool of people who are willing to trade their time and vehicle's value for a paycheck today is going to shrink any time soon.
There has been a severe drop in the quality of Uber drivers and vehicles since a few years ago, I can only surmise that they have had to relax their standards hence indicating a lack of sufficient supply.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#74> ...the company’s upcoming pricing algorithms, which they hinted might be able to more precisely predict what riders might be willing to pay for a ride. I hate the whole idea of this. If they track you around, maybe realize you order from fancy places on uber eats, then they will raise prices on something that costs them the same. There's something that strikes me as especially awful about automating the "how much i…
Knowing the max someone was willing to pay could help an actor set their prices optimally where there is no competition. Where there is competition, setting price to the max someone is willing to pay could drop overall profits since a competitor would happily undercut. So it does not change the rules of the game. Companies already price by predicting what people are willing to pay, by theory and experimentation. I wo…
With only two competitors here, there'll be plenty of producer surplus I'm sure.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would I care how they divided their money between the platform, the driver, and the company holiday party at HQ? I don't need nor even want to know how much Dunkin Donuts pays to make a donut or Exxon to buy, refine, and truck a gallon of gasoline to me.
Dunkin Donuts and Exxon provide all of the land, buildings, vehicles and materials their employees use to conduct business and turn a profit. Uber and Lyft not so much
More than half of Exxon's trucking is not company owned. All their filling stations are not company owned at this point (I believe that's accurate). The overwhelming majority of Dunkin locations are franchised as well. I don't care how they split the money up; I only care whether what they offer is worth the price they're asking to me.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
From an efficient market standpoint, a good balancing measure would be if consumers knew exactly what it cost Uber/Lyft to provide the service. That way even if they charge you more for being rich, you can make an informed decision whether or not you want them profiting as much as they are from you. A competitor might even find an advantage by providing that information. For example, if a car service told you exactly…
Why would I care how they divided their money between the platform, the driver, and the company holiday party at HQ? I don't need nor even want to know how much Dunkin Donuts pays to make a donut or Exxon to buy, refine, and truck a gallon of gasoline to me.
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Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#77> ...the company’s upcoming pricing algorithms, which they hinted might be able to more precisely predict what riders might be willing to pay for a ride. I hate the whole idea of this. If they track you around, maybe realize you order from fancy places on uber eats, then they will raise prices on something that costs them the same. There's something that strikes me as especially awful about automating the "how much i…
Discriminatory pricing feels nasty when you're get the short end of the stick but any pricing scheme will have bias. Having a high wage earner pay the same fare for a service as a low wage earner gives a much better deal to the wealthier person. (In Finland traffic tickets are calculated as a percentage of your income) In many countries you will pay a surcharge if merchants think that you are wealthier since it impli…
Finland traffic tickets sounds like a horrible idea.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#78> ...the company’s upcoming pricing algorithms, which they hinted might be able to more precisely predict what riders might be willing to pay for a ride. I hate the whole idea of this. If they track you around, maybe realize you order from fancy places on uber eats, then they will raise prices on something that costs them the same. There's something that strikes me as especially awful about automating the "how much i…
Isn’t price discrimination embedded in nearly every transaction we engage in, though? What is the difference between price discrimination between classes of individuals (to your point, business vs leisure travellers), and individuals themselves? Nearly every pricing guide on this site recommends offering an ‘invoiced’ pricing plan for enterprises for substantially more than the same service on credit card billing. Pr…
No, go to amazon.com and look for your favorite product, now tell me if 10 people from different income level see that, will the price be diffferent?
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#79> ...the company’s upcoming pricing algorithms, which they hinted might be able to more precisely predict what riders might be willing to pay for a ride. I hate the whole idea of this. If they track you around, maybe realize you order from fancy places on uber eats, then they will raise prices on something that costs them the same. There's something that strikes me as especially awful about automating the "how much i…
Couldn’t this technically qualify as discrimination? I vaguely remember reading about how one of the big dating apps increased prices with a user’s age, but had to revert the policy because it amounted to age discrimination. I would hope income qualifies for the same protection, but maybe not.
It is price discrimination but very hard to prove as one person doesn't know what another person is paying. The algorithm is proprietary.
Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over
#80> ...the company’s upcoming pricing algorithms, which they hinted might be able to more precisely predict what riders might be willing to pay for a ride. I hate the whole idea of this. If they track you around, maybe realize you order from fancy places on uber eats, then they will raise prices on something that costs them the same. There's something that strikes me as especially awful about automating the "how much i…
The worst part about price discrimination is that if there are a limited number of players in the market, it feels like, and maybe effectively is, price fixing.
Now, it may not play out as direct collusion, but if only one company engages in it, they won’t be competitive for their wealthier customers, so it doesn’t make much sense. But if both participants in a duopoly do it, you have no options. It wouldn’t be possible to enact price discrimination for something with lots of competition