Uber, DoorDash and similar firms can’t defy the laws of capitalism after all

Post by froidpink » Wed, Nov 10, 2021, 6:33 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #54

nabla9 wrote: post #26

summary: Platform economy can create huge profits if you can lock in the markets. Create moat that keeps competition away. Uber, DoorDash have none of that. Uber's global brand recognition can help with tourists and business travelers who just want familiar, but they are small fraction of the market Uber needs to lock in to justify their market cap. Uber is not like Amazon with returns to scale.

Uber built their castle in Apple's and Google's kingdom. E.g. nothing is stopping Google from offering a competing service, right from within Google Maps, or Android.

Post by sva_ » Wed, Nov 10, 2021, 6:34 PM UTC

JulianMorrison wrote: post #13

If you are dumping to own the market as a monopoly, and so is your competitor, and both of you are buoyed up by seemingly limitless investor finance, then all that happens is that investors' money moves into the customers' pockets.

Post by mdoms » Wed, Nov 10, 2021, 6:35 PM UTC

moolcool wrote: post #8

This may be a hot take, but I think the gig economy is one thing which could be a pretty solid use of the blockchain. Uber/DoorDash/Lyft are all pretty simple CRUD apps at their core, and the companies themselves do very little actual work. Unfortunately, due to the Silicon Valley cult of growth, they are still either unprofitable or barely profitable while also taking a pretty massive cut away from actual workers on…

Post by mdoms » Wed, Nov 10, 2021, 6:36 PM UTC

moolcool wrote: post #22

alphabettsy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The companies exist because there’s a value in a middle-man handling things like vetting drivers, tax and regulatory compliance, and handling disputes like “my food is partially eaten”. You could use the blockchain in some ways, but I don’t see how the companies themselves could be easily replaced.

It would serve as a neutral platform on which clients could be built though. Like instead of a restaurant listing on the existing apps, they'd list their menus on the blockchain and third party clients could exist and race-for-the-bottom in terms of fees. It's like the difference between Twitter and Email

Post by gwright » Wed, Nov 10, 2021, 6:38 PM UTC

WitCanStain wrote: post #20

goodpoint wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capitalism should be defined by free markets, among other things. What we are seeing is an unprecedented combination of quasi-monopolies, rent-seeking, and an economy disconnected from real production of goods and services. It has been called neofeudalism.

But all that is the natural and inevitable consequence of capitalism. It's baked into the structure of the system.