Re:Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
by kevinmchugh on Wednesday June 21, 2017 @09:15AM
(#14603443)
it's also a massive recruiting and advertising campaign, since they have no product without hiring huge numbers of drivers
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
by valuearb on Wednesday June 21, 2017 @10:23AM
(#14604039)
That's the point. Their technology costs are pennies per ride, revenues dollars per ride. They are only spewing cash trying to grow faster by buying more drivers in more countries. They could hire organically for much less.
Re:Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
by dagw on Wednesday June 21, 2017 @10:29AM
(#14604088)
They could hire organically for much less.
Uber only works if there are enough drivers so that I can always get a ride. If I get told that I have to wait 30 minutes for a ride more than a tiny handful of times I'm uninstalling the app. Growing organically in region would be very tough since it would take too long to get enough drivers in place that users could rely on the service and conversely drivers would be unwilling to sign up because not enough users where bothering to use the service.
Re:Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
by gms7777 on Wednesday June 21, 2017 @11:06AM
(#14604400)
Especially when there are competitors. Its what seemed to happen with Lyft in my area. A lot of people I know preferred using Lyft,
because of the morally shady nature of Uber, but Lyft would take 15-20 minutes for a ride, and Uber would have one in 5. Pretty quickly everyone (myself included) just started checking Uber first.
Re:Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.
by valuearb on Wednesday June 21, 2017 @03:15PM
(#14607004)
Sure, which is why Uber has invested so much in driver acquisition in expanding it's territories. But once those territories are established they should be able to spend far less. If driver times start to become longer, it means existing drivers have a higher utilization and will make more money, drawing more drivers to drive for uber, and solving the problem in a virtuous circle.