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> but as a consumer, might as well ride the wave I am mostly doing the same: I understand what Uber is doing, but it's just so much more convenient than your o
by b3kart 6y ago
> but as a consumer, might as well ride the wave
I am mostly doing the same: I understand what Uber is doing, but it's just so much more convenient than your old-school taxi company. However, to play the devil's advocate, this strategy could be a myopic one. As a consumer you should be supporting competition. Such VC Ponzi schemes are ultimately about demolishing competition, and then leveraging the achieved dominance on the market at consumer's expense. Should we be more careful about jumping into these, and sacrifice short-term convenience for longer-term interests if we can?
- MattGaiser 6y agoTaxis and in house restaurant delivery schemes are the equivalent of using Netscape Navigator to oppose Google Chrome in the modern age. The competition comes from the battle between the VCs, not what they are replacing.
- xiphias2 6y agoI agree, especially the biggest problems I had with Uber hasn't changed for years: drivers either cancelling on me because they don't like where I go and Uber shows it to them only after they finished the last ride, or waiting for me to cancel because they have time and want me to pay cancellation fee. I don't know what Uber software engineers are doing, but it doesn't seem to me that they really care about user experience (not UI, which I don't care about, as that doesn't make me late for a hospital appointment).
- b3kart 6y agoDoes it really come from the battle between VCs though? My understanding is that these VC-backed companies of Uber type are designed to run at a loss until a) the market dominance is achieved, at which point the prices are raised to get to profitability; b) it's clear that the market dominance won't be achieved any time soon, at which point the funding is pulled and VCs leave for greener pastures. Such companies aren't designed to compete in your typical sense, i.e. by improving service or reducing operating costs. Instead it's about which VC is ready to lose more money before their competitors go bust. Am I being too cynical here?
- MattGaiser 6y agoI think the innovations in this space just take a long time as they are capital intensive or require huge usage, like cloud kitchens, effective multiple delivery routing, and autonomous vehicles/delivery drones when they arrive. There are still two large costs that may not be there in the future. The human driver and the heavy restaurant overhead of being located in premium retail space instead of behind the gravel pit.