The removal of Uber Cash option kills most of the value of this program for me. I saw an article on this:
https://thepointsguy.com/news/uber-rewards-devaluation/ which includes this gem:
Note: After this article was originally published, an Uber spokesperson reached out to TPG to clarify that this decision was not tied to the company’s financial position and provided the following statement: “After thoughtful consideration, we made the decision to sunset the $5 Uber Cash benefit in the U.S. starting in late 2019. Users told us that Uber Cash was a less popular option for every 500 points earned and that they wanted more choice, which is why we expanded to include ride and Eats discounts, partner benefits like access to Apple News, free food items, and a large focus on donations per these challenging times. We remain committed to Uber Rewards and recognizing riders for choosing our service.”
Yeah, right, I bet users were complaining in droves about the option to redeem for Uber Cash. I guess Uber has officially come of age as a faceless corporation if they are using BS corporate-speak to spin the removal of a benefit as "listening to their customers".
Honestly, if they had just said, "times are tight, we need to manage cashflow, we'll re-evaluate later", I would have given them the benefit of the doubt. Instead, I'll be researching to see if Lyft has a decent rewards program.