3 ms·

This is the same reason airlines are always going bankrupt, and why many pieces of the economy are quite fragile: over optimization. In the short run, a lot of

This is the same reason airlines are always going bankrupt, and why many pieces of the economy are quite fragile: over optimization. In the short run, a lot of leverage makes sense, it helps you get a leg up, but if there's a Black Swan, then you're out. It's a tricky thing because when a business fundamentally depends on those factors and it's hard to differentiate otherwise, well, it's just not fun. You're playing with fate instead of 'going things better'. I wish they would innovate harder and make things more streamlined and easier. Renting a car is still a bit of a pain, the Car2Go model was nice, but they left my county sadly.

pas 5y ago
We rented one just yesterday in Germany and it was rather streamlined. Used booking.com. The only thing that made no sense is that they were still harping about needing a credit card. (Just put a bigger deposit on a debit card. Oh and the clerk made an exemption for us.) Pickup administration was 5+ minutes, return was less than 1 minute.
- merb 5y ago
  the credit card requirement is because they use a deposit lock instead of a withdraw. which does not work with a debit card. most german providers use it, because it's less burocratic. taking money for a deposit is generally easier to handle for them. I'm not even sure if they would be able to hold deposits without a 3rd party that has a license for that.
  - pas 5y ago
    They put a lock on my deposit card without any problems at all. (As far as I know it used to be that they make an authorization request, but then doesn't "clear" it.)
    - pas 5y ago
      "deposit card" -> "debit card" :|
kansface 5y ago
> In the short run, a lot of leverage makes sense, it helps you get a leg up, but if there's a Black Swan, then you're out. Its probable to me that no steady state exists - that in between each black swan event, given sufficient spacing, the companies that most highly leverage their financials/JIT pipeline will out compete the ones that behave more "rationally" in the interstitial period. The higher coefficient on the exponent just wins (growth maximizing into an empty market) even if it kills every company that does it.

pas 5y ago

We rented one just yesterday in Germany and it was rather streamlined. Used booking.com. The only thing that made no sense is that they were still harping about needing a credit card. (Just put a bigger deposit on a debit card. Oh and the clerk made an exemption for us.) Pickup administration was 5+ minutes, return was less than 1 minute.

merb 5y ago
the credit card requirement is because they use a deposit lock instead of a withdraw. which does not work with a debit card. most german providers use it, because it's less burocratic. taking money for a deposit is generally easier to handle for them. I'm not even sure if they would be able to hold deposits without a 3rd party that has a license for that.
- pas 5y ago
  They put a lock on my deposit card without any problems at all. (As far as I know it used to be that they make an authorization request, but then doesn't "clear" it.)
  - pas 5y ago
    "deposit card" -> "debit card" :|

kansface 5y ago

> In the short run, a lot of leverage makes sense, it helps you get a leg up, but if there's a Black Swan, then you're out. Its probable to me that no steady state exists - that in between each black swan event, given sufficient spacing, the companies that most highly leverage their financials/JIT pipeline will out compete the ones that behave more "rationally" in the interstitial period. The higher coefficient on the exponent just wins (growth maximizing into an empty market) even if it kills every company that does it.