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Is the Ride over for Uber?

smartcompany.com.au

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Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?

#41

Post by oldstrangers »

Barrin92 wrote: post #26

Uber would have been fine if they operated like a medium sized SAAS company as they're forced to for example in Spain, where they due to regulations sell their software to local companies. Smaller team, focus just on the ride hailing software, take a cut of the revenue and that would actually be a decent business that doesn't try to make money by either monopolizing markets or atomizing the taxi business and destroyi…

Modesty is an underappreciated aspect of running a successful company. The endless pursuit of growth is usually a byproduct of ego or at the behest of some intangible idea of "creating shareholder value."

Just fucking create a killer product and work on refining that product to the best of your abilities. If you get bored, start a new company. You don't have to grow every company into the next Apple.

Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?

#42

Post by [deleted] »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #20
aetherson wrote: post #9

The problem with Uber Eats is exactly the same as the problem with Uber's rideshare: there's no difficult-to-copy element of it. It's been clear for at least seven years that it's easy to spin up a food delivery service, just the same way it's easy to spin up a rideshare service. The basic technology is something a small team can conjure up out of nowhere in a few months, the two sided marketplace is heavily incented…

Food delivery also isn’t very practical in developed country markets without a huge increase in productivity vs labor costs. It’s just too expensive compared to a country like China where it is cheap enough to be ubiquitous. Automation could be disruptive here…someday in the form of food delivery land and/or air drones. It really is the same with ride share: it just isn’t economical considering how much human labor i…

[deleted]

Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?

#43

Post by thematrixturtle »

sanatgersappa wrote: post #31

Uber started out well as your "personal chauffeur" with premium cars and polite, professional drivers. Then they started chasing numbers and valuation, and it was all downhill from there.

You can still get the premium cars if you pay extra for it. But most people (including me) just opt for the cheapest option.

Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?

#44

Post by martinald »

Barrin92 wrote: post #26

Uber would have been fine if they operated like a medium sized SAAS company as they're forced to for example in Spain, where they due to regulations sell their software to local companies. Smaller team, focus just on the ride hailing software, take a cut of the revenue and that would actually be a decent business that doesn't try to make money by either monopolizing markets or atomizing the taxi business and destroyi…

And ironically I think that's where they may end up long term.

Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?

#45

Post by ackbar03 »

oldstrangers wrote: post #41
Barrin92 wrote: post #26

Uber would have been fine if they operated like a medium sized SAAS company as they're forced to for example in Spain, where they due to regulations sell their software to local companies. Smaller team, focus just on the ride hailing software, take a cut of the revenue and that would actually be a decent business that doesn't try to make money by either monopolizing markets or atomizing the taxi business and destroyi…

Modesty is an underappreciated aspect of running a successful company. The endless pursuit of growth is usually a byproduct of ego or at the behest of some intangible idea of "creating shareholder value." Just fucking create a killer product and work on refining that product to the best of your abilities. If you get bored, start a new company. You don't have to grow every company into the next Apple.

Yes but then the ceo can't walk off with a gazillion dollars

Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?

#46

Post by TimPC »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #20
aetherson wrote: post #9

The problem with Uber Eats is exactly the same as the problem with Uber's rideshare: there's no difficult-to-copy element of it. It's been clear for at least seven years that it's easy to spin up a food delivery service, just the same way it's easy to spin up a rideshare service. The basic technology is something a small team can conjure up out of nowhere in a few months, the two sided marketplace is heavily incented…

Food delivery also isn’t very practical in developed country markets without a huge increase in productivity vs labor costs. It’s just too expensive compared to a country like China where it is cheap enough to be ubiquitous. Automation could be disruptive here…someday in the form of food delivery land and/or air drones. It really is the same with ride share: it just isn’t economical considering how much human labor i…

It seems you’re right because all the major companies in the space are running at huge losses and not just due to an intentional choice to scale rapidly. But it also seems very surprising this is true.

Uber gets away with charging one side of the market 30% of food prices and charging the other side of the market a delivery fee, a service fee and a tip. This typically comes out to 50% of food costs if you use an average tip.

Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?

#47

Post by gruez »

martinald wrote: post #36
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Food delivery also isn’t very practical in developed country markets without a huge increase in productivity vs labor costs. It’s just too expensive compared to a country like China where it is cheap enough to be ubiquitous. Automation could be disruptive here…someday in the form of food delivery land and/or air drones. It really is the same with ride share: it just isn’t economical considering how much human labor i…

Food delivery is practical, mainstream and has been for 40+ years in the West. It works great "inhouse". They tend to know all their regular customers and area and know exactly how to get there, where to park, which bell to press etc. They will also know if there is bad traffic or an accident closing a major road and adjust wait times and order frequency accordingly. The person that runs the delivery joint can also w…

>They tend to know all their regular customers and area and know exactly how to get there

>They will also know if there is bad traffic or an accident closing a major road and adjust wait times and order frequency accordingly.

irrelevant in the age of GPS navigation with live traffic (ie. google maps)

>where to park, which bell to press etc.

while I don't doubt delivery drivers accrue such knowledge over time, I doubt that the turnover is low enough for this to actually make a difference. It's certainly not enough to make such a service unviable.

>The person that runs the delivery joint can also wait until he knows his/her driver will be making his way back, and only start cooking then, so the next order doesn't get cold waiting for a pickup.

This doesn't seem very hard to do. Restaurants can let the delivery platform know how long each dish to prepare, and the delivery platform can tell them ahead of time when to prepare the food (after factoring in driver availability and distance).

Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?

#48

Post by msbarnett »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #20
aetherson wrote: post #9

The problem with Uber Eats is exactly the same as the problem with Uber's rideshare: there's no difficult-to-copy element of it. It's been clear for at least seven years that it's easy to spin up a food delivery service, just the same way it's easy to spin up a rideshare service. The basic technology is something a small team can conjure up out of nowhere in a few months, the two sided marketplace is heavily incented…

Food delivery also isn’t very practical in developed country markets without a huge increase in productivity vs labor costs. It’s just too expensive compared to a country like China where it is cheap enough to be ubiquitous. Automation could be disruptive here…someday in the form of food delivery land and/or air drones. It really is the same with ride share: it just isn’t economical considering how much human labor i…

> Food delivery also isn’t very practical in developed country markets without a huge increase in productivity vs labor costs

What on earth are you talking about. Pizza and Chinese restaurants have been profitably delivering food for decades.

The UberEats model in particular may be unprofitable, but there are absolutely profitable models that have existed for far longer than I’ve been alive.

Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?

#49

Post by johnebgd »

voz_ wrote: post #25

Uber is an example of a company that wants to be a tech company, but (1) really shouldn't (2) kinda lacks the technical leadership to really be one. It feels like the right call, around 2017, was to either: (A) double down and build a platform for every kind of physical multisided marketplace (matching as a service, maps+routing+locations+geofences as a service, physical product ops as a service, etc) Where Amazon we…

Uber crushed themselves in food.

As a customer, I would get the wrong food about half the time in NYC even pre-pandemic. I complained and got a refund the first couple of times but then they stopped refunding me when it kept happening. Clearly thought I was fraudulently trying to get meals for free. Thing is, I’ve been a customer since the black car only days. Been Uber VIP for my high rating as a customer. Problem wasn’t with me. If they can’t get quality control done with their restaurants then they don’t deserve my money. I’d rather go direct. I’ve never had a problem go unresolved going direct. In fact, I’ll often use Uber to find a restaurant near me and then call them direct to order to avoid their lousy customer service.

Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?

#50

Post by cheriot »

martinald wrote: post #36
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Food delivery also isn’t very practical in developed country markets without a huge increase in productivity vs labor costs. It’s just too expensive compared to a country like China where it is cheap enough to be ubiquitous. Automation could be disruptive here…someday in the form of food delivery land and/or air drones. It really is the same with ride share: it just isn’t economical considering how much human labor i…

Food delivery is practical, mainstream and has been for 40+ years in the West. It works great "inhouse". They tend to know all their regular customers and area and know exactly how to get there, where to park, which bell to press etc. They will also know if there is bad traffic or an accident closing a major road and adjust wait times and order frequency accordingly. The person that runs the delivery joint can also w…

> Food delivery... works great "inhouse".

but

> Plus they also want to take 30-50% commission for the privilege.

If food delivery works great in house then why do restaurants pay Uber so much? I'd wager employing drivers is impractical for a lot of restaurants.

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