4 ms·

Why not sell them at a discount?

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
There'd be significant costs to make sure all the bikes are safe and in good working order, and it sounds like they decided those costs exceeded what they'd get from selling them.
olivermarks 6y ago
Rental culture. They don't want you owning one, just pay per ride.
refurb 6y ago
Typically it's liability. If they sold a defective scooter and someone got hurt, they could be in a world of trouble. Reminds me of that article about the ship transporting new Toyotas that tipped over. Half of the cars didn't even get wet, but they pulled all the cars off the ship and destroyed them. It wasn't worth the hassle of inspecting and repairing and still being at risk for liability.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  >Typically it's liability. If they sold a defective scooter and someone got hurt, they could be in a world of trouble. This is/was something traditionally handled with a document signed by the buyer stating the sale is as-is. Tons of broken stuff gets sold all the time.
  - kube-system 6y ago
    Waivers cannot always override laws that protect consumers, and these laws vary widely by locale. For one example: Where I'm at, if you sell some things "as-is" and don't disclose all known defects, you can be held liable for those defects regardless of your "as-is" agreement.
    - refurb 6y ago
      I think the Toyota decision was also one of reputation. Do you really want to sell a bunch of cars that might have been exposed to salt water? Nothing would ruin your brand more than having thousands of new cars breaking down.
      - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
        Toyota has said "don't worry we've fixed the frames on the new ones" for ~40yr now and the Tacoma still sells. If anyone can get away with it they can. Still probably not smart to risk it though.
bsder 6y ago
Also writeoffs. Those bikes have been depreciated to a specific value and selling or giving them away might contradict that. I'm sure Uber tried to sell the whole passle off to companies who do this kind of liquidation thing. The fact that Uber had to destroy them tells me that either A) Uber is making a lot more money by pulling the batteries and motors and selling those while cruching the rest or B) nobody wanted to touch them and Uber got stuck doing this themselves. I suspect Uber got stuck. LiPol batteries are a liability and probably nobody wanted to deal with them.

There'd be significant costs to make sure all the bikes are safe and in good working order, and it sounds like they decided those costs exceeded what they'd get from selling them.

olivermarks 6y ago

Rental culture. They don't want you owning one, just pay per ride.

refurb 6y ago

Typically it's liability. If they sold a defective scooter and someone got hurt, they could be in a world of trouble. Reminds me of that article about the ship transporting new Toyotas that tipped over. Half of the cars didn't even get wet, but they pulled all the cars off the ship and destroyed them. It wasn't worth the hassle of inspecting and repairing and still being at risk for liability.

throwaway0a5e 6y ago
>Typically it's liability. If they sold a defective scooter and someone got hurt, they could be in a world of trouble. This is/was something traditionally handled with a document signed by the buyer stating the sale is as-is. Tons of broken stuff gets sold all the time.
- kube-system 6y ago
  Waivers cannot always override laws that protect consumers, and these laws vary widely by locale. For one example: Where I'm at, if you sell some things "as-is" and don't disclose all known defects, you can be held liable for those defects regardless of your "as-is" agreement.
  - refurb 6y ago
    I think the Toyota decision was also one of reputation. Do you really want to sell a bunch of cars that might have been exposed to salt water? Nothing would ruin your brand more than having thousands of new cars breaking down.
    - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
      Toyota has said "don't worry we've fixed the frames on the new ones" for ~40yr now and the Tacoma still sells. If anyone can get away with it they can. Still probably not smart to risk it though.

bsder 6y ago

Also writeoffs. Those bikes have been depreciated to a specific value and selling or giving them away might contradict that. I'm sure Uber tried to sell the whole passle off to companies who do this kind of liquidation thing. The fact that Uber had to destroy them tells me that either A) Uber is making a lot more money by pulling the batteries and motors and selling those while cruching the rest or B) nobody wanted to touch them and Uber got stuck doing this themselves. I suspect Uber got stuck. LiPol batteries are a liability and probably nobody wanted to deal with them.