11 ms·

Is Uber Making Taxi Service Better?

46 points by aaronbrethorst 11y ago

arasmussen 11y ago
> Data from more than a billion cab rides reveal that customer complaints in New York and Chicago steadily declined after Uber came to town. Probably because most of the people who typically file complaints switched to Uber, leaving just the complacent taking taxis.
choppaface 11y ago
Uber & Lyft may have safety problems, but at least the drivers aren't using Crown Victorias with poor seatbelts. Imagine if John Nash hadn't taken a taxi that day.
- alialkhatib 11y ago
  I don't think this remark is appropriate, especially given that an UberX driver killed a 6-year-old about 2 and a half years ago, but mostly because Uber and Lyft have been around for only around 5 years at this point.
  - 9872 11y ago
    5 years with that number of drivers is a ton of data.
    - alialkhatib 11y ago
      That's true, but it's dwarfed by the amount of data representing traditional cabs. If we're not just selecting for cases involving deaths, a string of cases implicating Uber drivers in violence against passengers[0,1,2] suggests - if nothing else - that the notion that Uber/Lyft drivers are qualitatively safer than taxis is false. And in the last case, it's clear that shortcomings in a system (namely, the thoroughness of background checks Uber runs) might have prevented such a turn of events. 0: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/UberX-Driver-Accused-of-Hitting-Passenger-with-Hammer-in-San-Francisco-277280041.html http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/UberX-Driver-Accused-of... 1: http://laist.com/2015/04/10/uber_driver_attack_van_nuys.php http://laist.com/2015/04/10/uber_driver_attack_van_nuys.php 2: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhuet/2014/06/03/uber-driver-with-felony-conviction-charged-with-battery-for-allegedly-hitting-passenger/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhuet/2014/06/03/uber-driver...
      - Lewton 11y ago
        3 cases of "uber"-violence does nothing to suggest "that the notion that Uber/Lyft drivers are qualitatively safer than taxis is false" without data from the dangers of riding normal cabs to compare it to.
        alialkhatib 11y ago
        That's true. I think I just got annoyed at the emotional appeal of the Nash death and overreached. Sorry.
      - icebraining 11y ago
        The second was an attack by passengers against an Uber driver. What you can find multiple taxi drivers convicted of rape and kidnap just from the past couple of years.
- busterarm 11y ago
  I don't know...regular vehicles have safety problems too. What are the odds that fulltime Uber drivers are going to be taking their cars out of service for long periods of time to follow safety recalls? Given the patterns of service I'm seeing here in NY, probably zero. http://prospect.org/article/are-uber-and-lyft-driving-recalled-cars http://prospect.org/article/are-uber-and-lyft-driving-recall... Rental car companies didn't do it. Three of them only pledged to do so in 2012 and the rest are being forced to by Congress as of this month. Crown Vics are built like tanks (specifically the police interceptor and long-wheelbase commercial versions). Those transmissions last forever and can take abuse. Panther love.
JohnyLy 11y ago
Maybe Uber doesn't make the Taxi service better yet but it will. Having new competitors will force taxis to improve their quality. This is true for any industry: as soon as new competitors enter, quality increases and/or prices are getting lower.
- stuaxo 11y ago
  Except for where they are oligopolies, like the UK energy, water, telecoms markets etc. In fact all UK privatised assets.
digital-rubber 11y ago
Ever seen software improve friendly and kindness of people?
uberbadtaxigood 11y ago
Uber is a cancer on the taxi industry. It needs the regulators to act like chemo, and blast it good!
dylanjermiah 11y ago
Outlawing competition worsens any service.
blader 11y ago
I had to take a taxi from San Francisco Airport recently. It was the first time I've been in a taxi in close to 4 years, and it was amazing. On the outside, it's the same looking taxi with the same Yellow Cab company. On the inside, I've never seen anything like it. Interior was spotless and smelled nice. The driver was exceedingly polite, like a black car driver. They happily took credit cards using a NFC reader. Before that ride I was actively avoiding taxis, and now I'd take one in a heartbeat. If you haven't taken a taxi in a few years, I think you'll find it really different from what you've remembered, at least in the Bay Area.
- beaner 11y ago
  In San Francisco, just yesterday I took a taxi that reeked of the driver's body odor. A few months prior, I took a taxi where, after I got in, the driver said if I wanted to use a credit card, he'd have to put it through one of those archaic credit card copy machines [1], so I had to bail and find another ride. And on a regular basis (once per week), taxis in San Franciso which are definitely available drive right by me when I'm attempting to hail. In NYC, a cab would have magically appeared from around the corner; in SF, taxi drivers do not even appear to want to get hailed. Some are good here. And on average they probably are feeling heat from competition. But many of them are still abysmal. [1] http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/credit_card_swiper.jpg http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/credit...
- khuey 11y ago
  You realize the only reason they've cleaned up their act is because Uber et al. are eating their lunch, right?
  - gutnor 11y ago
    Well so ? That how competition works. If the taxi are getting better than Uber, not using because they used to be crap is the same position than people not using Uber because they are not the good old taxi.
  - blader 11y ago
    Right, that's the point of the article the OP posted that I'm responding to.
toxicFork 11y ago
I took an Uber during the tube strikes of London quite recently. They had a surge pricing that almost tripled fares. That's understandable. I was speaking to the driver, asking about his opinions on Uber. I started the conversation assuming Uber gave him an opportunity to work. It was not exactly like that. He used to work at a taxi company for around 30 years. Then Uber came. They lost a lot of business to Uber, because of the lower prices. Also it didn't help that the boss was the only person taking the calls and sometimes he forgot to tell the drivers that a job was available, or he just slept through calls. So the company shut down. His son started working for Uber, and was very happy with it. So he started working for Uber too, but he said he was earning much less, and working more. Also he complained that the customers would sometimes have a lot of luggage bags, and his previous employer allowed him to charge extra for luggage bags, extra people, or other "inconveniences". Uber doesn't. So he wasn't happy, but he doesn't have many options. Uber seems to be making it better for the customers, and worse for the "old school" drivers. Edit: He did mention that when driving for Uber, if he sees someone with lots of luggage bags or lots of people, he just doesn't pick them up. I guess Uber may eventually come up with penalties against that, if they haven't already.
- usaphp 11y ago
  I thought uber drivers not suppose to load your bags and you should do it yourself anyway? Why would you charge more if customers are loading their bags on their own? You only have to push a button to open a trunk that's it...
  - jads 11y ago
    My experience has been the opposite, in the vast majority of cases where I've used Uber to/from airports (and that's a lot), the driver has almost insisted that they handle loading/unloading of luggage. Not sure if they're being courteous, it's for insurance purposes or they just don't want one of their customers damaging their car.
- Sarkie 11y ago
  Had this exact thing the other day. I had boxes and I ordered an uber, done it before, used them a good 50+ times. The driver turned up and said an "UberX" is just the person, nothing else, that's what the next one is for. I've never seen any info telling me this, so this is Uber's fault I feel and I've chatted to the same type of people, they work more, but also they said, sometimes the controllers in London, send drivers around everywhere for a fair, whereas Uber it is perfect for people to pick in the same area. So to excuse the phrase, it's all swings and roundabouts. I'd love to be able to pick up a black cab and maybe pay a little bit more as their knowledge far outweighs any gps alternative.
colin_jack 11y ago
As someone who doesn't often use taxis but often finds them the most pushy/unsafe drivers on the road I'll be interested to see if these other services improve that side of things. Its particularly important for me when I'm a pedestrian because taxis/cyclists/delivery vans running red lights or taking corners too quickly are a relatively regular hazard that I'd be glad to be rid of.
- omouse 11y ago
  When Uber purchases self-driving cars you'll see that side of things improve.
busterarm 11y ago
I finally, after many years, found Taxi service in NYC to be very, very good. Then Uber popped up and the city is absolutely filled with car services. There's a million black cars on the road and yellow cab companies from New Jersey here. As dangerous as taxi drivers were, I've found these (as a pedestrian) to be much worse. Then my experiences using Uber have been pretty bad -- from new drivers not knowing how the app works to people not knowing their way around Manhattan/Brooklyn and either _not following_ their GPS or blindly following their GPS. On one ride the driver tried to drive in a circle 3 times and then chose to take the battery tunnel (and pass along the toll) when we were next to the Williamsburg Bridge. I had one experience last week where I hailed an Uber and a drunk woman waiting for a cab jumped in and tried to get him to take her home. I explained to the driver that I was his fare and then he acted totally disinterested in the fact that she was in the car and had me deal with telling her to get out. And now when I get in a normal taxi, my experience is much worse. Uber is really great for two things: cost effective rides from NYC into New Jersey and the ability to summon a ride to your location. Probably the outer boroughs and Long Island are good too but I don't have experience with that. Other services are summonable and there's no reason that normal taxis couldn't be as well. Honestly, as a midtown resident, I hate Uber in New York City. They drive dangerously on the road here and now it seems like everyone else is too (especially the tour bus companies and private sanitation services). It's lawless here in part because of them.
- busterarm 11y ago
  Seeing as my post is already unpopular, I'll get right to the point. Over 2000 for-hire car services are being added to the streets every month in NYC. This is causing an unbelievable amount of congestion in an already crowded city. Within two years, the number of these will be double the number of yellow cabs we already have on the road. The average speed of traffic this year was the slowest recorded - 8.5 miles per hour - and will slow further as we add more of these cars.
  - UK-AL 11y ago
    Surely if taxis are not available, people drive? Increasing congestion.
bilalel 11y ago
In Paris, taxi are making it worse in term of customer perception. For example, the last protest from taxi drivers that suspended the service UberPop [0]. 0 : http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/03/uber-suspends-french-ride-sharing-service-uberpop http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/03/uber-suspe...
vassy 11y ago
I'm using Uber quite often, but mostly to get home from central London. I live in zone 5, and I rarely find one around there. Unfortunately, a lot of the drivers are very unskilled. I once almost crashed into a fence that the driver somehow didn't see. Another time, the GPS took the driver to a dead-end road, so I had to tell him to drive back and follow the road. When I mentioned that he has to turn right, he turned right straight away, on the wrong side of the road. I almost collided head-on with another car. Maybe I've been unlucky, but these drivers need to be evaluated somehow. I was reading Shortlist the other day, and apparently it takes more than two years and around 20,000 miles on a scooter around London to pass the black cab driver test.
- k-mcgrady 11y ago
  I've used Uber from Zone 1-3 for the last few weeks. Some good experiences but I've had drivers with broken GPS asking me for directions, drivers who ignored Ubers GPS and used their own - which took poorer routes, and a driver who failed to understand a clear diversion and drove the wrong way down a 1 way road. On the other hand I had issues with fares twice (driver took an awful 'shortcut' and another driver cancelled after 10 mins and then surge pricing was in effect) and both times Uber quickly provided a refund (within hours).
blrgeek 11y ago
Uber has made Taxi operators better for Indian cab drivers. Pre-Uber (and Ola), operators used to pay drivers 60-90 days post. They would make arbitrary deductions, which the drivers could not protest. Post-Uber, most drivers choose to go to Uber/Ola. Drivers say that the operators have cleaned up their act now. They pay 15-30 days post. They pay the right amounts, no deductions. In fact some drivers prefer to work with the operators..
thesz 11y ago
The answer is No, per Betteridge's law of headlines. The first thing article mentioned is lesser number of complaints in cab services. They present it as if Uber makes taxi better, but it can be that those who complained just switched to the Uber. And complained there - who knows?
stared 11y ago
What I like the most about Uber is that I click, wait (and in the meantime can track where is the car) plus I can use this application worldwide. If there was a similar, international app for regular taxis (including price estimate), then I would use it. (Taxi claim that regulations are to keep quality. But my brother's experience with Uber is much better than with regular taxis.) So, in short, while Uber is making it harder for regular taxi drivers (especially bad regular taxi companies), it makes it better for the users. If taxi companies catch (instead of: complain), it will be win-win (for drivers and users, not necessary - Uber).
stillsut 11y ago
It's really not a "taxi" based on experience growing up in Boston. To me, a taxi was always a super unreliable, and usually outrageously expensive (and unpleasant) service that you might take once in a blue moon. I never based a plan around the idea of getting a cab, there had to be other options. With Uber, I can now reliably plan on them actually showing up, on time, and to even outside central locations. So it doesn't just win against the competition, but actually expands my demand for the product because I'll factor it into my plans.

> Data from more than a billion cab rides reveal that customer complaints in New York and Chicago steadily declined after Uber came to town. Probably because most of the people who typically file complaints switched to Uber, leaving just the complacent taking taxis.

choppaface 11y ago

Uber & Lyft may have safety problems, but at least the drivers aren't using Crown Victorias with poor seatbelts. Imagine if John Nash hadn't taken a taxi that day.

alialkhatib 11y ago
I don't think this remark is appropriate, especially given that an UberX driver killed a 6-year-old about 2 and a half years ago, but mostly because Uber and Lyft have been around for only around 5 years at this point.
- 9872 11y ago
  5 years with that number of drivers is a ton of data.
  - alialkhatib 11y ago
    That's true, but it's dwarfed by the amount of data representing traditional cabs. If we're not just selecting for cases involving deaths, a string of cases implicating Uber drivers in violence against passengers[0,1,2] suggests - if nothing else - that the notion that Uber/Lyft drivers are qualitatively safer than taxis is false. And in the last case, it's clear that shortcomings in a system (namely, the thoroughness of background checks Uber runs) might have prevented such a turn of events. 0: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/UberX-Driver-Accused-of-Hitting-Passenger-with-Hammer-in-San-Francisco-277280041.html http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/UberX-Driver-Accused-of... 1: http://laist.com/2015/04/10/uber_driver_attack_van_nuys.php http://laist.com/2015/04/10/uber_driver_attack_van_nuys.php 2: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhuet/2014/06/03/uber-driver-with-felony-conviction-charged-with-battery-for-allegedly-hitting-passenger/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhuet/2014/06/03/uber-driver...
    - Lewton 11y ago
      3 cases of "uber"-violence does nothing to suggest "that the notion that Uber/Lyft drivers are qualitatively safer than taxis is false" without data from the dangers of riding normal cabs to compare it to.
      - alialkhatib 11y ago
        That's true. I think I just got annoyed at the emotional appeal of the Nash death and overreached. Sorry.
    - icebraining 11y ago
      The second was an attack by passengers against an Uber driver. What you can find multiple taxi drivers convicted of rape and kidnap just from the past couple of years.
busterarm 11y ago
I don't know...regular vehicles have safety problems too. What are the odds that fulltime Uber drivers are going to be taking their cars out of service for long periods of time to follow safety recalls? Given the patterns of service I'm seeing here in NY, probably zero. http://prospect.org/article/are-uber-and-lyft-driving-recalled-cars http://prospect.org/article/are-uber-and-lyft-driving-recall... Rental car companies didn't do it. Three of them only pledged to do so in 2012 and the rest are being forced to by Congress as of this month. Crown Vics are built like tanks (specifically the police interceptor and long-wheelbase commercial versions). Those transmissions last forever and can take abuse. Panther love.

JohnyLy 11y ago

Maybe Uber doesn't make the Taxi service better yet but it will. Having new competitors will force taxis to improve their quality. This is true for any industry: as soon as new competitors enter, quality increases and/or prices are getting lower.

stuaxo 11y ago
Except for where they are oligopolies, like the UK energy, water, telecoms markets etc. In fact all UK privatised assets.

digital-rubber 11y ago

Ever seen software improve friendly and kindness of people?

uberbadtaxigood 11y ago

Uber is a cancer on the taxi industry. It needs the regulators to act like chemo, and blast it good!

dylanjermiah 11y ago

Outlawing competition worsens any service.

blader 11y ago

I had to take a taxi from San Francisco Airport recently. It was the first time I've been in a taxi in close to 4 years, and it was amazing. On the outside, it's the same looking taxi with the same Yellow Cab company. On the inside, I've never seen anything like it. Interior was spotless and smelled nice. The driver was exceedingly polite, like a black car driver. They happily took credit cards using a NFC reader. Before that ride I was actively avoiding taxis, and now I'd take one in a heartbeat. If you haven't taken a taxi in a few years, I think you'll find it really different from what you've remembered, at least in the Bay Area.

beaner 11y ago
In San Francisco, just yesterday I took a taxi that reeked of the driver's body odor. A few months prior, I took a taxi where, after I got in, the driver said if I wanted to use a credit card, he'd have to put it through one of those archaic credit card copy machines [1], so I had to bail and find another ride. And on a regular basis (once per week), taxis in San Franciso which are definitely available drive right by me when I'm attempting to hail. In NYC, a cab would have magically appeared from around the corner; in SF, taxi drivers do not even appear to want to get hailed. Some are good here. And on average they probably are feeling heat from competition. But many of them are still abysmal. [1] http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/credit_card_swiper.jpg http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/credit...
khuey 11y ago
You realize the only reason they've cleaned up their act is because Uber et al. are eating their lunch, right?
- gutnor 11y ago
  Well so ? That how competition works. If the taxi are getting better than Uber, not using because they used to be crap is the same position than people not using Uber because they are not the good old taxi.
- blader 11y ago
  Right, that's the point of the article the OP posted that I'm responding to.

toxicFork 11y ago

I took an Uber during the tube strikes of London quite recently. They had a surge pricing that almost tripled fares. That's understandable. I was speaking to the driver, asking about his opinions on Uber. I started the conversation assuming Uber gave him an opportunity to work. It was not exactly like that. He used to work at a taxi company for around 30 years. Then Uber came. They lost a lot of business to Uber, because of the lower prices. Also it didn't help that the boss was the only person taking the calls and sometimes he forgot to tell the drivers that a job was available, or he just slept through calls. So the company shut down. His son started working for Uber, and was very happy with it. So he started working for Uber too, but he said he was earning much less, and working more. Also he complained that the customers would sometimes have a lot of luggage bags, and his previous employer allowed him to charge extra for luggage bags, extra people, or other "inconveniences". Uber doesn't. So he wasn't happy, but he doesn't have many options. Uber seems to be making it better for the customers, and worse for the "old school" drivers. Edit: He did mention that when driving for Uber, if he sees someone with lots of luggage bags or lots of people, he just doesn't pick them up. I guess Uber may eventually come up with penalties against that, if they haven't already.

usaphp 11y ago
I thought uber drivers not suppose to load your bags and you should do it yourself anyway? Why would you charge more if customers are loading their bags on their own? You only have to push a button to open a trunk that's it...
- jads 11y ago
  My experience has been the opposite, in the vast majority of cases where I've used Uber to/from airports (and that's a lot), the driver has almost insisted that they handle loading/unloading of luggage. Not sure if they're being courteous, it's for insurance purposes or they just don't want one of their customers damaging their car.
Sarkie 11y ago
Had this exact thing the other day. I had boxes and I ordered an uber, done it before, used them a good 50+ times. The driver turned up and said an "UberX" is just the person, nothing else, that's what the next one is for. I've never seen any info telling me this, so this is Uber's fault I feel and I've chatted to the same type of people, they work more, but also they said, sometimes the controllers in London, send drivers around everywhere for a fair, whereas Uber it is perfect for people to pick in the same area. So to excuse the phrase, it's all swings and roundabouts. I'd love to be able to pick up a black cab and maybe pay a little bit more as their knowledge far outweighs any gps alternative.

colin_jack 11y ago

As someone who doesn't often use taxis but often finds them the most pushy/unsafe drivers on the road I'll be interested to see if these other services improve that side of things. Its particularly important for me when I'm a pedestrian because taxis/cyclists/delivery vans running red lights or taking corners too quickly are a relatively regular hazard that I'd be glad to be rid of.

omouse 11y ago
When Uber purchases self-driving cars you'll see that side of things improve.

busterarm 11y ago

I finally, after many years, found Taxi service in NYC to be very, very good. Then Uber popped up and the city is absolutely filled with car services. There's a million black cars on the road and yellow cab companies from New Jersey here. As dangerous as taxi drivers were, I've found these (as a pedestrian) to be much worse. Then my experiences using Uber have been pretty bad -- from new drivers not knowing how the app works to people not knowing their way around Manhattan/Brooklyn and either _not following_ their GPS or blindly following their GPS. On one ride the driver tried to drive in a circle 3 times and then chose to take the battery tunnel (and pass along the toll) when we were next to the Williamsburg Bridge. I had one experience last week where I hailed an Uber and a drunk woman waiting for a cab jumped in and tried to get him to take her home. I explained to the driver that I was his fare and then he acted totally disinterested in the fact that she was in the car and had me deal with telling her to get out. And now when I get in a normal taxi, my experience is much worse. Uber is really great for two things: cost effective rides from NYC into New Jersey and the ability to summon a ride to your location. Probably the outer boroughs and Long Island are good too but I don't have experience with that. Other services are summonable and there's no reason that normal taxis couldn't be as well. Honestly, as a midtown resident, I hate Uber in New York City. They drive dangerously on the road here and now it seems like everyone else is too (especially the tour bus companies and private sanitation services). It's lawless here in part because of them.

busterarm 11y ago
Seeing as my post is already unpopular, I'll get right to the point. Over 2000 for-hire car services are being added to the streets every month in NYC. This is causing an unbelievable amount of congestion in an already crowded city. Within two years, the number of these will be double the number of yellow cabs we already have on the road. The average speed of traffic this year was the slowest recorded - 8.5 miles per hour - and will slow further as we add more of these cars.
- UK-AL 11y ago
  Surely if taxis are not available, people drive? Increasing congestion.

bilalel 11y ago

In Paris, taxi are making it worse in term of customer perception. For example, the last protest from taxi drivers that suspended the service UberPop [0]. 0 : http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/03/uber-suspends-french-ride-sharing-service-uberpop http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/03/uber-suspe...

vassy 11y ago

I'm using Uber quite often, but mostly to get home from central London. I live in zone 5, and I rarely find one around there. Unfortunately, a lot of the drivers are very unskilled. I once almost crashed into a fence that the driver somehow didn't see. Another time, the GPS took the driver to a dead-end road, so I had to tell him to drive back and follow the road. When I mentioned that he has to turn right, he turned right straight away, on the wrong side of the road. I almost collided head-on with another car. Maybe I've been unlucky, but these drivers need to be evaluated somehow. I was reading Shortlist the other day, and apparently it takes more than two years and around 20,000 miles on a scooter around London to pass the black cab driver test.

k-mcgrady 11y ago
I've used Uber from Zone 1-3 for the last few weeks. Some good experiences but I've had drivers with broken GPS asking me for directions, drivers who ignored Ubers GPS and used their own - which took poorer routes, and a driver who failed to understand a clear diversion and drove the wrong way down a 1 way road. On the other hand I had issues with fares twice (driver took an awful 'shortcut' and another driver cancelled after 10 mins and then surge pricing was in effect) and both times Uber quickly provided a refund (within hours).

blrgeek 11y ago

Uber has made Taxi operators better for Indian cab drivers. Pre-Uber (and Ola), operators used to pay drivers 60-90 days post. They would make arbitrary deductions, which the drivers could not protest. Post-Uber, most drivers choose to go to Uber/Ola. Drivers say that the operators have cleaned up their act now. They pay 15-30 days post. They pay the right amounts, no deductions. In fact some drivers prefer to work with the operators..

thesz 11y ago

The answer is No, per Betteridge's law of headlines. The first thing article mentioned is lesser number of complaints in cab services. They present it as if Uber makes taxi better, but it can be that those who complained just switched to the Uber. And complained there - who knows?

stared 11y ago

What I like the most about Uber is that I click, wait (and in the meantime can track where is the car) plus I can use this application worldwide. If there was a similar, international app for regular taxis (including price estimate), then I would use it. (Taxi claim that regulations are to keep quality. But my brother's experience with Uber is much better than with regular taxis.) So, in short, while Uber is making it harder for regular taxi drivers (especially bad regular taxi companies), it makes it better for the users. If taxi companies catch (instead of: complain), it will be win-win (for drivers and users, not necessary - Uber).

stillsut 11y ago

It's really not a "taxi" based on experience growing up in Boston. To me, a taxi was always a super unreliable, and usually outrageously expensive (and unpleasant) service that you might take once in a blue moon. I never based a plan around the idea of getting a cab, there had to be other options. With Uber, I can now reliably plan on them actually showing up, on time, and to even outside central locations. So it doesn't just win against the competition, but actually expands my demand for the product because I'll factor it into my plans.