# Yes Uber Is Losing Money...A Lot Of Money..



## Raquel (Jan 9, 2015)

Uber is like the Enron of it's time.. There are rumors in different blogs that they have used almost 80% of their investor money.. and are deseprate for more capital. Their liquidity is an absolute mess..


This whole rate cut fiasco is a way for them to gain more marketshare..to improve liquidity..

The writing is on the wall for them, soon regulations will start to tighten the screws even more...

I predict that uber will be no more in 5 years... before you say..but $40 billion..remember no one has seen their books...


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## SDUberdriver (Nov 11, 2014)

Raquel said:


> Uber is like the Enron of it's time.. There are rumors in different blogs that they have used almost 80% of their investor money.. and are deseprate for more capital. Their liquidity is an absolute mess..
> 
> This whole rate cut fiasco is a way for them to gain more marketshare..to improve liquidity..
> 
> ...


_Hell just the raise rates . More money in their pockets,and ours!!_


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

SDUberdriver said:


> Hell just the raise rates . More money in their pockets,and ours!!


Well, now you get into logic, common sense, and other mere mortal absurdities. That really has no place here. This is the Uber Magical Kingdom. Everyone here rides for free on a magic carpet driven by a rainbow-colored unicorn that works for free! Weeeeeeee.....


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## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

Raquel said:


> Uber is like the Enron of it's time.. There are rumors in different blogs that they have used almost 80% of their investor money.. and are deseprate for more capital. Their liquidity is an absolute mess..
> 
> This whole rate cut fiasco is a way for them to gain more marketshare..to improve liquidity..
> 
> ...


Yupp, I wrote that last week. First it was holds on fares over $100 then some drivers weren't getting paid. 5 years is optimistic, maybe 2 years. 40 B is their valuation, not how much money they got. They only recieved a billion and change.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> Well, now you get into logic, common sense, and other mere mortal absurdities. That really has no place here. This is the Uber Magical Kingdom. Everyone here rides for free on a magic carpet driven by a rainbow-colored unicorn that works for free! Weeeeeeee.....


I thought Travis promised us all a pony?


Oh, maybe it was his uncle, Vermin Supreme


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## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

observer said:


> Yupp, I wrote that last week. First it was holds on fares over $100 then some drivers weren't getting paid. 5 years is optimistic, maybe 2 years. 40 B is their valuation, not how much money they got. They only recieved a billion and change.


http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/20...lion-with-1-2-billion-equity-fundraising.html

Uber has very few physical assets if it needed to sell something to raise money. 
It has consistently pissed off its biggest asset, the drivers. 
Investors valued it highly based on future earnings.
I think NYE wasn't as good as Uber expected and maybe hurting for cash. 
They are fighting a war on many fronts. India, Spain,Germany,China, Nevada, Portland, etc...
Today they were ordered to shut down in South Carolina. 
Are there cracks showing in Ubers armor?


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

Raquel said:


> Uber is like the Enron of it's time.. There are rumors in different blogs that they have used almost 80% of their investor money.. and are deseprate for more capital. Their liquidity is an absolute mess..
> 
> This whole rate cut fiasco is a way for them to gain more marketshare..to improve liquidity..
> 
> ...


You just may be right. I did see one story talking about how things probably aren't as though most would believe they are for Uber.

What could have been (potentially) the most successful company ever to exist, will probably end up like a video rental store I remember from the 1980's. The guy went out and rented all of the movies he wanted to rent at his store, made multiple copies of them, stuck them shelves and opened a video store. The FBI came in saying something about some copyright crap, blah, blah, blah...Ok, maybe not a perfect example, but it has the same smell to it. It's just that Uber is kind of stinking up the whole planet, that dude, just one part of one city. The regulations are happening everywhere. Lots of people have had their fill of Ubermania. That will change a lot very quickly - almost overnight. Uber will do the rest of the damage themselves. They've already got a good head-start in that area, and they're getting better at it day-by-day.

Uber is kinda like the pet rock was in the 1970's. It was a novelty, made some guy rich, and it went away. Of course no one got killed, raped, assaulted, or ruined financially from the pet rock either.

Uber - Worse than a Rock


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> I thought Travis promised us all a pony?
> 
> 
> Oh, maybe it was his uncle, Vermin Supreme


You didn't get your pony?  Great, next thing you know they'll be screwing people out of money too!


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Thank you for your contributions to me Uber drivers


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

observer said:


> Uber has very few physical assets if it needed to sell something to raise money.


Shoot dude - I bet they've got like $2,500 worth of crappy iPhones, and from what I could tell, they had about 1.2 million tied up in USB car chargers, all of which don't work, unfortunately. I saw the same ones on Amazon for like $1.36 new. Uber is a financial juggernaut though! If they needed to liquidate, they could probably easily raise 40,000 - 50,000...Pesos.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver (Dec 12, 2014)

observer said:


> http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/20...lion-with-1-2-billion-equity-fundraising.html
> 
> Uber has very few physical assets if it needed to sell something to raise money.
> It has consistently pissed off its biggest asset, the drivers.
> ...


That Bloomberg article sounds positive about Uber to me.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver (Dec 12, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> Shoot dude - I bet they've got like $2,500 worth of crappy iPhones, and from what I could tell, they had about 1.2 million tied up in USB car chargers, all of which don't work, unfortunately. I saw the same ones on Amazon for like $1.36 new. Uber is a financial juggernaut though! If they needed to liquidate, they could probably easily raise 40,000 - 50,000...Pesos.


Their main asset is the people beating up their cars.
I worked at a limousine company where the manager told us, without you drivers, this company would be just cars sitting around.

That's not Uber's way of thinking.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

New Uber driver app just released:


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## Long time Nyc cab driver (Dec 12, 2014)

observer said:


> I think NYE wasn't as good as Uber expected and maybe


Just because NYE wasn't the bonanza drivers thought it would be doesn't mean Uber didn't make out like bandits .


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

There must be enough pissed off drivers by now the Uber investors could raise way more than 40 bil. by selling them pay per view to watch Travis commit hari kari


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> Thank you for your contributions to me Uber drivers


WTF is it about that guy that makes me think that if I looked at his back there would be a big hole where someone puts their hand in to turn his head and make his mouth move (lie)? I contend there is no _*real*_ 'Travis Kalanick,' he is just the face of the evil that has taken over. It may be aliens sent here to destroy us financially, without having to exert any effort, then they can watch us kill each other, feed on the corpses of the dead, then steal all of our Elvis Presley stuff. That stuff is really valuable. Personally though, I think it's the fast-food workers. Their $15/hour minimum wage protests didn't really work, so they probably said, **** it!, we're taking over the world. I bet we may have a chance of getting $15/hour to drive for "Uber" from the fast-food workers/controllers, though.

Repeat after me - "Would you like fries and a complementary bottle of water with that?"


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> There must be enough pissed off drivers by now the Uber investors could raise way more than 40 bil. by selling them pay per view to watch Travis commit hari kari
> 
> 
> View attachment 3800


I would sign the deed to my home over to them!


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> Just because NYE wasn't the bonanza drivers thought it would be doesn't mean Uber didn't make out like bandits .


They are bandits! How else could they make out? Like good guys?


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> Thank you for your contributions to me Uber drivers


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## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> That Bloomberg article sounds positive about Uber to me.


Article was written Dec 4. A LOT of things have changed since then, I bet some investors are getting nervous.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> Their main asset is the people beating up their cars.
> I worked at a limousine company where the manager told us, without you drivers, this company would be just cars sitting around.
> 
> That's not Uber's way of thinking.


The big difference though - Uber doesn't even own any cars to sit around. If they go out of business, I bet all the employees at corporate will have to call an Uber to get home, uh, okay, Lyft then. Anyone, everyone, (Except Uber!!) would look at the situation and say what we have here (for now), are the drivers and their vehicles. That is our business. They are what makes this possible. We have to try and make a healthy profit, but not at the expense of pissing-off everyone on the planet, especially the drivers. Ooops, they blew it. Everyone hates them except Ashton Kutcher, and the old Uber Jax. I think they got some business advice that said - your primary objective is to make everyone so mad at Uber, that you'll never be able to hire another human being to drive for you again...ever!

Isn't there something talked about in business courses about the potential dangers of extremely fast growth. I also believe I remember hearing being stupid, dishonest a-holes not usually working out so well either.


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## unter ling (Sep 29, 2014)

Investors have given a lot of money to uber, and uber are buying market share all over the world. Now think about how many fares are being charged on a daily basis, the amount of transactions must be huge. Now all that money goes into a bank account. What happens with huge deposits in bank acounts, interest is paid. How much money are they making in interest. 

They are not going broke, they are trying to get as many rider apps dowloaded as possible, as many drivers as possible to try and realise their valuation. Another million drivers this year. That would be a world wide projection, but they are having issues in so many countries. India and china would be there biggest growth markets and if they fail there the 40 billion valuation may be doomed.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver (Dec 12, 2014)

Travis K will probably try to spin it,
I created 1 million jobs ! YAY!


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## unter ling (Sep 29, 2014)

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> Travis K will probably try to spin it,
> I created 1 million jobs ! YAY!


 Thats exactly what the suckhole will do.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

observer said:


> Article was written Dec 4. A LOT of things have changed since then, I bet some investors are getting nervous.


The article is kind of positive, but I'm with you. Things seem to have a different feel to them now. I guess the huge number of massive rate cuts really changed my opinion of Uber from - I really hate them, to, I wish they would self-destruct immediately. Plus there's just a sense of impending doom. I see the rates and I know they can't work, but surely Uber has plans. I can't believe people would invest that much money without thinking Kalanick actually has a viable, long-term plan. It's not like he's selling some metal, ionized bracelet that offers relief from pain and arthritis due to manipulation of a body's chi. He may as well be though, if he doesn't have drivers!

I believe autonomous vehicles are a lot closer to being here than most people think, but the way Uber is pissing-off drivers, and tossing them aside, you'd think Uber had warehouses full of driverless cars ready immediately.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

unter ling said:


> Investors have given a lot of money to uber, and uber are buying market share all over the world. Now think about how many fares are being charged on a daily basis, the amount of transactions must be huge. Now all that money goes into a bank account. What happens with huge deposits in bank acounts, interest is paid. How much money are they making in interest.
> 
> They are not going broke, they are trying to get as many rider apps dowloaded as possible, as many drivers as possible to try and realise their valuation. Another million drivers this year. That would be a world wide projection, but they are having issues in so many countries. India and china would be there biggest growth markets and if they fail there the 40 billion valuation may be doomed.


I think China will always tell Kalanick to go screw himself. I guarantee you that's one place he won't go into acting like a little *****.


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## UberVW (Jan 13, 2015)

If I had money there, I would kill Charles Schwab


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## unter ling (Sep 29, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> The article is kind of positive, but I'm with you. Things seem to have a different feel to them now. I guess the huge number of massive rate cuts really changed my opinion of Uber from - I really hate them, to, I wish they would self-destruct immediately. Plus there's just a sense of impending doom. I see the rates and I know they can't work, but surely Uber has plans. I can't believe people would invest that much money without thinking Kalanick actually has a viable, long-term plan. It's not like he's selling some metal, ionized bracelet that offers relief from pain and arthritis due to manipulation of a body's chi. He may as well be though, if he doesn't have drivers!
> 
> I believe autonomous vehicles are a lot closer to being here than most people think, but the way Uber is pissing-off drivers, and tossing them aside, you'd think Uber had warehouses full of driverless cars ready immediately.


Looking at the board members of uber technologies, there is a heap of business experience that has been put together


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## unter ling (Sep 29, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> I think China will always tell Kalanick to go screw himself. I guarantee you that's one place he won't go into acting like a little *****.


 One thing about the chinese, they dont mind using a firing squad every now and again


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> Travis K will probably try to spin it,
> I created 1 million jobs ! YAY!


That's the thing, people always talk the number of jobs. When they're crap jobs no one would want unless they're actually starving to death, did you really do something so great? There's sweat shops, and forced labor shops all over the world, but do these people deserve recognition because they created 'jobs?'

The auto. leasing scam alone will do a lot of damage. I don't guess anyone will be starving to death just over that, in this country anyway, but I imagine there will be quite a few more people on food stamps because of Travis Kalanick and his evil Uber machine. Yet these jobs he's created won't do anything, but maybe make it possible for someone to pay their auto lease, and little more.

At least in this area, a minimum wage job would be a huge step up from what Uber offers.


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## UberVW (Jan 13, 2015)

I hope they shoot the bastard


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

unter ling said:


> One thing about the chinese, they dont mind using a firing squad every now and again


I'm free to travel anytime, just in case China ever needs one Travis Kalanick to stand trial for attempting to destroy the Chinese economy with disruptive business practices. That sounds like a real crime, even one worthy of the death penalty, in China. But yeah - I can give him a Lyft over anytime they need him.

Doesn't he have a couple of years waiting for him in S. Korea or someplace too? I'm too lazy to look it up, but someone needs to stop him. I'm free to head to S. Korea too. Seoul? Are you listening? I get $0.70/mile to bring him too you. Lemme know.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> WTF is it about that guy that makes me think that if I looked at his back there would be a big hole where someone puts their hand in to turn his head and make his mouth move (lie)? I contend there is no _*real*_ 'Travis Kalanick,' he is just the face of the evil that has taken over.


Maybe it's the similarity?




  





[URL='http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/530e647ceab8ea8e4bc8cef6/heres-how-uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-is-defending-his-tactics-to-crush-lyft.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.businessinsider.com/kalanick-defends-ubers-tactics-2014-8&h=900&w=1200&tbnid=e8svRnvTzx3hQM:&zoom=1&docid=FRe7TuY8OzJyVM&ei=7Li4VKaQBYW4oQS_0oC4BA&tbm=isch&ved=0CEgQMyhAMEA4ZA']


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> Maybe it's the similarity?
> 
> 
> View attachment 3809


Too good!!


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## puber (Aug 31, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> I tfederalravis promised us all a pony?
> 
> 
> Oh, maybe it was his uncle, Vermin Supreme


You mean a donkey and 30 acres of land?
Some blacks are still trying to collect it from the federal government


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## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

Uber's biggest expense right now is lawyers. They are fighting legal battles all over the world, and their legal resources are stretched thin. For example, look at the representation they had in Orlando as the city was debating the passing of new Uber regulations. The one guy representing Uber looked like he was 17 years old.


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## Actionjax (Oct 6, 2014)

Ubers value comes from not how many drivers it has, but how many customers they have.

Drivers are just like hard inventory. To the valuation it's how many people do they have riding and what % of market are they tripping from Taxi's and other methods of transportation.

Customer satisfaction is also a factor because that's retention of customers.

In the end it's easy to get more drivers. This is because unlike Taxi's anyone can do it. Including the customer base. Customers are the income. Drivers are just the middlemen to that income.


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## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

observer said:


> Yupp, I wrote that last week. First it was holds on fares over $100 then some drivers weren't getting paid. 5 years is optimistic, maybe 2 years. 40 B is their valuation, not how much money they got. They only recieved a billion and change.


"Only..."


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

puber said:


> You mean a donkey and 30 acres of land?
> Some blacks are still trying to collect it from the federal government


They've got a better chance of getting theirs.


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## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

Actionjax said:


> Ubers value comes from not how many drivers it has, but how many customers they have.
> 
> Drivers are just like hard inventory. To the valuation it's how many people do they have riding and what % of market are they tripping from Taxi's and other methods of transportation.
> 
> ...


Pax are potential income. Drivers are an asset to realize that income. No drivers, no income. I think as word gets out how bad Uber treats drivers and Uber is forced to follow background checks, insurance laws etc. It will become harder and more expensive to hire drivers.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

observer said:


> Pax are potential income. Drivers are an asset to realize that income. No drivers, no income. I think as word gets out how bad Uber treats drivers and Uber is forced to follow background checks, insurance laws etc. It will become harder and more expensive to hire drivers.


Yep, if suddenly every Uber driver had to have a chauffeur's license to drive X, Uber would have about zero drivers, and I suspect very few would go to the trouble of getting one.

Mandatory drug testing would almost certainly eliminate some too. I don't have stats., but I'm guessing nearly all X drivers qualified to drive by having a car and insurance, only.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

observer said:


> Article was written Dec 4. A LOT of things have changed since then, I bet some investors are getting nervous.


It doesn't take long for the investor public as far as big money goes to wise up to antics.

I'm on a survey list of end users for a couple of famous internet companies that are screened by investors so they get the 'real story' from their money source. In this case that's me. I tell them like it is and have been quoted a couple times in their worldwide forward forecast distributions.

People with real money know WTF is going on. They are not stupid. At least not as stupid as drivers anyway. It won't take them but a day or 2 to figure out that Travis is just running a common scam on the unsuspecting masses and bilking them. In todays world those kinds of scams NEVER last as long as they used to.

Money as it relates to the profit end of the scale is an impenetrable subject, which when violated results in inevitable financial ruin. In this case, first the drivers, then the company itself and the banks that financed the scams. The initial drivers of the business end of Uber and their financial partners are setting up for the quickest run to the exit door for themselves *BUT they may not make it through the door. I'd suggest there is a bit of desperation internally.*


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

There is no mystery to any business. The 'cab' business being A BUSINESS, has massive amounts of business analysis applied. In my prior business I used business metrics provided from the BANKS based on other businesses of identical nature with the EXACT proven hard costs to operate that business. It's available for any business.

Any casual glance at those kinds of metrics proves instantly that Uber is a FINANCIAL SCAM ON DRIVERS.


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## observer (Dec 11, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> Yep, if suddenly every Uber driver had to have a chauffeur's license to drive X, Uber would have about zero drivers, and I suspect very few would go to the trouble of getting one.
> 
> Mandatory drug testing would almost certainly eliminate some too. I don't have stats., but I'm guessing nearly all X drivers qualified to drive by having a car and insurance, only.


Another factor is the background check. Livescan is 50-70 dllrs per person and takes time. If drivers had to pay, less would sign up. If Uber had to pay, it would be expensive because of the turnover of drivers. They would have to slow down their driver churn rate. That is why Uber is against Livescans.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

observer said:


> Another factor is the background check. Livescan is 50-70 dllrs per person and takes time. If drivers had to pay, less would sign up. If Uber had to pay, it would be expensive because of the turnover of drivers. They would have to slow down their driver churn rate. That is why Uber is against Livescans.


From some of the ones we've all seen slip through, Uber doesn't care about any background check.


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## Actionjax (Oct 6, 2014)

observer said:


> Pax are potential income. Drivers are an asset to realize that income. No drivers, no income. I think as word gets out how bad Uber treats drivers and Uber is forced to follow background checks, insurance laws etc. It will become harder and more expensive to hire drivers.


Pax are always income. Even if they don't ride.

That's why Facebook and WhatsApp are worth what they are. Customer databases and data mining is sometimes a bigger business than the product you peddle.

Again drivers are just a tool to mine that income from the product. You are only as good as the next guy who will take your place.

Now take a good look in the mirror and say "I am worthless"

Because that's how it is from a $ point of view at Uber. A tool to be replaced like the screwdriver at your local Walmart. Disposable.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> Maybe it's the similarity?
> 
> 
> View attachment 3809


Wait a minute, which one is which? Oh, the dummy has a microphone.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

Actionjax said:


> Now take a good look in the mirror and say "I am worthless"


Sorry, you won't hear those words come out of my mouth. I also don't work for Uber though. I was kinda starting to feel I wasn't my normally priceless self at $1.15/mile, but $0.70?? Heeellllll no, Travis done went crazy up in here!


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## Actionjax (Oct 6, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> Sorry, you won't hear those words come out of my mouth. I also don't work for Uber though. I was kinda starting to feel I wasn't my normally priceless self at $1.15/mile, but $0.70?? Heeellllll no, Travis done went crazy up in here!


lol...you are well on your way to recovery from an abusive relationship.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

Actionjax said:


> lol...you are well on your way to recovery from an abusive relationship.


I just wanna be loved.  Please Travis, can you just hit me or something to show you care?


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## Driver8 (Jul 29, 2014)

Imagine how much money the big kids could make by shorting the stock ...


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## a_loser (Jan 10, 2015)

UberVW said:


> If I had money there, I would kill Charles Schwab


Random comment of the day award.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

a_loser said:


> Random comment of the day award.


That's why I had to 'Like' it. It just deserved something.


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## Oscar Levant (Aug 15, 2014)

Raquel said:


> Uber is like the Enron of it's time.. There are rumors in different blogs that they have used almost 80% of their investor money.. and are deseprate for more capital. Their liquidity is an absolute mess..
> 
> This whole rate cut fiasco is a way for them to gain more marketshare..to improve liquidity..
> 
> ...


If Uber doesn't raise rates soon, it will happen a lot sooner than that.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver (Dec 12, 2014)

Oscar Levant said:


> If Uber doesn't raise rates soon, it will happen a lot sooner than that.


Not really, what makes Uber more money, 100 million drivers at 75 cents a mile or 25 million drivers at $1.25 a mile ?? And you're very replaceable.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

Oscar Levant said:


> If Uber doesn't raise rates soon, it will happen a lot sooner than that.


What I can't understand is, why *anyone* is even working in any of the cities with these ridiculous fare reductions. Hell, I wouldn't even have worked in Chicago at $0.90/mile.

I haven't looked on the rider app in a couple of days, but every time I did there was plenty of stupid ****s out at $0.65/mile in Lexington, and $0.70/mile in Louisville. Could they be mistaking getting most of their gas money reimbursed with an actual income? Not sure if I'm more concerned about why these people are even driving, or the fact that my kids and I have to share the roads with these fools, which obviously aren't the best decision makers.

We need a modern day Paul Revere to ride the streets and warn us, "The Ubers are Coming, The Ubers are Coming!" (And at $0.10/mile they're in a hurry!)


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## pengduck (Sep 26, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> I think China will always tell Kalanick to go screw himself. I guarantee you that's one place he won't go into acting like a little *****.


Not so fast there. The guy that owns Ali-baba just put in $600 million. I think he's got some stroke with the Chinese government.


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## pengduck (Sep 26, 2014)

UberVW said:


> I hope they shoot the bastard


May I have that pleasure please?


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## anOzzieUber (Oct 31, 2014)

UberHammer said:


> The one guy representing Uber looked like he was 17 years old.


Operational strategy I guess. Only one guy out of the entire Uber staff I've met here in Brisbane looks like he is over 25. Don't employ anyone with life experience, because they will just disagree with the stupid things Uber does.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver (Dec 12, 2014)

anOzzieUber said:


> Operational strategy I guess. Only one guy out of the entire Uber staff I've met here in Brisbane looks like he is over 25. Don't employ anyone with life experience, because they will just disagree with the stupid things Uber does.


Uber wants low paid help, including lawyer's who look 17 .


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

Long time Nyc cab driver said:


> Not really, what makes Uber more money, 100 million drivers at 75 cents a mile or 25 million drivers at $1.25 a mile ?? And you're very replaceable.


Sir, are you suggesting that Uber places a slightly higher value on it's piles of cash, than it does on it's poor, demented drivers?


pengduck said:


> Not so fast there. The guy that owns Ali-baba just put in $600 million. I think he's got some stroke with the Chinese government.


Possibly - but it's China, not the U.S.

Hopefully, Uber will be just a bad memory before they spread very much more. If they can contain Ebola, surely they can stop Uber.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

anOzzieUber said:


> Operational strategy I guess. Only one guy out of the entire Uber staff I've met here in Brisbane looks like he is over 25. Don't employ anyone with life experience, because they will just disagree with the stupid things Uber does.


Yeah, the manager here was a kid too. I guess they're easily fooled. Uber's prime targets.


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## Actionjax (Oct 6, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> What I can't understand is, why *anyone* is even working in any of the cities with these ridiculous fare reductions. Hell, I wouldn't even have worked in Chicago at $0.90/mile.
> 
> I haven't looked on the rider app in a couple of days, but every time I did there was plenty of stupid ****s out at $0.65/mile in Lexington, and $0.70/mile in Louisville. Could they be mistaking getting most of their gas money reimbursed with an actual income? Not sure if I'm more concerned about why these people are even driving, or the fact that my kids and I have to share the roads with these fools, which obviously aren't the best decision makers.
> 
> We need a modern day Paul Revere to ride the streets and warn us, "The Ubers are Coming, The Ubers are Coming!" (And at $0.10/mile they're in a hurry!)


I think the reason is people trust that Uber has done the math and feel "Why would Uber be in business if I can't make money?" They just will find out too late when they see the sunk cost. Hell I may have started doing this not seeing what kind of cost was involved. I'm not a former cab driver and never really done the math on it.

Anyone can get swayed into this.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

Actionjax said:


> Anyone can get swayed into this.


Anyone can get swayed into it, but I can't believe anyone would keep doing it. Unless it's just not about the money. I believe most people wanna make money though.


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## Actionjax (Oct 6, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> Anyone can get swayed into it, but I can't believe anyone would keep doing it. Unless it's just not about the money. I believe most people wanna make money though.


I would agree. I think it takes 2 months before you realize that the earn is pretty close to the burn. And it's not sustainable as a full job. I started to se this in month 2 but it was also a new market here. So month 1 was a bit crazy and most times I would be waiting less then 3 min before the next ping and never moving my car from the last one.

Those were the easy days.

I decided to try a Saturday at 3 PM to see how things were. After my first pickup to the downtown core I sat almost an hour before the next ping. Good thing it was a long haul that was a $58 fare. After that it was about a 15 min average between pings. Nothing under $25 for the rest of the night. So a good day till 9PM


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

Actionjax said:


> I would agree. I think it takes 2 months before you realize that the earn is pretty close to the burn. And it's not sustainable as a full job. I started to se this in month 2 but it was also a new market here. So month 1 was a bit crazy and most times I would be waiting less then 3 min before the next ping and never moving my car from the last one.
> 
> Those were the easy days.
> 
> I decided to try a Saturday at 3 PM to see how things were. After my first pickup to the downtown core I sat almost an hour before the next ping. Good thing it was a long haul that was a $58 fare. After that it was about a 15 min average between pings. Nothing under $25 for the rest of the night. So a good day till 9PM


Sounds like with a decent rate, you could be ok. Here, the more rides, and miles, the quicker you die! $0.70/mile.


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## Actionjax (Oct 6, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> Sounds like with a decent rate, you could be ok. Here, the more rides, and miles, the quicker you die! $0.70/mile.


Yep...it's hasn't been all doom an gloom here yet. But they say they were approving 100 new drivers every week before New Years. And I would say their push is putting about 50 per week now.

Mind you they have over 1000 new riders here downloading the app every week. So that's got to be positive.

But something needs to give for this to work in other markets. You can't sustain a proper living. Especially when all the risk is on you. If you are running your own business you should be making 6 figures when you need to take the risk. (maybe not first year, but there should be an endgame to get there). You will never make it with Uber.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

Actionjax said:


> Yep...it's hasn't been all doom an gloom here yet. But they say they were approving 100 new drivers every week before New Years. And I would say their push is putting about 50 per week now.
> 
> Mind you they have over 1000 new riders here downloading the app every week. So that's got to be positive.
> 
> But something needs to give for this to work in other markets. You can't sustain a proper living. Especially when all the risk is on you. If you are running your own business you should be making 6 figures when you need to take the risk. (maybe not first year, but there should be an endgame to get there). You will never make it with Uber.


Yeah, I don't really see myself ever doing it again. Regardless of what they say the rates are. Uber has proven to me that they are some worthless pieces of shit. I can't imagine them getting my trust without a big pile of cash. Then it wouldn't be trust, it would be the money.


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## Peaches (Jan 11, 2015)

observer said:


> Yupp, I wrote that last week. First it was holds on fares over $100 then some drivers weren't getting paid. 5 years is optimistic, maybe 2 years. 40 B is their valuation, not how much money they got. They only recieved a billion and change.


Only a cool Billion!!!!


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

Peaches said:


> Only a cool Billion!!!!


A billion is obviously a lot of money, but with their huge legal expenses, due to the fact they believe they're above the law, combined with the massive medical bills for the large number of crANALectomies to remove heads from asses at Uber, they could about go broke.

Oh, at some point they'll also figure out that they have to pay their 'Cab Drivers' too.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> A billion is obviously a lot of money, but with their huge legal expenses, due to the fact they believe they're above the law, combined with the massive medical bills for the large number of crANALectomies to remove heads from asses at Uber, they could about go broke.
> 
> Oh, at some point they'll also figure out that they have to pay their 'Cab Drivers' too.


I read an article in Business Insider today that Uber is telling their investor class that they are smoking it. Supposedly they are breaking some long standing metrics. Using San Fran as one of their examples the prior cab biz was running at about $140 mil. a year. So some investors assumed that Uber would just be taking a slice from that pie, but what really happened is they supposedly turned $500 mil annualized (i.e. maybe not real yet) and that is also probably based on a one quarter metric i.e. before the last rate cut. But the numbers from that end are better because they are turning more business by the service. So they have a little pump and dump action playing currently that I've witnessed before from investor end.

It's quite an interesting game they are playing to run this thing to an ipo as fast as possible. They will play a little fast and loose with the numbers, BUT at the point where they have to show the real deals, which is usually about 4-6 months prior to ipo, things will get more interesting from that end.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> I read an article in Business Insider today that Uber is telling their investor class that they are smoking it. Supposedly they are breaking some long standing metrics. Using San Fran as one of their examples the prior cab biz was running at about $140 mil. a year. So some investors assumed that Uber would just be taking a slice from that pie, but what really happened is they supposedly turned $500 mil annualized (i.e. maybe not real yet) and that is also probably based on a one quarter metric i.e. before the last rate cut. But the numbers from that end are better because they are turning more business by the service. So they have a little pump and dump action playing currently that I've witnessed before from investor end.
> 
> It's quite an interesting game they are playing to run this thing to an ipo as fast as possible. They will play a little fast and loose with the numbers, BUT at the point where they have to show the real deals, which is usually about 4-6 months prior to ipo, things will get more interesting from that end.


I can't wait until this whole thing blows up on Kalanick. It's is going to blow up, right? Usually people (investors) with a lot of money tend to do their homework before parting with it, so surely at some point they're going to realize that Uber is operating in a way that can't be sustained. I'm assuming, of course, they still need drivers.


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## UberRey (Sep 1, 2014)

I've spent the last 7 years waiting for Obama to leave office. Uber won't exit any time soon. Bad sh*t just lingers.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

UberRey said:


> I've spent the last 7 years waiting for Obama to leave office. Uber won't exit any time soon. Bad sh*t just lingers.


I believe more and more people are getting their fill of Uber. Obviously, when you piss off pretty much 100% of your workforce, you have a problem. Also, with all of the resources they have to waste trying to bully every city on the planet, it does nothing but hurt them long term. I just believe if they would have tried to do this thing right, they would have been much better off. Better service at better (but reasonable) prices works, I promise it does. They might not have been able to scam as many as investors though. They could have abided by all laws and regulations, and charged a fare where they could still make their billions, long term, and drivers could actually make a living doing this. They could have called themselves, mmm, maybe, A CAB COMPANY! I guess that wouldn't have had the futuristic, cyber-ride mystique going on though. Looks like a cab company to me though.


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## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

DriverJ said:


> I can't wait until this whole thing blows up on Kalanick. It's is going to blow up, right?


The only reason local governments weren't just slamming the door on Uber is because the voters were getting quality better than a cab for the same price as a cab.

If the quality of Uber drops below that of a cab, then the voters turn their backs on Uber and the local government's gloves come off.

Travis doesn't understand customer satisfaction. His first company was moving MP3 files as quickly as possible. His second company was moving any kind of digital file as fast as possible. He views customers and drivers like digital files.

He's focused on efficiency and cost (ETA and fare). He thinks quality can be maintained by drivers making a five cent profit wanting a five star rating. Gee, perhaps I should reinvest that nickle of profit into a Werther's candy to keep the pax happy.

Drivers are rejecting the rates. Passengers despise the surge. Neither of them can call and talk to anyone on Uber payroll.

Drivers are just bits and bytes to Travis. Customers are just bits and bytes to Travis. Got a problem? Here's the FAQ page. Still have a problem? Here's the page on the FAQ that you obviously didn't read.

At this point if you don't hear Styx's Mr. Roboto playing in the background then you aren't understanding how Travis thinks.

His ability to move digital packets around as fast as possible translates well into the birth of P2P taxiing... but people, both drivers and passengers, don't take being treated like shit for long. And if the drivers are being treated like shit, it's only a matter of time before the riders do too. At that point, Uber investors end up eating a big old shitburger.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver (Dec 12, 2014)

UberHammer said:


> The only reason local governments weren't just slamming the door on Uber is because the voters were getting quality better than a cab for the same price as a cab.
> 
> If the quality of Uber drops below that of a cab, then the voters turn their backs on Uber and the local government's gloves come off.
> 
> ...


The big investors probably already got paid and ran for the exits, rich people are rich for a reason.


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## DriverJ (Sep 1, 2014)

UberHammer said:


> The only reason local governments weren't just slamming the door on Uber is because the voters were getting quality better than a cab for the same price as a cab.
> 
> If the quality of Uber drops below that of a cab, then the voters turn their backs on Uber and the local government's gloves come off.
> 
> ...


Great post! I believe Kalanick is delusional. He's lost in some cyber-world. It's like an online game to him. It's too stupid to consider the human element, when the business is PEOPLE providing rides to PEOPLE, forgetting about the PEOPLE is a pretty stupid thing to do. I still say he's probably a joke to some of the 'real' tech. guys. He's nothing more than a guy that was looking to get rich quick, stumbled on something that could have been amazing, but screwed it up like probably no other adult with an IQ of over 70 could possibly have done. If he wasn't such an arrogant prick, he'd be leaving with his tail between his legs.


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## mrjhnsn (Jul 2, 2015)

when four 3-letter federal agencies are investigating you.... your days are numbered.... ever wonder why the Uber headquarters is the only commercial office building in SF that is "hardened" and has a helicopter pad on the roof? Could Travis be planning for the inevitable run out to sea? (200 NM and he is home free in international waters, about 1 hour by helicopter)... Any large yachts been purchased recently by an international LLC with a strangely german sounding name?...


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