Uber isn't an on demand ride service. They're a logistics company. Also uber isn't waiting for autonomous vehicles to come along and save them, they're one of the industry leaders in developing autonomous systems, investing/acquiring autonomous systems, and collect more driver/vehicle data than any other company in the world. It's not just civilian transportation either. They've already launched an autonomous commercial shipping service. If there is an item, person, or service that could potentially need to be transported from point A to B, it's a safe to assume that Uber has already started collecting logistics data on it and will(or already has) raise funds to begin implementing a network to service said logistical situation. This all may sound a bit extreme at first glance, but look at amazon. Amazon isn't a revolutionary e-commerce market place, they're a revolutionary logistics company. It's the same story as uber just in a different phase. Years of massive losses and outside funding. Both companies fully understand the value/defensibility of heavily investing in operational logistics at massive scale.
Why I don't believe in Uber's Success
301–310 of 413 posts
Re: Why I don't believe in Uber's Success
#302The commercial airline industry has lost money over the whole of its existence. If I'm flying from NYC to DAL, I'm flying the cheapest carrier (with a slight nod to Frequent Flyer programs). I'm not sure how Uber, Lyft, etc are any different than Southwest, American, etc. Cab companies (which I hate) and airlines saw this years ago and promoted regulations to protect their fees (and, thereby, wages). Airlines lost th…
>The commercial airline industry has lost money over the whole of its existence. Wait, what? How can that be possible? Wouldn't the airlines cease to exist if they never generated profits?
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Re: Why I don't believe in Uber's Success
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know several friends in San Francisco that got rid of their cars for Uber. They spend about $500/month on Uber. Owning a car in SF is more expensive than that: monthly parking, insurance, parking where your destination is, gas, etc.
I know of whole demographics who don't even get cars because they can take the bus.
I know of whole cities who don't even get cars because they can take the subway!
Re: Why I don't believe in Uber's Success
#304I live in Singapore and Uber is a little cheaper than the excellent cab services which operated here even before Uber. There is a big competitor to Uber here called Grab. I switched to Uber because their service is good, drivers are gracious and cars are nice and they give me good offers. Last year I took 300 Uber rides, never once taking the usual Comfort Delgro Cab because their drivers suck. If prices were the sam…
If my business is standing on the street corner handing people Saudi gold, people will love me. For a while. That doesn't make me a successful business.
Re: Why I don't believe in Uber's Success
#305Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe the argument, though, is that transportation is a commodity product and, therefore, pricing is a race to the bottom. Say all cars are autonomous and on-demand. You need a car. Uber costs $20. Lyft costs $15. Who do you go with? What happens to overall pricing over time?
What I seem to never hear people mentioning is that it's nice to have your own car. I have my car all set up how I like it, with a nice aftermarket stereo and amp and hundreds of gigabytes of mp3s because music is important to me, the seat is exactly set up how I like it, etc etc. I specifically bought a car that I actually enjoy driving. I have an umbrella in the car in case it rains, and a jumper in there if it is…
I'm right with you. Buses, cabs, and subways are all disgusting, smelly, unsightly, uncomfortable and inconvenient compared to one's own car.
Re: Why I don't believe in Uber's Success
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also a good point. Low margin doesn't have to mean unsuccessful. But it's taken 20 years for Amazon to get where it is. Uber's valuation seems pretty premature. Amazon lost money for years because it was building infrastructure. Uber is losing money because it is subsidizing its sales. Amazon may have been low margin, but I don't know that they ever took investor money and gave it directly to customers in the form of…
Great contrast – and you're not really saying that Uber is not building infrastructure but that one is happening faster than the other one: 1) Uber: a) subsidize sales b) build infrastructure 2) Amazon: a) build infrastructure, b) grow sales at a sustainable rate even if it takes 20 years. I think Zappos had the same business model. But we'll see.
Zappos is an Amazon subsidiary even if it does operate quasi-independently (and quirkily from a management perspective). It looks a lot more like Amazon though with generally far less emphasis on building out infrastructure. Ultimately it's sort of a niche because of the nature of selling shoes online.
Re: Why I don't believe in Uber's Success
#307In my opinion, giving large scale subsidies to customers seems like a business anti-pattern, and is surely gonna kill a lot of startups in near future. I have been sold to the Idea that Investors are killing any Internet "Business" by advising Founders against simple & straight-forward business plans. They constantly ask founders not to monetize earlier and wait until founders have no choice but to trash out the comp…
Put snarkily: Paid subscription models don't lead to hockey sticks. And investors are only interested in hockey sticks. There's so much in our world we could do if we only demanded profit, rather than 20+% profit YoY from every corner of our existence.
Novice here, why don't subscriptions lead to hockey sticks? Which business model does?
Re: Why I don't believe in Uber's Success
#308Uber's current problem is they have run out of things to innovate on. They've pretty much nailed the UX in their app, and all they're left with is cars taking people from Point A to Point B. What is left to improve on there? So now, their only way to grow is to race to the bottom on price and undercut their competitors. And the only way to do that is to light billions of VC dollars on fire in the form of subsidized t…
> They've pretty much nailed the UX in their app ... Ehhhh....I disagree because I have a less than stellar UX every time I use it. However, my situation is more or less an edge case. I rely on Uber to take me from the train station to work every morning. The train station is right by FLL. It's even called the Fort Lauderdale AIRPORT Station at Dania Beach. I have to call the drivers and tell them I'm at the train st…
I wonder how much of those issues are Google Map's "fault"? (genuinely curious). I have the same issue where every damn time the uber tries to pick me up in the alley behind my apartment, not the street, for no good reason.
Re: Why I don't believe in Uber's Success
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
It lost 2-3 billion dollars last year and shows no signs of improving its margins anytime soon. How is that a success?
They created a product that people love. I live in Mexico City and my experience is similar to the one described in Singapore plus the fact that, so far, nobody has ever been kidnapped while hailing an Uber. Riding a cab has gone from slightly dangerous and more often than not displeasing experience, to having a private driver that knows exactly where I want to go and how to get there. Besides, not having to use cash…
> I live in Mexico City and my experience is similar to the one described in Singapore
same in brazil. my parents never took cabs and now they are using uber for everything (since they are getting older and don't want to drive everywhere).
Re: Why I don't believe in Uber's Success
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
TFA and a lot of commenters here don't seem to understand that Uber doesn't want to compete with taxi services, which are a niche business to be disrupted en route to the real prize. It wants to compete with your car - imagine 12 lanes of L.A. traffic composed mostly of Ubers. That's their dream. They even admit this in public. [0] The day they can get cost per mile one penny below what you'd spend owning a Toyota Ca…
I think that market is smaller than you may think. There are lots of factors that will drive people to own their own self-driving cars rather than rely exclusively on Uber/Lyft/Tesla Mobility, etc.
In addition to what others have mentioned, there's also the mobile storage locker aspect. When traveling for example, there are any number of occasions when I will end up renting a car rather than using other transportation because it means I don't have to always be carrying with me all my stuff for a whole set of activities.
It happens at home as well. I don't need to bring a bag for evening activities into work because I can just leave it in my car. And I don't need to bring my computer bag to an evening activity for the same reason.
Sure, all this stuff can be worked around when it has to be but there a lot of advantages to having a mobile vehicle you don't have to empty every time you arrive at a destination.