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Uber's Still Not Profitable

pluralistic.net

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Re: Uber's Still Not Profitable

#31

Post by rafale »

ReadTheLicense wrote: post #26
bschne wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This only occurred to me now in reference to Uber and other serial offenders, and I don't know what the situation in other countries is, but... In Switzerland there's actually a law against unfair competitive practices, and it has a clause prohibiting you from constantly or repeatedly (i.e. not as a one-off clearance sale or whatever) offering goods or services below cost! Wonder how it would go if you were to sue on…

Uber operates in "strict" (as in 'technically correct') adherence to local policy. That means, in places where the policy is strict, like for example Italy (Milan), they have only licensed taxi drivers with licensed taxi cars. And where law allows (even with a loophole) they have less. Uber is structured so that each country has one business entity, thus it's very easy for them to say "our Swiss entity does not do an…

This sounds like a great way to quantify policy/law impact on businesses, by comparing their financial performance.

Re: Uber's Still Not Profitable

#32

Post by seanhandley »

sneak wrote: post #17
rciorba wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And even before apps became common-place, in Europe it was common to call a dispatch and ask for a cab at an address.

Uber was founded because the same was true in SF; however then oftentimes the cab only arrived after an hour, if at all.

I live in rural UK. We have several local taxi companies that reliably turn up within minutes. It's been that way for decades.

The only really interesting value add to Uber was app-centric interactions (as opposed to a phone call), giving the ability to pay by card (instead of cash), and to track the taxi in the app.

Many local taxi firms are using apps too, so those advantages are gone. If this plays out the same in all geographies then Uber has already lost the taxi game.

Re: Uber's Still Not Profitable

#33

Post by epolanski »

As someone who has used Uber quite a bit across Europe I cannot understand how they are not profitable. They take what 10/20% of the ride and they do millions of rides every day. I myself have spent few thousands in their service alone.

How can they not be profitable after all these years.

Re: Uber's Still Not Profitable

#34

Post by thriftwy »

Eji1700 wrote: post #22
shreyshnaccount wrote: post #20

I don't get the endgame here. Uber provides super cheap cab rides by going into a loss so competitors don't spring up. then eventually when they've dominated the market they do what? increase prices? so competitors spring up again? makes no sense

Regulatory capture most likely. As shitty as cabs were, they also had regulations to follow (in theory). Sooo they'll do something similar. Lock up the market, do all the suuuper unethical political junk they're known form, and make it impossible for anyone to compete with them. THEN they'll jack up the prices.

That's not very bright proposition. Suppose they have captured the market regulatorily and jacked up prices. Sure they have defended from new start-ups. What would prevent a big player such as Amazon or Meta from entering their market? They can surely afford to allocate tens of billions to do so. They can also hire an expensive team of lawyers and execs to enter this regulated market.

Re: Uber's Still Not Profitable

#35

Post by boudin »

AndyMcConachie wrote: post #28
thematrixturtle wrote: post #23

I think this article conflates two different things: the concept of app-based ride-hail services like Uber, for which there is clearly a huge amount of demand even without VCs juicing it; and the actual implementation of it by Uber, which is a hugely bloated and unsustainable company that's proven primarily to be an unparalleled bonfire of VC money. > That is, rather than having to wait longer because drivers tapped…

Where I live, Rotterdam NL, traditional taxis work pretty well. Not everywhere is as fucked up as America.

Never really understood why people use uber either until I went to Austin. They are not filling a gap in taxis in my opinion but in public transport.

Re: Uber's Still Not Profitable

#36

Post by fallingknife »

lozenge wrote: post #11
nowherebeen wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you forgetton the whole Google lawsuit against Uber? Anthony Levandowski. Uber’s self driving project is still no where near production ready.

What does that have to do with Musk? Musk never worked at Google and Tesla s self driving technology lacks key sensors compared to what Waymo and Uber were working with.

No post body was provided.

Re: Uber's Still Not Profitable

#37

Post by golergka »

ginko wrote: post #16
elisharobinson wrote: post #10

i am not siding with Uber but to claim that they are going to fail is a bit of hyperbole . the value proposition is quite simple for both drivers and passengers . for drivers you would make more income by driving more consistently , for passengers you get a cab instead of shouting like a cave-person on the street. It is true that there is an element of bezzle with money pumping and dumping over the last few years . T…

>for passengers you get a cab instead of shouting like a cave-person on the street. Maybe I'm a cave person but to me just waving to hail a cab or just entering the first car in line at a taxi stand seems much more convenient than having to fiddle around with a mobile app and wait until it arrives.

It's convenient to you to wait for a cab to appear for 20 minutes in rain and snow instead of opening an app inside?

Re: Uber's Still Not Profitable

#38

Post by semiquaver »

incrudible wrote: post #27
shreyshnaccount wrote: post #20

I don't get the endgame here. Uber provides super cheap cab rides by going into a loss so competitors don't spring up. then eventually when they've dominated the market they do what? increase prices? so competitors spring up again? makes no sense

The idea is that Uber will develop a self-driving car that will ultimately offset its loss leader, much like Amazon and AWS.

That was the idea once; They gave up on that part, their self driving car division has been shuttered and they don’t plan to replace it. From the article:

  >  Uber's bag of tricks is nearing its bottom. Its fantasy of magic, self-driving robo-taxis is over (the company spent $2.5b to make a car that had a fatal crash every 0.25 miles, and then had to pay another company $400m to take the division off its hands):

  > https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/08/required-reading/#goober

Re: Uber's Still Not Profitable

#39

Post by amelius »

shreyshnaccount wrote: post #20

I don't get the endgame here. Uber provides super cheap cab rides by going into a loss so competitors don't spring up. then eventually when they've dominated the market they do what? increase prices? so competitors spring up again? makes no sense

There is no end game. It's a pump and dump scheme.

Early investors get insanely rich, whereas later investors pay the price.

Re: Uber's Still Not Profitable

#40

Post by nowherebeen »

smcl wrote: post #25
nowherebeen wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you forgetton the whole Google lawsuit against Uber? Anthony Levandowski. Uber’s self driving project is still no where near production ready.

I think you mis-read - I'm saying they did have a self-driving car project, not that they didn't . And yeah nobody has production ready self-driving tech, it wouldn't surprise me if they had canned it.

Oh you are right. I definitely mis-read your comment. Apologies.
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