Uber launches rider loyalty rewards like credits | Hacker News Reader

Uber launches rider loyalty rewards like credits

techcrunch.com

42 pointsmkolodny21 comments

If this is anything like frequent flier programs, my cynical interpretation is that if you're a casual rider, you'll get:

- less leeway on cancellations since you now need to earn them

- worse support, since the higher status folks will get the higher priority / premium support

- slower airport pickup times as high status folks get to "cut in line" while you wait

- lower quality drivers as the higher rated ones are given only to the frequent riders

This is based on the chart showing the benefits of higher status in the article.

I don't see why people who spend 10-100x more than the average person should be treated the same as a casual user who uses it once in a while though. That's basic economics.

No, but I see every reason as an average user to oppose a strategy which will worsen the service for me.

There's no moral obligation to support economic good sense. Yellow journalism is economic good sense. Removing contact details from websites is economic good sense. Exhausting common goods is economic good sense.

Its disturbing the amount of people that seem to be unable to distinguish a moral argument from an economic or legal one. They seem to have the opinion that if something "economically" or "legally" makes sense, its the same thing as it being an acceptable idea that should have no issue taken with it.

Angering customers may not in fact be good economic sense. You may be thinking more short-term than you should.

While I'm arguing against them doing it in my comment, I do think it's a perfectly good long term strategy economically.

Experience suggests to me that the standard of service at which customers will stop buying a product is very low, so long as it's cheap.

A hundred years ago grocers thought that self-service supermarkets were too customer-unfriendly to last. That seems to have stood the test of time just fine.

Buying a business class fare on a plane absolves you of almost all the unpleasantness of an airport, yet fewer than 5% of people, eyeballing it, take the airlines up on that.

Probably because the network’s critical mass necessary to provide a reliable service depends on the average user.

If you alienate the majority of your user base, the more frequent users won’t have a reliable service at all.

I use grab extensively in SEA and they have a rewards program built in.

Generally shun company rewards but I didn't mind their system.

Sample size of one but having gold status did seem to get quicker rides in peak hours. The points you can cash in don't add up to much, get a free or discounted trip every now and then. They also offered food /cinema vouchers etc.

Overall it's ok, you can't opt out but no one is forcing you to use it.

Your arguments are probably right about the downsides but is it truly uncommon to treat higher spending customers better?

They aren't a public service.

So if I spend $250 on UberX rides I get $5 in credit? Hmm, that's going to be a pass on my end. In my city a local taxi company created an app similar to Uber, and it's typically 10% cheaper. Most people I know switched over to it, because it only takes a few seconds to do so. I'll take that 10% over 2% in Uber credit.

Also, isn't it already determined that Uber offers higher prices to frequent travelers, and people that take the same route on a regular basis? So, if I spend $250 on UberX, they probably added more than $5 in there because I'm a regular traveler. Now, they're just pretending to be a hero by returning some credit. If they had flat $10 trips in my downtown, and I would get a free trip after 10 rides, then it would make more sense. As of now, I don't trust them at all to provide equal pricing for different users, so I don't trust their entire concept of a loyalty program.

"Frequent user/loyalty" programs are, across sectors, implicit acknowledgement by companies that their products are indistinguishable from those of their competitors.

I'm surprised it took so long for rideshare companies to launch this feature (Lyft's version will be unveiled in December).

Lyft already has something like this deployed for business rides -- you get some credit for personal use after enough business rides.

Lyft also gives Delta SkyMiles now, which is enough for me to not use Uber again.

This is pretty standard marketing and you see it a ton with insurance companies. They gamify their service to increase spending and decrease the number of users leaving for a different platform. I wonder how effective this will be for preventing users from using both apps to find the lowest price.

Insurance companies?

I'm not sure I've ever seen an insurance company gamify anything.

Not sure if this is what parent is referring to but most insurance companies offer a discount for having multiple lines of coverage with the same company (ie a discount for having your house, car, boat, whatever all with them).

I switch to Lyft, but was surprised to see a semi-autonomous Uber drive by the other day in Northern Virginia. Pretty cool, but I still don't trust the company's corporate culture, and how they treat their drivers and the public, to consider going back.

I was in the focus group where they tested this six or so months ago. Ask me anything.

What was the overall feedback from your group/ concerns etc?

My app doesn't have it yet (NYC)

NYC user here as well and no credits either.

The current 25% off discount on Lyft makes it tough to even try Uber at the moment.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com