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URAIL STATUS?
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Block Ukx
Pator Tech School
#1 - 2012-01-07 03:46:59 UTC



Looking for URAIL news.



Has the corporation ceased operations?
Brock Nelson
#2 - 2012-01-07 05:28:24 UTC
A simple investigation involving the technique of clicking on one of the link in the thread you've mentioned reveals that their operations have ceased.

Signature removed, CCP Phantom
Singeabooty Raj
Doomheim
#3 - 2012-01-07 06:16:04 UTC
Damn arrow to the knee gets all the good ones.

Black Man with Goggles
Jagga Spikes
Spikes Chop Shop
#4 - 2012-01-07 09:40:05 UTC
iirc, Cista took a break sometime before Crucible. there was notice in chatroom.

also, http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1573902&page=1#1
flakeys
Doomheim
#5 - 2012-01-07 10:34:25 UTC
Brock Nelson wrote:
A simple investigation involving the technique of clicking on one of the link in the thread you've mentioned reveals that their operations have ceased.


Block works for the french intelligence agency just FYI ...

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.
Block Ukx
Pator Tech School
#6 - 2012-01-08 03:31:41 UTC
The last official massage from URAIL CEO was:

Posted - 2011.06.01 06:15:00 - [161]
"We have some free flights for you today and tomorrow - as well as a new pilot!"

The message about ceasing operations came from someone not in URAIL.



Also, there is no mention about the shareholder's equity left in the URAIL corp wallet.


If the shareholder's equity is zero, then I will go ahead a de-list URAIL from the Stock Exchange.
Brock Nelson
#7 - 2012-01-08 03:48:28 UTC
I think its safe to say that they've ceased operations after 6 months of no life

Signature removed, CCP Phantom
flakeys
Doomheim
#8 - 2012-01-08 13:36:53 UTC
Brock Nelson wrote:
I think its safe to say that they've ceased operations after 6 months of no life


I think you are making your assumptions way too fast , give it another year ... Roll

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.
Block Ukx
Pator Tech School
#9 - 2012-01-11 02:41:26 UTC
flakeys wrote:
Brock Nelson wrote:
I think its safe to say that they've ceased operations after 6 months of no life


I think you are making your assumptions way too fast , give it another year ... Roll



The money left in the corp wallet was never returned to shareholders.


Would you call URAIL a scam then?
Kara Roideater
#10 - 2012-01-11 14:01:58 UTC
Block Ukx wrote:
flakeys wrote:
Brock Nelson wrote:
I think its safe to say that they've ceased operations after 6 months of no life


I think you are making your assumptions way too fast , give it another year ... Roll



The money left in the corp wallet was never returned to shareholders.


Would you call URAIL a scam then?





Have you got in touch with any of the directors to ask what the state of play is? Last post on any forum by Dezolf (Cista's replacement as CEO) was six months ago, so it looks like he may have gone. But Stealing Honest is also mentioned as a director and he is still active (or at least, he was two weeks ago) so he may be able to help with either information or liquidation.
Claire Voyant
#11 - 2012-01-11 15:29:32 UTC
Block Ukx wrote:
The money left in the corp wallet was never returned to shareholders.


Would you call URAIL a scam then?

I called it a scam on day one. I see no reason to change that.
Zaxix
State War Academy
Caldari State
#12 - 2012-01-11 19:25:37 UTC
While it's not conclusive in any way, one of Red Frog's clients reported to us that his courier contract had been cancelled around the time of the last post you mention. For awhile I kept an eye on their old channel, but it has long since been abandoned.

Bokononist

 
Claire Voyant
#13 - 2012-01-12 05:21:08 UTC
There were never any assets as far as I know. The NAV was created out of thin air. They would spend more than they took in and then declare a profit and a dividend because the share price went up. It seemed to be all a big joke, except that they apparently hauled stuff and lost money in the process.
Block Ukx
Pator Tech School
#14 - 2012-01-13 03:09:14 UTC
Kara Roideater wrote:

Have you got in touch with any of the directors to ask what the state of play is? Last post on any forum by Dezolf (Cista's replacement as CEO) was six months ago, so it looks like he may have gone. But Stealing Honest is also mentioned as a director and he is still active (or at least, he was two weeks ago) so he may be able to help with either information or liquidation.



Waiting on their respond.
Dezolf
DAX Action Stance
#15 - 2012-01-14 14:39:26 UTC  |  Edited by: Dezolf
\o,

First off, sorry about the relatively random layout of this post. And I also apologise for the amount of time which has passed without a word.

I think the easiest, most straightforward, explanation to URAILs current operational status is deceased.
The URAIL wallet still contains all the ISK that it did when operations silently died out (it has not been touched).
I had been planning on making a thread about URAIL, as well as a question as to how people would prefer to receive their invested ISK - that is, how to handle liquidation. I have no valid excuse as to why this hasn't happened.

There were never any assets, and we never "spent more than we took in", we hauled stuff.
If anyone's interested in a bigger discussion about URAILs operations, etc., feel free to contact me directly. I am also in the signatures room and have been since I got back from an unexpected haitus.

Operations silently shut down as a result of lack of advertisement, lack of pilots, etc., something I will have to take responsibility for.

Regarding the NAV:
We will pay out everything above a target NAV of 1.5B ISK in dividends. Because the corporation owns 75% of shares, our intrinsic NAV will change each month. If we have a month with no income, our NAV will go towards our target NAV, but otherwise it will increase. (I did post this in another thread).
The reason for the "needed" NAV was that we wanted to include a ship replacement fund. If a pilot was ganked during a flight, they would get a % of their hulls worth, based on how much they had paid to URAIL. (This was the idea, anyway)

That said;
I have been thinking about starting URAIL up again, but this would be pending shareholder acceptance. If the majority would rather they get their ISK back, then I will liquidate.
However, if there's a chance to get this running again, I'd like to grab it. I like the idea of URAIL, and it seems there are others who (at least used to) agree with me. There are a bunch of things that need to be sorted out, though, before starting up again. As such, if the shareholders wish to continue with this, there will be a start-up period with decreased operations.
IF we do start up again and some shareholders doesn't wish to continue, there will be a buyback and possible resale of their shares.

Long story short:
URAIL is no longer operational.
URAIL still holds shareholder ISK.
URAIL is prepared to pay back their shareholders. (EDIT: And also possibly other donators)
URAIL is prepared to start up again, pending shareholder/public interest in this.
Liberty Eternal
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#16 - 2012-01-16 13:48:11 UTC
Claire Voyant wrote:
There were never any assets as far as I know. The NAV was created out of thin air. They would spend more than they took in and then declare a profit and a dividend because the share price went up. It seemed to be all a big joke, except that they apparently hauled stuff and lost money in the process.


BSAC?
Vaerah Vahrokha
Vahrokh Consulting
#17 - 2012-01-16 17:31:35 UTC
Dezolf wrote:
That said;
I have been thinking about starting URAIL up again, but this would be pending shareholder acceptance. If the majority would rather they get their ISK back, then I will liquidate.
However, if there's a chance to get this running again, I'd like to grab it. I like the idea of URAIL, and it seems there are others who (at least used to) agree with me. There are a bunch of things that need to be sorted out, though, before starting up again. As such, if the shareholders wish to continue with this, there will be a start-up period with decreased operations.
IF we do start up again and some shareholders doesn't wish to continue, there will be a buyback and possible resale of their shares.


Please excuse me if I'll say inaccuracies - the events are not new and I have not being playing EvE either.

Wasn't URAIL a corp making strange and very minimal NAV sheets and similar?

Real investors like corps that act like they are working to significant objectives.

Take IE Red Frog, they are not there for the roleplay but for the hard cash, and that would entice investors a lot more than URAIL.

At the same time, the "fast and reliable courier for a price" idea is now far from new and other actors are now on the scene and indirectly make it more crowded and less lucrative.

How do you plan to "get back"?

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Block Ukx
Pator Tech School
#18 - 2012-01-18 02:20:20 UTC
Dezolf wrote:
... URAILs current operational status is deceased.
The URAIL wallet still contains all the ISK that it did when operations silently died out (it has not been touched).
... the corporation owns 75% of shares


I have been thinking about starting URAIL up again, ...



Thanks for the update.



What was the main reason URAIL stopped operations?
Durin Sarga
Lionhearted Investment Services and Planning
#19 - 2012-01-19 01:16:14 UTC
As a former invester in URAIL I think the problem came from a lack of consistency in pricing, piloting, timing, etc.

URAIL (from my perspective) attempted to herd independent freighter pilots like cats onto a schedule and get them to list their own hauling schedules and routes. Pilots made profit off the runs more than the corp did, and grading the pilots seemed like a cumbersome system. Routes would open when pilots were available and close when pilots left, etc. This led to serious questions about the programs' reliability and legitimacy.

Dezolf, I believe in one of the old forum threads I discussed with you the concept of transitioning to a more coherent and competitive costing system. I would add to that URAIL could see significant success with a FedEx oriented model. Where pilots (it doesn't matter who) provide consistent, reliable 'hub' options to all capsuleers. This would also provide a more distinct contrast with Red Frog and other contract hauling services.

I'd be interested in working with you to get the URAIL project back to active, if you'd have me on board.

Durin
Dezolf
DAX Action Stance
#20 - 2012-01-23 08:37:47 UTC  |  Edited by: Dezolf
Vaerah Vahrokha wrote:
Wasn't URAIL a corp making strange and very minimal NAV sheets and similar?
{snip}
At the same time, the "fast and reliable courier for a price" idea is now far from new and other actors are now on the scene and indirectly make it more crowded and less lucrative.
{snip}
How do you plan to "get back"?

We published monthly reports regarding our operations, such as amount of couriers made, amount of income and how much would be/had been paid out.

The courier idea is old indeed. What URAIL was aiming to do different was to put a timeframe on said couriers, having routes as known from current-day real world logistics.
How to get back is to work on this concept and refine it for EVE.
RedFrog is a good courier service, no doubt, but the fact that you might have to wait up to 4 days for your package to reach its destination is what URAIL would do differently.

Block Ukx wrote:
What was the main reason URAIL stopped operations?

As Durin Sarga pointed out, it was indeed a lack of pilots, timing and so on, not to mention some customers (and pilots alike) being confused about the pricing-scheme etc., the nail in the coffin came with a decrease in advertising and recruiting (mainly my fault).

Durin Sarga wrote:
URAIL (from my perspective) attempted to herd independent freighter pilots like cats onto a schedule and get them to list their own hauling schedules and routes. Pilots made profit off the runs more than the corp did, and grading the pilots seemed like a cumbersome system. Routes would open when pilots were available and close when pilots left, etc. This led to serious questions about the programs' reliability and legitimacy.
{snip}
Dezolf, I believe in one of the old forum threads I discussed with you the concept of transitioning to a more coherent and competitive costing system. I would add to that URAIL could see significant success with a FedEx oriented model. Where pilots (it doesn't matter who) provide consistent, reliable 'hub' options to all capsuleers. This would also provide a more distinct contrast with Red Frog and other contract hauling services.
{snip}
I'd be interested in working with you to get the URAIL project back to active, if you'd have me on board.

URAIL did indeed try to get freighter pilots to do what they'd normally do, but on a schedule. Pilots made all the profit, and the idea was trust that the pilots would pay a certain percentage to the corp (this was to be encouraged by the ship replacement plan). Grading would, ideally, lead to more business to reliable pilots, as well as give boni to those pilots (as to encourage being on-time etc.).
Pilots left and joined sporadically, which indeed lead to a very cumbersome system. Coupled with a very manual spreadsheet of information, the administrative overhead was a burden, both to the administration, but also to the pilots and the customers.

Yes, a FedEx-ish model would be an ideal model. There are a number of problems with the system in regards to adopting it into EVE, but hopefully this is an obstacle that can be overcome in a smooth and efficient manner. Again, this was one of the ideas that URAIL was built on, but wasn't really adopted properly.

If you wish to help revive this project, I'd welcome you with open arms.
What is needed for this project to start up strong and keep going is mainly a good "think-tank" to work out all the problems that are in adopting real-world ideas to EVE. People who are interested in making this project work, and willing to invest the time needed are all welcome.

My biggest question now, though, is whether or not our current shareholders wish to give URAIL a second chance.
Edit: Oh, and that those who yelled scam are proven wrong. Neither I, nor any other of the administrative team, wish for URAIL to be a scam. If anyone needs to be blamed for this, blame me.
As stated earlier in this thread, URAIL still holds shareholder ISK, and I am willing to pay out every single isk-cent, should any shareholder want that.
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