5 ms·

Uber debuts new Uber for Business with custom travel programs and rules

69 points by janober 9y ago

obblekk 9y ago
> “Overall, this is a great redesign with new features that make it very easy to implement and use for businesses of all sizes, and managers of all levels of technical expertise. Uber’s clearly looking at business as a prime market for future growth, and this looks like a no-brainer for expense departments looking to ease the workload.“ This article isn’t labeled as opinion but seems quite biased. Maybe an example of the submarine.
- ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
  What is "the submarine"?
  - mattnewton 9y ago
    Pg's article on pr firms who hand busy writers readymade story material. http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
  - bgirard 9y ago
    http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html TL;DR: A planted advertisement article.
    - komali2 9y ago
      Holy crap that is a solid set of articles! I don't know how I never thought to check paul graham's site.
      - sillysaurus3 9y ago
        Some favorites: http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html http://www.paulgraham.com/lies.html http://www.paulgraham.com/lies.html http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html
        mindcrime 9y ago
        Also: http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- makomk 9y ago
  It also appeared precisely when Uber needed a distraction from the news that they'd entered into a settlement with the FTC over mishandling of customer data. So I'd say that's a pretty fair assumption.
  - shostack 9y ago
    Link for more info?
    - shakna 9y ago
      Here's the report. [0] And the official complaint. [1] [0] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2017/08/ftc-says-uber-took-wrong-turn-misleading-privacy-security https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2017/08/... [1] https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/152-3054/uber-technologies-inc https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/152-3054/u...
- frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
  cough cough >Darrell used to work for Apple in the PR department, but he does not currently hold any Apple stock.
graphitezepp 9y ago
Rare Uber related news that sounds good for the company. If this sees a good rate of adoption, and the idea does sound reasonable to me so it may, it would create a much more stable model for reliable revenue that being business to business can provide.
- paul6987 9y ago
  Uber needs to go the way of the dodo bird! Let Lyft and others take it's place. Maybe Lyft buys Uber. Personally and after Uber let $1k get stolen from my bank account and laughed via their bro PR statement (it's the users' fault)it's been great to see all their bad behavior come back to bite them.
  - nawgszy 9y ago
    >after Uber let $1k get stolen from my bank account I... really fail to see how this happened.
    - paul6987 9y ago
      I signed up in 2009 .. never used it and forgot about it. In 2013 or 14 or earlier Uber accounts started to get hacked because people did not use the strongest Username and Password . Uber knew about these hacks and their PR was it's the user's fault vs. sending out emails alerting all users to change their passwords to something crazy secure and utilize 2fa. No they did not do that .. they just released a statement saying it's their users faults. The hacks happened a dozen times a day for months to years per searching twitter ... drivers in some far off country ... charging obscene amounts for a ride in London for example. The majority of these hacks/stolen money were coming from London. Then as a user you want to immediately cut ties with Uber, but no there was no way to cancel your account and be done with these scumbags .. you had to send them an email and it took five days for them to cancel my account. All the while I was worried that it might happen again within those five days. Then years later all this other stuff comes out about Uber. They never cared for anyone who wasn't Kalanick's BRO ... from their drivers to their employees to their customers to whomever did business with them. BenchMark is so right to try and rid Uber of that egomaniac... it's all about him vs. everyone else. I hope he keeps being himself ... he's just going to bring down Uber and only hold the ashes that once was Uber in hands!!!
josephpmay 9y ago
Interesting, The University of Southern California announced yesterday that they dropped Uber (in what was probably the largest implementation of this type of program) for Lyft
- dbbk 9y ago
  Uber is in 83 countries though, Lyft in just the US. They have a simply enormous global market to tap with programs like this.
vadym909 9y ago
If I was a large business with deep pockets, I'd be wary of signing up to use independent contractors to ferry employees around and get embroiled in the employee misclassification debate. Uber has said it is just a platform enabling the transaction between an independent driver and customer. That puts the entire burden of employee classification on the company. If HR sets the travel policy on the app, they would be authorizing it.
- saosebastiao 9y ago
  I'd say that if the company doesn't even know the name of the person providing the service before they order the service, that they've offloaded that particular risk pretty damn well. The employee/contractor grey line is pretty far away from that.
- bmm6o 9y ago
  Whatever debate there may be about how Uber drivers should be classified, there's no way it directly impacts Uber's customers. Please provide a citation, if you have one.

69 points by janober 9y ago

> “Overall, this is a great redesign with new features that make it very easy to implement and use for businesses of all sizes, and managers of all levels of technical expertise. Uber’s clearly looking at business as a prime market for future growth, and this looks like a no-brainer for expense departments looking to ease the workload.“ This article isn’t labeled as opinion but seems quite biased. Maybe an example of the submarine.

ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
What is "the submarine"?
- mattnewton 9y ago
  Pg's article on pr firms who hand busy writers readymade story material. http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
- bgirard 9y ago
  http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html TL;DR: A planted advertisement article.
  - komali2 9y ago
    Holy crap that is a solid set of articles! I don't know how I never thought to check paul graham's site.
    - sillysaurus3 9y ago
      Some favorites: http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html http://www.paulgraham.com/lies.html http://www.paulgraham.com/lies.html http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html
      - mindcrime 9y ago
        Also: http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
makomk 9y ago
It also appeared precisely when Uber needed a distraction from the news that they'd entered into a settlement with the FTC over mishandling of customer data. So I'd say that's a pretty fair assumption.
- shostack 9y ago
  Link for more info?
  - shakna 9y ago
    Here's the report. [0] And the official complaint. [1] [0] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2017/08/ftc-says-uber-took-wrong-turn-misleading-privacy-security https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2017/08/... [1] https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/152-3054/uber-technologies-inc https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/152-3054/u...
frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
cough cough >Darrell used to work for Apple in the PR department, but he does not currently hold any Apple stock.

graphitezepp 9y ago

Rare Uber related news that sounds good for the company. If this sees a good rate of adoption, and the idea does sound reasonable to me so it may, it would create a much more stable model for reliable revenue that being business to business can provide.

paul6987 9y ago
Uber needs to go the way of the dodo bird! Let Lyft and others take it's place. Maybe Lyft buys Uber. Personally and after Uber let $1k get stolen from my bank account and laughed via their bro PR statement (it's the users' fault)it's been great to see all their bad behavior come back to bite them.
- nawgszy 9y ago
  >after Uber let $1k get stolen from my bank account I... really fail to see how this happened.
  - paul6987 9y ago
    I signed up in 2009 .. never used it and forgot about it. In 2013 or 14 or earlier Uber accounts started to get hacked because people did not use the strongest Username and Password . Uber knew about these hacks and their PR was it's the user's fault vs. sending out emails alerting all users to change their passwords to something crazy secure and utilize 2fa. No they did not do that .. they just released a statement saying it's their users faults. The hacks happened a dozen times a day for months to years per searching twitter ... drivers in some far off country ... charging obscene amounts for a ride in London for example. The majority of these hacks/stolen money were coming from London. Then as a user you want to immediately cut ties with Uber, but no there was no way to cancel your account and be done with these scumbags .. you had to send them an email and it took five days for them to cancel my account. All the while I was worried that it might happen again within those five days. Then years later all this other stuff comes out about Uber. They never cared for anyone who wasn't Kalanick's BRO ... from their drivers to their employees to their customers to whomever did business with them. BenchMark is so right to try and rid Uber of that egomaniac... it's all about him vs. everyone else. I hope he keeps being himself ... he's just going to bring down Uber and only hold the ashes that once was Uber in hands!!!

josephpmay 9y ago

Interesting, The University of Southern California announced yesterday that they dropped Uber (in what was probably the largest implementation of this type of program) for Lyft

dbbk 9y ago
Uber is in 83 countries though, Lyft in just the US. They have a simply enormous global market to tap with programs like this.

vadym909 9y ago

If I was a large business with deep pockets, I'd be wary of signing up to use independent contractors to ferry employees around and get embroiled in the employee misclassification debate. Uber has said it is just a platform enabling the transaction between an independent driver and customer. That puts the entire burden of employee classification on the company. If HR sets the travel policy on the app, they would be authorizing it.

saosebastiao 9y ago
I'd say that if the company doesn't even know the name of the person providing the service before they order the service, that they've offloaded that particular risk pretty damn well. The employee/contractor grey line is pretty far away from that.
bmm6o 9y ago
Whatever debate there may be about how Uber drivers should be classified, there's no way it directly impacts Uber's customers. Please provide a citation, if you have one.