Uber posts first quarterly net profit
As a long time and heavy Uber user, I don't find this surprising.The service has gone completely down hill for me the last few months. The app is the buggiest it has ever been. I've been overcharged more time than I can count, and customer service is practically impossible to actually get in touch with. Even when I do get in touch with customer service, I can usually only extract an automatic token refund. The quality of rides, both vehicles and drivers, has drastically declined in my area. I frequently speak with drivers and they seem, anecdotally, the least happy with Uber that I've observed thus far.With UberEATS, hidden fees and markup have gotten so big that most orders are > 2x the cost at the actual restaurant (for example a pickup order) and this is constant with order size. For example, a $25 order ends up costing over $50 on UberEATS, and this is before any tip. A dark pattern I frequently encounter is a "buy one get one free" or other promotion that adds extra stuff to your cart, and does indeed discount the item, but still charges you fees on the cost of that item. For example, a "free" $10 item can easily add more than $10 to the bill (especially if you tip). This is obviously better than a $10 item costing you $20, but it's a dark pattern nonetheless. And of course, the tips and fees are always calculated "before discounts" which makes the default tip bananas, especially when I'm redeeming credit from customer service.The priority delivery fee is basically mandatory if you want warm food, otherwise your order always gets delayed until another order can be delivered alongside it. Delivery drivers frequently drive for multiple apps at the same time, meaning delivery estimates are frequently missed due to the driver going way out of their way to do some other task, before or after picking up your food.All in all, I can feel where the corners are being cut, where the customers and drivers and restaurants are being squeezed, and so I'm not surprised to see them post a profit.Is this sustainable? I sincerely doubt it. It's a race to the bottom. It always was.