The Case for Uber Surge Pricing After a Mass Shooting

“Those who desperately need rides can pay extra for them. Those with spare time can take a bus, walk, call a friend, etc., or just wait for prices to drop.

Higher prices also mean higher pay for drivers, which encourages part-time drivers to drop what they are doing and start offering rides.”

“Uber and Lyft are great innovations. They forced taxi monopolies to treat customers better and let ordinary people use their cars to drive for money.

But businesses get clobbered in the media whenever there’s an aberration. On that day, social media exploded with comments like, “Fare surge after a mass shooting….Shame on you @Uber.”

The companies quickly went into damage control mode. “Our hearts go out to the victims,” tweeted Uber Support. “We disabled surge pricing in the area.”

Disabling surge pricing may be good PR, but it’s a terrible practice. At the beginning of the pandemic, when toilet paper and hand sanitizer were scarce, politicians told people, “Report merchants who raise prices!” They called that “illegal price gouging.”

But “gouging” was a good thing even then. It disincentivized hoarding and got suppliers to make more of the products we need most.”

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