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I find it incredibly difficult to feel bad for venture capitalists trying to artificially pump the market by generating volume. I find it just as difficult to

I find it incredibly difficult to feel bad for venture capitalists trying to artificially pump the market by generating volume. I find it just as difficult to feel bad for people who now have to park their own car or do their own laundry. Seriously, I feel like I make a good living but I would never think about doing these things. Absolutely lavish.

lastofthemojito 5y ago
I don't believe we're supposed to feel bad for folks who no longer have access to subsidized app economy services. I think we're just supposed to see how absurd some of the businesses in this sector were (are?). Obviously businesses offering discounts to tempt customers is an old technique. I think when a new bakery opened near me I got a flyer in the mail with coupons for 50% off. Some people will use those coupons, not be impressed enough with the product to buy it at full price and never return. Some folks will really like it, and become regular customers at full price. Even if the bakery loses money on those coupon purchases, it was (hopefully) worth their while to acquire customers. The crazy thing is how long Uber and Lyft played this game. Growth being prioritized over profitability meant years of selling rides at 50% off (or whatever the actual discounted rate was). Long enough for folks to think that was the regular price, and now there's confusion when people see rides that cost much more than they're used to. The open question is whether it was worth spending all of that money on customer acquisition - do people like ride hailing services enough to pay full price, or have Uber and Lyft sabotaged themselves by conditioning customers to expect unrealistically low prices?
- ghaff 5y ago
  And you had the Groupon problem where you had the coupon clippers who were just never interested in general at purchasing full-price.

lastofthemojito 5y ago

I don't believe we're supposed to feel bad for folks who no longer have access to subsidized app economy services. I think we're just supposed to see how absurd some of the businesses in this sector were (are?). Obviously businesses offering discounts to tempt customers is an old technique. I think when a new bakery opened near me I got a flyer in the mail with coupons for 50% off. Some people will use those coupons, not be impressed enough with the product to buy it at full price and never return. Some folks will really like it, and become regular customers at full price. Even if the bakery loses money on those coupon purchases, it was (hopefully) worth their while to acquire customers. The crazy thing is how long Uber and Lyft played this game. Growth being prioritized over profitability meant years of selling rides at 50% off (or whatever the actual discounted rate was). Long enough for folks to think that was the regular price, and now there's confusion when people see rides that cost much more than they're used to. The open question is whether it was worth spending all of that money on customer acquisition - do people like ride hailing services enough to pay full price, or have Uber and Lyft sabotaged themselves by conditioning customers to expect unrealistically low prices?

ghaff 5y ago
And you had the Groupon problem where you had the coupon clippers who were just never interested in general at purchasing full-price.