Tech Companies and Surge Pricing
Source: Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future Published: June 2017

Source: Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future
Published: June 2017
Tech Companies & Surging Prices
Circulated: August 27, 2019
Situation #1 — December 2014
During a terrorist attack in Sydney, those fleeing caused Uber’s surge pricing to spike. The company faced intense criticism that this was wildly inappropriate.
Uber’s statement: “We didn’t stop the surge pricing immediately, and this was the wrong decision.”
Situation #2 — November 2015
During terrorist stacks in Paris, Uber canceled surge pricing in the city within 30 minutes.
Uber’s statement: “As soon as we heard about the incident we immediately suspended dynamic pricing all around the area of the attacks… and then across central London.”
Situation #3 — September 2017
During preparations for Hurricane Irma in Florida, Amazon removed excessively priced bottled water.
Amazon’s statement: “To protect customers, we’ve removed several offers from third-party sellers that exceeded the recent average sales price.”
Examples like these show the wisdom of having human judgment and algorithms working together.
Create your profile
Only paid subscribers can comment on this post
Check your email
For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.
Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.