151–160 of 241 posts
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Uber's rates are already unsustainably low. Competition is one thing but unhealthy, unsustainable competition is another thing entirely. It's probably for the best that rates go up a bit.
Best for who? It's better for riders if rates stay unsustainably low and they can get discounted rides at the expense of VCs.
Rates that are unsustainably low cannot be sustained, by definition.
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Many items on that list aren't actually bad things, they're just described using language with negative connotations. For example >Uber breaks laws all around the world to enrich itself, including allegedly trying to deceive government officials across the world.[4] Detecting malicious users and protecting drivers by shadowbanning malicious users is neither illegal nor wrong. Uber has no legal nor moral obligation to…
> Uber has no legal nor moral obligation to help the governments entrap its drivers, or perform sting operations. Uber does, however, have obligations to obey the law. Part of which would include not using technology to hide law-breaking actions from local law enforcement.
The law does not state that you have to do certain things. It states what consequences arise from actions you may or may not chose to take, and get caught performing those actions.
UPS and Fedex drivers routinely double park on streets to make deliveries, and pay the fines. They have a fund to pay the fines with, and count it as the cost of doing business. The law doesn't obligate anybody to do anything.
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The short tenure, job description, and his history makes this bit believable: "Jones determined that the situation at the company was more problematic than he realized."
Not sure if this update came before the HN share, but this is a very explosive statement from Jones: “It is now clear, however, that the beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber, and I can no longer continue as president of the ride sharing business."
My not-even-2-cent internet armchair prediction: one or more people will go to jail for the whole Levandowski affair.
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> The most likely thing that happened was that Jones said 'you go or I go' and that that ended with him going. It's entirely possible (and more likely) that he said "these people need to go" and got told "no, they're high performers we can't do without."
Well, those 'high performers' are a liability more than they are an asset at the moment so that would have been a very bad call. Uber is not exactly SpaceX and any 'high performers' that think they are so above the law that they get to destroy the company culture and cause a tsunami of bad press should be sacked pronto. Nothing less will start to stem the tide.
> He is leaving after apparently deciding the current controversies are too much to handle. Not exactly leadership material. Edit: Apparently an unpopular opinion. Do those here think otherwise given he joined the company less than a year ago (and is thus not part of the original culture), but instead could try to repair the damage done by the uber-bro culture instead of looking for an easier paycheck?
The reason it's unpopular is because it's just that. An opinion with no inside view of the situation.
Many times, it's better to just bow out of a bad situation, if you're not given the power to change it, or if the situation was mis-represented to you, or both.
Chalking this up to not being leadership material is intellectually lazy and flip.
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Sorry, this is not just or mainly what's happening here. Every time an anti-Uber article comes up, someone pops in and says something to the effect of your comment, but it simply isn't true. Uber is evil. They do evil things. They should not be supported. Yes, people like to see the titans fall, but people also like to see those who behave poorly get what they deserve for that behavior. That's what's happening here.…
Outside of the sexual harassment claims, literally none of this is different than any other huge tech company out there. People want to see Uber failing has a lot more to do with narrative than reality. People have created a caricature out of Uber's failings and applied it to every aspect of the company. It's starting to feel like an agenda more than actual concerns, it's pretty annoying actually. Once Uber is gone,…
The Waymo lawsuit/Levandowski affair is clearly looking WAY out of the norm for any huge tech company, especially since it's looking more and more like Uber may have colluded from the beginning (discussed previously https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13860890 )
Uber doesn't have a prayer of rehabilitation until Kalanick himself goes. The rot goes straight up to him. Jeff Jones was a much more recent acquisition who came from staid corporate America (Target) -- I don't think he was the problem.
I agree. There's enough social awareness that people don't want to support a company run by jerks like Travis Kalanick. In an era with socially conscious consumers, integrity of leadership matters. It is easy enough to switch to Lyft (I live in major metropolitan area) without any inconvenience. And the Lyft driver's I've talked with about all the controversy say they make more $$$ and are happier driving for Lyft.
I asked 7-8 of my non tech/internet obsessed friends what they thought of recent uber scandals and if they stopped using uber. I got blank stares.
all of my techy friends know about uber news but not one has deleted uber.
Very very few actually care about any of it, people have short memory and outrage fatigue is real.
Serious question - why hasn't the Uber board replaced Kalanick yet? While it is indisputable he successfully brought Uber to where it is now, it doesn't seem like he has the good judgement to be leading Uber at this stage of the company's lifecycle. Wouldn't the best thing for the company at this point be a complete overhaul of leadership?
Would be fun for the remaining bro culture if the board ousted Kalanick and installed Marissa Mayer.
Seriously, if she is ever allowed to hold a paying job again, something is wrong with corporate culture.