Uber sounds pretty evil<p>> The FTC claimed that Uber was advertising an annual median income of over $90,000 per year for uberX drivers in New York and more than $74,000 for uberX drivers in San Francisco. But, as the commission found out, less than 10 percent of all drivers in those cities actually make that much. The complaint also alleges that Uber was inflating the hourly earnings on job boards like Craigslist.<p>> New drivers who financed a new car through Uber's Vehicle Solutions Program found out the company's claims were too good to be true as well. Although Uber told new drivers they would be able to lease a new car for around $119 per week, the actual lease rates never dipped below $200 from late 2013 to April 2015. And, despite it's promise of delivering "the best financing options available," it turns out that Uber's rates were actually worse than consumers with similar credit scores could have gotten elsewhere. Adding insult to overpriced injury, Uber tacked on mileage limits to lease agreements that were advertised with unlimited mileage.<p>I like “taking an Uber" but if they’re screwing people over by false advetising I’d consider boycotting them. Been in several Ubers where the driver had just bought a high end-ish car specifically to be an Uber driver. It sounded risky to me and I was sad the driver was taking such a big chance although assumed it’s possible his calculations showed it would work out. Now thought it’s apparent that Uber lied about how much he’d make, lied about how much the car would cost, and lied about the lease terms.<p>Continuing to support Uber seems problematic knowing I’d be helping screw people into more debt and poverty.<p>Oh yea, and they're a YC company<p>Oh and don't get me started on AirBnb. I've documented all kinds of issues on my blog. The latest is they removed a negative review. Log in and it says I never submitted it. Not only did it used to be on their site I still have the confirmation email for it.
that, or - they found a heavily regulated market, ignored all the laws, invented a business model that didn't squarely fall into legal precedent and that the people in charge of enforcing the law (city officials) aren't very keen to enforce it.<p>We applaud them only because we believe (and probably rightly so) that those regulations are there only to prevent competition for entrenched interests.<p>It's not sharing economy if the majority of the people offering the service do it full-time.
I always think about the time when Facebook and Google were bleeding money. They were thought of as terrible businesses.<p>When you have a shit ton of eye balls, you have a money printing machine: "Ads". Just plaster them in the face of users. Now with machine learning and average user expecting little privacy, you can really target the ads and customize it per person.<p>It's amazing Wikipedia hasn't gone in the path of ads. I'm grateful for that.<p>If uber's self driving car gizmo works out, which there is a good chance. They can make zero profit on rides and make them $1/10 mile trip. Make the cream off in car entertainment and services.<p>They can have average person buy the car and rent it out to Uber network. Airbnb already loans money to home owners to renovate their houses.
read the article, what was the idea?<p>spamming craigslist users to bootstrap your userbase?<p>using venture capital to undercut existing businesses and get the public on your side, allowing you to dominate local politics?
in defense of Uber, here in Argentina ( where the taxi industry is run by the "mob" ) Uber's ability to instantly provide a safe and steady stream of income to thousands on the verge of middle-class collapse has been a godsend.
I always wondered what's exactly the value that AirBnB is providing? Why can't a website with reviews by guests and hosts (with money handling) be run at a much smaller cost?
> Airbnb can be considered one of the biggest hotel companies in the world—currently valued at $30 billion.<p>Priceline Group, owner of Booking.com, is currently valued at $79 billion.
"Uber Loses at Least $1.2 Billion in First Half of 2016" (<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-25/uber-loses-at-least-1-2-billion-in-first-half-of-2016" rel="nofollow">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-25/uber-lose...</a>)<p>How is that winning? Is capitalism dead and profits don't count anymore? Then what are the social benefits of company known for sabotaging unions and fighting against labor protection laws?<p>The original idea, to share car rides, was really good and worth investment. Now it is just a big bubble waiting to explode.
All of that was everyday reality for people outside of the first world countries long before internet was a thing.<p>1. Flats turned into mini hotels - existed since first highrise appartments started appearing in 3rd world countries<p>2. Carpooling - old as the world. In smaller Russian cities, people absolutely don't mind driving strangers around for a symbolic sum. In "good ol times" people used to do it for free.<p>3. Food devilery - phone order pizzas anyone? I remember first internet groceries started at around 1998, and they catered to really rich demographic living in far off suburbs ($30 just for the delivery fee, a daily income of a well off family back in 1998), but later internet only ones started to be displaced by existing grocery chains<p>4. "Microcommerce" - I don't know why Americans classify just selling anything with an app as such and why it is anything special<p>5. Regional same day delivery couriers - same story<p>6. Alibaba thing - classifieds in a newspaper?<p>All what Americans call the "sharing economy" or "economy 2.0" was what 80% of small business was about outside of the "developed countries"