

Uber’s Latest Experiment Is Uber Cargo, a Logistics Service in Hong Kong - dthal
http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/08/uber-cargo/

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Someone1234
I want a version of this for large items which are going to the dump (e.g. old
washing machines, furniture, etc). We own a sedan and some items physically
won't fit in there, the city's trash company doesn't do item pickups (either
paid or free), and I'm yet to find private companies which do either (we're
outside of their service area).

So you're left either finding a friend with a truck or renting something from
e.g. U-Haul. However even U-Haul won't work for older or disabled people or
those items which need two pairs of hands to load/unload.

It is surprisingly difficult to have these items removed. Maybe I should just
buy a truck...

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math0ne
i've always found craiglist free section very handy for this.

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aetherson
Have any of Uber's "experiments" of this sort been successful? Anyone know if
the bike couriers in NYC (almost a year old) have gotten any traction? Has the
service expanded?

How did their limited-time experiment of delivering toothbrushes in DC go?
That was six months or so ago.

How about food delivery in LA?

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dthal
OTOH, how much does it really cost them? They make some software modification,
and they get to try out a new market. Maybe it works, in which case they just
found a new long-term, possibly world-wide, revenue stream. Maybe it doesn't,
in which case they have a bit of code to throw away.

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aetherson
I'm not asking if they're going to bleed out money or anything, I'm asking if
there is any sign that this whole concept that there is a logistics company
hiding inside Uber has any evidence for it.

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lnflefnffewfw
It's interesting how Uber's business model bears similarity to sharecropping.
Food for thought.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharecropping](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharecropping)

