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Ride share and delivery app companies could take some notes on how to stay lean and profitable while operating an online marketplace. I know ride share apps are

Ride share and delivery app companies could take some notes on how to stay lean and profitable while operating an online marketplace. I know ride share apps are more complicated, but I don't think we're talking two orders of magnitudes more complicated (300 employees vs. 30,000 at Uber). The bloat at Uber/Lyft/Doordash is insane.

gjsman-1000 2y ago
One involves delivering software to license holders. The other has to deal with the possibility of humans using their app as an assault or kidnapping mechanism; from either end (rider attacking driver; driver kidnapping passenger, etc.) Very different levels of responsibility. This can be seen, for example, by the size of Lyft and Uber’s security teams.
- djhaskkka 2y ago
  you wish their headcount was for the customer safety team! their lobbying team is probably larger than this one.
  - gjsman-1000 2y ago
    False, according to OpenSecrets, lobbying is under $2M a year. https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?id=D000067782 https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary...
    - specialist 2y ago
      This is based on US Senate data. Does it include state and local lobbying?
    - uyeieiii 2y ago
      that doesn't even cover the salary of all the obama admin people uber hired. let alone the actual lobbying going on. that's just what fall under some specific tax code.
stefan_ 2y ago
Is it lean when your biggest payroll is "admin"? More like fattened up and held up by big margins and little competition.
- db48x 2y ago
  Do you think the leadership at Uber _isn’t_ making bank?
- dmurray 2y ago
  It's sorted alphabetically, not by expenditure. "Admin" is less than "Games" in every year.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- lolinder 2y ago
  If they're breaking things down as is usual then "Admin" includes, among other jobs, the entire customer support team, which I can vouch for as exceptionally good by the standards of internet platforms.
  - stefan_ 2y ago
    It's 35 people, that most certainly does not include customer support, which will be outsourced to some low bidder as is customary.
tokai 2y ago
But isn't the whole idea for those companies to burn a lot of money to show investors that big things are happening?
- tgsovlerkhgsel 2y ago
  The whole idea is to attract market share to show investors that big things are happening. I don't think being pointlessly unprofitable is attractive to investors...
  - Log_out_ 2y ago
    Gentlemen,let me give you the tour of our campus,here we develop shiny thing, our department for buzzword and of cause the lab for X
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
szundi 2y ago
When every city or even district is forcing you to honor arbitrary rules there… your sw becomes complicated
- jiggawatts 2y ago
  Steam has to deal with local tax regulations, censorship rules, distribution rights, etc…
  - arccy 2y ago
    you deal with countries and a few big publishers, not a few thousand cities each who want to be special

gjsman-1000 2y ago

One involves delivering software to license holders. The other has to deal with the possibility of humans using their app as an assault or kidnapping mechanism; from either end (rider attacking driver; driver kidnapping passenger, etc.) Very different levels of responsibility. This can be seen, for example, by the size of Lyft and Uber’s security teams.

djhaskkka 2y ago
you wish their headcount was for the customer safety team! their lobbying team is probably larger than this one.
- gjsman-1000 2y ago
  False, according to OpenSecrets, lobbying is under $2M a year. https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?id=D000067782 https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary...
  - specialist 2y ago
    This is based on US Senate data. Does it include state and local lobbying?
  - uyeieiii 2y ago
    that doesn't even cover the salary of all the obama admin people uber hired. let alone the actual lobbying going on. that's just what fall under some specific tax code.

stefan_ 2y ago

Is it lean when your biggest payroll is "admin"? More like fattened up and held up by big margins and little competition.

db48x 2y ago
Do you think the leadership at Uber _isn’t_ making bank?
dmurray 2y ago
It's sorted alphabetically, not by expenditure. "Admin" is less than "Games" in every year.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
lolinder 2y ago
If they're breaking things down as is usual then "Admin" includes, among other jobs, the entire customer support team, which I can vouch for as exceptionally good by the standards of internet platforms.
- stefan_ 2y ago
  It's 35 people, that most certainly does not include customer support, which will be outsourced to some low bidder as is customary.

tokai 2y ago

But isn't the whole idea for those companies to burn a lot of money to show investors that big things are happening?

tgsovlerkhgsel 2y ago
The whole idea is to attract market share to show investors that big things are happening. I don't think being pointlessly unprofitable is attractive to investors...
- Log_out_ 2y ago
  Gentlemen,let me give you the tour of our campus,here we develop shiny thing, our department for buzzword and of cause the lab for X

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

szundi 2y ago

When every city or even district is forcing you to honor arbitrary rules there… your sw becomes complicated

jiggawatts 2y ago
Steam has to deal with local tax regulations, censorship rules, distribution rights, etc…
- arccy 2y ago
  you deal with countries and a few big publishers, not a few thousand cities each who want to be special