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.
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.
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.
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
In 2014, Uber had a cashless transaction policy with no tipping the driver. The pay was 15% off the top. In 2015 that was increased to 25% off of the top. Recently, Uber pretty much did away with their surge pricing multiple and went to a dollar figure to which the most I have seen is $13 for a one way trip. At the same time, they cut our per mile fee by 25% but increased our per minute fee by 16%. When we did have a Surge multiplier, Uber took 59% of my largest fare, not including their booking fee. After maintenance, miscellaneous expenses most Uber drivers which is the regular Uber fare, the lowest tier, barely pull out 5 dollars an hour. If you are making 13 an hour, I call BS because you are not figuring in all of your expenses. I follow the regular Uber boards and they would agree that doing Uber you very rarely pull in 13 an hour anywhere, especially since Uber decided to cut our surge pricing. This cut alone was a cut in thousands of dollars. One good surge ride and I could be done for the night. No need to pull a 12-hour shift to make 150 to 200 a night. With all the driver pay decreases, the per minute increase for drivers is the first in five years of driving Uber. Uber, on the other hand, has steadily increased its side of the coin. They have increased their booking fee countless times. They take far greater than 25% of the fare. It is usually between 30 to 55 percent. They implemented the take rides on your way to a destination. This is great but now, they dock your next ride 30% but the passenger pays the same amount.
Recently they tout that they offer drivers a reward system, which is done in tiers. The lowest tier starts off at 4.85 stars. This is based on your customer feedback. I know riders give Uber drivers 1 star just because they are a-holes. I also know drivers after contacting Customer no-support see their ratings drop over a period of time when they have received five stars from passengers. Drivers that do both, Uber and Lyft and Juno, usually have one phone per service so there is an expense for that. To receive Lyft bonuses, it is tightly controlled and usually most drivers don’t reach them. However, you need to know your town, is it a Lyft or an Uber town because the town I drive for is an Uber town. I have gone nghts where I have a constant one-in-the-queue with Uber. Normally, there is about 9 Uber rides for every 1 Lyft ride here. This is not the same everywhere. I no longer pull up my Lyft app because I have no need.
Airport is good but you failed to mention how many drivers wait at the airport. XL far outnumbers the Lux vehicles. Which is why you drive XL too because you get more rides with XL. I have told passengers that they have to call another Uber because there just wasn’t room in my vehicle with luggage and passengers. If you get caught overloaded, meaning more passengers than seatbelts, you stand a good chance to get ticketed and when ticketed with Uber on the clock, you lose your opportunity with Uber.
When doing events, I always talk to my passengers about safety. Especially since the woman in Vegas was robbed and kidnapped and the girl was killed. I tell my passengers about the safety protocols. Even still, passengers will get into nefarious fake Uber cars. Or they will be in a group and the first Uber/Lyft that arrives they take that one and they don’t cancel the other.
Oh sure Uber might have saved your life, but you are being blind or this is simply a recruiting ploy put out by Uber which seems most likely. I know 15 drivers who quit Uber and Lyft after surge pricing was cut. Approximately 40 to 60 percent of Uber drivers don’t last a year because the model isn’t profitable.
I have had people in my car from famous professional football players to singers to famous celebrities to corporate Uber. I don’t drop names. They all ask questions and I always answer them truthfully. I don’t sugar coat. Most are unaware of Surge pricing being cut. If I had a dollar for every time a person tells me they will tip me on the app, I would be in the money. The new rate the passenger thing is a joke too because even though you can rate them, they can see what you rate them then they have 24 hours to rate you or change their rating. Give someone a 1 star and they see this, you get a one star back even if your service was top notch.
Most ride sharing drivers are retired individuals and for a good reason too. Who wants to spend 12 hours in a car day in and day out making less than minimum wage. I don’t always drive at night but its a hard schedule when you switch t midweek. To go from early morning wake up to deliver Airport riders to bar riders and event riders. Surge was the best thing there was for an Uber driver. I tell my passengers don’t worry about it anymore because it rarely gets over 5 dollars except during high pop events such as the Indy 500 but even then it only went as high as 13 dollars for surge pricing at the end of the 500. Think about that, 300 thousand potential riders and a surge bonus of only as high of 13 dollars. A year ago the same ride would have been double, triple of the fare. Uber does not take money from tips. I have never seen them do so. Most riders still give cash tips though. My last tip was 20 dollars on a 7 dollar ride. I always tell people it is their choice to tip and how they do it is at their convenience. When Uber had a policy against tips, I always refused the tip. I have heard passengers say they were required to tip. (To those not Uber drivers, Uber is a service and as a service provider, you should tip accordingly, just like you would a waiter or a person helping you with your bags at an airport.)
My worst passengers are former Uber drivers. They never ever tip and they always think they know more than you do when it comes to Uber and Lyft. I had one former Uber driver pull up Waze because all left turns were blocked by police cars for a bicycle event going on. He thought by pulling up Waze we could get around the police cars or we could go up to the police officer and the officer would let us go through the bicyclists to get to his club. I have done the drug runs, but you usually don’t know they are until you arrive in some trailer park and they tell you to wait. I was once asked to turn off my app and they would pay me fifty dollars to take them where they want to go. When that didn’t work, they offered up their wife and to use my imagination. I have had women profess they want to get pregnant in my car. One was a mother of three and the man she wanted to have the baby with was not her husband.
SO yeah I got stories and I am not delusioned by the realities of the job. However, there is no way, after all, is said and done, you are pulling $13 an hour on XL, even with a luxury SUV.
Really? I don't want to put words in your mouth, so can you explain what that means?