I have started using Uber, and my observation as to why it’s so great is the following:

“You don’t have to speak to anyone.”

You login to the Uber app, you wait for your car, you watch the car get closer to you on a cute little map. You say hi…..and goodbye. No anxiety about the meter running. No worrying whether or not you have money. No fiddling with the credit card machine. No asking for a receipt. No ripped seats mended with tape. No needing to listen to the driver’s endless phone conversation.

I know what you’re going to say: but don’t you want to speak to someone when you need service?

Actually, I only want to speak to someone when I screwed it up. I don’t want to speak to a call center when I don’t understand a statement, a transaction, a request. If you had explained it clearly in the first place, I think I would have figured it out.  But if I screwed it up, you bet I want to talk to someone knowledgeable, sympathetic, and who can fix it.