Uber Pushing For Patent On Surge Pricing

mpicpp sends news that Uber is renewing its push for a patent on "surge pricing," the practice of increasing rider fees when many people are trying to find transportation. The system measures supply (Uber drivers) and demand (passengers hailing rides with smartphones), and prices fares accordingly. It’s one of at least 13 U.S. patent applications filed by Uber or its founders to give it an edge over potential rivals ahead of a potential initial public offering. So far, Uber hasn’t had any luck. Ten applications were initially rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for “obviousness” or for covering something not eligible for protection.

Comments

not original

[bloodhawk]

Surge pricing I would have thought falls under the obvious category. It is simply pricing for supply and demand. higher prices bring in more suppliers and reduce the buyers. most businesses don't do it because it is difficult to manage and can cause a lot of customer aggro not because they are not aware of the supply and demand models.

Re: not original

[bloodhawk]

hotels and airlines both adjust there prices constantly according to available supply and demand. There are many many other examples.

Re: not original

[bill_mcgonigle]

Price "gouging" is a good thing. It sends information signals to the market to divert goods to where they are needed. Hurricane approaching Florida? That load of plywood headed to Michigan should be diverted to boarding up windows in Dade County instead of to building a dog house in Lansing. But if the price of plywood is kept artificially low (only possible by the guns of government), there's no incentive to send the truck towards a hurricane, so the Michigan contract is fulfilled.
During Hurricane Sandy some friends and I looked at renting a truck and getting some generators from our local stores to NJ - about 300 miles. It would obviously have to be worth our effort but both we and the people without power who could not find generators would benefit. But then Chris Christie got on TV threatening anybody who would charge above big-box store non-emergency prices with National Guard action. "Screw that", we said, "they can sit in the dark and enjoy their fairness".
The important information theory piece to learn is that prices are the information signals that are sent through markets. The important economic piece to learn is that scarcity is real. The important political piece to learn is that politicians ignore both, to the detriment of their people but to their own personal gain.

Re: not original

[rtb61]

I hope one day you find yourself hanging from a cliff and just before the person reaches down to help you they say, agree to hand over all your assets or I will divert my resources to else where and assure you, that you can always wait for a more competitive offer. Perhaps a fire brigade that agrees to buy your house for 50% of it's value or they will not put out the fire. Price gouging practices inevitably leads to people creating disasters in order to exploit them. Creating monopolies are the same idea. So no, your ideas suck and they are grossly anti-social and have no place in a modern society.

What a novel idea!

[Anonymous Coward]

Balancing supply and demand by raising prices? Who'd have thunk it?

Wait, wasn't there some guy named Adam Smith...

Patenting Supply & Demand?

[BoRegardless]

Adam Smith disclosed that centuries ago.

Re:Surge pricing london style

[gnasher719]

Obviously I see a lot wrong with this. It pisses me off. It absolutely pisses me off. That's how you destroy a service. Just make people hate you.