[csharpminor]

Another sketchy practice: if you get Uber Cash through a card like Amex, when you go to use it the price for the ride is automatically $15-$20 more than someone who doesn’t have an Uber Cash balance.

I’ve checked this side by side with colleagues at the airport getting ride quotes to the same hotel. When you have Uber Cash they will quote you more. You can find numerous Reddit threads on the topic as well.

This feels very illegal to me, but not a lawyer.

[c420]

Here's a story today about this practice:

Bay Area traveler says Uber gift cards boosted fare https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43751945

[dheera]

I remember the days when Uber prices from SF to anywhere on the peninsula would suddenly spike exactly a minute or two after each Caltrain departed. If you just missed the train you paid a lot more.

And then the many times that Lyft violated the triangle inequality in pricing: Ride from A->B followed by a ride from B->C was often cheaper than a direct ride from A->C, if you knew how to pick B correctly. I once confused the hell out of a driver when I got out and got back in the same car at some nondescript spot.

[lurk2]

> If you just missed the train you paid a lot more.

That doesn’t strike me as malicious. If you just missed the train, other users probably did, too.

How did you find the price differentials with Lyft?

[OptionOfT]

https://www.nysun.com/article/dynamic-pricing-at-major-groce...

The less they know about you the better. Good reason to not have Gift Cards inside of the applications.

[vecinu]

I notice this with my Uber cash credit I get from my AMEX Gold card. The prices are always higher.

[radicaldreamer]

Send in a complaint to your state attorney’s general

[delfinom]

Hahaha.

Play with any Uber promo code they may give you via physical mailer or otherwise.

Open Uber in two browsers. Apply the promo code in one, don't in the other.

Watch as they increase the service fees when using the promo code to basically equal the other non-promo order.

[NoTeslaThrow]

I have heard a lot of people speak about dynamic pricing, but I have yet to hear any benefit to the consumer or society as a whole.

Basically any possible pitch for it is worse in every way than simple downward wealth redistribution.

[paxys]

Going by pure economic theory "dynamic pricing" actually benefits both buyers and sellers in a marketplace. There are plenty of cases where it makes sense – lunch menus at restaurants, grocery store coupons, retail bargain bins, dollar menus, happy hour deals, senior/youth/student discounts, even surge pricing in Uber & Lyft. Of course like with every aspect of economics how something is implemented matters a lot more than how it sounds on paper. Especially in the case of rideshare/food delivery, where the middleman has all the data and makes all the decisions.

[nradov]

Prices are always dynamic in every business. The only difference is in how frequently the price changes.

If you take your idea to the logical extreme then you're essentially arguing for permanently fixed prices. This is one reason why it's sometimes impossible to get a taxi in places where the rates are fixed by government edict.

[rtkwe]

In theory surge pricing should bring more drivers into the area making the service better for riders. Not sure how much that actually works out in practice though without data only Uber really has.

[lurk2]

Surge pricing in theory incentivizes more drivers to operate during peak times, reducing wait times for passengers. If you’ve used these kinds of apps in regions where they aren’t popular, it can be quite common to not have anyone pick up your fare.

If you could bid up the price, you would be more likely to incentivize any idle drivers to pick up your fare. A driver might not be willing to get out of bed for a $10 fare, but the same driver might be willing to get out of bed for a $30 fare.