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Uber CEO Stunned When He Heard Cost of 3-Mile Uber Ride

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Re: Uber CEO Stunned When He Heard Cost of 3-Mile Uber Ride

#71

Post by mixmastamyk »

bruce511 wrote: post #61
mixmastamyk wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prices go up; drivers should get more.

Of course they -should- get more. But the economics of uber aren't working for either uber or the drivers. Uber is super convenient. And also (used to be) super cheap. Cheaper than taxis, because a) they used VC money to cover costs and b) because they moved vehicle costs to the driver. Driving is fundamentally underpaid (it's basically unskilled labor) but if you ignore vehicle costs (which most drivers do) it looks…

If they want to be profitable long-term, they'll have to give up that short-term thinking. I could see a 50/50 split being reasonable.

Re: Uber CEO Stunned When He Heard Cost of 3-Mile Uber Ride

#72

Post by jonathankoren »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #22
jonathankoren wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a complete lie. On a $116 surge price trip, drivers get an extra $5.[0] THIS is how Uber finally turned a profit. None of that Kalanick bullshit about how only self driving cars can make Uber profitable.[1][2] It’s jacking up prices and pocketing the difference. Never trust a tech bro. They’re all grifters and liars. [0] https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8LCks4j/ [1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/08/19/…

It’s a complete lie. On a $116 surge price trip, drivers get an extra $5 It would be helpful to have a better source than hearsay on TikTok from some rando whose gig seems to be ranting about tech bros. Even a an Uber driver on TikTok would be good.

How very brave you to dismiss screenshots and take obviously out of touch and responsible billionaire Dara Khosrowshahi over the drivers who have been saying this very thing for literally years now.

Seriously. What makes Khosrowshahi believable here, and why do you identify with him?

Re: Uber CEO Stunned When He Heard Cost of 3-Mile Uber Ride

#73

Post by wordpad25 »

bawolff wrote: post #25
jonny_eh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No amount of the surge pricing should go to Uber. They're already earning more due to the increased number of rides. It's almost akin to taking the tips.

I don't understand why people think this. Uber isn't a charity. Of course they are going to try to take advantage of demand shortages. If drivers want to take in the profit from things like this, they should form a co-op, not be contractors.

They can buy Uber stock

Re: Uber CEO Stunned When He Heard Cost of 3-Mile Uber Ride

#74

Post by wordpad25 »

kedean wrote: post #69
flagrant_taco wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't that effectively be asking Lyft to jump on a grenade for the greater good? Drastically undercutting the competition means you leave money on the table. Let's just assume a 5% discount isn't enough to win riders but 15% is, should the cut fares but anything over 15% just to screw Uber? And does this risk setting a low enough market cap on Lyft that they could be compelled to take an acquisition offer simply b…

> Startups' job isn't to fix a broken market An aside...why are we still referring to Uber and Lyft as startups? They are 14 and 11 year old, extremely well established, multinational companies. They are no longer the little guys disrupting an entrenched market. When do they stop getting the excuse of being startups?

Big Insurance/Banking companies is around a hundred years old. Uber is still a new business trying to prove it works.

Re: Uber CEO Stunned When He Heard Cost of 3-Mile Uber Ride

#75

Post by wordpad25 »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #65
twelve40 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but what are they supposed to do? there is no more evil tech-bro to blame even, they are now under public pressure to make money and if the current CEO fails to maximize the profits, he will get booted and replaced by the one who will.

Society doesn’t need to accept their profit motive

Then Uber wouldn't exist. It was an exorbitantly expensive and risky plan to disrupt an entrenched taxi industry all funded by investors.

Re: Uber CEO Stunned When He Heard Cost of 3-Mile Uber Ride

#76

Post by piva00 »

bruce511 wrote: post #67
pdntspa wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How the fuck was uber's pricing unsustainable? They aren't manufacturing anything physical. The core business doesn't need tons of employees. They're aren't paying extra for drivers' gas or mileage. The app is conceptually simple. Where is all the money going? Why is it WhatsApp can serve most of the fucking world with something like 100 people but Uber needs a huge staff?

It's a good question. There are enough local clones to suggest it's not the software that eats all the money. Bandwidth plays a role. Updating driver positions constantly, at scale, chews bandwidth. As does broad-casting trips, acceptances, and so on. I'm guessing Lawyers take a huge chunk. Uber is forever being sued especially in years past and they must have a pretty terrible legal bill. It was always part of the m…

> Bandwidth plays a role. Updating driver positions constantly, at scale, chews bandwidth. As does broad-casting trips, acceptances, and so on.

How could this chew bandwidth? It's just some bytes for the positioning, over some socket (probably a websocket), it really doesn't sound like it'd chew bandwidth to send an ID + coordinates every second or so if your connection is already established. Maybe a few more bytes for a signature to avoid tampering/spoofing when updating the position.

Re: Uber CEO Stunned When He Heard Cost of 3-Mile Uber Ride

#77

Post by npace12 »

ecshafer wrote: post #14
npace12 wrote: post #2

Last year, I traveled from DC to NY overnight, and it was 2.5x surge pricing. When i got to my destination, I stuck around in the car to see what the driver app was saying. I paid close to $900, driver took ~$250, the entire surge pricing difference went to Uber. I was thinking, that's an crazy markup over their AWS bill but really it's just a robbery.

Greyhound nyc to dc is like $20 and has a dozen buses a day. Plus you have Amtrak. Why take an Uber?

My flight got diverted due to some issue in EWR and landed in DC around midnight. There were no other flights that night and no amtrak until the morning. I didn't even think to check Greyhound. I just wanted to go home to see my kids before they head to school.

Re: Uber CEO Stunned When He Heard Cost of 3-Mile Uber Ride

#78

Post by anuraaga »

ecshafer wrote: post #14
npace12 wrote: post #2

Last year, I traveled from DC to NY overnight, and it was 2.5x surge pricing. When i got to my destination, I stuck around in the car to see what the driver app was saying. I paid close to $900, driver took ~$250, the entire surge pricing difference went to Uber. I was thinking, that's an crazy markup over their AWS bill but really it's just a robbery.

Greyhound nyc to dc is like $20 and has a dozen buses a day. Plus you have Amtrak. Why take an Uber?

I live in Japan but was thinking of taking a Greyhound for a 2-hour or so ride during a US trip but a friend strongly advised against, the presumably exaggerated analogy was getting herpes just riding it. Another friend more familiar than me with the recent US generally concurred.

So I assume that's one reason to take an Uber? I was going to look into a charter anyways based on that advice.

Amtrak I'm more familiar with but at least in California it's just incredibly slow.

Re: Uber CEO Stunned When He Heard Cost of 3-Mile Uber Ride

#79

Post by npace12 »

cryptonector wrote: post #9
DonsDiscountGas wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't (at least part of) the point of surge pricing to bring more drivers out onto the road? Or was that just a lie.

Would you drive someone 4.5 hours from DC to NYC for $250? The drive back would be $0, so $250 / 9, minus gas and mileage. It's very little. Meanwhile Uber got $650. I wouldn't do it.

The driver asked me if his friend could also come because she was on the crew of the same flight and was also going to NJ. She offered to pay for part of it, but I was happy that I made it home and felt bad for the driver taking 1/4 of the money I paid, so I didn't take it.

Re: Uber CEO Stunned When He Heard Cost of 3-Mile Uber Ride

#80

Post by npace12 »

npace12 wrote: post #2

Last year, I traveled from DC to NY overnight, and it was 2.5x surge pricing. When i got to my destination, I stuck around in the car to see what the driver app was saying. I paid close to $900, driver took ~$250, the entire surge pricing difference went to Uber. I was thinking, that's an crazy markup over their AWS bill but really it's just a robbery.

Receipt: https://imgur.com/nZ9cjQP
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