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This kind of dynamic pricing is precisely what we do via our REST API[0] for ecommerce shops and event providers. I can assure you that there is nothing evil a
by ljd 14y ago
This kind of dynamic pricing is precisely what we do via our REST API[0] for ecommerce shops and event providers. I can assure you that there is nothing evil about this kind of activity - it's all mathematics and economics.
No one at Über is looking at this and saying, "lets up our rates to make money on those hurricane victims." Some where, in some Uber server there is an algorithm that is suggesting a high multiple to keep their supply in line. I wouldn't think anything more of it than that.
In fact, last New Years Eve, Über reportedly capped their dynamic pricing in Washington D.C. Even though their numbers were telling them they could charge more they felt an ethical obligation to cap at 6x.
[0]https://github.com/Ventata/API https://github.com/Ventata/API
- jellicle 14y agoNo, you don't get to "blame the computer" in 2012. That's so 1990. While you may think there is "nothing evil" about it, a great deal of the population and, generally, the NY Legislature, disagree.
- ljd 14y agoI apologize if my response came off as "blaming the computer." I'm unsure of what the 1990 references is about but I just want to help anyone that wants to understand how this works. I'll be more clear, our dynamic pricing algorithms are just listening to how much you, as the consumer, wants to pay for a product. Don't want to pay 100% markup on a product? Don't buy it and the machines will just drop the price. No one is being evil, not a machine or a person. It's just charging market price; every consumers' decision to buy or not to buy impact the price. Über is no different. Don't want to pay 2x? Don't and their algorithms will drop the price as fast as it went up.