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What happened when the CEO of a Boston burrito chain became an Uber driver

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Re: What happened when the CEO of a Boston burrito chain became an Uber driver

#31

Post by marvin »

cloudwalking wrote: post #30
kosei wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair here, unless you're driving a luxury car like a Tesla, your depreciation, gas and maintenance costs are still probably $5/hour or less. So, call it $16/hour, and it's still well above minimum wage and most living wages. You're adding extra danger due to potential crash concerns etc, but I don't really know how to best quantify that. http://commutesolutions.org/external/calc.html

Your assumptions may be incorrect. Here is an article that was on HN a couple months ago: http://brent-noorda.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-much-does-lyft-... According to Consumer Reports (see linked article), the median car costs about $9k per year for the first 5 years (including the sticker price). That comes out to $0.75 per mile--not an insignificant amount. Driving 30 miles per hour, that's $22.50 in costs.

You could always drive a cheaper car. Whoops...some customers don't like your car. 4.3 star rating. Out you go ;)

This sounds like a poor deal to me.

Re: What happened when the CEO of a Boston burrito chain became an Uber driver

#32

Post by tomkinson »

This is the kind of guy you want to be your CEO. Someone who doesn't spend their time shopping for the best suit or glad handing unnecessarily.

For those in the hunt for a CEO, take note here. Curiosity, exploration, not afraid to get dirty, a desire to understand and learn. Well done.

Re: What happened when the CEO of a Boston burrito chain became an Uber driver

#33

Post by Natsu »

mindslight wrote: post #16
incision wrote: post #4

Interesting. He drives his Jeep, falls to a 4.3 rating and is about to get released from the service. He starts driving his Tesla, finds that passengers start treating him as an equal and give him a perfect 5.0 every time. Somehow that's not at all surprising and disappointing at the same time.

In general, rating systems where the top vote is the "normal" vote are fucked up. There's always noise in how each party perceives the transaction. As the supplier, the only thing you can do is kiss the ass of everyone in hopes of placating the overly negative ones. And as a buyer, you're unable to reward truly above-and-beyond service.

You can partially infer something from the lack of ratings. People usually only do them to give good or bad ones, so you can balance it out a bit with non-voters as "average" scores.

It's still goofy, though.

Re: What happened when the CEO of a Boston burrito chain became an Uber driver

#34

Post by rohunati »

alonmower wrote: post #29
mindslight wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general, rating systems where the top vote is the "normal" vote are fucked up. There's always noise in how each party perceives the transaction. As the supplier, the only thing you can do is kiss the ass of everyone in hopes of placating the overly negative ones. And as a buyer, you're unable to reward truly above-and-beyond service.

Totally agreed. I also think Uber should be slightly more explicit in their ratings screen (e.g. Bad Experience, Good Experience, Exceptional Experience) If someone has a problem with a ride, the only thing they really care about is letting Uber know that the ride was terrible (I bet the rating distribution clusters heavily around 1, 4 and 5 stars). Looking at passenger rating histories should also play a role in how…

I'm curious what would happen if they asked a simple y/n question: "Was there anything negative about your Uber experience?"

Of course, this means you can't really reward drivers who are amiable and make you feel comfortable. But I feel as though answering "no" to the above question implies that your ride was a at least a "4."

I think three tiers of experience make more sense anyway. Your ride was either Bad, Good, or Exceptional. It's difficult to gauge what a 2/5 or 3/5 means.

Re: What happened when the CEO of a Boston burrito chain became an Uber driver

#35

Post by goodcanadian »

marvin wrote: post #26
SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see that at all. It's not that humans are replaceable as much as the fact that each driver's performance (and corresponding rating) is crucial to their continued employment. I have no problem with that at all given the fact that Uber's image and product both rely on having good customer experiences. If Uber were more concerned with providing a living to its employees, then they likely wouldn't last very long…

What's even more unsettling than the fact that many companies have this attitude towards their employees, is the degree to which members of HN unquestioningly defend this practice whenever the subject comes up. As long as only Uber does this, there really isn't a problem. But it will be a problem if it happens everywhere. I am not saying that this is a black-and-white thing. There are certainly nuances here, and in a…

You raise some interesting points. As an employer, do I have a moral obligation to help an under performing employee through a bad period? Many, though not all, would say, "yes."

Let me rephrase the question. Do I have a moral obligation to pay said employee more than the current value he is providing to me? Now, most economists would say, "No," though there may be an argument about the present value of what the employee can provide me with in the future, perhaps in terms of special skills or increased loyalty.

Now, let me rephrase one last time. What if the cost of supporting this employee is make or break for my business? What if it is not just the under performing employee, but several others who would lose their jobs? What then is my moral obligation?

Re: What happened when the CEO of a Boston burrito chain became an Uber driver

#36

Post by ultrasaurus »

alonmower wrote: post #29
mindslight wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general, rating systems where the top vote is the "normal" vote are fucked up. There's always noise in how each party perceives the transaction. As the supplier, the only thing you can do is kiss the ass of everyone in hopes of placating the overly negative ones. And as a buyer, you're unable to reward truly above-and-beyond service.

Totally agreed. I also think Uber should be slightly more explicit in their ratings screen (e.g. Bad Experience, Good Experience, Exceptional Experience) If someone has a problem with a ride, the only thing they really care about is letting Uber know that the ride was terrible (I bet the rating distribution clusters heavily around 1, 4 and 5 stars). Looking at passenger rating histories should also play a role in how…

Sidecar does something like this, They ask if it was bad, good or exceptional. If you say good, they ask what could've been improved -- and I usually find myself selecting "nothing in particular"

That gives a very accurate picture of the driver. It's cool that sometimes my sidecar driver gives me candy and tells jokes, but that's not why I use the service.

Re: What happened when the CEO of a Boston burrito chain became an Uber driver

#37

Post by rdl »

drewvolpe wrote: post #20
rdl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UberX is actually about 20% cheaper than Lyft, although I think TaskRabbit rides still are often the cheapest (although by far the least convenient).

What's that based on ? I use both Uber and Lyft frequently and, for me, Lyft has been always cheaper for the same trips.

UberX intentionally set their rates (recently) below Uber, at least in SF. Uber has 5 different tiers of car.

Re: What happened when the CEO of a Boston burrito chain became an Uber driver

#38

Post by teej »

alonmower wrote: post #29
mindslight wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general, rating systems where the top vote is the "normal" vote are fucked up. There's always noise in how each party perceives the transaction. As the supplier, the only thing you can do is kiss the ass of everyone in hopes of placating the overly negative ones. And as a buyer, you're unable to reward truly above-and-beyond service.

Totally agreed. I also think Uber should be slightly more explicit in their ratings screen (e.g. Bad Experience, Good Experience, Exceptional Experience) If someone has a problem with a ride, the only thing they really care about is letting Uber know that the ride was terrible (I bet the rating distribution clusters heavily around 1, 4 and 5 stars). Looking at passenger rating histories should also play a role in how…

Uber does this already. If you rate 3 or below they ask you to classify the complaint and leave a comment.

Re: What happened when the CEO of a Boston burrito chain became an Uber driver

#39

Post by sk5t »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #15
rdl wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd personally be annoyed if my UberX driver came in a Wrangler; one of the most uncomfortable-as-passenger cars on the market. A Camry or something is totally fine; doesn't have to be a Tesla, but should be something relatively quiet and comfortable.

To be fair, Wranglers have come a long way in the last few years.

A Wrangler Unlimited might not be too terrible as a passenger... regular backseat, hard sides and top, etc. Not quite a "real" Wrangler though.

Re: What happened when the CEO of a Boston burrito chain became an Uber driver

#40

Post by nvader »

incision wrote: post #4

Interesting. He drives his Jeep, falls to a 4.3 rating and is about to get released from the service. He starts driving his Tesla, finds that passengers start treating him as an equal and give him a perfect 5.0 every time. Somehow that's not at all surprising and disappointing at the same time.

Thanks for the concise summary that saved me from having to click through the click-baity headline.
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