5 ms·

It's bad because as soon as the competition dies out they can jack up the prices..

patrickaljord 10y ago
If they jack up prices, many competitors will spring up because there will be good money to be made. How is that a problem exactly? Also, price dumping is a myth always use for protectionism ends, see https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/ecjilt/23876.html https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/ecjilt/23876.html
- ux-app 10y ago
  I think you're missing the forest for the trees. Uber is a special case. I very much doubt that if Uber begins to jack up prices another multi-billion $ funded startup will come along and re apply the Uber playbook against Uber. And even if it did, the turmoil this would cause would be against the best interests of the general public.
  - patrickaljord 10y ago
    Are you kidding me? Multi-billion dollars companies losing customers because their prices are too high and resulting in more competition happens _all_ the time. Just one example, linux (redhat) on the server vs Microsoft Windows Server. Low cost airlines vs regular airlines etc. When a company starts pricing their products too high, competitors will appear (unless you make specific laws like this one in Italy making competition illegal) simply because they are attracted by the money that can still be made with lower prices. That's market economy 101. Why are so many hackers so bad at basic economics?
    - ux-app 10y ago
      > That's market economy 101. Why are so many hackers so bad at basic economics? I'm a high school IT teacher, so I don't pretend to know much about economics :) You may be right that the market will work itself out. I don't think free markets are a solution to every problem though. Some industries are highly regulated with state sanctioned monopolies because the free market can't be relied upon to provide a reasonable solution. Look to US healthcare as an example of free market economics gone awry. The SV mantra of "move fast and break things" works well if you're building some new dating app, not so much if you're potentially disrupting something that's actually important. If Uber strong arms its way into a market and then subsequently shits the bed, then what? How do local economies deal with the resulting vacuum? Maybe the vacuum get's filled, and if it doesn't? Then what? There are other industries where such disruption is not tolerated. Can you imagine if power, sanitation or road maintenance was completely deregulated and some foreign entrant was allowed to come in like a wrecking ball to experiment with "innovative" new models? The potential downsides far outweigh the possible upsides. Maybe taxis don't fit into the critical infrastructure jigsaw puzzle. I'm not qualified to comment on that, but I can see how Uber's tactics can have a net negative impact on the communities it enters. We'll see how it all plays out in good time. There are enough markets that are allowing Uber to operate that eventually it will shake out one way or another.

If they jack up prices, many competitors will spring up because there will be good money to be made. How is that a problem exactly? Also, price dumping is a myth always use for protectionism ends, see https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/ecjilt/23876.html https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/ecjilt/23876.html

ux-app 10y ago
I think you're missing the forest for the trees. Uber is a special case. I very much doubt that if Uber begins to jack up prices another multi-billion $ funded startup will come along and re apply the Uber playbook against Uber. And even if it did, the turmoil this would cause would be against the best interests of the general public.
- patrickaljord 10y ago
  Are you kidding me? Multi-billion dollars companies losing customers because their prices are too high and resulting in more competition happens _all_ the time. Just one example, linux (redhat) on the server vs Microsoft Windows Server. Low cost airlines vs regular airlines etc. When a company starts pricing their products too high, competitors will appear (unless you make specific laws like this one in Italy making competition illegal) simply because they are attracted by the money that can still be made with lower prices. That's market economy 101. Why are so many hackers so bad at basic economics?
  - ux-app 10y ago
    > That's market economy 101. Why are so many hackers so bad at basic economics? I'm a high school IT teacher, so I don't pretend to know much about economics :) You may be right that the market will work itself out. I don't think free markets are a solution to every problem though. Some industries are highly regulated with state sanctioned monopolies because the free market can't be relied upon to provide a reasonable solution. Look to US healthcare as an example of free market economics gone awry. The SV mantra of "move fast and break things" works well if you're building some new dating app, not so much if you're potentially disrupting something that's actually important. If Uber strong arms its way into a market and then subsequently shits the bed, then what? How do local economies deal with the resulting vacuum? Maybe the vacuum get's filled, and if it doesn't? Then what? There are other industries where such disruption is not tolerated. Can you imagine if power, sanitation or road maintenance was completely deregulated and some foreign entrant was allowed to come in like a wrecking ball to experiment with "innovative" new models? The potential downsides far outweigh the possible upsides. Maybe taxis don't fit into the critical infrastructure jigsaw puzzle. I'm not qualified to comment on that, but I can see how Uber's tactics can have a net negative impact on the communities it enters. We'll see how it all plays out in good time. There are enough markets that are allowing Uber to operate that eventually it will shake out one way or another.