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I click, you click, we all click for ice cream
By adamg on Wed, 07/11/2012 - 10:07pm
It's like the return of Kozmo.com, only colder. Uber, the online taxi dispatching concern, is launching an app to summon an ice-cream truck to your locale - assuming your locale is the Back Bay, South End, Beacon Hill, North End, Financial District, Seaport or South Boston - between noon and 6 p.m.
You'll have to buy a minimum of five ice-cream things - your credit-card will be dinged a minimum of $12.
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Comments
An ice cream delivery app?
An ice cream delivery app?
#firstworldproblems
Cripes
Doesn't someone have to
Doesn't someone have to complain about there being a *problem* before internet warriors respond with it being only a first-world problem?
Indeed
And guess what, Cripes, next time I'm having the kiddies over you had better believe I'm calling the door-to-door ice cream truck. This is an awesome idea.
lighten up, it's ice cream for chrissakes!
Someone has an interesting business idea and all some people can think to do is bitch about it.
This is an awesome idea. If you hate ice cream and new ideas then go stick your head in the sand and cry yourself a river.
Just used Uber for the first
Just used Uber for the first time this morning to go to Logan and it's absolutely fantastic and definitely changes the game for taxis. On the other hand I can walk across the street to CVS or 7-11 to get shitty ice cream so this idea seems a little foolhardy.
Peterborough
http://www.bostontipster.com
Lazy hipsters want overpriced
Lazy hipsters want overpriced ice cream? There's now an app for that!
More like yuppies/dinks not
More like yuppies/dinks not hipsters. I think once you can afford it you lose hipster status.
So wait... there are people
So wait... there are people who can afford the exorbitant rent to live in Boston, but can't afford $4.25 for a vanilla ice cream cone?
Might want to consider moving to a more affordable town.
First time's a charm!
I know a couple of guys that started doing Uber runs. You'll get a good driver now that it's July and August, two of the slowest months in the limo business.
Once September rolls around and the good drivers are making real money from other companies, then you'll start seeing 10 year old cars and drivers that all of the other companies rejected. Add to that the fact that the limo lobbying groups are pushing for stricter regulation of Uber, as they just opened up and did little or no checking with local hackney.
I was thinking about joining Uber, but they pay so little to the driver per run, it's not worth my time. You take my limo insurance, my workman's comp, my general liability insurance, my gas, my car payment and my time and it's not worth it to me to get paid 10 bucks to go from the Back Bay to Logan so a bunch of VC guys who have never sat behind the wheel of a limo a day in their life can get rich.
My apologies if this sounds
My apologies if this sounds naive, but isn't it an advantage to be able to turn on this app during a slow time and make some extra cash? If you have an hour or two to kill between dropping off and picking up a client, you would be able to productively fill that time now. You're going to pay the insurances either way, so you would be sinking some extra costs with fuel. Am I misunderstanding how this service works?
Not at all, in fact
that's why I had considered signing up for it in the first place. In all honesty, I can go to any number of hotels during peak hours or hang in front of any number of fine restaurants and make twice what they pay per run from someone who can't find a cab. Some people also don't care to use an app when they've been waiting 10 minutes for a cab.
The name of the game with
startup's has never been great pay right off the bat. The idea is to be a foot in the door while it grows, so you can move into a better position or get some nice stock options once the company goes public.
Ask the painter that painted the facebook office for stock when they didn't have the money to pay in cash.
Still if you have a family to feed now, it's a moot point.
That's not really how this
That's not really how this company works. They don't employ drivers; they pretty much provide the service that connects driver with the person looking for a car. Drivers that are between appointments or waiting to pick someone up can switch the app on and make some extra cash. More contractors than employees.
Which is why I don't understand why a driver would be pissed about having this, like above. You have sunk costs like insurance, I would think it would be nice to make some extra cash during downtime rather than read the paper or stare at your phone.
Guy on the couch
Ahh, so similar to the "stay on someones couch thing".
So they're providing a service to connect underused, idling cars with people that need to get somewhere. Sounds awesome to me! There's a few others that are working to allow you to also "Car share" out your car when it's not in use, another great idea. Sort of a private user supplied zipcar.
I can see why the cabs and limos would be irate over it. How dare citizens pass them up and find a better way of transportation in the city.
As long as cars meet road standards, what the problem? Licenseure really, really needs a hard looking at. There's a lot of areas where we went from simple regulations to licensing that make no sense, such as the medallion systems and hair cutting, ect.
Well , you tell me
The going rate from most of the companies that pay independent operators like myself is 65% of the base rate. For example, if a job costs the customer $100.00 base, I get $65.00. I also get 20% gratuity on the $100.00. I also get 5% for fuel and my Massport fee and any tolls, all charged to the rider (90% who are not paying for the car anyway).
Or I can take what would likely come out to about 40 bucks for the same run from Uber. Which would you take?
Admittedly, the concept of Uber is enticing, but as I stated earlier, most of the independent operators who are worth their salt have no problem finding good paying work in the busy months. Then Uber riders will be serviced by drivers that are generally rejected by the bigger companies for any variety of reasons.
Bottom line, Uber is nothing more than a high tech cab company. Only they're skating by all hackney rules in the cities they are set up in.
Common prctice with new limo companies..
lowball the shit out of the customers at first, then when they're on the hook, slowly start raising the rates. You watch. Of course they'll try and blame it on "regulatory" reasons.
doesn't make sense.
As others pointed out, your insurance, workmans comp, and car payment are all sunk costs that you're going to pay regardless of whether or not you sign up for Uber. So, if you do sign up, you can make a few extra Logan runs that are $45 flat rates and of which you keep 40%. If you can get in 3/day, that's an extra $50. Subtract tolls/gas and say $40? Don't see why someone would pass that up.
Oh, and it's not VC guys you'd be driving...it would be the people who can't normally afford limos to the airport. The VC guys will still be using Boston Coach, and they'll still be getting rich whether you drive them or not.
I never said VC guys would be the ones driven
It's VC guys that are behind Uber, I'm told. Plus real VC guys use Carey, not Boston Coach. They have no problem paying $157.00 all inclusive to go from Logan to the Inter-Continental.
A stoner's dream
They should keep this up into the school year. They'd get rich! Imagine one of the big dorms full of stoned teenagers emptying out for ice cream.
I wish they would include Cambridge
I would totally do this; the building would empty out if an ice cream truck pulled up. I love Spongebob pops and you can't get them anywhere else.