Before Uber, the Taxi market was self-organizing. Like some ill-thought out communist central planning from the 1950s, Uber thought they could create top-down controlled market place. The rider part of their business will go to zero except for premium rides. Delivery services, where there is a premium people will pay, will remain.
Is the Ride over for Uber?
241–250 of 304 posts
Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
To make it worse, I have gate code to enter my complex - I have succinct, exact instructions including the gate code and how to navigate to my building. 90% of the time they never even read the instructions, call to ask for a gate code and then take 10 min to find my place.
I can see that happening pretty easy. Are they looking at their phone, reading instructions as they arrive? No, they're driving. They get to the gate, need a code, hit 'call'. I would do that. If I lived in a Chinese Puzzle Box I would have to get used to people wanting help to open it. Because they don't actually give a damn about the puzzle box. They just want to drive straight there.
In places like Atlanta, gated complexes are common enough that it makes sense to read the directions, maybe while at the restaurant grabbing the food. Even better, one of the 3000 developers could make the app prominently display the gate instructions when they approach.
Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?
#243Uber 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…
I always felt that the business was just a branding excercise to be leader of the pack when self driving taxis became a reality.
On May 5, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Uber announced plans to layoff 3,700 employees, around 14% of its workforce - Ahh I see what you mean, that is a lot of employees
Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?
#244Nope. They just need to hang on until self-driving tech gets legalised, even if that takes a decade. Then they'll have a ton of habituated riders and can cut the driver costs, keeping the difference, and lowering prices beyond which rivals can compete at.
They have the brand recognition, the first mover advantage and a sizeable market. Since they're developing self-driving tech themselves that'll also help lock out other companies for several years giving them a massive competitive advantage.
Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?
#245My least favorite thing about Uber is the cars with interiors that are absolutely coated with cleaners, conditioners, disinfectants, and perfumes.
As a driver with experience cleaning a car after someone threw up in it, I can sympathize with their plight, but I hate stinking like a urinal cake after spending $50-100 for a ride.
Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
A much smaller company that has never turned a profit, where the sharedholder's equity will soon become negative. They can't afford to lose money forever, and they've never demonstrated they can make money.
Well Lyft runs the bikeshare system here which I use a lot so hopefully they don't go out of business too soon... (I almost never use ride share...)
I quit the bike share because the prices are way too high now. It bothers me that Lyft is going to fail and take down dozens of bike share networks across the country.
Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?
#247I think the market is ripe for a real Uber Black. A super premium service that guarantees a cab no matter where you are within a minute. No cancellations. Your own personal on demand limousine. People are so tired of cancellations and not finding rides, I bet some will pay a premium just for the predictability that you can go anywhere whenever you desire.
Why would Uber not offer this if the business is there? They have the infrastructure and if the Uber branding is sullied, just add a new name with a diamond next to it.
I think the market of people willing to pay $40 for a $10 ride with first-class experience must be too small.
Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?
#248Uber is a scam. It is never intended to make a profit. EXCEPT for the guys in management, who are soaking the fool investors and non-businessmen drivers alike, while they laugh all the way to the bank. It's a business-model straight out of the dot.com bubble of the late 1990s. If the investors wised up, and the drivers wised up. Uber would evaporate away like the morning mist. And the Uber management guys might actua…
The dirty little secret is that drivers depreciated the value of their car more than the money they get for it. They are taking money out of the value of their car and calling it income. Uber knows this and doesn't mention it.
Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, they have very competent technical people, and, it's not a simple problem to solve. They reached too far, raised to much money, raise too much ire, sang too big a tune. If they had of stayed 'visionary but rational' they'd be doing just fine. And they will probably end up doing just fine in the long run, expectations have to settle down somewhere.
That may be, but they still seem to get continually outsmarted by drivers finding ways to rort the systems.
That's not an indication of technically incompetency. Everyone has hackers.
Re: Is the Ride over for Uber?
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
And it only takes a few times going through checkout to ask, wait, I got a $10 burger and $4 fries, how is my order $30? Nah, I ain't _that_ hungry for a luke-warm burger and soggy fries. Amazon won online retail, and changed online retail behavior, by getting rid of shipping fees. The price you see on the product is the price you pay (sans sales tax, but at least in the USA no one is used to seeing tax included).
> by getting rid of shipping fees. you actually mean "by hiding shipping fees in an annual subscription model carefully tuned to deal with real world customer ordering behavior". Non-Prime customers still see shipping fees for everything.
I'm a non-prime user and I only have to pay shipping on about 20% of orders.