diburning

I went to select my reward today and noticed that they really devalued the rewards.

At Platinum level, the rewards (in my area) are:

BEFORE: Feeding America Donation
NOW: No change

BEFORE: Driver/family education fund
NOW: No change

BEFORE: 30% off your next two Uber Eats orders of $20 or more, up to $15 discount
NOW: 15% off your next Uber Eats order, up to $7 discount

BEFORE: Free delivery on two Uber Eats orders
NOW: No change

BEFORE: Get highly rated drivers for two weeks
NOW: Useless since there aren't enough drivers on the road to meet demand

BEFORE: 15% off your next UberX, Pool, or ExpressPool ride up to $7 discount
NOW: Only useful for UberX since the pool options are suspended

BEFORE: N/A
NOW: 15% off your next Uber Comfort ride up to $10 discount

BEFORE: $5 Uber Cash
NOW: Gone

gkbiiii

The loss of the $5 Uber Cash is a big thing.

RobH

Under ordinary circumstances I'd share your indignation about the devaluation of rewards. I've been a critic of their previous benefit reductions; before the pandemic I griped on here about the loss of value in the Uber credit card, the reduction in benefit of prepaying Uber cash, and probably other things too. There are a number of other things to consider. All rewards programs including airline and hotel devalue over time. Even if it weren't for the pandemic devaluation was a certainty; the current crisis expedited the inevitable.

My weekly travel abruptly ended on March 12, 2020 and I haven't taken a plane or Uber ride since. If and when I resume traveling I'll most likely resume using Uber without regard to the benefit reduction. I find the service convenient and more economical than car rental or traditional taxis. I used to make a 5% profit on my reimbursed rides by prepaying Uber cash for a 5% discount. Loss of that isn't enough to make me abandon them.

OP, please imagine a world without Uber. That would be far more expensive to you than the loss of benefits you're unhappy with. Give them your business so they can survive. And cut them some slack in a crisis.

diburning

Oh, don't worry, I'm giving Uber plenty of business. I'm almost willing to bet money on Lyft not survivng though. Lyft's customer service has been giving all sorts of excuses for shortcomings and bad driver behavior, plus, they don't have a food delivery service to pad their losses.

Eastbay1K

Yes. I am hoping it is temporary. Right now, most everyone would be using it for food, which could be part of the reason why they got rid of it. The $5 for food is probably an immediate direct out of pocket expense.

diburning

You would think so, but last week, they gave me a deal where if I placed two Uber Eats orders in a week, I would then get two 50% off promos (up to $15) that last for two weeks. I would have been ok with just the five bucks, but hey, $15 off a $30 order (twice) is not a bad deal at all.

strife

UberEats has been very aggressive with 30=50% off promos for me so I am surprised they got rid of the $5 UberCash option. I acknowledge that these promos may be targeted but I use the service a lot as it is so a bit odd that they would target me.

Mr. BoH

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:

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.

diburning

Uber has always operated on the concepts of "disruption" and "do it now, negotiate later after we get everyone to use our product, so that it becomes political suicide to try to regulate us." There isn't a single honest thing that "technology companies" like Uber will do.

No, Lyft does not have a rewards program at all. However, Lyft has partners like Delta, Hilton, and Rakuten that will give points/cash back on rides, and it's very triple-dippable.

Mr. BoH

Does Uber Cash ever expire? I am sitting on a big chunk of it with not much use planned.

diburning

Uber Cash does not expire. You can use it for rides or Uber Eats. Since Uber gift card redemptions take the form of Uber Cash, they can't have an expiration without swift enforcement action from more than a handful of US states which have regulations against the expiration of gift cards/certificates.

diburning

They added a new reward: 25% off your next UberEats order, minimum order of $40 and maximum discount of $15 (so the discount is on a $60 maximum purchase)

gkbiiii

Surge Protector is off too.

ikwia

And the $5 Uber Cash reward is gone, too. RIP Uber Rewards.

Brendan

I already double-dip with Delta & Hilton on my Lyft rides, but I never heard of earning Rakuten until now. Thanks, I just checked it out on Rakuten.com, but nothing came up!