Got charged £15 “technology fee” by cab hailing app because it uses algorithms • Hacker News Board

Re: Got charged £15 “technology fee” by cab hailing app because it uses algorithms

#11

Post by parisk » Tue, Feb 15, 2022, 6:53 AM UTC

gruez wrote: post #2

It feels weird that the author is approaching this from the "the fee exceeds the actual cost to the business" angle. There's a much simpler and universal reason to hate fees: they distort the market by hiding information from consumers. Legislation in the US has forced airlines to quote a final price for their fares, which most travelers appreciate. On the flip side, travelers probably don't appreciate the "resort fe…

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I do not have a problem with exceeding business cost with high profit margins. I think that's OK and actually I believe it's the right way to build a sustainable business. I do have a problem when charging for conceptually wrong reasons.

When using software, instead of traditional means, to do an existing job, it gets way cheaper. That's when you don't get to charge £15 for using it.

If you do need to charge £15 for some reason, please do. It's not the software I am paying for though in that case and I need to know what I am paying for.

Re: Got charged £15 “technology fee” by cab hailing app because it uses algorithms

#12

Post by parisk » Tue, Feb 15, 2022, 6:55 AM UTC

philihp wrote: post #6

(1) Was the charge for the ride apparent before hailing the not-technically-a-taxi? (2) If not, what app was this?

Thanks for your comment.

> (1) Was the charge for the ride apparent before hailing the not-technically-a-taxi?

Unfortunately, not.

> (2) If not, what app was this?

I am not naming the app intentionally. I do not want to shit on anybody's work to be honest, even though I might disagree strongly with it. I might as well be dead wrong about this and missing an important point.

Re: Got charged £15 “technology fee” by cab hailing app because it uses algorithms

#13

Post by parisk » Tue, Feb 15, 2022, 6:56 AM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #3

This particular charge is to try to maintain the illusion that you are directly transacting with the driver personally, and separately are paying the app for connecting the two of you. That way of looking at it weighs in on the way taxation is done and contractor/employee considerations...

Thanks for sharing this. Wow, that's plain bad.

Re: Got charged £15 “technology fee” by cab hailing app because it uses algorithms

#14

Post by jy1 » Tue, Feb 15, 2022, 7:48 AM UTC

parisk wrote: post #8

jy1 wrote: post #4

The cost charged wasn't for the technology. Taxis and cabs are regulated with fixed time/mileage rates. Uber isn't. It can charged dynamic pricing. The work around for Taxi apps is to shift this dynamic price into the "technology fee", as a workaround. The user isn't paying $15 for algorithm. It's paying $15 because the ride was ordered during a high-demand time, and the app is hiding that as a dynamically priced "te…

Thanks for your comment. I just tool their word for it :). That's interesting though. If you can share a link validating that, I can update the article to better represent reality.

You can see in the receipt how it says "high demand" next to technology fee :). I don't have an article, but I used to work for a major rideshare co, hence the industry knowledge.