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ringfinger
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 Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2017 6:50 pm Post subject: Uber CEO gets in to it with Uber Driver (filmed on dash cam) |
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Driver claims to have lost $97K and in bankruptcy since becoming a driver for Uber. Uber CEO claims higher standards and lower rates were necessary to remain competitive.
http://gizmo.do/xkT1gt6 |
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lakersken80
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2017 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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| These .com taxi businesses always seemed shady....good luck if you get into an accident. |
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vanexelent
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2017 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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| I feel like Uber is going to go under. An estimated 200,000 users uninstalled the app after the perceived Trump endorsement and probably many more after the NY airport surge charge drops during the immigration ban and probably many more after that article came out from a former female engineer who had experienced multiple incidence of sexual harassment that all was purposefully disregarded at multiple levels. |
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lakersken80
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2017 7:08 pm Post subject: |
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| vanexelent wrote: | | I feel like Uber is going to go under. An estimated 200,000 users uninstalled the app after the perceived Trump endorsement and probably many more after the NY airport surge charge drops during the immigration ban and probably many more after that article came out from a former female engineer who had experienced multiple incidence of sexual harassment that all was purposefully disregarded at multiple levels. |
Uber's business model right now is losing billions of dollars but its end game is to drive out the existing taxi cab businesses. Once they have a monopoly they can start making a profit. They tried to break into China, but surprise, surprise they got undercut by bigger .com companies there who can afford to lose even more money.... |
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angrypuppy
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2017 7:15 pm Post subject: |
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| The end game is to eliminate the driver. |
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ringfinger
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2017 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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| vanexelent wrote: | | I feel like Uber is going to go under. An estimated 200,000 users uninstalled the app after the perceived Trump endorsement and probably many more after the NY airport surge charge drops during the immigration ban and probably many more after that article came out from a former female engineer who had experienced multiple incidence of sexual harassment that all was purposefully disregarded at multiple levels. |
Perhaps. But for now they are hinging on monopolizing the market. It's part of their strategy. If they can't get there, they could be in trouble for sure though Amazon has survived lack of profitability. The 200K riders is a blip/fad, many of whom were likely not regular fares, and is nothing relative to the 40M monthly active riders they service.
I do wonder how much they invested in other ventures like food delivery, etc. I really think they should just focus on their core business instead of trying to spread themselves too thin. |
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ringfinger
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2017 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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| angrypuppy wrote: | | The end game is to eliminate the driver. |
Yah. Great point. This too. But thats a lot of maintenance, gas, repairs, they will have to cover themselves now too. |
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vanexelent
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2017 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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| lakersken80 wrote: | | vanexelent wrote: | | I feel like Uber is going to go under. An estimated 200,000 users uninstalled the app after the perceived Trump endorsement and probably many more after the NY airport surge charge drops during the immigration ban and probably many more after that article came out from a former female engineer who had experienced multiple incidence of sexual harassment that all was purposefully disregarded at multiple levels. |
Uber's business model right now is losing billions of dollars but its end game is to drive out the existing taxi cab businesses. Once they have a monopoly they can start making a profit. They tried to break into China, but surprise, surprise they got undercut by bigger .com companies there who can afford to lose even more money.... |
It may not be the taxi industry they have to worry about. It's that there' so much competition from other ride share app companies. Uber and Lyft pulled out of Austin, TX after losing a prop that forced all ride share drivers to get finger printed. Within days of leaving multiple other companies came in, accepting the new law, and are operating just fine. Many of the drivers that worked with Uber and Lyft previously are just driving for the other companies. |
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Gellollo
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| Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2017 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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| angrypuppy wrote: | | The end game is to eliminate the driver. |
google car? |
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lakersken80
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 8:20 am Post subject: |
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| Just shows you what the CEO of the company thinks of its contracted drivers....I won't say employee since they don't consider them employees either. |
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lakersken80
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 8:22 am Post subject: |
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| ringfinger wrote: | | angrypuppy wrote: | | The end game is to eliminate the driver. |
Yah. Great point. This too. But thats a lot of maintenance, gas, repairs, they will have to cover themselves now too. |
The future of ridesharing is probably a very cheap electric car with no driver. I wouldn't be surprised if Google's pods is closer to that future. |
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audioaxes
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 11:35 am Post subject: |
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well basically uber is fighting for a dying industry as taxis were struggling big time in many regions for well before uber came along.
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lakersken80
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 11:46 am Post subject: |
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| audioaxes wrote: | | well basically uber is fighting for a dying industry as taxis were struggling big time in many regions for well before uber came along. |
I don't think any of the .com taxi services are making money...in fact they are losing anywhere from hundreds of millions of dollars to billions of dollars trying to acquire market share. If the investors get tired of pouring money into it, then it will be game over. Also if somehow these dot com taxi companies manage to make a profit, it will have to raise prices to do it. Will the customers who have been used to paying rock bottom prices for a ride be ready for the sticker shock? |
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Gatekeeper
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governator
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 12:16 pm Post subject: |
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| driver might be losing money but what about Uber itself? |
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vanexelent
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 12:34 pm Post subject: |
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| governator wrote: | | driver might be losing money but what about Uber itself? |
I believe they've done nothing BUT lose money. |
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angrypuppy
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 12:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Gellollo wrote: | | angrypuppy wrote: | | The end game is to eliminate the driver. |
google car? |
That is certainly one competitor who could later derail Uber.
Maybe I'm not seeing something, but I really don't care if Uber ever approached monopoly status, in so far as such a monopoly would be unsustainable. At some point Lyft, Google, or even a car manufacturer could decide to enter the market. Self-driving technology is moving fast (no pun intended), and the only other challenge is seemingly the GPS-driven billing software. What if Toyota or someone produced a car that could take you to work, then hire itself by announcing its availability on an app? Toyota could see more cars, and you could reduce your payment (or even make money) by renting it out. Forget ZipCars, such a car could drive itself to you. Google could also interface Waze with such an app, and give you something that Lyft and Uber cannot currently offer: A set price for a ride between point A and point B.
In my humble opinion, the technological "high ground" would be to create the virtual bulletin board that accepts all ride requests and car availability (from Uber, Lyft, Google, VW/GM/Toyota, whatever) and then assigns cars to riders.
Uber is losing a ton of money in an effort to penetrate new markets. I'm not privy to their financial statements, but I'd love to see what they're spending the money on. Is it co-financing new cars for drivers? Is there something in the promotional expenditures? There's something missing, and that should make the smart money uber-cautious about buying into their future IPO. |
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lakersken80
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 2:31 pm Post subject: |
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| angrypuppy wrote: | | Gellollo wrote: | | angrypuppy wrote: | | The end game is to eliminate the driver. |
google car? |
That is certainly one competitor who could later derail Uber.
Maybe I'm not seeing something, but I really don't care if Uber ever approached monopoly status, in so far as such a monopoly would be unsustainable. At some point Lyft, Google, or even a car manufacturer could decide to enter the market. Self-driving technology is moving fast (no pun intended), and the only other challenge is seemingly the GPS-driven billing software. What if Toyota or someone produced a car that could take you to work, then hire itself by announcing its availability on an app? Toyota could see more cars, and you could reduce your payment (or even make money) by renting it out. Forget ZipCars, such a car could drive itself to you. Google could also interface Waze with such an app, and give you something that Lyft and Uber cannot currently offer: A set price for a ride between point A and point B.
In my humble opinion, the technological "high ground" would be to create the virtual bulletin board that accepts all ride requests and car availability (from Uber, Lyft, Google, VW/GM/Toyota, whatever) and then assigns cars to riders.
Uber is losing a ton of money in an effort to penetrate new markets. I'm not privy to their financial statements, but I'd love to see what they're spending the money on. Is it co-financing new cars for drivers? Is there something in the promotional expenditures? There's something missing, and that should make the smart money uber-cautious about buying into their future IPO. |
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/googles-robocar-lawsuit-kill-ubers-future-send-execs-prison/
Ubers got some big problems in their future. |
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tox
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 3:01 pm Post subject: |
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I have a friend at Uber who's trying to recruit me to work for them. They're a very prestigious company to work at and it'd look great for my curriculum vitae... but the CEO is a Grade A douche and the culture is toxic as hell.
Some teams are insulated from it, though, and my friend at Uber have had positive experience. To apply or not to apply... |
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ringfinger
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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| tox wrote: | I have a friend at Uber who's trying to recruit me to work for them. They're a very prestigious company to work at and it'd look great for my curriculum vitae... but the CEO is a Grade A douche and the culture is toxic as hell.
Some teams are insulated from it, though, and my friend at Uber have had positive experience. To apply or not to apply... |
Might be a bit late to ride the Uber train, but you have to think long term and big picture. In that sense, it's a no-brainer. You apply. |
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DaMuleRules
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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Regardless of how poor and ill-fated the Uber business model is, what kind of idiot sits back while he loses $97,000 and goes bankrupt when he is simply a "contractor" and can stop driving whenever he chooses?
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Man, do those lyrics resonate right now |
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angrypuppy
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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| DaMuleRules wrote: | | Regardless of how poor and ill-fated the Uber business model is, what kind of idiot sits back while he loses $97,000 and goes bankrupt when he is simply a "contractor" and can stop driving whenever he chooses? |
I have no idea, but the lower income bracket folk don't have a lot of choices in terms of earning a living. I suppose part of the loss is attributable to Uber changing the type of car the Uber Black drivers could operate:
| Quote: | | He added that he and fellow luxury drivers have been "undercut with cheaper products [such as UberX and UberSelect] and they lost their capital because Uber decided they don't want Lincoln Town Cars anymore," referring to a model previously favored by the company. |
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/uber-driver-fawzi-kamel-explains-why-he-argued-firm-s-n727496
This might be what the driver was mentioning to the CEO about changing the "standard". While a Lincoln Town Car doesn't cost $97,000, he might have had to purchase another car and been stuck with the finance charges on the Lincoln Town Car. Uber was helping prospective drivers obtain financing for the cars (and of course getting a kickback from the financing party).
We don't have the full story, but the driver didn't anticipate the standard change and was stuck paying for a non-incoming earning asset that he really couldn't afford. |
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tox
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 8:49 pm Post subject: |
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| ringfinger wrote: | | tox wrote: | I have a friend at Uber who's trying to recruit me to work for them. They're a very prestigious company to work at and it'd look great for my curriculum vitae... but the CEO is a Grade A douche and the culture is toxic as hell.
Some teams are insulated from it, though, and my friend at Uber have had positive experience. To apply or not to apply... |
Might be a bit late to ride the Uber train, but you have to think long term and big picture. In that sense, it's a no-brainer. You apply. |
Sure but the flip side is the recruiter when I spoke to her gave me the cold shoulder when I mentioned my preferred field. Whereas at Google or FB so far the recruiters have been receptive to giving me some work on a machine learning team.
But yeah, I should apply anyways. |
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ringfinger
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| Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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| tox wrote: | | ringfinger wrote: | | tox wrote: | I have a friend at Uber who's trying to recruit me to work for them. They're a very prestigious company to work at and it'd look great for my curriculum vitae... but the CEO is a Grade A douche and the culture is toxic as hell.
Some teams are insulated from it, though, and my friend at Uber have had positive experience. To apply or not to apply... |
Might be a bit late to ride the Uber train, but you have to think long term and big picture. In that sense, it's a no-brainer. You apply. |
Sure but the flip side is the recruiter when I spoke to her gave me the cold shoulder when I mentioned my preferred field. Whereas at Google or FB so far the recruiters have been receptive to giving me some work on a machine learning team.
But yeah, I should apply anyways. |
Well, of course, I'd rather be at Google or FB than Uber, particularly for machine learning and AI. If the former aren't options, then perhaps the latter would be a stepping stone for the former?
For machine learning, Google is the holy grail I think. They're going to move away from an algorithmic search engine any day now. |
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angrypuppy
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| Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 7:18 am Post subject: |
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| lakersken80 wrote: | | angrypuppy wrote: | | Gellollo wrote: | | angrypuppy wrote: | | The end game is to eliminate the driver. |
google car? |
That is certainly one competitor who could later derail Uber.
Maybe I'm not seeing something, but I really don't care if Uber ever approached monopoly status, in so far as such a monopoly would be unsustainable. At some point Lyft, Google, or even a car manufacturer could decide to enter the market. Self-driving technology is moving fast (no pun intended), and the only other challenge is seemingly the GPS-driven billing software. What if Toyota or someone produced a car that could take you to work, then hire itself by announcing its availability on an app? Toyota could see more cars, and you could reduce your payment (or even make money) by renting it out. Forget ZipCars, such a car could drive itself to you. Google could also interface Waze with such an app, and give you something that Lyft and Uber cannot currently offer: A set price for a ride between point A and point B.
In my humble opinion, the technological "high ground" would be to create the virtual bulletin board that accepts all ride requests and car availability (from Uber, Lyft, Google, VW/GM/Toyota, whatever) and then assigns cars to riders.
Uber is losing a ton of money in an effort to penetrate new markets. I'm not privy to their financial statements, but I'd love to see what they're spending the money on. Is it co-financing new cars for drivers? Is there something in the promotional expenditures? There's something missing, and that should make the smart money uber-cautious about buying into their future IPO. |
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/googles-robocar-lawsuit-kill-ubers-future-send-execs-prison/
Ubers got some big problems in their future. |
Interesting stuff. It's about time that the lawmakers tightened the intellectual property laws. I'm not sure about the digital theft itself, but if you're a software engineer (for example), you were free to walk out on your employer and share whatever you learned with a new employer. Of course your employer might have forced the employee to sign nondisclosure, non-compete contracts, but most of them were rather toothless. I believe the restrictions are governed by state laws, so that enforceability would vary across the USA.
And of course this doesn't cover contractors, at least within the world of software. If you're a contractor and you write the code, it's yours. It doesn't matter if the idea came from the owner or employer. |
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