[HN Gopher] Uber charges more if you have credits in your account
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Uber charges more if you have credits in your account
Author : cwwc
Score : 114 points
Date : 2024-09-22 21:38 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (viewfromthewing.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (viewfromthewing.com)
| INTPenis wrote:
| I never even hear of uber credits. I always charge it to my card.
| In europe we often use Bolt too, which is a competing service. So
| I actually have used Bolt more than Uber.
| Carrok wrote:
| My credit card gives me monthly Uber credits.
| eqvinox wrote:
| These combination/cross deals are AFAIK quite rare in the EU
| (or outside the US in general?) If your credit card is
| branded some way, it'll give you something with that brand
| (e.g. Lufthansa CC) but that's about it. (And I don't think
| there's an Uber branded credit card?)
| tomohelix wrote:
| I always wonder what do the devs who coded these "features" think
| about themselves and/or what other people think about them.
|
| Yes I know they are literally paid to not have these questions.
| But deep down, is there any remorse or guilt at all or is it just
| "not my problem" attitude all the way to the bank?
|
| On a tangent, this is why I think there need to be more
| regulations with software development. Any real engineering
| discipline has tons of oversight and government agencies
| breathing down their neck to ensure compliance. Software came out
| when all these pushes for safety has been gutted and as a result
| we have a free for all race to the bottom.
| ceejayoz wrote:
| I suspect it's less apathetic than that; more "sweet, this'll
| get me a bonus!"
| howard941 wrote:
| How would you word a regulation against this sort of thing to
| apply against the low man on the totem pole, the lowly SWE?
| Might it be better if it was regulated as unfair and deceptive
| by a strong FTC with a nice bounty for SWEs?
| parpfish wrote:
| Instead of regulations, I think this is the kind thing that
| should be driving a push to unionize tech. For the most part we
| don't need to worry about dangerous job sites or low pay, but
| we do have to worry about unethical business practices.
|
| Specifically, if we had widespread "codetermination", which
| gives board seats to union members, the people that build
| things would have a say in what they're being asked to build.
| JCM9 wrote:
| Not surprised. Uber doesn't exactly have a reputation of being
| the most ethical company out there.
| bschmidt1 wrote:
| During their growth years when they arguably did the shadiest
| stuff they also had record-breaking quarterly losses in the
| billions while their counterpart DiDi in China was doing well
| enough to acquire Uber China (who according to Travis Kalanick
| was losing over $1b a year).
| jlund-molfese wrote:
| Probably false, like the urban legend that Uber charges more when
| a device's battery is low [0].
|
| Claims like this go viral because they're practically
| unfalsifiable (It isn't in Uber's best interest to make their
| pricing algorithms public) and generate clicks. But when you take
| a closer look, it's always some anecdote that can be explained by
| people selecting different pricing tiers, or by multiple phones
| looking at the same route implying increased demand (the latter
| search might display a higher price). A proper experiment would
| involve dozens of phones under different scenarios making
| searches in a random order, then trying to correlate the
| variables with the prices. But for whatever reason, nobody ever
| does those experiments.
|
| For what it's worth, I checked the price of an Uber with credits
| in my account against Lyft to the airport just now, and Uber was
| slightly cheaper.
|
| 0. https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/verify/verify-does-uber-
| ch...
| Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote:
| The fact that its unfalsifiable is the problem. They can (and
| why wouldn't they) run all sorts of shenanigans with their
| pricing algorithms.
|
| Pricing algorithms should be not be private. Free markets
| depend on transparent pricing.
| steelframe wrote:
| > Free markets depend on transparent pricing.
|
| I mean, there are no surprise post-ride fees or anything.
| They're quoting you what the actual price is, and they're
| free to quote whatever they want for whatever reasons they
| want. Nobody's forcing you to agree to it. There's nothing
| stopping you from getting a competitive quote from Lyft by
| simply switching apps on the phone. Or by calling a cab
| company. Also there's nothing that keeps you from choosing to
| wait for a bus.
| echelon wrote:
| What you're responding to is market demand for an
| alternative. Who knows if it'll spring into existence, but
| the words have been uttered into the universe.
| endgame wrote:
| My latest Uber receipt reads:
|
| > Due to unanticipated tolls or surcharges on this trip,
| we've adjusted your upfront fare to reflect the actually
| incurred charges. Please see the receipt breakdown for
| details.
| admax88qqq wrote:
| Were there tolls on your trip?
| bdangubic wrote:
| If free markets depended on transparent pricing we'd all be
| communists now ;)
| Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote:
| What? How?
| bongodongobob wrote:
| Pricing algorithms have ALWAYS been private, for any
| business. They tell you the price straight up. You either
| like the price or you don't. They don't and should not need
| to explain where the number came from. Do you whine about the
| pricing algorithms behind McDonalds or the grocery store? I
| would hope not.
| Daishiman wrote:
| Mass consumer products generally don't discriminate per
| user like that.
| tbrownaw wrote:
| > _or by multiple phones looking at the same route implying
| increased demand (the latter search might display a higher
| price)_
|
| This post sounded like it's saying that the later search is the
| one with the _lower_ price.
| OutOfHere wrote:
| If they do charge more, it will only hurt them with people
| checking and using a competitor for a lower price. It will not
| hurt the employed economist's paycheck though who will continue
| to peddle pricing patterns that don't actually work in the real
| world, still collecting a generous salary for deceiving the
| company and shareholders.
| zeroonetwothree wrote:
| I have a bunch of credit from the Costco thing and haven't
| noticed any changes in pricing on my usual routes.
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