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The Uber Bubble

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Re: The Uber Bubble

#121

Post by scarface74 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #32
MBCook wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they have a clear path to profitability What is it? The problem I see is that there’s zero switching cost. It’s like buying salt at the supermarket. It’s all the same. They have nothing to differentiate them except their brand. Sure they can charge a little more because of that. National brands charge a bit more than generic. But you can’t raise prices 50+% and hope people will just stick with you so that you aren’…

> there’s zero switching cost Finding an app, installing it, entering your card details and then hailing are switching costs. When I travel, I sometimes try the local app. I usually just use Uber. (In America I default to Lyft, in New York Revel.) Keep in mind that Uber is profitable in some markets, e.g. New York.

You don’t have to enter your card details. Since they are selling physical goods, they can (and do) use Apple Pay and your credit card is already in your phone.

Just to clarify;

Apple Pay - standard credit card processing rates

In-app purchases: 30% cut goes to Apple.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#122

Post by ec109685 »

sbarre wrote: post #61
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> None of which Uber fixes? Did you hail or call taxis before Uber? The simple ability to see where your car is while en route was game changing. Add to that ratings, embedded payment (“credit card reader broken”) and dynamic pricing and you have a dramatically better experience.

Balance that against the fact that most taxi drivers know the city by heart, including where there is construction, habitual traffic jam, and transit congestion.. I'll take a better drive-to-destination experience over being able to stare at my phone watching a car inch closer to me, or saving a few dollars when I need to get somewhere. A lot of part-time Uber drivers, especially in big cities, come in from the subur…

What incentives taxi drivers to do an excellent job. There are not ratings for drivers and they can take you on a more expensive route if they sense that you aren’t from that area.

Uber tells drivers the route to take and has access to Waze esque data to help ensure drivers take an optimal route.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#123

Post by bombcar »

taxicabjesus wrote: post #108
rzz3 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite all of the negatives, many of which I agree with, the legacy taxi industry really sucked for riders. Riding in a taxi feels dirty to me, to be honest. Old, ugly cars that never seem well maintained, having to actually call someone on a phone and tell them where to pick you up, often not accepting Apple Pay, Android Pay, credit cards. Rude drivers with no rating system to disincentivize it… It’s sad that Uber…

The big taxi company I drove for was at the top of the food chain in the Phoenix, Arizona area because the cars were clean, cabs usually showed up promptly, and if there was a problem you could deal with the company and they'd look into your complaint. The company started switching out to the Prius a few years before I started driving for them in 2012. My first few leases were for old Crown Victorias, because I could…

The ease of the Uber app is and was key above everything else - which might be enough to keep them operating when they finally have to raise prices to where they should be.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#124

Post by yitr »

Barrin92 wrote: post #22

The piece is exactly right. Uber is effectively an instrument to shift economic gains from labour to capital by atomizing the workforce. From a macroeconomic perspective this is terrible because turning taxi firms into countless of one man businesses provides no efficiency gains, it's basically reverse economic development. There is a version of Uber that actually makes sense. As a lean SaaS company that sells its so…

where did you learn this?

Re: The Uber Bubble

#125

Post by marcosdumay »

thr0wawayf00 wrote: post #34
Barrin92 wrote: post #22

The piece is exactly right. Uber is effectively an instrument to shift economic gains from labour to capital by atomizing the workforce. From a macroeconomic perspective this is terrible because turning taxi firms into countless of one man businesses provides no efficiency gains, it's basically reverse economic development. There is a version of Uber that actually makes sense. As a lean SaaS company that sells its so…

> Uber is effectively an instrument to shift economic gains from labour to capital by atomizing the workforce. This is the entire gig economy/sharing economy in a nutshell. The platform puts most of the financial risk on the labor side (drivers owning the cars if you're driving Uber, owning the house if you're Airbnb'ing it, etc.) and simply taking a cut of each transaction. The platform owns nothing, the workers hav…

> The platform puts most of the financial risk on the labor side and simply taking a cut of each transaction.

This is "intermediation". They are not "simply" taking their cut, the platform gets the task of finding the customers and lending their brand to the workers, as well as doing some quality assurance for the customers.

Done right, this is incredibly useful for both sides and creates a lot of wealth. Done wrong it destroys markets.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#127

Post by ec109685 »

mupuff1234 wrote: post #23

Why are there so many competitors in the delivery/taxi type services, but in the short term rental industry Airbnb seems to be mostly unchallenged? I would've expected to see a lot of VC money being thrown there as well, but I'm only seeing Airbnb raising their fees and actually making a profit.

At least for Tahoe, VRBO and AirBnB have similar selection and interfaces.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#128

Post by bombcar »

menzoic wrote: post #99
thr0wawayf00 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Uber is effectively an instrument to shift economic gains from labour to capital by atomizing the workforce. This is the entire gig economy/sharing economy in a nutshell. The platform puts most of the financial risk on the labor side (drivers owning the cars if you're driving Uber, owning the house if you're Airbnb'ing it, etc.) and simply taking a cut of each transaction. The platform owns nothing, the workers hav…

>The platform puts most of the financial risk on the labor side (drivers owning the cars if you're driving Uber, owning the house if you're Airbnb'ing it, etc.) Actually people already owned the cars and already owned their houses. How is that a financial risk? These platforms allow people to use their existing resources to make money. That's efficiency gains. If anyone decides to acquire new vehicles or properties t…

That’s how it started out - but people began purchasing for use in Uber and then driver rates started dropping, but car payments didn’t.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#129

Post by rootusrootus »

dylkil wrote: post #50
rzz3 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite all of the negatives, many of which I agree with, the legacy taxi industry really sucked for riders. Riding in a taxi feels dirty to me, to be honest. Old, ugly cars that never seem well maintained, having to actually call someone on a phone and tell them where to pick you up, often not accepting Apple Pay, Android Pay, credit cards. Rude drivers with no rating system to disincentivize it… It’s sad that Uber…

> Old, ugly cars that never seem well maintained maybe in US or UK but in europe taxis are kept to a high standard, albeit way more expensive

Given how large the US is, and how large Europe is, I doubt your statement. I can certainly find plenty of well maintained taxis in the US, I bet I can find plenty of beat up taxis in Europe.

Re: The Uber Bubble

#130

Post by WithinReason »

1over137 wrote: post #81
rzz3 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite all of the negatives, many of which I agree with, the legacy taxi industry really sucked for riders. Riding in a taxi feels dirty to me, to be honest. Old, ugly cars that never seem well maintained, having to actually call someone on a phone and tell them where to pick you up, often not accepting Apple Pay, Android Pay, credit cards. Rude drivers with no rating system to disincentivize it… It’s sad that Uber…

>having to actually call someone on a phone The horror!

"Can you say that again?" "How do you spell that?" "Is that B for book or P for penny?" "Sorry can you repeat the line is bad"
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