Just crossed 10,000 rides driven between Uber and Lyft, Ask Me Anything
- Thread starter AlteredBeast
- Start date
How well do you know the streets? Like do you have to follow your gps most of the time or do you know the roads by heart now?
I did lyft for 4 months ending in January with 1000 rides in Phoenix. I would say 1 in 10 were openly MAGA. I mean it's not always an easy thing to tell, they have to have a reason to say something about it, so I'm sure the actual number was way more. But I'd know the MAGATs if they complained about wearing a mask, complained about Democrats, etc, told me to turn off NPR radio, mocked people caring about COVID, etc. I even had one woman go on a full Q rant with a buddy on the phone about voting machines in Germany and how evil Democrats are pedophiles and that she's scared for her life after Biden won the election. This woman was a wealthy suburbanite.
What kind of car do you drive doing this? I've thought about starting for extra cash but I'm only a first time owner, and IDK if it's worth the wear and tear?
Personally I don't think it is. I did it because I had bills to pay. I put on 20k miles on my car in 4 months. $15 on gas every day, tires, oil changes, car washes...there are just a lot of costs associated with it that made it hard to justify driving even if I managed to make $100 on average. There were also days I would be out all day and come back with $20. At least in the Phoenix market, drivers DO NOT tip. Maybe 1/6 drivers tipped me with my perfect rating. And usually then it's only $1-2. I also needed a different kind of insurance which raised my cost $100 per month. Keep in mind that Lyft takes about half of what you make not including the rare tip.
If you want extra cash, do Doordash. You rarely have to deal with customers, they aren't in your car, and nearly everybody tips. You also won't have as much wear and tear on your vehicle or need extra insurance. But of course you'll have to get out of your car and walk to people. In Phoenix hell no to that in the summer and all the apartments around here.
I know a guy who during the day is your typical IT guy who brings in decent money. He has two kids in college, mortgage, etc. He likes shiny electronic toys but they couldn't afford it so he started driving for both uber Eats and GrubHub. He is making really good money and has a new Macbook, iPad pro, etc etc etc. He typically only works Friday night and weekends. I don't know exact dollar amounts but it is good money and you don't have to deal with people.
Not my thread obviously but, hell no to that. That is my space. I keep my shit up there. It's also way too close. I don't know you. Nevermind we're still in a pandemic. It was rare for people to try, only a few did. I always told them "we can't because of COVID".
One of the guys that tried to then tried to sell me on some kind of insurance agent thing talking about how much money he made. Sure buddy, if you make so much goddamn money why are you trying so hard to get me to sign up? I don't need your pyramid scheme.
Good point: this was pre-COVID (I've not gotten in a ride share since 2019).
This isn't a huge town and I always felt weird in the back so I'd ask to sit up front and chat until a buddy of mine mentioned it's a big no no. Was curious from the driver perspective (which you provided).
Felt bad, hope I never put anyone on the spot back in the day.
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I have a unique knowledge of what parts of the city are busy at what times of day I am out. I try to be where people are coming from, whereas a lot of drivers put themselves in areas where people are heading to. It seems obvious, of course.
Then, I keep a close eye on which concerts, stand up comedians, and festivals/events are going on and I plan to be out a half hour to an hour before to get rides going to the event, and at least as the thing is ending, to be back there to ferry the people back home.
One specific examples of this: Thursday nights in early December are way different than in late December, given college kids' propensity to go to certain bars frequently. If college kids have gone home for Christmas Break, it's not worth spending time around their normal haunts.
It's kinda depressing that you can work half the hours in my work week and make almost as much as me who works breaking my bones in a warehouse XD.
My ass should look at Uber in my city is what i'm starting to realize lol.
My ass should look at Uber in my city is what i'm starting to realize lol.
Kinda related to this, did you already know the town inside and out before starting to drive for uber? Meaning, do you have classical taxi driver knowledge and you donĀ“t really need to rely on a navigator to know where youĀ“re going? :D That seems like a lost skill nowadays and i can often see why most drivers can be replaced soon with selfdriving cars.
What's your general experience with new passengers (who had never used the service before) like? What do you wish new riders knew before their first ride?
Do you listen to music/radio all the time when driving, do you change what's playing when you pick up a passenger, and how often do they ask you to turn it off/play something else?
(If any of these already covered, feel free to ignore. Haven't read the whole thread yet.)
Do you listen to music/radio all the time when driving, do you change what's playing when you pick up a passenger, and how often do they ask you to turn it off/play something else?
(If any of these already covered, feel free to ignore. Haven't read the whole thread yet.)
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Nothing out of the ordinary. I typically play a game with foreigners where, based on their name or other attributes, I guess where they are from. They typically love it because, even if I don't get it right, I am usually very close. I then typically recite facts I know about their obscure (to Americans) country.
Few things make people light up like someone recognizing their homeland and commenting on the local fare, or their capital, or flag, or language, etc.
I studied geography and world history a ton as a kid, so I know a diverse level of surface things about most countries, even in Africa or Eastern Europe.
I also speak fluent Spanish due to my time living in Peru, so people get a kick out of the whitest person on the planet speaking perfect Spanish with no gringo accent. Typically, I'll pull out some of my favorite Spanish music and I've literally had some older Spanish women crying from nostalgia at some of the old time Spanish music I'll play at times. Lol
I am born and raised in Omaha and thought I knew the city extremely well, but until I started driving I didn't realize how much I would have to use the GPS to get around. After 10000 rides however, I could probably navigate to most areas in my sleep. Sometimes someone will even give me an address and I will tell them the color of their house or the exact business they are going to because I have it down to a well or I have been down that street a hundred times or more. I also have an extremely vivid memory and can typically tell someone how many times I have picked them up and where I have picked them up and where I have taken them to on previous occasions. Obviously this can scare some people LOL
I had one lady admit that she was an escort because I remarked, "man, isn't it crazy, I've picked you up 4 times in the last year and each time it's been at different addresses, what are the odds?!"
And she said, somewhat laughing while doing so, "ohh, yeahhhhh. I'm actually an escort..."
And I was like, sweet! How'd you make out tonight?
She's now one of my regulars and just texts me directly for rides in cash when I am out driving. Saves her money and trouble potentially getting a creeper driver, and makes me more than I would splitting with Uber.
Do you drive during the day at all? How different is it besides the sun? š
Also is business getting back to "normal"?
Also is business getting back to "normal"?
More details on the deliveries and the advantages.
I considered Uber before but I drive a corolla so not the most spacious back seat and it has fabric seats which ain't great for drunk people or those who shit their pants.
Does she text for rides at all hours? How do you decide how much to charge her?
Does the apps have a system for this or is it on the goodwill of the rider or like you can say "sure come pick it up here and the passenger could start a complaint because it wants it delivered?
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Thought I'd comment/respond to yours all in a row :)
This is roughly my experience as well.
If you averaged 20 miles per ride (20k miles in 1000 rides), I'd hope that you would have made much better money than you did! I'd kill to average that many miles per ride. Given rates in Omaha, that would mean, roughly $19/ride not including tips or incentives. Given that 50 to 60% of riders tip me, that would probably push the average to $22 to $23 per ride, and at my price for fuel and the way I track how much I need to keep for wear and tear and maintenance on my car, my net per ride would be about $17. That puts me at $34/hr net if I could keep the momentum going, and $25/hr factoring for travel time to and from certain areas when I'm not accepting rides, or when heading to a pickup.
It sucks that the PHX market is full of such crappy tippers and riders. My insurance cost for ride share coverage is only $27/mo, so it sounds like your carrier wasn't great in that regard, either.
I do agree that DoorDash and the like have strong advantages, which I can break out for anyone who asks,and also some drawbacks.
I love people in the front seat. Always have, always will. Most of my best rides had people in the front seat. Especially when I get them rolling with laughter. The only downside is a front-seater that doesn't talk. At that point, it's liek, "what was the point of you coming up here if you were just going to stare out the windshield silently?" lol
Ive definitely had more than a few dozen times had people try to hire me for both legitimate and pyramid scheme-type jobs. I tell them what I make per hour and the type of freedom that I crave and say, "if you can beat that, I'm interested, otherwise Uber's got me by the key fob"
This is roughly my experience as well.
If you averaged 20 miles per ride (20k miles in 1000 rides), I'd hope that you would have made much better money than you did! I'd kill to average that many miles per ride. Given rates in Omaha, that would mean, roughly $19/ride not including tips or incentives. Given that 50 to 60% of riders tip me, that would probably push the average to $22 to $23 per ride, and at my price for fuel and the way I track how much I need to keep for wear and tear and maintenance on my car, my net per ride would be about $17. That puts me at $34/hr net if I could keep the momentum going, and $25/hr factoring for travel time to and from certain areas when I'm not accepting rides, or when heading to a pickup.
It sucks that the PHX market is full of such crappy tippers and riders. My insurance cost for ride share coverage is only $27/mo, so it sounds like your carrier wasn't great in that regard, either.
I do agree that DoorDash and the like have strong advantages, which I can break out for anyone who asks,and also some drawbacks.
I love people in the front seat. Always have, always will. Most of my best rides had people in the front seat. Especially when I get them rolling with laughter. The only downside is a front-seater that doesn't talk. At that point, it's liek, "what was the point of you coming up here if you were just going to stare out the windshield silently?" lol
Ive definitely had more than a few dozen times had people try to hire me for both legitimate and pyramid scheme-type jobs. I tell them what I make per hour and the type of freedom that I crave and say, "if you can beat that, I'm interested, otherwise Uber's got me by the key fob"
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2013 VW Passat TDI
If you have a warranty, or a luxury car, I'd definitely say do it. You can set ride filters to accept certain types of rides in that case and make much more per mile and per minute. And luxury cars devalue crazy fast no matter what, so you aren't going to contribute a ton to devaluing at that point.
If you don't have a warranty, or it's a very basic small car, then it's kind of a risk. Like, I'd do it in that case on a Saturday night when you can make 40, 50, or 60 per hour, but definitely not on a Wednesday during the day when you might only get 15 to 20 or worse during really slow times.
I have heard that Uber passengers tip better. I was using Lyft exclusively. I was going to start using both because I wasn't making enough money with just Lyft, but finally my unemployment went through so I didn't have to.
I'm the opposite of you. I'd try to talk but for the most part I was cool if my passenger just sat in the back and snoozed or twiddled on their phone.
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I chose specifically because of the warranty, the huge trunk and legroom, and the fuel efficiency.
Prior to the TDI, I drove an Elantra that I was leasing and had a ton of available miles left. Lol
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Not that I know of, thankfully.
I knew it was you the whole time! Frankly, the way you grinned at me through the rearview mirror throughout the 10-second sputtering eruption was actually more disgusting than the smell of rotten hot dogs and sour beer.
Trust me, many drivers do not mind people sitting up front. It isn't a hard and fast rule, certainly, and there are even a few weirdos that prefer it.
As always, Your Mileage May Vary. I am possibly/probably and outlier in that I am a bit meticulous in how I approach driving, but unless you live in a tiny town without a decent nightlife, I'd venture to guess you'd do better driving than working in a warehouse. Less physically demanding, too, although you'd need to make sure you turn off the app randomly and get out of the car from time-to-time. I am not good at doing this, and sometimes I will realize I haven't gotten out of my seat in 8 straight hours. Some day I'll get a blood clot that goes to my brain and the headlines will "accurately" read: "Exploited Uber Driver Dies of Blood Clot After Forced 8-Hour Shift without Breaks!" lol
Nope. Omaha is built on a grid is possibly one of the easiest cities to navigate on the planet, though. The one better that I can think of is Salt Lake City Ut (also grid, and all addresses are literally just coordinates on an X-Y plane). Every 12th street in Omaha is a designated main street, and they typically move at 45 MPH or higher. Omaha drivers also spend less time in traffic than any city in America, according to a study released in 2019. It's a very, very driver-friendly city. Which is also part of why public transportation sucks in the city and why Uber drivers can do so well here.
Advice: Don't make weird-ass or unreasonable demands. I will always stop at a gas station for someone to get a pack of smokes no problem, but if you ask me to wait in a line at Taco Bell that is 4 or 5 cars deep, we are going to have problems. And always, always, always tip. Drivers only make a portion of what you pay. Think of it like a waiter or waitress, unless you are European or a psychopath, I presume you always tip your server because you recognize that you appreciate the good food, clean atmosphere, and service. If you appreciate getting picked up in a few short minutes in a clean, well-maintained car driven by a person you can understand and they get you there accurately and safely: show that appreciation.
I have music going in the background almost all the time. People ask if they can request music 5% of the time (mostly groups of young adults), but I decline half the time. If they ask me to play something specific and I know it is hot garbage, I tell them straight up that I don't get paid enough to listen to that garbage. lol It's all in good fun, remember. If a song on my Pandora comes up that I think is amazing, I make note of it and tell the passenger they need to hear this and turn it up. I have had a lot of awesome shared music experiences with people, and often times they end up tipping big because of it. If people request a hit so we can all karaoke, I typically oblige, unless it is cheezy 80s crap like Journey.
Never, since the trips are always pre-arranged through the app. I have been offered many illicit drugs as tips, though, but I don't do drugs, so I politely decline. Definitely had many desperate women and gay men proposition me, but I am a happily married man and not a dirt bag, so I also politely decline. lol
I don't typically drive during the day unless there is a reason (ie: St. Paddy's Day, etc.), but have driven Uber during daylight hours and a few things are definitely noticeable:
1. Day drivers tip way less frequently. (even though they are typically more "in need" of a ride, that doesn't translate to gratitude in the form of monetary compensation to yours truly lol)
2. They are typically going to work or school, or getting off a graveyard shift, so they are not as cheery/talkative.
3. They don't typically smell as bad.
4. They rarely sit up front.
Traffic in Omaha was only low during the first few months of the pandemic, so I hear (I wasnt driving for several months), but it has stayed pretty consistent since then, and since there are so few drivers out lately, it just means more money for me. :)
Delivery advantages:
1. You know the exact pay amount before accepting the ride
2. You know the exact mileage estimate from the point of acceptance, to the point of order pickup, to drop-off
3. You can decline as many orders as you want until/unless you find one you want. Want to decline every order that doesn't translate to at least $1.50/mile? You can do that and you'll never be deactivated.
Neither of those two things are true with Uber or Lyft. It's always a roll of the dice besides knowing how far away your rider is from you and what their rating is.
Delivery Disadvantages:
1. Waiting for food in a lobby or drive thru can be maddening. I have seen 30 minute waits OFTEN, and cancelling an order after you accept it can eventually lead to being kicked off the platform.
2. Food in your car starts to stink eventually.
3. Finding a parking place and delivering food to a 13th-floor apartment is tedious as hell, further lowering your $/hr. Sometimes you cannot contact the customer to get their door code, and so on.
Your Corolla with cloth seats would be 100% fine for Uber. Most people are chill and clean, just Scotch Gard those seats! I doubt my tip levels are as high as they are because I have a nice car, its more likely because I am friendly and conversational, and Omaha is a friendly, generous town.
You can report a lost item and then they will give your contact info to the rider so you can coordinate a meetup spot Uber grants $15 for a lost item, and oftentimes the rider will also give you a $20 bill or thereabouts. There have been people who try and get around the lost item thing, but I always file it unless I am not inconvenienced in delivering their lost item back to them. There have been many instances of taking multiple attempts to get someone a lost item due to their carelessness/unreliablility and it is very frustrating, since it cuts into my earnings time.
Uber passengers do tip better in Omaha, but it's not some huge amount. It is probably more environmental/personality based. Of course, being talkative in Phoenix may play considerably worse than in Omaha, so I could be wrong.
Because Lyft is cheaper usually than Uber by a couple of bucks per ride in Omaha, the riders that flock to Lyft have been traditionally been younger and more economically disadvantaged, resulting in lower tips due to those circumstances, but it is certainly never a HUGE disparity.
I can jump on this one since I've done this gig for 4+ years now.
Pre-pandemic? About 50k miles a year typically with a similar schedule to his.
This past year? About 30-35k or so.
I think a lot of people are going to get the wrong impression from this. Doing a gig job and actually coming out ahead, especially with such low hours put in, is a skill in itself, just like having the credentials to be a server admin or senior accountant. You need to have upfront capital to get the proper equipment (a new vehicle with a warranty), learn the game, know how not to hit common pitfalls, be an actual good driver with a lot of street sense, and take a lot of risks (also in this case, driving is one of the most dangerous activities you can do).
It's not as easy as just signing up to be an Uber driver and dumping hours in and soon you'll have 100k.
That's my take. My friend does gigwork too except it's doing picking/shopping and the effort they put in to manipulate the system to get a profit out is as much as a full time job I feel.
It's not as easy as just signing up to be an Uber driver and dumping hours in and soon you'll have 100k.
That's my take. My friend does gigwork too except it's doing picking/shopping and the effort they put in to manipulate the system to get a profit out is as much as a full time job I feel.
If you don't mind, we'd both appreciate the information! He was a professional truck driver for years and even though that was a long time ago, he's still driving around the entire country for fun on random road trips. He lives alone in a small city (~100,000 population) and has two retirements that bring in more than half my salary, so he's living very comfortably, but he's definitely looking for something to do.
Again, any tips would be appreciated!
Awesome, thank you for the information!
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I'm clocking about 700 miles per week, sometimes as much as 800.
This is true in life. There are risks and rewards. Sometimes, a risk doesn't pan out. Some markets are better than others due to driver saturation, propensity of clients to tip, and average ride length, but the stigma that surrounds gig work would make it seem like everyone is put getting exploited, losing money, ending up homeless, etc. If you are smart and work hard, I can't see how you wouldn't make money doing this. If you are dumb, or are lazy, i think you will lose your shirt doing this. If that's the case, you'll just end up exploited by Walmart or another multi-national instead of Uber, in my opinion. Sure, you won't lose money doing those jobs, and you'll have benefits and social security reporting for things like retirement and unemployment insurance, but you'll probably never get out of entry-level positions, either.
You don't need a new car, either. When I bought mine, it was 6 years old with 55,000 miles on it. It was $11k. I could have found something 2 years older with no warranty and a shit ton of miles for 5k or 6k ,though. I just wanted something nicer and I wanted the diesel. I've always wanted a TDI.
I do agree about knowing what the hell you are doing and not falling into common pitfalls, though. But anyone that sticks it out, networks with other drivers through Facebook groups and so on will probably find their way. I'm not saying people will make my kind of money, but I work in a very specialized way at times when other people don't typically want to work. I'm willing to make the sacrifice to do what I do, but I realize most people don't want to be as crazy as I am, or have responsibilities to attend to at night or on weekends that I don't need to worry about.
See my post earlier above, it goes into pros and cons of delivery apps. They can be very lucrative when you learn which orders to accept and which to decline. They're not for me, though.
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That sucks. I always disliked hearing when drivers for any of the apps end up coming across like old-school stereotypical cab drivers. The reason why Uber and Lyft do so well, outside of the sometimes unsustainably low rates is the fact that most drivers are pretty decent and have clean cars and don't smell horrible. At least that has been my case as a rider some 20 or so times.
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Fellow 10K driver that crossed the mark right before the pandemic started and haven't driven since aside from one or two days over the holidays. Almost exclusively daytime. Just wanted to *high five* the other drivers in the thread!
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Your butt gets used to it, and I have this weird Samsonite seat pillow that goes behind the small of my back that prevents muscle soreness and lower back pain.
Some car seats are way more comfortable than othees, though. I will definitely attest to one car I drove for a short while made me miserable lol
You mentioned in the OP that you very rarely drive Lyft, but your gross with Lyft is similar to your Uber gross. Does Lyft pay higher margins? And if so, why spend most of your time driving Uber?
Did you miss the glorious wall insulation video tape thread?
AlteredBeast drives Ubers by night, and finds suspicious DV tapes in his wall insulation by...well, also night.
It's a screengrab from the video tape he found
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You make a good point, I guess I should explain that.
When I started driving, Uber was still coming out of its "techno-libertarian, dude-bro sexual harassment" era and I didn't want to support them with my business, so I opted for Lyft exclusively for the first 10 months that I drove. As Uber cleaned house and started taking steps to change their culture, I decided to give them a shot and realized that Uber was definitely a little better than Lyft. Fast forward to the end of 2019 (about 1.5 years into total driving with Lyft, and 8 months into Uber, Lyft decided to change the way they paid drivers.
They still charge a surge to riders during peak times like Uber, but Lyft doesn't pass that on to the driver and Uber does. So, I, like any reasonable person would, stopped driving for them during peak times, and eventually as Uber's traffic became so intense, stopped driving for them altogether outside of the random times they have a good promo (very rare occurrence).
That said, I have driven almost equally between Uber and Lyft due to the time difference between starting and stopping the services at different times.
Thanks for the explanation ā that makes a lot of sense. I didn't realize that Lyft didn't pass the surge money onto the drivers. That's pretty scummy, but it explains why I almost always have an easier time finding an Uber during peak hours than a Lyft.
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My car requires oil changes every 10,000 miles, and I get tires rotated every other oil change. Other than that, all other maintenance has always been covered under warranty. By enlarge my car has performed very well, but I do notice that it's a lot Creek year than it used to be. The wear and tear on the doors and the suspension from so many miles over terrible Omaha streets is noticeable to me. But I do consistently get very positive remarks from my Riders, so who knows.
I rarely ever get sick, when I was in for my kidney stone a few weeks ago, they took my vital signs and everything was really good except for my blood pressure, which is more likely attributed to how intense the pain I was going through was. I also rarely ever get sick at all. I got covid-19 from a patient at a nursing home and I had the flu in the winter of 2019, but I cannot remember getting sick at any other time within the last three years.
Unfortunately driving around and doing my normal job are both extremely sedentary, so I try and exercise a couple times a week at least. I have dropped about 20 lb since the start of the pandemic oh, so I'm actually in the best shape I have been in for several years.
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It seems crazy to me, but they have given no indication over the past 18ish months of changing this policy, and it has basically caused Omaha, which was once a 50/50 Uber/Lyft town to go 70/30 Uber/Lyft if I had my guess
I was shocked when you said you have 4 kids but you usually ride after they sleep so that's OK. I wonder what your partner thinks about this? Do they sleep early as well?
I rarely use Uber here in Brazil and generally during daytime I get pissed that drivers are so slow. I assume there are a bunch of people that think driving close to the speed limit is "too fast" (they probably never drove a car...) so drivers tend to drive waaay slower so that they get better ratings. Whenever I am paired with a driver that has the "safe driving" "skilled driver" (don't remember the exact wording) in the profile I am immediately pissed and know the ride will take 20-30% longer than the usual. At the same time I don't know how to politely say "why are you driving like a grandma?" so I just stay quiet and enjoy the extra 2-5 minutes of ride lol
Another reason I can think of is that drivers might think they are saving gas by driving slower (which in general isn't true). I assume you guys get paid better for mileage than for time spent so it doesn't make sense to be slower.
This happens more often where I live (600k inhabitants), when I am in a huge city Like SĆ£o Paulo (20M+) they will drive at the usual traffic speed.
I have never tipped here, definitely find it weird that this is almost a necessity for the driver (or the waiter) to make a decent wage in the USA.
Random questions: have you been involved in a car accident while ubering? If so, does Uber offer anything for you? How often (if ever) you get traffic fines?
I rarely use Uber here in Brazil and generally during daytime I get pissed that drivers are so slow. I assume there are a bunch of people that think driving close to the speed limit is "too fast" (they probably never drove a car...) so drivers tend to drive waaay slower so that they get better ratings. Whenever I am paired with a driver that has the "safe driving" "skilled driver" (don't remember the exact wording) in the profile I am immediately pissed and know the ride will take 20-30% longer than the usual. At the same time I don't know how to politely say "why are you driving like a grandma?" so I just stay quiet and enjoy the extra 2-5 minutes of ride lol
Another reason I can think of is that drivers might think they are saving gas by driving slower (which in general isn't true). I assume you guys get paid better for mileage than for time spent so it doesn't make sense to be slower.
This happens more often where I live (600k inhabitants), when I am in a huge city Like SĆ£o Paulo (20M+) they will drive at the usual traffic speed.
I have never tipped here, definitely find it weird that this is almost a necessity for the driver (or the waiter) to make a decent wage in the USA.
Random questions: have you been involved in a car accident while ubering? If so, does Uber offer anything for you? How often (if ever) you get traffic fines?