Last week I ran a poll to find out how you felt about Uber Surge Pricing. I wanted to find out if surge pricing was considered fair or something that you really don’t like….
I’ve found the topic to have vocal supporters on both sides. I for one, am not a fan of this pricing strategy. I feel that it reeks of the company taking advantage of its customers.
However, many argue that it’s just simple economics, let’s call it supply and demand.
I’ll admit upfront that I am not a frequent Uber user. I think that I’ve used the service 3-4 times, with the first time being in Atlanta where I wondered what the big deal was.
When it comes to people being against surge pricing. I’ve heard some say that Uber was “letting drivers know the zone area with high surge pricing allowing drivers to stay just outside area so surge pricing would stay high” according to Carlos in a comment on my post.
Another reader commented to download an app called Surge Protector. Adam told us “It tells you if there’s a surge in effect for your area, and where to go to get just outside the surge area but still be close to your origin “.
Well I don’t know when the next time will be that I’ll need the services of Uber but Surge Protector has been downloaded! (Check out Surge Protector for iOS here.)
Now for the poll results:
In my poll, I asked one question: “Is Uber’s Surge Pricing Fair?”
I included five options to choose for your answer. I hope that I gave a decent selection of answer choices. (I wish the poll allowed for a write-in answer option.)
I expected the poll to be close but this wasn’t the case.
The answers in favor of surge pricing got 74 votes which was 72% of the overall vote. Based on this poll readers are in favor of Surge Pricing. Boy am I surprised.
The no option received 20 votes with mine being one of them. This came to 19%. Then 10% of the vote were people who see both sides of the argument…
It would’ve been nice if more people voted since I know many more than 104 people actually took a look at the post!
So Surge Pricing it is. I am still not convinced that it is a good thing.
Check out the original post about my poll here.
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LR- We could also download Surge Protector. If all businesses adjusted pricing in real-time, I’d be afraid to see how much pricier many things would get.
You know what the amazing part about surge pricing is? IF you don’t like it, you can always just call a cab, walk, run, bike, train, etc. Surge pricing is a fantastic idea for the consumer and the company. Attempting to match supply and demand in real-time is the future of consumer economics.