Does Uber charge you more if the battery on your mobile phone is low?
NPR interviewed Keith Chen on its Hidden Brain program, who is head of “economic research” at Uber. He said:
When your phone is down to five percent battery and that little icon on the iPhone turns red, people start saying I’d better get home or I don’t know how I’m going to get home otherwise.
Using that info (Uber has access to it because the app needs that information to go into power-save mode), Uber has witnessed battery level is “one of the strongest predictors of whether or not you are going to be sensitive to surge”.
Bolt has already embraced this technology. Indeed, user tests do show that the a nearly-empty battery translates to higher pricing on the same route:
How can this be explained? Same location. Same destination. Same account. Different phones. Different prices. pic.twitter.com/Ys07A4YV89
— KEA (@KEA_HGA) September 17, 2019
Will Uber follow? Chen said:
We absolutely don’t use that to push you a higher surge price. But it is an interesting psychological fact of human behavior.
Uber also told me:
This claim is false as battery life is absolutely not a factor in determining fare. Furthermore, Uber does not use personalized pricing nor is battery life a factor in determining fares. Pricing is optimized for the network as a whole, not any one individual rider or driver. We launched What Moves Us last year to explain our marketplace and share more on how our pricing and matching technology works. You can also see more on how prices are determined here.
CONCLUSION
Chen offered one other interesting note on surge pricing:
When you tell someone your trip is going to be two times what it would normally be, people think that is capricious and unfair – somebody just made that up. Whereas if you say your trip is going to be 2.1 times what it normally is they think there is some smart algorithm at work, it doesn’t seem quite so unfair.
That may not be an admission that Uber engages in predatory pricing for people who neglect to charge their mobile phone. But it is a concession that Uber manipulates pricing in a deliberate way not solely influenced by supply/demand.
Have you experienced higher prices on Uber when your phone is nearly dead?
(H/T: Flyertalk)
Yet another reason why my default is Lyft and I tend to only use Uber when they offer a cheaper fare.
It seems like every time I turn around there is yet another story about Uber doing something slimy and shady.
You contradicted yourself in one sentence. If you always use the cheaper service, you have no default.
I don’t always use the cheaper service. I always start with Lyft and since many of my rides are repetitive I have a pretty good feel for what they will cost so I don’t always even check Uber.
When I do I only shift if the savings is significant and usually Lyft is cheaper anyway.
How is that slimey? Yesterday lettuce was on sale for 1.99 and today is $2.99. You AGREE to the price BEFORE you accept the ride.
Fake news, this is not even Uber. It’s Bolt.
The idea that Lyft is any different from Uber is a carefully crafted marketing message.
If you’ve been tracking articles over the prior year, you will realize that drivers actually earn more with Uber than with Lyft.
Also, Lyft piggybacked on a lot of the shady deals (or open flouting of rules) Uber did in individual states/city, so they ended up escaping public spotlight unlike Uber.
Both are corporations looking to hang on to Investor funding until they either go bankrupt or self driving cars become mainstream, whichever comes first.
If you have a problem with ride sharing or the incorrect application of the gig economy, then by all means don’t use app based rides. But restricting yourself to one of them only is just poor math.
How is this shady? When you are driving on a tollway and there are no other gas stations around, you will pay MORE to get gas than you would at other times. Same concept. YOUR piss poor planning caused you to pay more. It isnt like they hid the pricing. FURTHERMORE, I would say you prove that they ARE NOT doing anything slimy since there IS a competitor. If you dont like what Uber does, GO WITH LYFT. Finally, try to book a flight on the Monday of Thanksgiving week to fly out on Wednesday. I guarantee you arent getting the same fare as the guy who PLANNED and bought the tickets months in advance. AGAIN, it is all about planning., YOU failed to plan, so your battery is low so you pay more. Seems smart. those that WANT something no matter what will pay more then somebody who can wait and try to get the lower price
This is a shady practice. The best way to price a ride is to look up the milage of your trip and multiply that by 3 with a minimum of $10. That is how we do it every time at Plainedge Taxi and Airport Service. With that price structure you can never be ripped off.
Get em when their down! That’s typical corporate America for you.
What a moron. Would you rather go back to the hassle of flagging down a cab, then paying even higher prices? If you do, more power to you. I will deal with Uber’s pricing, thanks…
For the record I take ubers and lyfts all the time. Never said anything about wanting them gone!
Scum of the earth ripping you off, what a shock.
I don’t see a “picture above” other than what looks like a stock photo as the feature image. If I click through to the tweet, I can see a pair of phones using Bolt. Is there a photo showing the Uber equivalent somewhere?
Anyway, there’s a reply to the tweet that makes some sense: the second phone requesting a pickup in the same spot has created higher demand, and the next available driver might be farther away.
There could be any number of other factors behind the pricing Bolt is offering. Has one device been used before for Bolt and the other hasn’t? Could iPhone users be better tippers than Android users? That it could only be the 45% battery level (which could be the rest of the day and half of tomorrow on that Android) doesn’t pass the sniff test.
What a scummy company Uber is. Just one more example, and another reason to find some other way to get somewhere if at all possible.
For me, Uber and “just walk” are constantly vying for last place on my list of ways to get somewhere. “Just walk” often wins out.
Last I checked nobody was forced to take an Uber, You can walk, Go for it. Doesnt make what is being done wring,. It means you are stupid
Says the one who wrote “wring” instead of wrong lol
“promises”
A promise means nothing from a company that has engaged in lots of illegality
You wrote the article about Uber, but this app is “bolt.” It’s not Uber at all.
The article was a question; does Uber charge more? I said I would be running tests, which I will be starting this week.
That’s a pretty awful and extremely leading headline then. The way it reads is far more of a statement than a question. You did not ask “Is Uber”, you stated “Uber is”. In no way does it seem like a question and I can guarantee you I am not the only one who feels this way.
Good luck with those tests. Good luck in taking out the factors that affect the price, line the hour, supply and demand, surge (which will be affected by ordering more rides from the same spot), time and so on. I HIGHLY doubt you can actually do a proper test. Just FYI.
Also, the premise of the article is bogus beyond belief, not to mention it is highly misleading thru the title. You should have made the test BEFORE and then bring your conclusions not just cast doubt over what a competitor MIGHT be doing.
He says it’s an observation that people are more likely to accept surge when the battery is low.
That’s not saying they push surge to people with low batteries, or offer a higher surge price to people with low batteries.
Yes! That’s how I read it, too!
Finally a comment that makes sense.
If you regularly find yourself in the desperate situation of only having 30 seconds of battery life to book your ride home, the bigger problem is with your cellphone, than with Uber.
The author wrote it in a manner so as to not get sued by Uber. But, Uber does do what he is suggesting and so does Lyft in my market.
This isn’t any different than the price of a hotel room going up; the more I view it on a specific date range. It’s about urgency, and as a result costs of a particular product will fluctuate.
Is it right? Probably not. Is it legal? There are no regulations that say otherwise. Welcome to third world capitalism; the only guarantee you have is that prices will differentiate between different users and will almost always go up.
How is this third world capitalism? Yesterday the supermarket had lettuce for $1.99. Today that sake was over and it was $2.49. They didnt get a new shpment of lettuce in. It was because SOMETIMES prices change and they change when YOU need them more urgently. If you are driving on the expressway and the ONLY open gas station for 30 miles charges $2.99 a gallon, but when you get to that 30 mile away area there are stations charging $2.49 is it doing something third world? Prices are different ALL THE TIME for items. Buy a car, an airline ticket, groceries, rent an apartment, buy a house, buy a laptop or cell phone and the number of prices people paid will vary. If you cant plan ahead on your battery power you might be willing to pay more. I wonder if a person with an MBA from Harvard goes for a job against a person with an associates from Jacksonville Juco and they offer a salary there MIGHT be a difference? EVEN for the same job, Funny how that works
You speak about Uber but post picture from Bolt…
The Twitter is about different prices on Bolt.
I did a side by side and notice that Uber charges more when you use “Uber Cash” than when use use your credit card or PayPal to pay. Pretty bogus.
But the picture shows the app as Bolt not Uber. Why the misinformation?
@ Mark — I call bs. Proof please?
Something similar happened to me in Madrid Spain today. I ordered an Uber and the guy wasn’t moving from the location he was at. I cancelled and immediately ordered another one at $3 euros less. Please explain that lol. Amazing
That’s wrong, I’m uber driver ,
It’s was pool, the sedond pool have deduction because there are someone adding. The price may be increased or decreased according to the distance or direction for both riders with pool. Also remember if you go by the toll route, the fare increases
I can only assume the increased price is actually due to that terrible system font 😛
Matthew, I generally like this blog AND I’m not a huge fan of Uber, but I’m really disappointed that you posted this; it’s irresponsible and disrespectful… both to Uber and to your readers.
You cite an interview that you say hints at this practice which is later flatly refuted by the person who was interviewed!.
Then you say you’re going to do some tests. Great. I hope they are thoughtful and comprehensive. But why post what is almost certainly a falsehood on your blog BEFORE testing?!
I think the fact that you would have so little integrity that you would throw disrespectful and false accusations ( by way of association and subject imprinting by name in the title) at Uber just to solicit more clicks and reads is a far more shameful act than if Uber was doing any of your “accused” practices. This was just a disgraceful publishing, and I don’t know how you justified it to yourself or anyone else. I’m not defending Uber, I’m just defending what journalism and news should be about, which is facts and the integrity to present them in full. And you’ve lost my trust and respect with how you approached this piece.