
I’m walking out of the Chicago night club this past Saturday with a coworker and it’s bananas outside. There are thousands of people in the streets. Droves of people are waiting to get into the nightclubs. Traffic is bumper-to-bumper as we request an Uber.
The fair for the Uber was a little higher than we expected, at $46. There was a taxi cab right in front of us, and I asked him how much it would cost to take us to our hotel. He start sifting through his book and he comes up with a $90-$100, but it could more depending on traffic. I told him thanks for your time. He asked how much Uber was and I told him it was $46. He flipped out and started dropping. language that I don’t feel comfortable sharing with you. He threw his hands in the air and told us to go ___ ourselves.
Why are you getting upset with me because we chose an option that is half the price of what you were going to charge us to get us to our hotel. Don’t get upset with me because I chose the quicker and more reliable option, with a set price. Getting upset with me as a consumer, because I decided to go with Uber instead of you isn’t gonna do you any good. Throwing your hands up in the air complaining and telling me to go ____ myself isn’t going to change the fact that your business model is eroding.
Now not all Uber rides are cheaper than a taxi cab. And not all Uber experiences are better than a taxi cab experience. But what I do want to make clear is that the market has evolved drastically when it comes to taxis and ride shares. The failure to evolve with that drastic market change is most likely spelling the demise of an antiquated mindset for commuting all around America.
It sounds ridiculous now that for all those years we were paying for something that we never knew what the final price would be. But sometimes it takes a small change in mindset and thinking to change an entire marketplace.
