# The Financial Times: Uber is DOOMED!



## BurgerTiime (Jun 22, 2015)

https://boingboing.net/2017/04/10/costs-are-costs.html








"Costs are costs, even if you're a monopoly" -- so the fact that Uber loses (a _lot_) of money on every single ride won't magically go away if the company manages to kill its competition by subsidizing riders with its investors' money. Uber will need to find better economics somehow, and right now, that seems to involve two sleazy and improbable tactics:

1. Tricking customers into carpools rather than solo rides, nudging them with dark patterns in Uber's UI that irrevocably commits riders to carpools if they absentmindedly tap the default button, rather than the increasingly obscured solo ride options; carpools make Uber a lot more money, but drivers and riders hate them.

2. Bullying legislatures into killing public transit, so that when Uber kills all the other taxi services and then turns its own service into a carpool-only, riders won't be able to opt out by switching back to riding the bus.

Meanwhile, Uber is continuing to squeeze its drivers for a bigger share of every ride, while drivers push back, forming unions and then running co-op/nonprofit dispatch services that fill the void when Uber storms out of town in a huff.

Eventually, Uber will run out of investor money to spend. It's hard to imagine how the company will manage any kind of "exit" that will repay the insane valuations it has used to raise all that money to subsidize our cheap rides -- even the mumble-mumble-something-self-driving-cars hand-waving won't protect it from upstarts that can also do self-driving fleet vehicles without the encumbrance of investors who expect a giant payout for the billions they've sunk into its schemes.

If the population's top political priority really was a cheap private car service rather than a new public transport infrastructure, political parties would be putting this issue at the top of their political manifestos. The fact they don't suggests society as a whole would never endorse policy which campaigned for cheap taxi services to be funded with lower worker living standards.

It's hardly surprising that consumers will endorse political calls for cheaper taxi services if a pre-drafted email to that effect lands in their inbox without a fair explanation of who funds those cheap services really.They'd call for cheaper medical services, education, housing, utilities, basically everything as well. The question is not whether they want cheaper taxi services, it's whether they would prioritise this need over all their other social and political needs as a whole.Hence why getting customers to dispatch thousands of pre-drafted emails to politicians isn't indicative of the power of democracy. It's indicative of an Uber-organised DDoS attack upon the state.


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## d0n (Oct 16, 2016)

The faster Kalanick steps down, the more chance they have a turning this around, tick-tock.


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## Gung-Ho (Jun 2, 2015)

d0n said:


> The faster Kalanick steps down, the more chance they have a turning this around, tick-tock.


That fact that Kalanick is such a lousy executive is the only reason I would pull him back to the curb if he was about to be hit by a bus. Gotta keep this guy around to destroy uber.


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## SEAL Team 5 (Dec 19, 2015)

d0n said:


> The faster Kalanick steps down, the more chance they have a turning this around, tick-tock.


The faster ignorant drivers stop driving fare for hire at less than $2.50/mile the more chance drivers can get off Welfare.


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## TwoFiddyMile (Mar 13, 2015)

Financial Times is the WSJ of Europe. For them to create an Option Ed piece like this is pretty serious, and right on the eve of Uber being booted from Italy (you see what I did there?)


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## Lee239 (Mar 24, 2017)

TwoFiddyMile said:


> Financial Times is the WSJ of Europe. For them to create an Option Ed piece like this is pretty serious, and right on the eve of Uber being booted from Italy (you see what I did there?)


Ubers is Pasta their prime in Italy.

What I don't get is with millions of rides a day how can Uber not make a profit?


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## BurgerTiime (Jun 22, 2015)

Lee239 said:


> Ubers is Pasta their prime in Italy.
> 
> What I don't get is with millions of rides a day how can Uber not make a profit?


The same reason driver complete 100's of trips then realize come taxes they make no money and quit. Rates are a joke!


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## Lee239 (Mar 24, 2017)

BurgerTiime said:


> The same reason driver complete 100's of trips then realize come taxes they make no money and quit. Rates are a joke!


Yes, but Uber runs an automated app and sits back and collects money and has no vehicle or gas expenses. They should be making a fortune.


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## Jagent (Jan 29, 2017)

Lee239 said:


> Ubers is Pasta their prime in Italy.
> 
> What I don't get is with millions of rides a day how can Uber not make a profit?


Travis is now personally worth over $6 billion dollars. Not Uber.... Travis. That's his estimated worth. A lot of the money they are losing is going right into his bank account. The rest is spent on crap like self driving cars and flying cars and teams of psychologists designing badges.

Uber could easily be one of the most profitable ventures in history. Travis has to go away.


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## BurgerTiime (Jun 22, 2015)

Jagent said:


> Travis is now personally worth over $6 billion dollars. Not Uber.... Travis. That's his estimated worth. A lot of the money they are losing is going right into his bank account. The rest is spent on crap like self driving cars and flying cars and teams of psychologists designing badges.
> 
> Uber could easily be one of the most profitable ventures in history. Travis has to go away.


Uber is just an app. Like valuations are just valuations and mean nothing in real world. Investors are speaking out and possed. They won't be seeing a return and Travis valuation is WORTHless when you continue to run it into the ground.
Believe me, so many more companies will copy this app and are. Wining back customers. Many are leaving.
Uber still operates illegally in most places. Italy being one to put the nail in the coffin. Things are not going good for Uber as long as they continue to behave badly. That seems impossible as long as Trvis has a seat.
This company is doomed. I say take Uber as long as they have cash to burn. Like all things the flame will go out.


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## Buckiemohawk (Jun 23, 2015)

They are trying to legalize them in Florida and it is a joke. They already cause chaos in Disney. Imagine them coming to airports with no clearances and causing commotion there or howabout a port. I swear someday an Uber is going to cause a major incident at one of these places


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

Uber(with the help of Lyft) basically have a monopoly on the rideshare industry. Right now, they could be charging atleast 2 times what they are charging now and there would be no drop off whatsoever of ridership. They are currently at a minimum of about 3 times less than the cost of a cab, imho.

Instead of making money and profit off of this they'd rather piss away all that profit and instead keep pushing the ridiculous SDC nonsense of which they have clearly never done any real world studies to determine if people would really get in a SDC, even if they did ever get them on the street and they could actually work.

Travis is so hooked on trying to "revolutionize" the rideshare industry with this SDC idea that he arrogantly refuses to try to turn a profit. It's this arrogance that is screwing his company.

And that's really a great article up above with all the key points about Uber that need to be told.


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## FL_Dex (Nov 13, 2016)

Gung-Ho said:


> That fact that Kalanick is such a lousy executive is the only reason I would pull him back to the curb if he was about to be hit by a bus.


I honestly am not sure he's the biggest problem. My impression is that Kalanick is teachable. There are two other senior board members, much less visible, who are equally likely to be the source of Uber's management headaches. We don't really know what kind of manager Kalanick is apart from them.

Imagine if Elon Musk was saddled with two silent partners who could overrule him on every Tesla/SpaceX initiative. You'd think Musk was incompetent as well. I don't want this to sound like I'm defending Kalanick only to consider there may be more going on behind the scenes than we're aware.


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## UsedToBeAPartner (Sep 19, 2016)

Right, but Elon Musk is not bat-$hit crazy!


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## gearhead (Nov 30, 2015)

I'm no genius, but if they're losing money why not raise the rate which will still be lower than the cab rates???? I guess that would make too much business sence!!!!!


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

I don't see an Financial Times article; I see an article posted on something called boingboing.net.


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## Too Many Miles (Jan 26, 2016)

Lee239 said:


> Ubers is Pasta their prime in Italy.
> 
> What I don't get is with millions of rides a day how can Uber not make a profit?


Because they subsidize to keep low rates. The problem is that Travis thinks that by doing this, Uber will eventually run everyone else out of business and then jack up the rates to wherever he wants; he doesn't see things clearly, it will not happen before they run out of money.



Jagent said:


> Travis is now personally worth over $6 billion dollars. Not Uber.... Travis. That's his estimated worth. A lot of the money they are losing is going right into his bank account. The rest is spent on crap like self driving cars and flying cars and teams of psychologists designing badges.
> 
> Uber could easily be one of the most profitable ventures in history. Travis has to go away.


No, most of what he is worth comes from the percentage that he owns from Uber, which is just a calculated value. If Uber disappears tomorrow he is not even worth a billion.



gearhead said:


> I'm no genius, but if they're losing money why not raise the rate which will still be lower than the cab rates???? I guess that would make too much business sence!!!!!


It is other people'so money.



gearhead said:


> I'm no genius, but if they're losing money why not raise the rate which will still be lower than the cab rates???? I guess that would make too much business sence!!!!!


He wants a monopoly so he is using the investor's money to try to eliminate all competitor. It will not happen.


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## Lee239 (Mar 24, 2017)

Too Many Miles said:


> Because they subsidize to keep low rates. The problem is that Travis thinks that by doing this, Uber will eventually run everyone else out of business and then jack up the rates to wherever he wants; he doesn't see things clearly, it will not happen before they run out of money.
> 
> n.


that's stupid because some other rideshare company will come in and take it's place, He needs to raise rates now, and go back to only taking 20%.


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## Uberyouber (Jan 16, 2017)

tick tock.


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## Too Many Miles (Jan 26, 2016)

Lee239 said:


> that's stupid because some other rideshare company will come in and take it's place, He needs to raise rates now, and go back to only taking 20%.


Of course it is stupid.
They also don't need 20%, 5% could do fine. 20 and 25 is high but also necessary to help subsidize, they are taking money from drivers and then giving it back as an "insentive".


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## Lee239 (Mar 24, 2017)

Too Many Miles said:


> Of course it is stupid.
> They also don't need 20%, 5% could do fine. 20 and 25 is high but also necessary to help subsidize, they are taking money from drivers and then giving it back as an "insentive".


They are not giving it back in my area. Only taking what little we make, me make shiite and it subsidizes the areas where drivers make good money.


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## UsedToBeAPartner (Sep 19, 2016)

They take 28% here in Houston and I think something around 30-35% in Vegas. The only number that means anything, however, is the dollars per mile, the dollars per minute and the minimum fare. This is where Uber falls flat and leaves their driver and their profits hanging out to dry.


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## obatperangsang (Apr 16, 2017)

nice share...


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## kcdrvr15 (Jan 10, 2017)

Gung-Ho said:


> That fact that Kalanick is such a lousy executive is the only reason I would pull him back to the curb if he was about to be hit by a bus. Gotta keep this guy around to destroy uber.


unfortunately not everyone can think like that, way too many pissed off drivers would throw him under the bus, hell the bus driver would probably speed up and swerve to make sure of good contact. hope your reading this TK, Karma is looking for ya, she has something for you, have fun


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