[bluetidepro]

This seems like a dumb move by Uber that I wonder if they will end up retracting here soon. This new fee seems very half-baked, and I imagine it will actually hurt their brand rather than do what they think it will do. It's like this is a band-aid fix for the news flack they have been receiving lately about safety with UberX.

They seem to have so much traction in this space with drivers that I don't get why they don't charge the driver to do a background check / insurance check (as someone else in this thread mentioned). Or heck, maybe they should just be paying for these safety checks out of their own pocket. It would just add to their brand as naturally being a safe-to-use product. If a store was charging you to be helped by "safe" employees vs sketchy ones, you'd be outraged.

Based on this, assuming it's a fee that is here to stay, they will end up making a fortune from customers compared to what it "really" costs to implement the idea of safety (the checks/balances). A simple background check is roughly less than $25. I can't imagine them taking much more steps than the bare minimum. Uber will probably make their money back in a few dozen rides, then can simple reap the benefits. Plus, who knows if they are even doing these checks/balances or what they are doing. They could add this fee on, and there would still be no transparency on what they are even doing with the money to help with your safety as a customer.

This just seems like a very short sighted idea by Uber (if they actually want to help the customers/employees). I'm losing more and more respect for this company everytime I see their name mentioned in press/articles. Everything from the poor taste in aggressive sales tactics [1] to things like this. I consider this a "panicking" move by Uber, as if the once solid floor is slowly slipping away from under them.

[1] http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/24/technology/social/uber-gett/