U.K. experiencing a black market for lighted Uber signs
Need proof that people care about signs? There’s a black market in parts of the United Kingdom for small, lighted signs featuring the Uber logo. No, it’s not for people to post on their dorm room walls to display their support for the nouveau-taxi brand. Instead, the people buying these illicit signs are Uber drivers who want to place the signs in their windshields.
An Uber sign on sale for £38.70 on eBay.
Here’s why: Even though you get the make and model of the car and photo of the driver when you order a ride on the Uber app, it can be difficult to identify your ride in a stream of cars — especially at night.
Uber recognized this challenge and developed these blue, branded Uber lights, which they distributed sparingly to drivers in Manchester, England in 2014.
An unnamed competitor reportedly lodged a complaint against the signs (we won’t speculate why) and Uber ultimately pulled the signs from the United Kingdom.
Many drivers were not happy with the ban. As Business Insider’s James Cook reports, “[The sign is] nice to have — it reduces waiting time and acts as a safety measure, preventing people from getting into the wrong car.”
The signs were so nice to have, apparently, that they warranted a full-blown black market on the banned items. Cook investigated the online sale of these signs and found a combination of “official” Uber signs and recreated signs on the market. There are even unapproved Uber signs for sale in the United States. Cook found prices ranging from $15 to $70 in the U.S., and around £20 in the U.K.
The signs are available in some U.S. cities, but banned in others.
There’s perhaps a logical reason why Uber drivers are willing to turn to a black market in order to obtain what might be seen as a competitive advantage.
In the U.S. alone, there are more than 162,000 Uber drivers active each year. In the last three months of 2014, Uber drivers pulled in an astonishing $658.8 million in payments in the U.S. That’s in one quarter. It’s an incredible figure for a relatively new business (though Uber has clearly poached a significant portion of its income from taxis — it also poached a lot of former taxi drivers).
Uber is in 50 countries worldwide and, by some valuations, is worth $40 billion. Yes, billion. With a “B.”
£20 for a little blue Uber light suddenly doesn’t seem like that much money after all.
