
Uber, Mired in Corporate Scandals, Sees Uptick in Bookings - carlchenet
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/23/technology/uber-mired-in-corporate-scandals-sees-uptick-in-bookings.html
======
askafriend
Of course Uber sees an uptick in bookings. None of the people using the
service in almost 200 countries worldwide are tuned into the daily drama of
Silicon Valley.

Normal people want to get from point A to point B in the most comfortable,
efficient, cheap way possible. If that means Uber then so be it. If that means
Taxis then so be it. If that means Didi Chuxing then so be it.

It just turns out that Uber is well positioned and offers a compelling service
in many countries around the world and so enjoys the resulting growing
business.

I don't mean to downplay the importance of the events transpiring around and
within Uber - they are unprecedented and important to varying degrees. But
most normal people won't even have a cursory understanding of those events
when it's all said and done. The world is vast and people are busy.

~~~
Z1nfandel
So true. Most people just don't care.

I've used this to my advantage over the past few years, as soon as a "big
corporate scandal" breaks the stock tends to fall. Check their financials, buy
the stock if it looks good, then wait a few months for it to all blow over.

My most recent was Wells Fargo during their opening accounts scandal. Bought
early Oct, Sold late Jan. 20.06% profit.

There were so many headlines calling for boycotts of Wells, and to teach them
a lesson with your wallet. In the long run people just don't give a damn.

For every one person saying: "Uber is evil, don't use them" There are ten
saying "Meh, its cheap and convenient."

~~~
will_brown
>For every one person saying: "Uber is evil, don't use them" There are ten
saying "Meh, its cheap and convenient."

I guess there is actually an 11th person saying, awesome I can financially
support this evil company in the short term and make a quick buck.

I've been talking a lot about boycotts lately on HN to curb unwanted corporate
behavior, in particular as it relates to a lot of the recent 1st Amendment
issues and concerns (because 1st amendment is a limit on governmental power,
not private entities).

No doubt boycotts are hard, and I'm not sure there was ever a time in history
where anyone ever felt real change was easy, or ever a time where the people
seeking change felt others/the world cared.

From MLK's quote "all it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do
nothing". To Gandhi's, "be the change you wish to see it this world." Maybe
above all people just need to be inspired, and some historical perspective of
what people can accomplish working together.

And as disheartening as a comment likes yours is, it's truthful, and I
personally find it motivating and inspiring. I guess it's sort of like telling
someone something can't be done and that being the catalyst for action. I'm
pretty motivated at this time to create an organizational platform for
boycotts in a crowdsourcing-esq style without need for funding.

If you don't mind, I guess like a sort of prelaunch feedback, what would it
take for someone like you, willing to profit on bad corporate behavior, to
instead become a leader for change?

~~~
umanwizard
How is buying a company's stock "financially supporting" them?

~~~
pretendscholar
Directly

~~~
umanwizard
How? Buying stock doesn't transfer any money to the company (unless it's newly
issued stock)

~~~
jsfitzsimmons
The act of buying stock signals demand and reduces supply, which will
effectively cause the price to rise. Indirectly, rising stock prices are a
positive indicator for the health of the company. Directly, if the company
chooses to sell stock, it will be able to sell it at the higher price.

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dopeboy
Here in the east bay, I've gotten 50% off in the past two weeks in Uber. So
hell yeah take my business. Thanks VCs!

~~~
synaesthesisx
Yup - they've been heavily subsidizing rides recently (even more so than
usual) to pull booking numbers up!

~~~
jessaustin
Suddenly the headline seems less amazing...

~~~
malandrew
Losses as a percent of gross bookings: Uber: 8% Lyft: 13.5%

Lyft is the one buying marketshare, not Uber.

~~~
justicezyx
Both are buying, right?

~~~
tmh79
sort of, but lyft's market share costs 50% more than uber's market share

~~~
MuffinFlavored
Why?

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dogruck
Yup. And United's business was unmarred after the Chicago PD violently removed
a raving doctor from a flight. No surprises here.

~~~
sjg007
There is weird regulatory capture in these markets. Taxi cabs are universally
bad. Black cars are better but have always been expensive and harder to use
b/c of pre-booking.

Hotels/Motels offer dubious over-priced quality. They hide behind no-refund
policies and maintain in general poor standards.

So I support airBnb, uber, and lyft b/c I'm tired of being ripped off.

~~~
ghaff
>Black cars are better but have always been expensive and harder to use b/c of
pre-booking

They also offer a consistent experience and pre-booking is often a feature. I
use black cars to go back and forth to my home airport way more often than I
use Uber/taxis/etc. when traveling.

>Hotels/Motels offer dubious over-priced quality.

Again consistency and reliability. I don't generally love the chains but I
also don't have complaints about them which is what I care about most of the
time.

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sremani
The value proposition of Uber is so good that with an empty C-level suites
they are pretty much running on an auto-pilot of sort.

Honestly, this is a tremendous feat. In that case, they should get their CEO
from inside rather than outside.

~~~
leggomylibro
It's only a tremendous feat until they run out of cheap VC money to burn. They
lost $650 million this quarter.

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abritinthebay
For me it’s because Lyft continues to get dramatically worse.

I’d love to use it more (and I hear drivers prefer it) but between the app UI
being so poor, booking taking longer, frequent cancellations by drivers,
etc... I only check it _second_ if there are no Uber drivers around.

It’s a shame as I really like parts of it more but the overall experience has
always been worse for me

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ex3ndr
This remembers me how in Russia possible investors "test" local social
networks. They make a scandal, ask the police to start an investigation and so
on. TV, Radio, whole internet discuss this. In a month someone will buy shares
in the company.

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tluyben2
I liked (and still like them in UK/NL/TH/US) Uber; it was more convenient and
nicer than cabs. Cabbies in the countries I frequent are downright rude, their
cars filthy and beaten; Uber was a welcome change. But in most of them now
they are forbidden or mostly forbidden or on their way out. Some companies
made their own horrible apps which half of the time do not work (in Barcelona
I tried them all and none of them managed to get a ride, one of them simply
crashed at startup etc) or are 'old' as in you have type a time and date when
you want a ride and cannot order for 'now'. I have not seen one where the gps
actually works so you see if your ride is actually coming and ofcourse,
because usually they are made by a big taxi corp, no ratings, so back to rude,
smelly drivers in crap cars.

In HKG there seem to be issues, the prices went up and drivers often cancel
(more so than in other countries I noticed); I do not think it should be
possible for a driver to just cancel because they find the trip too short. I
should be able to rate them for that. But still more convenient than cabs who
you wave over, tell the location and then they drive off for the same reason.

Another gripe is payments; in some countries payment card A works, in some B
works etc. Paypal als payment doesn't work in Thailand. Still, while annoying,
it is better than 'only cash mate' that often happens in cabs.

Anyway more competitors would be good ; any way to get all rides on an
acceptable level. In countries like Spain where they now are forbidden, I was
happy to see them in hopes they would fix the issues with cabs in general
(especially in the south) but nope, it just returned to the comfortable bad
behavior of always. Last weeks ride from Malaga airport had a cabdriver loudly
burp garlic for 20 minutes. Can only complain by filling a form no-one will
ever look at.

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olivermarks
'Uber, mired in corporate scandals, sees an uptick in PR spend (again)'

~~~
tmh79
this isn't PR spend, the author has been a thorn in uber's side through all
the scandals and broken a bunch of big stories. Follow him on twitter
@mikeissac

~~~
olivermarks
Fair, but any publicity is good publicity...new leadership launch pr blitz/new
leaf turned/lessons learned etc will launch in the fall...

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bbdbdbdbsbwhs
Frankly the outrage against Uber makes me more likely to use the service.
Before it became politically incorrect to mention Uber, I was entirely
impartial. I'm sure that I'm not the only one.

~~~
nebabyte
You sound like someone who angrily voted for trump.

~~~
dsfyu404ed
Things need to get worse before they get better?

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vectorEQ
no one care about drama. just cheap rides home. good buisness model.

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VikingCoder
Dear Lyft, you're screwing up your chance.

When Uber started to have a bunch of scandal, I tried to switch to Lyft. I
really did. But, stuck at a hospital after an emergency room visit, trying to
get home at 10pm, I sat there for 45 minutes, watching a driver go from 4
minutes away to 5 minutes away to 8 minutes away, then no driver, then a new
driver is 4 minutes away, then 4 minutes away, then 5 minutes away, then no
driver, then a new driver is 12 minutes away, then no driver...

Come on.

Raise the price if you have to, but making me wait while these drivers decided
I was too far away?

Screw that, and screw you, Lyft.

~~~
frgtpsswrdlame
I guess this brings up the question: Is uber succeeding in its goal? Their
value prop is that they can monopolize the taxi business, maybe they're
actually pulling it off. Could explain why Lyft is starting to lag.

~~~
AOsborn
I think Uber is succeeding. But the goal is less obvious: burn cash to push
through regulatory changes, loosening up the transportation market in
preparation for self-driving taxis and logistics.

Imagine a new startup trying to convince you to switch your taxi for a new
self-driving car? No way.

But an entrenched vendor that you have trusted for 5+ years? Ok, maybe next
trip I'll accept your discount and try one of those self-driving cars.

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bantunes
In Victorian times, people didn't mind paying more for a shirt if it meant it
was child labor free. These days, nobody cares if a company is a hotbed of
discrimination and shitty practices if it means cheaper rides and an easy to
use app. Same goes for Facebook, Google, Amazon - nobody cares.

~~~
__abc
None of my friends/family outside tech have any idea of what is/has been going
on inside Uber. A bit unfair to say "they don't care".

~~~
bantunes
Everyone that I've told still doesn't care.

