Uber

[slang]

Originally Posted by Diaphone Jim

I don't believe I have ever seen a Uber or a Lyft.

Originally Posted by Undertoad

You won't see it, it's just people in regular cars.

There were many Uber LED lights in Florida Not as helpful during the day but that seems to be the only symbol that is in that area of the windshield so still helpful ish.

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

What's more, your car would have then returned to your house with no useful rider, as opposed to the Uber which almost certainly picked up someone else from the airport as soon as J got out.

Someone told me that when a driver drops a passenger they need to get in queue at the airport. That might be long or short but you have to be managed as to who gets the next fare. Maybe to prevent a frenzy of drivers tearing after people coming out of the airport.

Originally Posted by tw

A ten mile Uber trip might cost $15. Of that, Uber might take $5 or $8. A typical cost of driving ten miles would be greater than what the Federal Government let's you deduct - $5.80. So how much did that driver make in that half hour? Probably less than minimum wage. .

In normal pricing, yes, a lot less. There are other drivers that do something else while waiting for a fare. This one driver was some type of life coach talking on the phone during the ride which is fine by me. Others are fiddling around with some kind of IPAD thing working on something else while they wait.

Originally Posted by tw

How many have no idea how great their expenses and how trivial their profit margin? But then most without a grasp of the arithmetic only see cash. Cash flow rich and income poor. A common problem among those as arithmetically challenged as casino gamblers and consumers of lottery tickets.

The much better paying rides are earned during local events. Drivers have reported ( but not under oath ) making a few thousand bucks a weekend during events. It’s not every weekend that there’s a game of some type going on but when there is, there’s “surge” pricing. That might be 2-5 times the normal fare with very short gaps in between rides.

When surge pricing is in effect, the app notifies the rider. They have the option to accept or reject the ride with surge pricing. Sometimes waiting an hour makes a noticeable difference. Most of the time it doesn’t. It makes it even more expensive. Unless the fare with surge pricing is more than like $50, I just hit the accept knowing it’s not going to get cheaper.

There are some clues as to whether your Uber driver is making any money. When you accept the ride the details about that account are available including the number of rides and the year and model of the car. If the year of the car is the oldest eligible for Uber and the account has 13,000 rides, it’s a good guess that they are making money.

When that model year slips out of eligibility for Uber, they get one model year newer with the same account. Mileage and looks are not a big deal if you are in it for the money. Not a big deal to me as a rider either.

If your Uber driver is a young woman with a brand new car there’s a good chance the dealer probably fed her some horse crap about making the payments driving for Uber. If when hailing an Uber the rider had the choice to select the ride instead of the driver accepting the rider, a nice looking young woman might have some leverage in making more money.

If your driver shows up in an old shit box with a mis color matched replacement fender, probably making money.

If your driver shows up in an average car but he looks to be about 80, is wearing $5-10k in gold and expensive Revo sunglasses, it might not matter if he’s making money or not. A good number of those guys are very likable. Sure they’re doing it for the money, whatever that might be but also a chance to talk to someone new. Someone that remembers how to have a conversation without an electronic device.

You’ve heard of the single serving friend from Fight Club? Drivers get a lot of them.

There are some people out there that drive Uber solely for the single serving friends. It works both ways too. How long do you work at a job before you know everyone’s stories? They may be good or bad but you know what they are going to say before they say it. Mix it up, take an Uber.

Uber might also be a good lead/customer generator. How much does one pay for leads? How much does one pay for advertisement?

Uber could be both.

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I'm gonna guess under 20%. Why would you figure you know better than they do? They're the ones doing it, and if they do it for six months they will know an awful lot more than you.

They may know more about driving Uber than TW, but not until they get their first earnings statement. If a driver is new, less than 6 months experience they could not understand that they are losing money.

But that might not be a bad thing for them.

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I'm pretty sure tw is imagining that Uber drivers are a bunch of housewives and college students driving under 10 hours a week for "extra income." Typical driver in my experience is a male immigrant ages 30-50 driving 40-80 hours per week for a combination of Uber and Lyft customers. At least 30% don't speak English well or at all, and the rate is much higher in big tourist cities like Orlando. Some Spanish, but mostly Middle Eastern dudes.

That sounds about right, say 50% English as a second language, just a few months in country. Those are the people that pick me up from 20 miles away at 3:40 am. Those people are awesome. They’re awkward and meek but they are doing what they have to in order to get their rating up. They’re always polite and more helpful than most other drivers.

The other 50% might be college students, retirees, housewives and people just looking to make extra money because they have no other options now days.

Uber is many different things to people.

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Nowadays most also me their card as I get out, encouraging me to call them directly when I'm ready to go back and they will charge me less (i.e. cut Uber's percentage out of the equation.)

That might be a benefit of being Clodfobble. Sometimes I ask them but in following up they decline.