We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption • Hacker News Board

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#61

Post by hughrr » Sun, Mar 13, 2022, 10:12 AM UTC

whitepaint wrote: post #47

hughrr wrote: post #10

It’s also killing customer confidence by providing the shittiest low ball unreliable service possible.

There is a button, you click on it, a few minutes later someone comes to pick you up. Like seriously, what the hell are you talking about?

Mostly the demand pricing model which is up to 5x the cost of other local services, the absolutely abhorrent non-existent customer service, the 25% of the time when you order an Uber and it gets cancelled, the transaction processing problems which seem to go in waves of plague and the buggy as hell app.

And don't even get me started on Uber Eats which universally delivers cold, damaged food which is twice the price of going in the store and their customer support is so bad that it's nearly impossible to get a refund from them now even though it was 2 hours late and looked like it'd been delivered in a washing machine on a spin cycle.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#62

Post by simonbarker87 » Sun, Mar 13, 2022, 10:12 AM UTC

mftb wrote: post #50

simonbarker87 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but like I said - solving a problem in the US and then rolling it out across the globe just “because” doesn’t mean the rest of the world needed it, just mean you had enough money to outcompete even if your service is worse.

It would seem that many other folks in this thread disagree that Uber's service in the area you referenced is worse. I've never been to the UK, so I can't offer an opinion.

Yeh either I got lucky here in the UK or they have been unlucky.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#63

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Mar 13, 2022, 10:12 AM UTC

DantesKite wrote: post #53

simonbarker87 wrote: post #15

Fully agree with this. It seems like so many of the apps that come to dominate just make up for shortcomings unique to the US that then, with money, take over the rest of the west for no good reason other than scale to get 25 people at the top of those companies rich. I’ve never seen the need for Uber. Taxis have never been an issue in the UK and the most successful firms in the city I lived when Uber was starting ou…

Quoted post unavailable.

[deleted]

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#64

Post by hughrr » Sun, Mar 13, 2022, 10:13 AM UTC

sokoloff wrote: post #38

hughrr wrote: post #10

It’s also killing customer confidence by providing the shittiest low ball unreliable service possible.

Uber did many things, but “provide shittier or less reliable service than circa-2000 taxis” isn’t among them.

I regularly use non Uber taxis and have found them to actually be reliable.

I'm in London and I'm not talking about black cabs for ref.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#65

Post by antb123 » Sun, Mar 13, 2022, 10:13 AM UTC

bfung wrote: post #43

simonbarker87 wrote: post #15

Fully agree with this. It seems like so many of the apps that come to dominate just make up for shortcomings unique to the US that then, with money, take over the rest of the west for no good reason other than scale to get 25 people at the top of those companies rich. I’ve never seen the need for Uber. Taxis have never been an issue in the UK and the most successful firms in the city I lived when Uber was starting ou…

While I don't disagree with the article, I don't fully agree with it either. The article cites a study on (USA) GDP as a metric measuring of productivity, however, GDP is a poor proxy measure of "things being produced". USA GDP includes financial services and consumer spending, so using debt to pay for things vs. producing more, can still boost GDP. In the United States, pre-Uber around 2010, it was very hard to find…

++ taxi companies were corrupt due to the taxi medallion system.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#66

Post by HPsquared » Sun, Mar 13, 2022, 10:13 AM UTC

waynecochran wrote: post #34

Jabbles wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely disagree - taxis in the UK used to be awful, none of them had apps before Uber. Black cabs in London were generally good due to the high entry requirements but you could only get them by flagging them down somewhere fairly central. Uber introduced competition which has massively improved all other taxi services. These days there's nothing special about Uber except its ubiquity so I don't care if it fails n…

But Uber is horribly in the red financially. They disrupted a poorly ran industry, but didn’t produce anything that truly raised the economy… that’s the point.

They produced a ton of taxi rides, surely that's worth something?

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#67

Post by simonbarker87 » Sun, Mar 13, 2022, 10:13 AM UTC

whitepaint wrote: post #57

simonbarker87 wrote: post #15

Fully agree with this. It seems like so many of the apps that come to dominate just make up for shortcomings unique to the US that then, with money, take over the rest of the west for no good reason other than scale to get 25 people at the top of those companies rich. I’ve never seen the need for Uber. Taxis have never been an issue in the UK and the most successful firms in the city I lived when Uber was starting ou…

You click a button, someone comes to pick you up in a few minutes. You know exactly how much you are gonna pay. Even if you are just a tourist. Uber (and other applications like it) is so much more superior to taxis that you cannot even compare them (unless you want to frivolously whine). They brought insane amount of innovation and I am so thankful for that.

I already had access to this exact experience with a taxi firm in Newcastle where I used to live pre Uber - so yeh, I don’t see what benefit Uber brought. Also, the firm that had that app had clean cars, with driver in clean clothes and they knew the roads well.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#68

Post by Crazyontap » Sun, Mar 13, 2022, 10:15 AM UTC

Jabbles wrote: post #22

simonbarker87 wrote: post #15

Fully agree with this. It seems like so many of the apps that come to dominate just make up for shortcomings unique to the US that then, with money, take over the rest of the west for no good reason other than scale to get 25 people at the top of those companies rich. I’ve never seen the need for Uber. Taxis have never been an issue in the UK and the most successful firms in the city I lived when Uber was starting ou…

Absolutely disagree - taxis in the UK used to be awful, none of them had apps before Uber. Black cabs in London were generally good due to the high entry requirements but you could only get them by flagging them down somewhere fairly central. Uber introduced competition which has massively improved all other taxi services. These days there's nothing special about Uber except its ubiquity so I don't care if it fails n…

You're absolutely right. I don't know what OP is going on about but no there were 0 taxis with apps at least in Birmingham.

I just checked with my friends too and not one person remembers using an app to call a cab before uber. It is possible that some company possibly offered it but it certainly wasn't a popular option before Uber and it was just awful using the taxis here.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#69

Post by whitepaint » Sun, Mar 13, 2022, 10:18 AM UTC

simonbarker87 wrote: post #67

whitepaint wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You click a button, someone comes to pick you up in a few minutes. You know exactly how much you are gonna pay. Even if you are just a tourist. Uber (and other applications like it) is so much more superior to taxis that you cannot even compare them (unless you want to frivolously whine). They brought insane amount of innovation and I am so thankful for that.

I already had access to this exact experience with a taxi firm in Newcastle where I used to live pre Uber - so yeh, I don’t see what benefit Uber brought. Also, the firm that had that app had clean cars, with driver in clean clothes and they knew the roads well.

Oh, you had exact experience with one taxi firm in Newcastle. Superb. I had this exact same experience with Uber in different countries and different cities. "I’ve never seen the need for Uber.". Well, you are one of very few, pal. I can tell you that for sure.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#70

Post by HPsquared » Sun, Mar 13, 2022, 10:18 AM UTC

IMSAI8080 wrote: post #8

I heard the problem expressed as a good ideas shortage versus too much investment capital. Interest rates have been incredibly low since the 2008 banking crash, so where does the spare capital go? There's not enough innovative ideas around (that investors like) to absorb the money. So some of the cash is getting thrown at complete nonsense and the remaining good ideas are receiving excessive capital. So there's a lot…

It sounds more like a banking problem than an innovation problem.