# NYT story: How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons



## scrabble cat (Jul 16, 2016)

This is quite a piece...

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...o-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news


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## Jagent (Jan 29, 2017)

Uber ignores the one technique that would allow them to control me - Raise Rates. They spend millions on behavioral scientists to try and control drivers, but ignore the pay.

In that article, Uber admits that it uses stacked pings to suppress surges. *Stop accepting new requests!

*


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## ABC123DEF (Jun 9, 2015)

What's in this article that seasoned drivers don't already know?


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## FastEddie47 (Jan 10, 2017)

It's worth noting that Uber, in trying tactics to get more out of their driver resources, is not the only company doing so. Lyft has done something similar, and companies in other fields also try things to get more out of their resources.


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## SEAL Team 5 (Dec 19, 2015)

scrabble cat said:


> This is quite a piece...
> 
> https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...o-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news


Taking advantage of ignorance is not a psychological trick. It's easy for Uber to exploit the dumb asses that believe everything they read on the Internet. Just by the very basic insurance and tax questions in this forum anyone can see how easy it would be to take advantage of stupidity. It's not a psychological trick, it's a gimme.


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## Jagent (Jan 29, 2017)

SEAL Team 5 said:


> Taking advantage of ignorance is not a psychological trick. It's easy for Uber to exploit the dumb asses that believe everything they read on the Internet. Just by the very basic insurance and tax questions in this forum anyone can see how easy it would be to take advantage of stupidity. It's not a psychological trick, it's a gimme.


Anyone who is seriously impressed with stupid badges is a certifiable moron.


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## SEAL Team 5 (Dec 19, 2015)

Jagent said:


> Anyone who is seriously impressed with stupid badges is a certifiable moron.


Almost like the participation trophies that are handed out now.


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## BurgerTiime (Jun 22, 2015)

Their Jedi mind trucks never worked on me! I quit


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## Beur (Apr 14, 2015)

Pavlov's Dog - as soon as the ants hear the ping they accept. 

I prefer to peruse the ping for things like ratings, surge, address (I have a list of blacklisted addresses), and finally time.

I always "stop new requests" when accepting a ping and preach this constantly to drivers I meet.


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## FL_Dex (Nov 13, 2016)

Uber or its surrogates use a lot of psychology here as well. One of my personal favorites is the ego play. Those guys complaining are just lazy. If you get out there and really hustle you can make good money. 

The implication is that you're a smart, hard-driving independent businessman who can find a niche other people might overlook. Casinos also use that ploy. This is not a business that working harder yields better results. Efficiency is more highly valued than effort. You can only get X number of rides per hour in your car. No matter how Libertarian you think you are, you can't beat the math of distribution.


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## Jagent (Jan 29, 2017)

FL_Dex said:


> Uber or its surrogates use a lot of psychology here as well. One of my personal favorites is the ego play. Those guys complaining are just lazy. If you get out there and really hustle you can make good money.
> 
> The implication is that you're a smart, hard-driving independent businessman who can find a niche other people might overlook. Casinos also use that ploy. This is not a business that working harder yields better results. Efficiency is more highly valued than effort. You can only get X number of rides per hour in your car. No matter how Libertarian you think you are, you can't beat the math of distribution.


Uber driving has a lot of similarities with a ponzi scheme. Those who got in early made good money, word spread, others were eager to jump in. Suddenly the money wasn't good and word spread. Now they find it a lot harder to recruit drivers. They will either raise rates or go out of business.


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## Retired Senior (Sep 12, 2016)

scrabble cat said:


> This is quite a piece...
> 
> https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...o-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news


Thanks, Scrabble Cat. Many of us are aware that UBER does it's best to manipulate us, but I find it instructive to have it all laid out in a comprehensive manner.

I decided to take today off from Ubering, because, quite frankly, I am exhausted. I lost a few hours yesterday carrying riders and their groceries home from supermarkets. It was the second day of the 3 day "Food Stamp Marathon." Then I made 2 back to back trips to LaGuardia Airport... I like the money those airport rides generate, but sometimes the traffic on I-95 or the Merritt Parkway is bumper to bumper and my nerves get frayed.

That article helped me visualize myself in a way that makes sense to me. I AM PACKMAN! 
The riders are the things that I must consume. The deadly little monsters that try to slay Packman are human health ailments and costly car repairs.

As Packman I may pause but never quit, until I am slain.


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## Tim In Cleveland (Jul 28, 2014)

Jagent said:


> In that article, Uber admits that it uses stacked pings to suppress surges. *Stop accepting new requests!
> *


I've noticed this. Even in the thick of a huge surge, stacked requests are mostly NO SURGE. It's impossible. It makes me wonder if the customer pays a surge and Uber keeps it. I cancel the vast majority of stacked pings during surges if I accept them at all. If you don't see a surge price, don't accept!


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Tim In Cleveland said:


> I've noticed this. Even in the thick of a huge surge, stacked requests are mostly NO SURGE. It's impossible. It makes me wonder if the customer pays a surge and Uber keeps it. I cancel the vast majority of stacked pings during surges if I accept them at all. If you don't see a surge price, cancel!


I've experienced quite the opposite... I go from one surge to the next stacked surge ride until the surge dissipates. <shrug>

There's a whole section in the article (towards the end) discussing stacked rides ("Forward Dispatch") that I don't understand... seems outdated because it implies that trips are just added without any interaction from the driver... but when I get a 'stacked' request, I just let the request expire if i don't want it... I'd have to tap on the request within 15 seconds if I do want to accept it. What I experience is the opposite of what the article suggests is 'binge' behavior, where it is easier to just keep driving than to not accept the request. Bizarre.



scrabble cat said:


> This is quite a piece...
> https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/02/technology/uber-drivers-psychological-tricks.html


A really good article on 'much-ado-about-nothing' ...
making it sound as if Uber/Lyft invented consumer manipulation.

Uber, the Times and everyone else could have gleaned this info two years ago just by reading the posts on UberPeople.net!!

_Uber even published a study last year, using its vast pile of data on drivers' rides and hours, finding that a "substantial, although not most, fraction of partners" practice an extreme form of income targeting when they start on the platform, though they abandon it as they gain more experience. Strict income targeting is highly inefficient because it leads drivers to work long hours on days when business is slow and their hourly take is low, and to knock off early on days when business is brisk._​


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## Jesusdrivesuber (Jan 5, 2017)

As a gamer I welcome their design challenge of tricks and traps, I love to exploit holes that leave designers wondering "wtf".


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## twerkyo.....UBERRRRR (Oct 13, 2015)

SEAL Team 5 said:


> Almost like the participation trophies that are handed out now.


I used the term Participation trophy generation to describe millennials before they came up with that lovely term.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

One of the first things I learned about Uber when I started driving (nearly 3 years ago) was to reply to their BS txts with "STOP".
That's all it takes to opt-out of their annoying txt messages and drive in peace.
(you can always start them up again if you miss them)


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## SEAL Team 5 (Dec 19, 2015)

twerkyo.....UBERRRRR said:


> I used the term Participation trophy generation to describe millennials before they came up with that lovely term.


If I posted my description of millennials then I would be banned for life from this forum.


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## Retired Senior (Sep 12, 2016)

SEAL Team 5 said:


> If I posted my description of millennials then I would be banned for life from this forum.


Right there with you. I spent 10 minutes tracking down a college student today who had used the "point and click" method of informing the Uber App of where the pick-up location was. Unfortunately the address I got was 1/4 mile away from where he was. I eventually found him in front of the central college building.

After the ride I checked and the ungrateful SOB had actually complained to UBER that my "Navigation" skills were not up to speed! He was grateful enough in the car, and I gave him a 5 star rating, but now I'd like to wring his neck!!!


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## Jesusdrivesuber (Jan 5, 2017)

Retired Senior said:


> Right there with you. I spent 10 minutes tracking down a college student today who had used the "point and click" method of informing the Uber App of where the pick-up location was. Unfortunately the address I got was 1/4 mile away from where he was. I eventually found him in front of the central college building.
> 
> After the ride I checked and the ungrateful SOB had actually complained to UBER that my "Navigation" skills were not up to speed! He was grateful enough in the car, and I gave him a 5 star rating, but now I'd like to wring his neck!!!


Change his rating to 1 through the app, those people need branding.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

What some may not realize is that as the article states, Uber's interests and that of it's drivers are not aligned, making for a strained partnership. Uber wants to keep rates low and reduce surge. They are more interested in attracting and keeping the volume of the business, siphoning off rides where someone will use uber for a couple of bucks more than the bus but not a lot more. They will make it up in consistent volume and that booking fee they don't share with you. The bar crowd will pay a surge, the go to work in the morning crowd won't. So Uber has to keep figuring out how to fool us with communications from "Laura" to keep us driving cheap. It's going to get harder and harder to find ways to bring in a decent amount of money doing this.


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## scrabble cat (Jul 16, 2016)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> I've experienced quite the opposite... I go from one surge to the next stacked surge ride until the surge dissipates. <shrug>
> 
> A really good article on 'much-ado-about-nothing' ...
> making it sound as if Uber/Lyft invented consumer manipulation.
> ...


Most of it may be old hat to seasoned Uber drivers... but not to your average New York Times reader. The forum makes a difference. (And the digital simulations are way beyond the journalism of the print age: bravo to the Times.)

Consumer manipulation is certainly old hat. Contractor (or 'employee,' depending on your legal definition) manipulation is also old hat... but the techniques of, say, McDonalds with franchise owners (which is essentially what we are) have traditionally been less blatant and surreptitious than the techniques of Uber. Whether we all find this story novel or not--it will be interesting and novel to many of your passengers.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Retired Senior said:


> I spent 10 minutes tracking down a college student today who had used the "point and click" method of informing the Uber App of where the pick-up location was. Unfortunately the address I got was 1/4 mile away from where he was. I eventually found him in front of the central college building. After the ride I checked and the ungrateful SOB had actually complained to UBER that my "Navigation" skills were not up to speed!


That's Uber's fault for allowing people to think that, as TK says over and over, 'just push a button'. It's not the kids fault - Uber has made that the expectation - just like they have made people think that tipping is not necessary. There are lots of things you can blame on millennials (or any younger generation), but IMO that's not one of them.


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## Adieu (Feb 21, 2016)

Jagent said:


> Anyone who is seriously impressed with stupid badges is a certifiable moron.


We have to say "a special VIP" now, to avoid putting your account at risk.

-a non-threatening courtesy message from your politically correct millenial overlords, press 'accept terms' to log in


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## Jagent (Jan 29, 2017)

Retired Senior said:


> Right there with you. I spent 10 minutes tracking down a college student today who had used the "point and click" method of informing the Uber App of where the pick-up location was. Unfortunately the address I got was 1/4 mile away from where he was. I eventually found him in front of the central college building.
> 
> After the ride I checked and the ungrateful SOB had actually complained to UBER that my "Navigation" skills were not up to speed! He was grateful enough in the car, and I gave him a 5 star rating, but now I'd like to wring his neck!!!


Why? You were given the gift of a free $3.75 cancel fee and you wasted it by playing hide and seek. Drive directly to the pin, wait 5 mins and 30 secs.


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## DriverX (Aug 5, 2015)

"To keep drivers on the road, the company has exploited some people’s tendency to set earnings goals"

That, is the key factor in determining driver earnings performance and driver retention over time for a study on cabbies. Basically the drivers who didn't set a daily earnings goal but instead drove when it was busy and went home if it was slow had the highest earnings over time and longest careers driving. It was a huge study theres a thread somewhere in here or google it. 

It's the science behind the surge drive only ethos. Most drivers unfortunately think that the carbon pumping out their tail pipe isn't contributing to climate change.


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## Beur (Apr 14, 2015)

Retired Senior said:


> Right there with you. I spent 10 minutes tracking down a college student today who had used the "point and click" method of informing the Uber App of where the pick-up location was. Unfortunately the address I got was 1/4 mile away from where he was. I eventually found him in front of the central college building.
> 
> After the ride I checked and the ungrateful SOB had actually complained to UBER that my "Navigation" skills were not up to speed! He was grateful enough in the car, and I gave him a 5 star rating, but now I'd like to wring his neck!!!


This is why I don't move from where the dropped the pin. If they happen to call, I tell them to cancel and reorder.


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## Retired Senior (Sep 12, 2016)

Disgusted driver wrote: "So Uber has to keep figuring out how to fool us with communications from "Laura" to keep us driving cheap."

Wow, I had forgotten all about that pretty Uber-Corp Avatar! When I first joined this Uber people.net forum I saw "her" posts at least once a week... now it seems that at least a month has gone by without one. I wonder, am I just missing them or did Uber stop using that particular Avatar since so many people here outted "her"?



Jagent said:


> Why? You were given the gift of a free $3.75 cancel fee and you wasted it by playing hide and seek. Drive directly to the pin, wait 5 mins and 30 secs.


Jagent, you make a lot of sense. That may be the only effective way available to us to force Uber to get rid of this ridiculous. non-viable, feature. Follow the rules exactly... do not try to interpret them in a way that makes sense in the real world!

I actually did that to a boss I had back in the 1980s. We eventually had a big blow out but I didn't get fired because everyone in the dept knew that I had simply followed orders... explicitly.


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## Jermin8r89 (Mar 10, 2016)

Its called propaganda. The government does it too. Our capitalist world mixes psychological warfare brought upon with "convince"makes them eay to cull the masses


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