Uber Is a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma

Membership Ticker

Monika Bauerlein, CEO

Dear reader,

This is big. $25 million big. I'm excited to write to you about The Moment for Mother Jones: a five-year push to make key investments and strengthen our work at a time when journalism faces threats—both political and economic—like never before. We’ve raised more than 90 percent of our $25 million goal, and now that we're in the homestretch, we're asking the entire MoJo community to be part of it. Read more about The Moment and please join us with a donation today: Your gift will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $500,000 total.

$500,000 MATCHING GIFT: Join The Moment for Mother Jones and your gift will be DOUBLED as part of this special, five-year effort to strengthen our journalism at a time when it’s needed like never before.

John Milner/SOPA Images via ZUMA

I don’t get it. After many years I still don’t understand the whole Uber model. I mean, it’s basically to lose money on each transaction but to make it up in volume. Sure, whatever, but they already have enormous volume and they’re still losing money on each ride. When do they start charging market prices?

One option is to go the classic monopolist route that Amazon follows: charge low prices to build market share and then destroy what’s left of your competition. Then raise prices. But what are the odds that Uber can do that?

As for robot cars, I really don’t get that. If and when technology gets to the point that driverless cars become reality, Uber will certainly have no monopoly over it. Just the opposite. Everybody will have it. So how is that supposed to save the company?

They don’t even own the cars, so they can’t turn them into rolling billboards or something. So what’s their play? I’m just mystified by the whole thing.