Posted on 06/02/2019 5:10:20 PM PDT by Celerity
First off, the last part of my title. I lost my pay. I didn't lose my job, but my investors pulled their money from my pay to pay someone else they felt was more important to pay. Either way, I'll deal with that later. But here is the skinny:
I had to take an emergency flight to say goodbye to my father, who I am very close to. He's got Cancer and it will take him soon. The chemo has ravaged his mind and his body and I was called across the country to say goodbye.
Upon my return, my investors had made a decision. To stop paying me a salary. They would fund the rest of the project, just not my pay. A whole 'nother story and it's not what this story is about. Either way, I had no backpay, no savings (I just moved here) and I had to go home and tell my family the bad news. I had no money. We were going to lose the house. I couldn't make the rent due in just a few days. I couldn't pay our $1400/month healthcare bill and I would not have the ability to provide the life-saving medicationf for my wife. I wouldn't be able to get us back home in a few weeks for a trip to see our families. I wouldn't have enough to do anything. I had no money.
On the way home from that fateful meeting I actually stopped at a favorite gun store and asked him for a job. I told him I would work for commission only. I mean, I can sell guns. Just bring them through the door and I'll sell it to them. I delivered the news and then went to work immediately. The next day.
40 hours later (Which was about 3 days it turns out) I still hadn't made a single sale. One morning I came in and another guy was there who wasn't scheduled to be there. I was the only person working on commission. Everyone else was hourly. This guy said he was just hanging out. A car pulls in, he runs outside to greet him. The two walk in and the customer proceeds to buy $10,000 worth of guns - 2 of which on a whim. They weren't marked "sold". After this other guy took the sale from me, he left. I complained to the owner of the store and he told me exactly what kind of person I was. I was worthless P.O.S. and I wouldn't amount to anything. I was a pathetic loser who should eat things and then die. He made it clear how decent of a person he was. I'm glad he did so after I only wasted about 30 hours working tirelessly for him.
Anyway, having wasted a ton of time there, I recalled the first Uber trip I had taken to the airport to see my dad only a week prior.It was pleasant. The woman driving had a Toyota Tundra truck. It was clean and respectable, and she mentioned that while it didn't get Prius mileage, it was still enough to do her job and make some money while she interviewed for other jobs. The ride back was another woman who was about to have a very important interview the next day. I haven't seen her since, I assume she got the job.
I decided to give it a shot. What could I lose ? I had a "typical" job for a few days and I made exactly zero dollars doing it. At least with Uber I could control the losses ?
Anyway It gave me time for introspection.
First off, no one needs to talk to me like that. Second - I had an option. If this were 5 years ago, I wouldn't have an option. I would have gas station 3rd shift jobs, fast food and other retail spaces. But here is this whole new idea that is there for people like me. You can just start. There is no interview, just up-front requirements. This new economy is a god-send - literally - to the millions of people out there who need to get back to work. I've got the requirement: A 4 door car newer than 2004. I am blessed by being to find and maintain it up 'til this point too. Seriously, on paper this solves many problems that have plagued many people.
So here is the jist of ride-sharing: I make about $13 an hour. Everyone makes about that because certain things all balance out. If you work in Brooklyn you'll make about $30 an hour but your costs will be higher. If you work in a rural area you'll do the same but your work day will look a bit different (You may sit at home with the app running. Who knows?)
In my area I have some pros laid out at my feet: I live near a HUGE corporation. I live near a major airport. I live near about 200 companies who have all setup small offices to support that huge office. I live near a state university. I have super rich neighborhoods and super poor ones. I have 2 historical downtown areas that are always having something happening. I live near a complex bike trail system. I live near a large medical complex with satellite offices everywhere. I have a concert venue.
About the only things I'm missing are a train station and a large government installation.
There are TON of people out there complaining about their Uber and Lyft experiences. I find that they are in the wrong. I'm a serial entrepreneur. I don't like "Having a job" and "Working for other people". I've always run my own business and had to work 4 times as hard as anyone else to make a successful impact. I'm used to it and it's in my blood now. I look at Ridesharing like this:
Like selling things on Ebay or Amazon, they charge. What you're doing is selling goods. You can rent a store and sell goods. You can rent space at a bazaar and sell goods. Or you can pay the fees to Ebay/Amazon and their shipping fees and sell your goods that way. What Ebay and Amazon do is give you access to their market place. And the more effective their market place is at selling your goods, the more they charge you for access.
So Uber and Lyft aren't employing you - they are charging you for access to their effective marketplace. What you as a driver are doing is deciding that you want to drive a cab. You aren't getting a livery licence, you aren't dealing with the Mafia (More on them still..) and you aren't having to bother with making business cards and leaving them around for someone to pick up. You are immediately tapping into the Uber/Lyft marketplace and they are trusting you to start to represent them. For that, each company takes 25% of your earnings.
Ebay can take 25% as well. And the USPS takes like 40% of your profits if you need to ship. Amazon makes more money in sly little ways that you may not even understand. Ever.
But Uber and Lyft take the money as you make it. And they do your taxes as you earn the money. They even take the money out of your tips per laws of the state in which you operate. They do everything for you. All you have to do is provide the actual drive. They don't tell you how. They don't really train you. It's not that they care, they do.. But they trust you to do well on your own.
As an entrepreneur this makes sense. This is a great deal, actually. If I wanted to sell Avon products I would have to pony up dough. If I wanted to sell insurance I would need to comply with alien-language contracts and payments that would make a Timeshare salesman jump off a building.
If you approach it as an employee being managed by a faceless company, you'll be on your way to disaster. What you are is an independent business owner buying access to a marketplace to perform that service. And for this, may God bless Uber and Lyft. Because without them my family may not eat this week. Our utilities would be shut off. We would become homeless. This new model is working.
I told you I make $13 an hour. That's after a few things have happened. The truth is that while I'm driving for Uber and Lyft, I'm making $1 per minute. About $1 every 2 miles. I do a normal "UberX" pool and a normal "Lyft" pool. I have a Chevy Avalanche which is the same operating costs as a Suburban but I don't qualify for "XL" services because I lack the rear seats. My car is a black luxury SUV and I have experience as a chauffer but I can't run UberBlack because they require a commercial licence and insurance policy. That's all ok because if you do have an XL car you still get regular calls with the occasional XL request. Working XL pools (If you can get in one exclusively) will get you about $17-$20 per hour if you're good. I only say that because I get $13 an hour without the XL perks.
If you drive "Black" services you have to have a livery licence and a commercial insurance policy. The insurance itself is about $1000 a month. And do you know who runs the livery game ? The mafia. So don't think you're getting out of that office cheaply either. You'll run a far more expensive ride, but your costs will bring you right back to "X" rates pretty quick.
If you can always run, you'll make great money. If you need to wait for calls (I do) then you'll need to develop a strategy.
I have a "Hotel strip" in my city. It's great to get people from there to the airport (I make about $20 in 10 minutes and the trip is easy) but it's not possible to know when those people will need it, or how often everyday. Some people leave at 3am and others leave at 4pm. There is no crystal ball. But throughout the day they want to be driven somewhere. If your hotels are far from the airport then chances are they have a rental car themselves.
Airports and other transportation centers put you in a Queue. So you'll arrive and park and then the list of other drivers gets their runs in the order that they came. In general 2 people on every incoming flight will take a rideshare from the airport. Again, making sure that your most popular hotels are within a decent ride. You'll need to make at least $20 per ride here unless the queue is low. (Again, measure the planes coming in and assume that 2 people per plane will request a ride. Then compare that to the "in queue" numbers to see what your chances are.)
Bars are full of people who don't effing tip. They stumble to your car and you KNOW what's next. I wouldn't even bother with them. They also try to squeeze 6 people in your back seat to avoid being charged to take two cars, or calling an XL. Just a-holes, mostly.
Colleges are awesome though. These kids are used to this method of transportation and they tip as much as they can. Something to understand about most of the kids is that they are starving themselves to get by. But they do tip, they provide friendly interactions and are appreciative of what you do. Here is something that may surprise you: I have gotten to know Millenials. These are some of the brightest, hardest working kids I've ever had the chance to meet. Seriously ! Yes, they don't understand our world, they are afraid of old people (They were told we literally ate their planet) but these kids work several jobs, study real hard and retain a lot of what they learned. These kids are more promising than my generation, by far. They live eat and breathe skills - Like Indians or Chinese people. When I was their age I knew stuff but it pretty much took a back seat to "Getting tail" and "Building hotrods". For these kids their professions are at the top of their attention. I meet a few of them who are supporting families too and they are working harder, commuting further and taking more sh!t at work than I imagined they ever would. I give Millenial kids a lot of props these days. They have it hard and they are adapting.
Commutes and events are a great way to get into it. Wake up and take people to work from 6ish to 9ish. Take them home from 3 to 6ish. Go home for lunch and take a nap. Do something else. You'll make about $60 per day. They don't tip.
Events are a great way to go. If you have a few convention centers near you, stadiums or concert halls. You get the schedule and you know whats going on. You can plan your day pretty well. People will even pay for a kind of shuttle service from the outskirt parking lots to the few blocks closer to the venue. Hotels will house thousands of convention attendees. Get creative and research all the time to see what's going on.
I decided to make my goal everyday $100. And that's EVERY day. I need to pay bills. I can make that goal with 8 hours of work. I can even work a little more to cover gas for the day (I calculate that cost as I'm rolling). You may make more, you may make less but you should also be given more effort if you're making more, and less effort if you're making less. If you live in rural Missouri you may not make a ton of money, but you may also have the option to just sit at home. You won't roll as much. If you live in NYC you'll roll literally all day long until you decide to stop but you will work your ass off (And your car's ass off) to get there. It all boils down to that magic number: $13 per hour. That's about what you'll make. And that's not horrible. That could be the difference between eating and not, living in a house or in your actual car.
* There is little stress here. * You have to drive like a little old lady. As a pro driver you're doing about 5 times the amount of driving as normal people do. That means you're 5 times more likely to get in a collision or get a ticket. Drive every street like you just got your licence. Full stops. Careful as she goes. * Be good to your tranmission. Every single thing you do gets pushed through the transmission. Bumps, stopping, accelerating, even turning and of course engaging gears. Treat your tranmission like gold. It's the first and worst to break. Your vehicle will last about 3 months. I'm sorry to say that, but there you have it. About 3 months you will run into a major repair. So get prepared immediately. Get another 2 runs everyday before you log off. Run all the apps simultaneously. Uber and Lyft allow you to work for both at the same time. They allow you to work with all of the food deliveries too. When you get a call on one, you immediately switch to the others to disable them to avoid overbooking. You can turn down calls. * In my experience, do not EVER operate outside of the app. There is a good chance the app is listening to you too. It makes sense that they investigate if a call that rode in your car is now calling you on your phone (You gave it access to your contact list, remember? They can do that.) Either way, people who want to work outside of the app are there to swindle you. DO NOT DO IT. I will never, ever work outside of the app again.
If you have an older car you can work for all of the major food delivery services, at once. You can again make good money this way but I haven't calculated the actual data. Delivering food so far isn't great because you need to drive far distances to get the food. Not many people are doing the food delivery versus the people delivery.
If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them !
-> Cel
Does your auto insurance company know you’re doing this, and if so, what happened to your rates? Some policies specifically prohibit this, so be careful.
(FWIW, I’m very happy it is working well for you!)
I’ve used Uber in multiple countries and love it.
Most people have not heard of Black Lane.
They do lots of corporate work, planned days or weeks ahead.
I suggest you look into it. Good company and you are near corporations and airport...
Glad things are going well for you!
Have you been able to avoid the dire circumstances you mentioned? Have you made enough money to make rent and pay for medication?
Thanks for a very interesting post. I’m happy it worked out for you and having never really thought about rideshare much, you’re insights should really be helpful to anyone considering getting into this type of work. It really is a remarkable business plan that obviously addressed a big need.
OK. If we have the lowest unemployment in 20 years, why can’t you just get a regular job? Work on that whole full-time benefits route. Just curious.
“Does your auto insurance company know you’re doing this, and if so, what happened to your rates? Some policies specifically prohibit this, so be careful.”
In every state that has insurance restrictions, Uber offers supplemental insurance. I have the supplemental insurance which is actually good. I also have this “AFLAC Sorta” thing provided by them.
In my area in 2013 there was a major taxi protest against Uber. They won. Uber was banned until 2016. Since being reinstated Uber drivers now have to have their cars inspected (Others do not) and Uber has to pay the city $15,000 per year. I don’t know if it’s per person or what.
Which, by the way, Taxi companies DO retaliate. It’s not uncommon that they will throw a handful of rocks at your car. Like I said, Taxi companies are all mafia. They don’t like us being there.
That said, I don’t know why anyone today would EVER call a cab. They are really expensive and they take over an hour to get to you. Uber/Lyft is there within 10 minutes. And it’s way cheaper.
“Black Lane.”
I’ll look into that. That’s right up my alley. I have a luxury black SUV and the experience as a luxury limo driver.
But I won’t bother with the local permits. Too much mafia.
“avoid the dire circumstances you mentioned? Have you made enough money to make rent and pay for medication?”
YES. That’s what I’m saying. It’s not the best pay, but I can work overtime anytime I want. No one to ask permission to.
I have to really, really plan things out because I drive a vehicle that gets 13mpg in free-fall. Other than that, it’s been working out very well.
I also understand that my vehicle is going to take this abuse for about 3 months before something big gives out. I need to still take control of my finances and my life and get my product onto the market.
I do it full-time. Overtime. That’s why my vehicle isn’t long for this type of thing. But if you need help (Most people I know are doing it JUST to pay for medicine and health care costs) can do so for about 2 hours every other day. Your results may vary, but this job doesn’t discrimate for ageism, for being a single parent, for having to take care of someone or whatever big things might prevent you from getting a second job.
It accepts you as you are and respects you as a decent human being.
Glad to hear that after all your difficulties things are getting better. Good that you haven’t given up, just kept trying.
I hope things will continue to get better.
Wishing you and your family all the best.
Just an FYI, those college age millennials you like so much are probably actually Generation Z, the oldest of which are 24.
“OK. If we have the lowest unemployment in 20 years, why can’t you just get a regular job? Work on that whole full-time benefits route. Just curious.”
The point I was making with the whole post is that instead of sitting home, waiting for interviews, acceptance and all that - we have the ability to simply start working.
My investors pulled their money - instantly. 20 minutes later, I was able to work and support my family. This is totally unprecedented regardless of any strength in the economy.
And no, I won’t be able to work this “permanently” but I can, right now, start to support my family and stay off the dole.
For those who are entertaining it they may just need a little income to help out. It’s great for that. If you need it full time, it’s there but your car isn’t going to last and you’re not going to make “New car every 3 months” money doing it. Be careful.
The ultimate reason to entertain this is complex math: You can have a $13 an hour job today, or a $15 an hour job in 3 weeks (If you’re good). It’s better to take the $13 job now. You’ll actually end up with more money for the next 6 or so months than you would if you ignored the opportunity.
As far as getting job, I’m a desirable guy in a desirable market who does desirable services. I’ll get a job. But now I won’t just “sit and wait” and possibly borrow money to survive. I can survive now. My family will not have me around as much, but as a man I can do my job - Support my family in adversity.
“Just an FYI, those college age millennials you like so much are probably actually Generation Z, the oldest of which are 24.”
That may be. Either way, they are decent kids. And their stories impress me.
Lots of people will have you believing that all is lost. These kids are trying very hard to make it in a world that is different than their mentors lived in. Just like us when we were growing up. I have hope for them.
I met a kid.. He looked 14. His girlfriend did too. Green hair, tattoos, piercings - the whole shebang. He said that he travels (I won’t let you know where, but it’s a 2 hour commute each way) to be a general manager at a restaurant. When I asked him why he said, flatly “Because I’m a man and I need to do what my family needs me to do to be a good man”
The commute didn’t bother him. He did it instead of just moping around and wishing for closer work. He just did what he needed to do _right now_ to support his young family. I commend him for that. I know how much that hurts.
“Wishing you and your family all the best.”
Thanks !
I’ll return the same to all of our families and each other. To do well is what God has intended for each of our lives.
If my 4Runner was newer, I’d probably be doing this by now. My husband has a 2018 Honda Civic, but the ride is a bit stiff due to the tight suspension. He’d have gotten a Type R if it was out. Also, I hate driving it. I like being able to actually see out of my vehicle.
I’m considering doing a restoration on another vehicle and seeing if there is an equivalent for classics.
I too was on the Uber/Lyft treadmill, and honestly, yeah, you'll not get rich, but you can make a life out of it.
The advantage of medical transport is you get a schedule of what your trips are that day. I know tomorrow I'll be starting around 4am and off around 3pm. Long day, but I'll average $18 an hour and get a lot of reading in.
Far fewer tips though. :) The most common provider is Logisicare, one of the easiest gig versions to get in with is Provado, though if you've got an contractor group working in your area (like the one I work with in Yuba City), your schedule will be far more filled.
And whatever we (or other providers) can't get done gets shoved off to Lyft (which you've probably experienced someone wanting to know if you'll wait for them when you get to the doctor's office.)
If you have an older car you can work for all of the major food delivery services, at once.
Didn't know that, good to know.
This is Uber spam
Just to set the record straight, ebay/paypal charges a little less than 15% on each sale.
Buyers pay for the shipping or the sellers builds the shipping cost into the sale price
My nephew - a Millennial - drives for Uber up in Boston. He works full-time but does the Uber job on the side because it is such an easy way to make extra money. He rarely does long trips because he's just a few miles outside Boston. So many of his rides are people from the inner suburbs going into the city for concerts, sporting events or just bar-hopping. Also, a lot of airport trips. He clears well over $100 on Friday nights and even more on Saturdays which is not bad for a young man in his 20s already working another full-time job.
Millennials definitely get a bad rap here on Free Republic. My sons, also Millennials, are hard-workers and have been out on their own since they got out of school.
Never would have imagined ride-sharing being a billion dollar industry. Now they are getting into deliveries as well and I think that is the next big area of growth. Amazon wants to get to same day delivery for as much products as possible and they are going to need entrepreneurial-minded drivers to get them there. I know Uber/Lyft are doing food deliveries already for restaurants but I think they will soon be driving up to Amazon Fulfillment centers and taking on deliveries for Amazon.
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