"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 11:39:14 on Wed, 12 Oct 2016,
tim... remarked:

What do you call the referral bonus, paid for by Uber not the drivers,
if not a subsidy to the drivers fulfilling those trips?

so when I get a 20 quid M&S voucher for recommending my insurance company
(whoever) to a friend, that is a subsidy, is it?

No, because the insurance company buys them in bulk off M&S (at a discount
because many get lost/thrown away). To bribe people to refer insurance
customers - it's not M&S bribing the insurance company £20 to drum up more
M&S customers.

Uber taxi drivers don't buy the £15 vouchers and hand them to potential
new customers (thus reducing their first fare by £15). That £15 is paid by
Uber HQ, and is therefore a £15 subsidy to the driver accepting the
voucher.

Promotional marketing models not your strong point are they?

I understand that the vouchers work on the basis that not everyone will
spend them

But nevertheless the 15 pound "first ride free" is still a marketing cost,
not a driver subsidy.

How about "get your first 10 pound bet free" at the online bookies. Is that
a subsidy?

And I know that this is just a bait to get people hooked, but there is real
costs associated with it from the group of people who arbitrage that free
bet into real money and never come back (except for the next free bet
offer) - Go on MSN and you'll find a community discussing how to do this,
some report making several 100 a month this way (no I don't believe it
either).

tim