Hacker News Reader

Comment by zhobbs | Hacker News Reader

Agree that the lock-in is weak compared to other markets. Their strategy has been to incentivize drivers and riders to not split usage between other apps.

Uber drivers who do a certain number of hours or rides per day/week often get bonuses, so they'd have to forego these bonuses to split time with Lyft.

On the rider side, they're pulling a play from the airline playbook, with their version of frequent flier miles and status: https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/14/uber-rewards/

View on HN

I have often compared Uber to the airlines and not in kind way. There is simply no loyalty. I am skeptical that the airline frequent flier model will work. I predominately use Delta for international travel because of Delta One, but will probably switch to United when the 767 and 777 retrofit to Polaris is complete. I prefer United because I live in SF and there are more good flights from here. I don't know what Uber or Lyft could offer me because the networks are largely the same, the product is identical and there is very little chance for differentiation. Maybe they will figure something out but I am skeptical. For me to believe there is margin anywhere in there I would need to see what their equivalent of business class would be.

Wouldn't "business class" for Uber be UberBlack, compared to Uber X as "economy"?

Here's a link to the HN discussion of the new loyalty program: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18455104

I gave up on airline frequent flier plans (except Southwest and Alaska) decades ago. The big US-flagged airlines suck (cramped planes, consistently late flights, extra fees, treating customers like shit) and their FF plans suck too (expiring miles, too many restrictions on when you can fly).

Southwest and Alaska are a different story; they're still trying to compete. But the majors are so terrible I feel the opposite of loyalty toward them.

I'm in NYC but don't have the loyalty stuff in my app. Damn.

2 potential fixes on the rider side:

- Uber prime

- Uber points

To attract users to these services, would Uber have to take a further hit to profitability? It seems they would in order to make customers lock themselves in.

Does amazon lose money on prime?

I'm not sure. We would need to add up the costs of free shipping, unlimited photo storage, licensing of 3rd party video content, creating 1st party video content, licensing music content, free 6-month Washington Post subscription, Whole Foods discounts, free eBooks, free games and more. [1]

They also don't have a direct competitor/s like Uber. I think the better comparison would be the loyalty programs from United or American.

[1] https://www.cnet.com/how-to/amazon-prime-20-benefits-every-m...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com