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Uber

My favorite Uber story is the girl that got wasted on her birthday, grabbed an Uber car, agreed to the surge pricing, and then set up a kickstarted campaign to pay for it because she could t afford to pay her rent.

Just a perfect Millineal story.
 
MysteryMen said:
Great thing about driving Wake students: they didn't think twice about paying $50 (granted it was split 4 ways) for a ride from near campus to BB&T Field during a 5x surge before the Clemson Thursday night game.

Depressing thing about driving Wake students: You would be surprised how many times I've been called during the middle of the day to give a DKE a ride from their house to the Pit
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That's pathetic. Why wasn't a pledge there to take them to dinner? Those pledges are the worst.
 
TuffaloDeac10 said:
Tons? I think you mean a handful of really upscale places in DC and one bar on H St. I'll concede the point when Franklin barbecue doesn't have four hour lines.

I'm emphatically NOT saying surge pricing is bad. I think it's good, personally. And even if I didn't, it's Uber's right to run its pricing the way they see fit. But I don't think the dislike of it among some group of people is incomprehensible. They'd prefer a shortage of Uber cars and for ride availability to be rationed on luck or waiting instead of more supply and rationing based on willingness to pay. There are a lot of industries that generally work that way or hide the base price when they do have increases. The complainers are probably poorer than people with desk jobs who post on a WF message board.
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So people would rather have no option than a bad option? I don't think that's true at all. I think that most of the people that bitch about surge pricing would rather pay the extra money to get home from the bar late at night and then bitch about it the next day than have to walk home because there were no cars available.
 
wfudkn said:
So people would rather have no option than a bad option? I don't think that's true at all. I think that most of the people that bitch about surge pricing would rather pay the extra money to get home from the bar late at night and then bitch about it the next day than have to walk home because there were no cars available.
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I guess they probably think they have better than average luck and that somebody else would be walking. It's not no cars without surge pricing, it's fewer cars.
 
ONW said:
What's the problem here? This isn't Russia...is this Russia...this isn't Russia.
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Actually, it's a hell of a lot like Russia. There are not standardized, licensed cabs in Russia, even in the big cities. You just wave down a local driving around, bargain a fee and jump in. It was Uber long before there ever was Uber.
 
DCDeac said:
Tons of restaurants do this. Same dish has a lunch price and a dinner price. Monday night specials listed right next to the full price you're paying Friday. The best restaurant in this area - the Inn at Little Washington - charges different prices on different evenings despite no change in quality, it's just based on demand. Some beer places are starting to charge more for popular pours and less for others - tracked in real time on a big screen and prices adjust all night. People love it.

It just has to be up front and make sense to people.
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the owner of Alinea has developed a new dynamic pricing ticket system, similar to theatre tickets. want dinner on Saturday night vs Tuesday night? It'll cost you. He's going to be rolling it out nationwide next year and I know Thomas Keller has signed up as have some others.
 
Actually I was trying to give an example from every set of restaurants. Chinese places have different prices on the exact same menu items for lunch and dinner. Middle-of-the-road restaurants offer Monday night specials. Bars have happy hours. I just gave the upscale example because you might not think fancier joints would ever discount or raise prices based on demand.

So yeah, tons. Literally the entire industry.

People are just not used to it for rides home but that's temporary. There will always be people that will bitch about Uber just like there will always be people who complain when a bar charges $11 for a beer. Instead of bitching just hail a cab or buy a bud light.
 
Those are basically all promotions to get people in during less busy times to defray fixed costs of rents and utilities (plus competitive pressures). Not the same as surge pricing at all. Something analogous would be a seating fee trying to convince people to stay away on Friday and Saturday (and lure more cooks into the kitchen?). And it probably should be restricted to mid and low scale establishments because Uber's way more of a mass market service than a fancier DC restaurant. Again, show me Franklin Barbecue with some auction system instead of a four hour wait.

You're like trying to not understand that I'm saying the design of the pricing affects how people feel about it. Even your examples that I think aren't right are generally framed as discounts and not base price + surcharge for busy period. Look at how people complain about Ryanair and Spirit for their add-ons (which happen to be economically sound like surge pricing). Uber's pricing would be popular as shit if it was on an 87% "discount" most the time and an 8x surge was just base price.
 
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vadimivich said:
Actually, it's a hell of a lot like Russia. There are not standardized, licensed cabs in Russia, even in the big cities. You just wave down a local driving around, bargain a fee and jump in. It was Uber long before there ever was Uber.
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That's not like uber at all.
 
TuffaloDeac10 said:
Those are basically all promotions to get people in during less busy times to defray fixed costs of rents and utilities (plus competitive pressures). Not the same as surge pricing at all. Something analogous would be a seating fee trying to convince people to stay away on Friday and Saturday (and lure more cooks into the kitchen?). And it probably should be restricted to mid and low scale establishments because Uber's way more of a mass market service than a fancier DC restaurant. Again, show me Franklin Barbecue with some auction system instead of a four hour wait.

You're like trying to not understand that I'm saying the design of the pricing affects how people feel about it. Even your examples that I think aren't right are generally framed as discounts and not base price + surcharge for busy period. Look at how people complain about Ryanair and Spirit for their add-ons (which happen to be economically sound like surge pricing). Uber's pricing would be popular as shit if it was on an 87% "discount" most the time and an 8x surge was just base price.
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Basically people are stupid and take everything at face value.

People who are upset at surge pricing are the same ones who complain about waiting an hour on NYE for a taxi.
 
Was at the bar tonight when I realized I had left work with a very important set of keys. Called an Uber who returned them 3 miles to the front desk immediately for $9.50. No chance I take that risk with a taxi, which would also cost double.
 
HuskyDeac said:
Was at the bar tonight when I realized I had left work with a very important set of keys. Called an Uber who returned them 3 miles to the front desk immediately for $9.50. No chance I take that risk with a taxi, which would also cost double.
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My wife and I were able to recover her phone, which was left in an Uber, by calling the driver. The only way we were able to get a hold of that driver was because a contact number is provided on the receipt that went to my phone. If left in a cab it would have been good as gone.
 
Friends, if you think government medallion taxis are filthy, unreliable, expensive, and no speakity; wait for government medallion health care.
 
Yeah, because doctors and cab drivers are pretty much the same people.
 
ddeacs98 said:
Indians?
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rim-shot.jpg
 
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