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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

#121

Post by altmind »

paxys wrote: post #85

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…

From what I've heard, this industry works reliably in Eastern Europe and Asia.

Uber, or any company of this sort is not magical lifestyle company, its merely an app for a driver and a rider. This is easily replicated.

Uber became a poster child only because the barrier to enter is so high in so many western economies. There is a ton of smaller competition elsewhere.

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

#122

Post by rdiddly »

alecbenzer wrote: post #46
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 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"?

Neither is better, they're just different sides of an adversarial relationship. I think maybe the problem (and I don't know if this articulates the point well or not) is making the relationship or transaction adversarial in the first place. Adversaries are assholes to each other, hurting each other to help themselves. Generally that is thought of as bad, and you know, fuck those people.

As a thought experiment, what if we make the cab driver example be about time instead of money. Pretend it benefits cab drivers somehow to make rides take as long as possible. (I say pretend, because in most cases in the real world they would be wasting their own time as well.) So let's say you have to be somewhere at a certain time, but earlier is better. But the driver knows exactly what time you have to be there, and makes the trip take exactly that long, even though he could've gotten you there faster. You can see he's doing subpar work, doing worse for you on purpose to benefit himself.

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

#123

Post by [deleted] »

input_sh wrote: post #86
suyash wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

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

#124

Post by lerouxmlr »

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…

yeah, agree fully with this. seems like a grey legit way of squeezing people for more money based on their normal day run indulgences.

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

#125

Post by ldoughty »

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…

Except corporations have already agreed to not seriously undercut each other... Geographic monopoly, understood collaborative price hikes... Forced plan changes post-capture that eliminate the most common plan and squeeze out an extra $5 per customer....

Simply having another player in the field is not competition, despite the federal government's claims.

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

#126

Post by uberduber »

ghaff wrote: post #68
sokoloff wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber/Lyft offer an option for someone who is already carrying the fixed costs of owning a depreciating vehicle to come into the market part-time and do some driving for income. They also don't have to commit to set hours. These should have the effect of increasing the supply of drivers (not to the full extent of all ride-share drivers, of course). They also don't have to front the capital cost of a medallion. Ride sh…

>already carrying the fixed costs of owning a depreciating vehicle Except depreciation and other costs are pretty heavily a function of miles rather than time. (Especially outside of the snow belt where the number of winters plays a big role in salt damage.) >They also don't have to front the capital cost of a medallion. That's true but how many places is that a big factor? We can argue the details and you're right t…

There's a huge number of people who use Uber as a payday loan who are completely unaware of finance. They just need cash NOW.

The most ridiculous one I saw was a drive with a cracked iPhone 7 Plus three days after release. In my half hour ride I saw 4 overdraft notifications and 2 please pay your bill notifications. We talked about waiting in line to get the phone and how she regretted not paying $50 for the case. She was also interested in buying a lot of stuff.

Many of them will do something stupid like trade-in their car impulsively, or total it backing into a pole where mileage doesn't really matter.

A lot of them will use the Uber gas card to get gas and then drive for Lyft to get the cash. Then next month when they need money they forgot they owe Uber and now have to drive to pay off the gas debt to Uber before they can earn anything.

I've only met three people who were willing to admit using it as a payday loan, they were all grad students. Two had financial aid delays, one blew too much money on his girlfriend.

I've also met quite a few older people (usually men) with high incomes that were laid off and need quick cash. These are often singles living paycheck to paycheck on $200k in LA and they can never figure out what to cut.

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

#127

Post by seriesf »

alkonaut wrote: post #104
seriesf wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t see how the Uber model can ever approach the price of a taxi. Traditional taxis had purpose-built vehicles, shared garages, parts bought at wholesale, and cars on duty all day every day. Uber drivers have disposable Toyotas, pay individually retail prices for insurance, maintenance, and parts, and their vehicles are usually parked. The traditional model has the advantage on cost.

The special vehicles thing is very rare. London is the only place I have ever seen it (though admittedly I have yet not been everywhere). Everywhere else, taxis are just regular cars with a meter and a taxi sticker on them.

The Crown Victoria was essentially purpose built for taxi duty, even though it was also marketed to the public.

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

#130

Post by dsfyu404ed »

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.

All the people replying to you seem to be under the assumption that speed limits generally reflect the speeds most people find reasonable to drive in clear conditions. This is a very naive assumption to put it mildly.

That said, as someone who drives vehicles that don't exactly project an image of wealth I'd be perfectly happy with a scaled fine system since rather than getting singled out a fishing stop as a result of going 5-over in a shit car I would be more likely to be ignored in favor of someone who appears more likely to pay a larger fine.

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