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Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over

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Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over

#81

Post by 4lejandrito »

suyash wrote: post #77
blululu wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sounds good to me. The rich is as afraid of getting a fine as the poor one. Otherwise rich people just wouldn't care.

It is true that a score based system with no money involved would be equally useful but I guess people fear more about their money.

Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over

#82

Post by stereolambda »

tmerr wrote: post #69
6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #31

> ...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…

But does that guarantee that the prices won't increase proportionally to your income? Companies are incentivized to make you buy stuff, not to make you motivated to make money.

Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over

#83

Post by ghaff »

6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #57
alecbenzer wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I share the intuition that price discrimination feels wrong, but I have trouble really articulating why. Why is "the seller would have given it to me for less" any better than "the buyer would have given me more for it"?

I think it is similar to the frustration you'd experience if you told a taxi driver you're running late and they responded "okay, then it costs triple." It's an asshole move. Or if you told the bartender that you're celebrating getting a raise and they responded "okay, then your beer costs two bucks more." Or if there's a medicine that usually just reduces heartburn and costs $20, but you need it to survive, so they…

>I'd say it's super dickish

I think that pretty much articulates how people view jacked up prices, especially (but not exclusively) in situations where people are in a tough situation through no fault of there own.

Thus, the garage owner who is known for fleecing out-of-towners who have a breakdown is far more likely to get a local reputation as sort of an asshole rather than a shrewd small businessman.

It does apply in other contexts though. for example, tickets to highly sought after concerts and sporting events are probably not as expensive as they could be. (And one result is profits flow to ticket agencies.) Look how hard it was to get tickets to Hamilton for ages. (Probably still is.) The thinking is that, if you're seen as price gouging because you can, that can work for a while but isn't a great look for a long-term relationship, to say, a band.

Can you get away with it when transactions are very occasional? Sure. But things have a way of coming back to bite you.

Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over

#84

Post by nannal »

suyash wrote: post #77
blululu wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Why?

If I'm a poor speeding Fin, then a non-scaled speeding ticket could cost me a good number of days food. If I'm a rich speeding Fin then a non-scaled ticket is just the cost to travel quickly.

When you're wealthy enough fines don't matter there's no point in the police enforcing them aside from as an additional income stream.

Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over

#85

Post by paxys »

Honestly, it's probably for the best. Over the last decade it has become the expectation that - at the tap of a button - a taxi will appear and take you across the city (or three blocks over) for a few bucks. People need to realize that this isn't reality. The entire industry has been subsidized by VCs and desperate drivers working below minimum wage since day 1.

If, after paying drivers fairly, complying with local laws, reaching profitability etc., we find that prices are where most people can still afford to take Ubers everyday - great! If not, well, that's how things have been for ~150 years. Keep urging your city to invest in public transit and bike lanes.

Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over

#86

Post by input_sh »

suyash wrote: post #77
blululu wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes, because it's really fair for both a billionaire and someone living on 40k a year to pay the same price (let's say 2k) for a speeding ticket. Both of those people will be impacted accordingly I'm sure.

Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over

#87

Post by spats1990 »

suyash wrote: post #77
blululu wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Could you expand on why you think so?

1. I'm driving at 110 kph when the limit is 100. I pay $80, but I got paid $16000 after tax this month.

2. I'm driving at 110 kph when the limit is 100. I pay $80, but I got paid $4000 after tax this month.

Fair?

Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over

#88

Post by trimbo »

6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #31

> ...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…

I mean, do you own a nice house or car?

If you do, you've already experienced this sizing-up. A contractor comes to the house and sees you can afford 2x what they'd normally charge. A mechanic for your Lexus charges N times as much as the same mechanic would for your Toyota, even though they're the same parts and manufacturer.

Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over

#89

Post by Barrin92 »

admn2 wrote: post #19

Pretty 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.

>Pretty crazy with Juul, WeWork, DoorDash, and Uber / Lyft all struggling

Given that the entire value-added of a company like Uber is getting a taxi to you slightly faster it's not surprising at all. Uber didn't make cars cheaper, drivers faster or added productivity in any other way plus they have a gigantic and expensive tech overhead, so it was never at all clear to me how they're supposed to be both competitive and more profitable than a regular bunch of taxi companies.

It's just like movie pass. As long as you have investors throwing money at you you can pretend that you're actually doing something but selling people a dollar for 75 cents isn't a business.

Re: Uber and Lyft Suggest the Days of Cheap Rides Could Be Over

#90

Post by [deleted] »

sokoloff wrote: post #61
imustbeevil wrote: post #47

Earlier 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.

[deleted]
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