Segments

I've had multiple Uber Black under $20

Beltway2A

I just ran a series of tests with an Amex Plat with no credit remaining, and a CSP.

The fare across a number of routes changed fairly constantly. Sometimes the Plat was higher, sometimes the CSP was higher. Always within $1-2 of each other. Overall, the CSP tended to have cheaper UberX rides, while the Plat tended to have cheaper UberBlack rides.

The more interesting thing I found was repeatedly changing back and forth between cards for several minutes lowered the fares. I'll have to try this again at various points during the day to see if it was just my time frame. If this is part of the algorithm, it could be interesting.

txflyer77

I'm not at all surprised. There are some startups building dynamic pricing products that try to predict the optimal price for any given customer based on a number of characteristics (location, browser, device, payment method, 3rd party data, etc.). I don't know if Uber is using one or rolled their own but they're hardly alone in this.

Frankly, it's probably a bug in their system that exposed this. I would expect they'll start quoting based not on selected payment method but based on all your associated cards.

josephstern

If it's true, then deleting the Plat Amex has no effect.

My friend and I just compared several rides, both with Plat. He deleted his. Rates remained identical.

SansSerif

Not at all surprised. Uber's been testing price differentials based upon just about every factor imaginable, and there was some blowback for charging riders more when originating from a high-COL neighborhood.

Still, I say we riot.

mdosu

i was going to say...wait until the algorithm starts to show a pattern of charging minority or disabled or people seeking medical attention more for their fares. Discrimination is more than just overt. If you can prove there's disparate impact or treatment...which comes out from unintentional outcomes of algorithms, then the company will have to bend over and grab its ankles.

Agreed, let's riot, my pitchfork has been taken out of storage. Need to borrow your torch.

mdosu

i doubt deleting would have any effects in the short term. You think an algorithm isn't smart enough to pick up that you had it in recent history? If I were evil enough to write this pricing algorithm, I would put all premium credit card payment methods accounts all in one bucket on day 1 it's uploaded into the account. Those customers have already shown they're willing to pay to play for something...even if they remove, I would write an algorithm to track to see if their habits/patterns indeed warrant getting kick out of this group.

gDolan

Sort of fun to imagine what these buckets would be...

• Bucket 1: Cards for corporate expenses [GOUGE GOUGE GOUGE] (Green Amex)
• Bucket 2: Elite cards [+15%] (Centurion, Chase private client)
• Bucket 3: Mass-market, high end [+5%] (CSR, Amex Plat..)
• Bucket 4: Mass-market, middle [+0%] (Citi 2x...)
• Bucket 5: Bargain hunters [-5%] (Secured credit cards)

Also makes you wonder about Uber's corporate contracts--is there a 'most favored nation' guarantee in them? Otherwise, I'd imagine the person overseeing the GS account would be pretty keen on bumping prices.

josephstern

If any company would do this, which company would be the most likely?

Seems like a pretty easy question to answer here.

eajusa

Another reason not to Uber.

mikesyr18

I was thinking the same as you are. American Express wants to provide the Uber benefits, so they probably asked Uber to charge their customers a small percentage more so AMEX didn't lose too much money and received the additional small cut from the sale.

What I hate the most about this benefit (and I do want to be a potential Plat cardholder as I already have an AMEX charge card) is that they drip feed you the benefit month to month rather than just giving you a lump sum.

javabytes

Doesn't seem to make a difference whether I have Visa or Amex selected, at least under a single account. Will have to compare to my wife's account.

IME, Uber Black has a minimum of $15, and Uber SUV has a minimum of $25.

GUWonder

There is definitely a reason that Amex set this up as a drip feed benefit, and I have no hesitation in assuming that the reason for the drip feed arrangement has to do with how to make this Amex Platinum-marketed benefit less costly (and more profitable) for Amex (and Uber too).

If the arrangement between Amex and Uber for this Amex Platinum-marketed benefit were explicitly structured in a questionable way so as to be hostile to the financial interests of Amex customers and that arrangement's details were to go public, this could get real interesting from a PR perspective.

I wouldn't be surprised if heavy UberPool users aren't hit or hit as hard by a kind of price discrimination.

mhdena

I never noticed before but now every mock booking using Uber and Lyft has Uber $1 more.

mikesyr18

More profitable for AMEX, meanwhile, they piss off their customers. I mean this company needs to wake up. Why would I want the card if I'm getting $15/month in Uber credits? $15 wouldn't even cover one 15 minute Uber ride in the most basic "category" for me. I'm basically getting one discounted Uber ride per month on a card that costs $550/year (I understand there's other benefits but still). I'd rather just pay the $450 annual fee and pay the entire price of my Uber rides instead.

I can't believe they raised the annual fee of this card by $100/year to make it the highest of the four major "premium" cards (U.S Bank Alt, Citi Prestige, Chase Sapphire Reserve, and this one) to add $15/month in Uber credits as a benefit along with 5x on air, in which this card has the worst point earning categories of the four anyways.