Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near • Hacker News Board

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#271

Post by therein » Sat, Feb 16, 2019, 7:55 PM UTC

steve_musk wrote: post #238

therein wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The taxi experience in cities other than NYC, Chicago, and SF got a million times better. Before Uber in a city like Nashville you call for a taxi and maybe one shows up at some point. Since Uber you can reliably get a ride whenever you want. And that's not even talking about discrimination. That is a good point I hadn't considered until now. I remember back in my college days in Champaign, IL right before Uber's d…

As a recent UIUC grad, it takes a few minutes to get an Uber there now.

Glad to hear a confirmation that what GP is talking about has had that positive impact as it sounds like Uber solved a genuine problem that existed there. :)

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#272

Post by pault » Sat, Feb 16, 2019, 8:09 PM UTC

treis wrote: post #183

blunte wrote: post #145

Maybe because I'm outside the unicorn bubble I can't see the magic, but I find something very warped about a business strategy that combines stratospheric valuation, intentional regulatory non-compliance, perpetual capital injections, service misrepresentation, and unprofessional corporate behavior... and results in massive financial losses year after year. When I try to balance the elements, it frankly looks like an…

>Maybe because I'm outside the unicorn bubble I can't see the magic, but I find something very warped about a business strategy that combines stratospheric valuation, intentional regulatory non-compliance, perpetual capital injections, service misrepresentation, and unprofessional corporate behavior... and results in massive financial losses year after year. >When I try to balance the elements, it frankly looks like…

I think about this all the time. I spent 2008-2016 in several countries outside of the US. Before I left it was incredibly difficult to be a socially active and employed adult without a car unless you lived in a major metropolitan area with a good public transit system. Taxis were around but totally unaffordable for more than a few trips on the weekend while drinking.

When I moved back my drivers license had expired and since I live in a different state now I will have to take the driving test all over again. I've been here for almost three years now and I never bothered buying a car because I can get anywhere in town for less than $15 within a few minutes of requesting a ride. My monthly rideshare costs are about $450, which is comparable to the cost of owning a car. There are some inconveniences but it has totally changed how I get around and where I choose to live.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#273

Post by Apocryphon » Sat, Feb 16, 2019, 8:31 PM UTC

alimhaq wrote: post #182

Apocryphon wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a little like saying the theater-going experience has been improved thanks to MoviePass.

This is an incredibly shortsighted view of Uber if you're being serious. MoviePass doesn't alter the end experience of watching a movie at all, but Uber significantly changes the experience of getting a ride. I'm sure most people would agree that even if they had to pay the same price as a cab, they would prefer the Uber experience over the old model.

MoviePass makes going to the movies far more bearable, for expensive ticket prices have long made theaters not worth going for a long time.

If Flywheel and similar taxi apps were priced the same as ride-sharing apps there would be greater competition with Uber and Lyft.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#274

Post by bduerst » Sat, Feb 16, 2019, 8:55 PM UTC

eeeeeeeeeeeee wrote: post #259

bduerst wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Passengers won, since most rides were (or still are) subsidized from venture capital raised by the company. It's almost like a wealth distribution of it's own, through the value of on-demand transportation. You could also talk about how it disrupted the taxi medallion market, which was an older solution to the trust problem of getting into a car with a stranger, but for many cities that wasn't really in need of disru…

Passengers win for now, not necessarily won for good. Do you think the public markets are going to allow Uber to keep bleeding this much cash year over year? Prices will go up on consumers just as Uber has completely dominated the market and effectively has no competition. They’ll be able to charge whatever they want.

Who cares? Markets are fluid and dynamic.

Passengers won for a while, and may keep winning, but nobody expects them to win to perpetuity just like nobody expects a market to remain static. If anyone is going to end up worse than before ridesharing, it's the people who put the money into the VC funds propping up the market.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#275

Post by dnautics » Sat, Feb 16, 2019, 9:01 PM UTC

Gibbon1 wrote: post #230

dehrmann wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lay most of the blame for this with the NYC TLC for restricting medallions in the first place. The real way to reduce congestion is use fees, and it puts a natural cap on the number of taxis. Ideally, the fees are used on improvements to mass transit.

My take away from Uber and Lift was restricting the number of cabs was a mistake. Would have been better off all around to actually just partially subsidize them. And make buses/subways free. I get a lot of flack for that position, my response is we heavily subsidize private cars.

buses and subways don't have to be free to be awesome. In fact I suspect subsidization and political control of them is part of the problem. One of the world's best public transport systems, singapore, is at least partially privatized (it once was fully privatized, and arguably system quality is going down) - and it has the lowest fares I've been on.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#276

Post by woolvalley » Sat, Feb 16, 2019, 9:02 PM UTC

rimliu wrote: post #231

woolvalley wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars cost more than that. If I had a choice between a second commuter car or $200/month of ubering, the ubering would be cheaper. Car ownership in the bay is something like this: * $100-500/month car payment or depreciation * +$100/month in gas * $60-120/month in insurance * $100/month in amortized maintenance costs = $360/month minimum base cost And if you work/live in SF or need to go over the bridge: * $100-200/mo…

Wow. My costs: 300€/month payment which includes insurance. 60-80€ a month for gas. And mind you it’s expensive there ~1.2€/liter ~30€/month mainatence. 2/3 of it comes down to change and storage of winter/summer tires (winter tires are mandatory).

I said amortized maintenance, so when you have to replace that $300 part and pay $100-$300 in labor to do it, that is part of the bill spread over a year. To me repairs are an inevitable part of car ownership, so I put in the maintenance category. Not just replace your oil and swap your tires type maintenance. Maybe a year or two you'll have no repairs, then get a $1500 repair bill because a water pump broke, and some asshole who breaks your car window to steal nothing, leading to $2000 of 'surprise' repair costs that year.

Also if you buy a used car for $15k, then sell it 5 years later for $9k, that is equivalent to a $100/month car payment, which I call car depreciation.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#277

Post by masonic » Sat, Feb 16, 2019, 11:54 PM UTC

orbifold wrote: post #233

masonic wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One needs to include in their calculation of winning and losing whether their private data means anything to them. Uber, for example, sucks from your phone access to your camera, all of your contacts , your location at all times, your microphone at all times, and the ability to dial or text from the phone itself. At the same time, all of the people in your contacts have their privacy productized as well, involuntaril…

You can order an Uber from Maps and don’t have that problem.

Only if your device has Uber installed on it AND you are logged into the Uber app. By then, they already have all your data, and that ride is fully linked with your other usage. And as a bonus, Google also now has those details added to youf dossier.

It's sad how easily people can be duped transparently.

If you don't have Uber installed, Maps doesn't even show you the option.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#278

Post by dboreham » Sun, Feb 17, 2019, 5:30 AM UTC

jacques_chester wrote: post #246

BoiledCabbage wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For all the lip service that's paid to "free market capitalism" I chuckle that the first question always is "How quickly can we get to a moat so we don't have to compete with anyone." Whether it's a monolopy, vendor lockin, network effect, high customer leave burden or any of the other number of methods. And, I'm not knocking that that how business works, I just think we probably acknowledge that many businesses have…

I once read that Michael Porter, in Harvard's Business School, looked over the fence into the Economics department, took what they said about monopolies, and repackaged all of the downsides of monopolistic behaviour into "Strategy".

I heard this 30+ years ago in a business strategy class so it's probably true.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#279

Post by sangnoir » Sun, Feb 17, 2019, 7:09 AM UTC

jessriedel wrote: post #227

sangnoir wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's entirely possible for something to be both legal and rude. In some jurisdictions, passers-by (e.g. hikers) have right-of-way on private land, yet not saying "hello" to the farmer whose land you're on would still be rude, should you cross paths.

I argued it isn't rude because it is part of your purchase, not because it is legal.

Part of the purchase as defined by the contract, not common courtesy.

Re: Uber Revenue Growth Slows, Losses Persist as 2019 IPO Draws Near

#280

Post by bambax » Sun, Feb 17, 2019, 9:19 AM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #260

bambax wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I built an electric bike from an inexpensive normal bike + Bafang motor. Total cost <$1000. I have never been happier with a vehicle. This is really the best of all worlds.

Oh snap, got a blog post or anything? Would love to kick a motor on to help on the incline home.

There are a million tutorials online, just google "bafang tutorial"; I found this video informative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf6BMf28ats but again, there are many many others.

One point important mentioning though is that once you put a motor on the bike you kind of have to use it all the time, because 1/ you lose the front derailleur, 2/ motor + battery weight around 6-8 kg, and 3/ the engine is always engaged.

It's possible to use the bike with zero assistance, on flat ground, if you need it (for example if the battery dies), but it's not something you want to do all the time.

So, it's not really a sport anymore. Yet it's extremely pleasant.

Also: you can buy Bafang motors on Aliexpress or Alibaba; I find sellers on Alibaba much more professional, and most will agree to sell just one item.