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I'm not that bothered by them personally, but I would rather see these international taxi brands gone. They take away income and entrepreneurship from local eco

I'm not that bothered by them personally, but I would rather see these international taxi brands gone. They take away income and entrepreneurship from local economies. The world is slowly becoming a boring homogeneous place run by multinational brands. It's like fast food outlets, coffee shops and so on, most of them are run from another country and look exactly the same - there's no character.

sho_hn 10y ago
I feel you. I moved to Seoul, South Korea a few months ago, a city of many thousands of coffeeshops. Among the natives, Starbucks is really popular -- meanwhile I go out of my way to avoid going there, because it's frustrating to move 8500km and not feel the distance traveled after putting the effort into it. The rising popularity of IKEA, which arrived in Korea about two years ago, is concerning for the same reason. It's really not about naively craving exoticism (which inevitably wears off anyway), it's just a desire for an environmental confirmation of a major life change, the absence of which is psychologically disconcerting. Luckily there's still a boatload of little unique, charming. non-chain coffeeshops to go to, too.
- hocuspocus 10y ago
  If there's one thing I really missed during my time in Korea, it'd probably be Ikea. There's just no good alternative.
  - sho_hn 10y ago
    You can always play gmarket roulette ...
kofejnik 10y ago
I'm hoping for Uber and Lyft to take over the world and put the traditional taxi companies out of business completely, to the extent that I dislike going to places where Uber isn't present. Most recent example - Athens, Greece, where a 15 minute ride to the airport is 50 euro, in a stinky old cab, with driver not speaking English. I've already contributed a couple k to your economy, but you still need to fleece me on my airport ride? Will be avoiding that country in the future.
msellout 10y ago
Sometimes it's really nice to see a multinational corporation. They can help reduce corruption and set higher standards for all sorts of things. Yeah, they sometimes displace local entrepreneurs, but the consumers generally benefit (though there are some downsides for consumers as well). If you travel enough, everything starts to look the same, whether it's a multinational corporation or some local character.

sho_hn 10y ago

I feel you. I moved to Seoul, South Korea a few months ago, a city of many thousands of coffeeshops. Among the natives, Starbucks is really popular -- meanwhile I go out of my way to avoid going there, because it's frustrating to move 8500km and not feel the distance traveled after putting the effort into it. The rising popularity of IKEA, which arrived in Korea about two years ago, is concerning for the same reason. It's really not about naively craving exoticism (which inevitably wears off anyway), it's just a desire for an environmental confirmation of a major life change, the absence of which is psychologically disconcerting. Luckily there's still a boatload of little unique, charming. non-chain coffeeshops to go to, too.

hocuspocus 10y ago
If there's one thing I really missed during my time in Korea, it'd probably be Ikea. There's just no good alternative.
- sho_hn 10y ago
  You can always play gmarket roulette ...

kofejnik 10y ago

I'm hoping for Uber and Lyft to take over the world and put the traditional taxi companies out of business completely, to the extent that I dislike going to places where Uber isn't present. Most recent example - Athens, Greece, where a 15 minute ride to the airport is 50 euro, in a stinky old cab, with driver not speaking English. I've already contributed a couple k to your economy, but you still need to fleece me on my airport ride? Will be avoiding that country in the future.

msellout 10y ago

Sometimes it's really nice to see a multinational corporation. They can help reduce corruption and set higher standards for all sorts of things. Yeah, they sometimes displace local entrepreneurs, but the consumers generally benefit (though there are some downsides for consumers as well). If you travel enough, everything starts to look the same, whether it's a multinational corporation or some local character.