# Poll: Did Uber's price cuts actually increase your earnings?



## Shock (Jun 1, 2015)

So Uber in my city are dropping prices by 20%.

I went down to HQ and got into a bit of an argument with the guys there. They were convinced that dropping the price would increase drivers income, I was not.

So I wanted to see what you guys thought.

If you've gone through a price decrease did it actually make you more money in the long term?


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## Greguzzi (Jan 9, 2016)

It's Ubermath. They will make more money. You will lose more money. Win-win!


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## NachonCheeze (Sep 8, 2015)

It did not..... on paper and with the numerous assumptions made by fUber I'm sure there math works out....reality has proven otherwise


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## Paddyuber (Dec 23, 2015)

Uber are dropping prices in Perth, Australia by 15% thinking it will raise incomes. I think it is a poor decision as people already like uber and the service we give. To reduce fares means our cars will work more for less.


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## SafeT (Nov 23, 2015)

The only reason Uber lowers prices is to get more bottom feeder riders to sign up. It's really that simple. They look at it like a website. They want more users. Each user is a 'safe rider fee' or 'booking fee'. That is really all they care about on a day to day basis is the fee. More users, more fees. Driver income doesn't factor into any of their growth strategies. They could care less if drivers starve to death as long as they can get more users and more of those fees.


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## afrojoe824 (Oct 21, 2015)

it did to me. 

Only because I didn't agree to their piss poor rates and only started driving Surges. 
I used to have a 90% acceptance rate. Now that went down to 64% 
Lower Prices = more surges for me. Screw Uber if they want to screw with my bottom line


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## Backdash (Jan 28, 2015)

I've posted this in a few different threads on the same topic. 

This is for NYC, rates went from $2.15 per mile to $1.75. We get about 30% taken off the top, 20% to Uber another 10% in taxes and black car fund.
Substitute your towns pre and post rates.


100 miles X $2.15 per mile = $215.00 gross fares
100 miles X $1.75 per mile = $175.00 gross fares
123 miles X $1.75 per mile = $215.00 gross fares
23% increase in work/time and 23% increase in variable business expenses to reach the same gross fares pre rate cut.
Net gain $0.00 with increased expenses and work/time.

146 miles X $1.75 per mile = $255.50 gross fares
46% increase in work/time and 46% increase in variable business expenses.
Increase of $40.50 in gross fares generates a payout to driver of ~$28.00

Hey, it's more money!
makes perfect sense...


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## Shock (Jun 1, 2015)

Paddyuber said:


> Uber are dropping prices in Perth, Australia by 15% thinking it will raise incomes. I think it is a poor decision as people already like uber and the service we give. To reduce fares means our cars will work more for less.


I'm in Brisbane. In the email they sent out they cited Perth as being a big success. Was it?


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## Paddyuber (Dec 23, 2015)

Shock said:


> I'm in Brisbane. In the email they sent out they cited Perth as being a big success. Was it?


The price drop is starting today. So the jury is out on the success or otherwise of the move. They cannot claim it as a success just yet because it hasn't started.

We will see what comes up and strategise accordingly.


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## EX_ (Jan 31, 2016)

Nope.


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## EX_ (Jan 31, 2016)

afrojoe824 said:


> it did to me.
> 
> Only because I didn't agree to their piss poor rates and only started driving Surges.
> I used to have a 90% acceptance rate. Now that went down to 64%
> Lower Prices = more surges for me. Screw Uber if they want to screw with my bottom line


Exactly.
It's typically just surge (2.0X>) for me at this point, and any ride less than a mile in my area is an automatic 1-star rating.


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## afrojoe824 (Oct 21, 2015)

EX_ said:


> Exactly.
> It's typically just surge (2.0X>) for me at this point, and any ride less than a mile in my area is an automatic 1-star rating.


I ALWAYS 1 star people who are going a mile or less. My thought is the app tells
you how long the driver is gonna take and how far the driver is. If the driver drives 
2 miles to get you and you're only going less than a mile, 1 star! People need 
to stop being lazy and actually walk


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## Krishna (Sep 4, 2014)

Yes, because I stopped driving for Uber.


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## negeorgia (Feb 1, 2015)

No, not only is the rate lower, the distance to drive out of a minimum fare is further. I have had a 12 minute 2.2 mile trip not exceed minimum and I have had 2.7 and 2.8 mile trips not exceed minimum. Rides I used to make $4.25 (barely over minimum) now pay $3.20 (minimum). I am down more than just the 80 cents.


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## Oscar Levant (Aug 15, 2014)

Shock said:


> So Uber in my city are dropping prices by 20%.
> 
> I went down to HQ and got into a bit of an argument with the guys there. They were convinced that dropping the price would increase drivers income, I was not.
> 
> ...


I've been in the taxi business for 15 years total, off and on since the 70s, and it was 80 cents per mile when I started in 1977 and $1.40 per mile when I quit in 1995.

Here's what happened after each increase: 
1. The taxi company increased the lease by a little.
2. Earnings increased proportionally to the meter ( did not dampen demand, in other words ).


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## Stygge (Jan 9, 2016)

I think I make more now because it's surging a lot more now. The costs for driving mostly surge are the nastygrams from uber and that it's more unreliable and shifts get split when the surge drops temporarily.


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## Jace (Nov 14, 2015)

afrojoe824 said:


> I ALWAYS 1 star people who are going a mile or less. My thought is the app tells
> you how long the driver is gonna take and how far the driver is. If the driver drives
> 2 miles to get you and you're only going less than a mile, 1 star! People need
> to stop being lazy and actually walk


Definitely the time to tip the driver!


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## bard1290 (Jan 3, 2016)

What uber always hides is that surging has increased. Notice they never say how many drivers are on line at a given time. What are the number of drivers on compared to last year or prior to the rate decrease. I'm thinking many drivers have quit and other have listened to not join the uber ranks, there by creating a higher demand with less available drivers. My 2 cents anyways


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## thomas1955 (Jan 2, 2016)

My total earnings are down, both by the rate cut and by my refusal to take more trips. Yes boys and girls, I'm a cherry picker.
After awhile you just get the feeling that your being taken for a fool. Here's some tips that will help you keep your losses to a minimum.

1. Don't accept trips that are more than 5 min away, accept, cancel, no-charge, and then go off line for a couple of min, let a newbie go get him.
2. Park close to areas that generate ride requests, ie hotel, airport, sports bars or even your own driveway.
3. After pickup, but before starting trip, ask pax what his destination is. This way if you get someone going where you don't want to go, it's easier to cancel trip, no charge. Pax can't rate you. They can complain to uber, but so what. Use an excuse like I have an appointment and that location will make me miss it.
4. Be stingy with the ratings... only pax that get 5* are the ones that tip.
5. Work the surges... (reading the forum will explain this)
6. No waiting with out compensation. If the rider doesn't have his toes on curb, I consider canceling right then, so no rider, bad pick up location, bingo rider does not get to go in my car. Cancel, rider no show. I don't care about cancel fee anymore, I just want the riders to
be ready to go, best way is to cancel when they aren't. If you cancel, go off line for a few min, drive a block or so and park. Then after a couple min, check your riders app, I don't go back on line unless it's surging. 

There are exceptions, like I will drive the 8 to 10 min for casino pickups, they are usually good tippers. Scheduled pickups.... yes you can schedule a pickup, just not through the app. I will offer my car service card with contact info and advise my riders that I will come back to get them if they have any issues. I only do this with 5* clients, this pays off in one or two scheduled airport runs ( usually surging) in the early morning.


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## RightTurnClyde (Dec 9, 2015)

Greguzzi said:


> It's Ubermath. They will make more money. You will lose more money. Win-win!


Ok now, no need to make me chuckle that hard sooo early in morning!!!


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## Briani (Mar 10, 2016)

bard1290 said:


> What uber always hides is that surging has increased. Notice they never say how many drivers are on line at a given time. What are the number of drivers on compared to last year or prior to the rate decrease. I'm thinking many drivers have quit and other have listened to not join the uber ranks, there by creating a higher demand with less available drivers. My 2 cents anyways


I've recently only had the app on when it is surging. More times than not when I am in the middle of a surging area, I get a request just outside of the surging area. Weird how you can be in the middle of a 4.5 surge and get a request less than a mile outside of that area that isn't surging at all. I kind of feel Uber is a little or a lot misleading with how they implement the surge pricing. Seems like a manipulation to get drivers to take rides.


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## bard1290 (Jan 3, 2016)

Briani said:


> I've recently only had the app on when it is surging. More times than not when I am in the middle of a surging area, I get a request just outside of the surging area. Weird how you can be in the middle of a 4.5 surge and get a request less than a mile outside of that area that isn't surging at all. I kind of feel Uber is a little or a lot misleading with how they implement the surge pricing. Seems like a manipulation to get drivers to take rides.


Speaking of manipulations. I haven't been able to drive for about a week as my car is in the shop. About two weeks ago I received a email that I have been canceling trips to much or not accepting trips enough. I received another one today saying the same thing and threatening to deactivate me. They obviously are just looking at numbers not actual drive time. Seems like they are taking a harder stance which makes me wonder if more people have stopped driving. They seem to be making us hourly employees with the continued guarantees. They really need to look up the legal definition of a what a contractor is


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Briani said:


> I've recently only had the app on when it is surging. More times than not when I am in the middle of a surging area, I get a request just outside of the surging area. Weird how you can be in the middle of a 4.5 surge and get a request less than a mile outside of that area that isn't surging at all. I kind of feel Uber is a little or a lot misleading with how they implement the surge pricing. Seems like a manipulation to get drivers to take rides.


It's not strange at all. At the edge is where it stops surging first. So all the people waiting for the surge to end are right by you and the ones where it just ended are on the edge if the surge, where it JUST stopped. Since the app lags it may even still say it's surging where they are on the driver app, but not the rider app.

Even if they take a,surge, most riders have a cut off point, so if they are willing to take a 1.5 for instance, you may get that if the newbies accept all the no surge pax on the edge of the surge. Because that rider just watched it drop to 1.5 from 3.0 and is now ready to go.

When the surges lasted a long time the pax would not wait. But now they come and go very fast most of the time so the pax have learned to wait.


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## Undermensch (Oct 21, 2015)

For me, with a small amount of sample data to go on (3 weeks) it does not seem to have changed my hourly earning rate. Some weeks it's $17, other weeks its over $20.

What is has done is enabled me to make more per week than I was making in October and November of 2015. Back then I'd go online and just mess around at home watching movies and such and not get a ping for hours. Now I get pinged out of the house within a few minutes, usually.

I posted my full earnings history with Uber and Lyft in another thread: https://uberpeople.net/threads/2015-q4-and-2016-q1-pay-full-disclosure.66689/


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## Stump (Mar 16, 2016)

Shock said:


> So Uber in my city are dropping prices by 20%.
> 
> I went down to HQ and got into a bit of an argument with the guys there. They were convinced that dropping the price would increase drivers income, I was not.
> 
> ...


The way I see it, Uber dropping the cost of the fare to the rider at the drivers expense is making Uber more money. Uber says it will increase the number of fares but if I drive a rider 5 miles in 7 minutes I only make the reduced fare. I can't take multiple fares at the same time. Uber needs a campaign to bring on new riders instead of concentrating on the current riders reducing their fares at the drivers expense We call it marketing here South Carolina.


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## Adbam (Jun 25, 2015)

Who are the 8 idiots that answered yes?


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Adbam said:


> Who are the 8 idiots that answered yes?


 The ones who say gas is their only expense, probably. They're not worried about the extra 100 miles they drove or the extra 30 times their car door was opened and pax kicked their speakers...their paycheck was $2 more, so they MADE more in their mind.


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## Krishna (Sep 4, 2014)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> The ones who say gas is their only expense, probably. They're not worried about the extra 100 miles they drove or the extra 30 times their car door was opened and pax kicked their speakers...their paycheck was $2 more, so they MADE more in their mind.


Holy crap... we gotta pay for GAS TOO???

Nope, I just checked -- my Mom pays for the gas, so it's all cool!


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## Undermensch (Oct 21, 2015)

Adbam said:


> Who are the 8 idiots that answered yes?


Me me me!!! I did, actually, answer yes.

Trust me, I was as irked by the rate cuts as the next guy. I stopped driving for a couple of weeks to see how it played out.

Then I went back online and made more than I had made in previous non-Holiday weeks.

My hourly rate stayed about the same. My per mile rate dropped by a couple cents (57 cents/mile to 55 cents/mile).

There may be some other factors contributing to how this worked out for me though, such as:

1) I stopped driving to more popular areas and instead stayed home for my starting point

2) I stopped dead heading back to the NJ Shore (which has an almost 2x higher rate than the non-Shore region) and instead accepted rides in the lower rate area

3) I was able to get rides at more hours of the day - in the fall I didn't count hours at home where I was online for 2-3 hours but got no rides since I was working on the house during that time; in 2016 that never happens - I go online now, I get a ride - if I counted the hours in the Fall as "working" I'd substantially increase my hourly rate for 2016 compared to 2015

On a side note though... the original post asked about earnings from Uber... I interpreted that to mean the amount taken home from Uber. For me that increased because I'm able to get more rides. My hourly rates after variable costs and depreciation are very close to what they were before the rate cuts though. I don't think I'd claim those increased, but they didn't decrease substantially either.

All info is in this thread if you want it: https://uberpeople.net/threads/2015-q4-and-2016-q1-pay-full-disclosure.66689/


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## Kalikikopa (Aug 9, 2015)

In Hawaii , prior to the rate decrease, there was only about 10 minutes between requests. The problem was the amount of rides a mile or two. These would be under the $4 minimum. With the new rates the safe rider fee increase now takes half of that $4, then you pay 20% of what is left. You make less than half the fare, and still pay the general excise tax on the whole fare. It made picking and choosing rides a necessity, and more trouble than Uber was worth. I drove almost exclusively Lyft wich was way more profitable. But our legislature will change all of that soon


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## eyewall (Sep 6, 2015)

We have reached the breaking point as far as driver saturation here quite rapidly in the last week or two. That has hit my earnings harder than the price cuts.


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

Personally know of at least one driver who's earnings increased indirectly because of rate cuts. 
What happened was after the last rate cut, he started only driving surge, got choosy on rides,
picked up some other work (not driving) that paid well to fill the hours that he had been ubering 
and at the end of the month had made several hundred dollars more than any of the previous
six months prior when doing uber full time. Without the rate cuts, it's possible he'd still be earning less than now.

Indirect cause and effect though.


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## amrraffa (Mar 19, 2016)

Shock said:


> So Uber in my city are dropping prices by 20%.
> 
> I went down to HQ and got into a bit of an argument with the guys there. They were convinced that dropping the price would increase drivers income, I was not.
> 
> ...


Well It happens that I understand some of the Financial analysis and I understand exactly what Uber is doing , so bear with me while I am trying to explain what is going on ....

First of all in this game there are the Fixed costs , and there are the Variable costs 
Fixed costs are the advertising and salaries for the workers in Uber Company
Variable costs are the Gas , Cars Maintenance , and cars depreciation

Of course as you can expect all the Fixed costs are paid by Uber Company and the Variables are paid by the Driver ,

And as it is quite obvious of course that the Fixed costs are called "Fixed Costs " because it doesn't change by the Changing of the Business Volume so how ever the Customers increase the cost is the same and the Revenues increase this is the ultimate dream for any company of course.

So this means that Uber is the Only winner

For the Variable cost which is paid by the POOOOR Driver it change according to the Volume of the Business , so the driver always will pay more the more customers he have in the car , and because the prices are down he will definitely have more customers with less profit margin ....

this profit margin happens to be less than the 20 or 25 % which is Uber Commission

That means that Uber is taking from us the Net profit leaving us to pay the Bills of the Costs ... and some times we have to cover the losses from our Pockets

To cut it short this Company think that we are fools ..... and it seems that it is true ..... no body should accept to work as a driver with his own car for .65 $ /Mile unless he is FOOOOOL


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## UTX1 (Dec 7, 2015)

amrraffa said:


> That means that Uber is taking from us the Net profit leaving us to pay the Bills of the Costs ...
> and some times we have to cover the losses from our Pockets
> 
> To cut it short this Company think that we are fools ..... and it seems that it is true .....
> no body should accept to work as a driver with his own car for .65 $ /Mile unless he is FOOOOOL


I have answer. I will not wear pants with pockets.
This way, nothing removed from pockets. I am genius.


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## Shamwow (Mar 20, 2016)

Greguzzi said:


> It's Ubermath. They will make more money. You will lose more money. Win-win!


Sounds like politician math to me!


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

We've had so many drivers quit that it's surging a ton. I'm also cherry picking rides a lot more than before though 90% areally still taken as opposed to 95% before. I've driven 161 miles since I started yesterday and will have a payout of $318 for the 2 days thus far


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## kideyse (Oct 22, 2015)

Paddyuber said:


> Uber are dropping prices in Perth, Australia by 15% thinking it will raise incomes. I think it is a poor decision as people already like uber and the service we give. To reduce fares means our cars will work more for less.


Touche, the unexpected slump had nothing to do with price of fares. All cool technologies or fads will eventually lose their novelty. While u will always have the regular riders, the explosive growth is gone and not coming back.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

I think the cutting of rates is actually hurting their growth. I really would like them to show the numbers. I know that here fewer people are getting rides as there are fewer drivers. It's a unique market though where most of the drivers were coming in from an hour away and now, most of them aren't. I think it's hurt ridership in southern CA as well, but I could be mistaken.


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## phoneguy (Apr 15, 2015)

Uber has been in Pittsburgh for 2 years. I have been driving for 11.5 months. I have gone through 2 rate cuts. So here is what I have seen. When I first started, it would be 10 to 15 minutes between rides on a friday evening and I make about $20 per hour. Now that the rates have been cut 25% the first time and 25% again in January. I am not getting any breaks and more surges. I have to turn the app off to get a drink or gas. I am averaging $22 per hour. Some of that increase is due to more people finding out about the app and other is drivers quitting over the rate cut.

So for me, it has worked out. Do some reading up on basic Economics (http://www.investopedia.com/university/economics/economics3.asp) This lesson still works for uber, just remember that supply and demand are always changing and every area is not the same. Uber has been using the average to set the price. The surges are for areas that demand is high and people are willing to pay more and to push drivers into an area with better prices.


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## Undermensch (Oct 21, 2015)

phoneguy said:


> Uber has been in Pittsburgh for 2 years. I have been driving for 11.5 months. I have gone through 2 rate cuts. So here is what I have seen. When I first started, it would be 10 to 15 minutes between rides on a friday evening and I make about $20 per hour. Now that the rates have been cut 25% the first time and 25% again in January. I am not getting any breaks and more surges. I have to turn the app off to get a drink or gas. I am averaging $22 per hour. Some of that increase is due to more people finding out about the app and other is drivers quitting over the rate cut.
> 
> So for me, it has worked out. Do some reading up on basic Economics (http://www.investopedia.com/university/economics/economics3.asp) This lesson still works for uber, just remember that supply and demand are always changing and every area is not the same. Uber has been using the average to set the price. The surges are for areas that demand is high and people are willing to pay more and to push drivers into an area with better prices.


Finally, someone else with a college education or at least a general interest in how things actually work instead of just emotions and bad attitudes!


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## kideyse (Oct 22, 2015)

Ok free market gurus. Is the market setting the rates or is it Travis or Travis's committee or Uber's soft ware algorythm. Sidecar was a TNC that presented the trip information to the drivers and let the drivers accept, reject, or bid on it through auction. Sidecar s model was a lot closer to what a free market should be, and it's drivers a lot closer to true independent contractors.
Of course, Uber and its Wall Street 
backers couldn't care less about us drivers, or free or fair market economics.
What works for them is socializing the risks and privatizing xcm "piratizing " the gains.
They bait the riders with almost free rides then switch on the surges. They bait the drivers with referral fees to our friends and associates then we find out that the biz is not even legal in many places. They bait us with guarantees and surges only to find the timeouts and other negative incentives to coerce us into losing money on trips.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

It looks like we've a couple on here who took Ubermath in highschool. Yup more rides per hour do earn you more in gross earnings. Gas is definitely the only expense if you never get new tires, change oil, etc and that engine has repairbots built in so it's always perfectly maintained.


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## Greguzzi (Jan 9, 2016)

Undermensch said:


> Finally, someone else with a college education or at least a general interest in how things actually work instead of just emotions and bad attitudes!


LOL. And gas is your only expense, right?


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## ChortlingCrison (Mar 30, 2016)

RightTurnClyde said:


> Ok now, no need to make me chuckle that hard sooo early in morning!!!


Tell clyde right turn (to travis' face)


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

I do think you can make more now in a select, few markets but only if you're playing the surge game. Markets like mine and SoCal seem to have lost enough drivers to make surges way more common. My gross has dropped 10%, my net has increased by 10%. I'm using my actual $0.47 a mile in determining the numbers


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## Undermensch (Oct 21, 2015)

Greguzzi said:


> LOL. And gas is your only expense, right?


Well, I'm definitely not counting hot air... I can get that for free on this forum! Ha!


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## Krishna (Sep 4, 2014)

[QUOTE="ginseng41, post: 954215, member: 5531" My gross has dropped 10%, my net has increased by 10%. [/QUOTE]

Can you explain how this works?


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## 14gIV (Dec 12, 2015)

Krishna said:


> [QUOTE="ginseng41, post: 954215, member: 5531" My gross has dropped 10%, my net has increased by 10%.
> 
> Can you explain how this works?


his gross pay is -10%
his net pay is +10%


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

phoneguy said:


> When I first started, it would be 10 to 15 minutes between rides on a friday evening and I make about $20 per hour. Now...I am averaging $22 per hour.


Could you define exactly what you mean by "make"?


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## haji (Jul 17, 2014)

It increased my hate for uber and f**** pax .


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## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

Shock said:


> They were convinced that dropping the price would increase drivers income, I was not.


Notice that in most cities at the same time that Uber dropped the fares, they also increased the Booking Fee (formerly Safe Ride Fee) ... so Uber made more money. But anyway you slice it, driving more for less is a losing proposition for drivers.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

Krishna said:


> [QUOTE="ginseng41, post: 954215, member: 5531" My gross has dropped 10%, my net has increased by 10%.


Can you explain how this works?[/QUOTE]

I'm driving fewer miles. Say I made $1,000 before driving 500, now I'm making $900 driving 400. Only taking surge fates,for the most part. Only exception is if I get a ride to the adjoining town,I will take a nonsurge fare back


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## Digits (Sep 17, 2015)

after the rate cut I stopped driving for Uber thus an increase in my earning, it's not much though but nonetheless an increase. Actually it's quite simple math, the harder you drive the bigger the dent in your bank account, if you can figure a way to cut your costs you increase your profit therefore based on this principle I cut my driving expenses completely and my savings are still showing in my bank instead of evaporating. By the end of the day it's all that matters.


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## Krishna (Sep 4, 2014)

ginseng41 said:


> I'm driving fewer miles. Say I made $1,000 before driving 500, now I'm making $900 driving 400. Only taking surge fates,for the most part. Only exception is if I get a ride to the adjoining town,I will take a nonsurge fare back


Why are you driving fewer miles? Are the pings closer than they used to be, or are you driving more strategically?


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

Strategically


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## Greguzzi (Jan 9, 2016)

ginseng41 said:


> Strategically


So, the increase is because the rate cuts made you work smarter, rather than because the rate cuts increased your income, right?


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## Leo Chow (Apr 3, 2016)

Greguzzi said:


> It's Ubermath. They will make more money. You will lose more money. Win-win!


In Malaysia, with price cut & commission cut on drivers. Uber 25% driver 75%, bad deal for us. Many left to join competitors.


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## Leo Chow (Apr 3, 2016)

Leo Chow said:


> In Malaysia, with price cut & commission cut on drivers. Uber 25% driver 75%, bad deal for us. Many left to join competitors.


Drivers are doing charity, better help in church or social services. Why do for profit seeking co. like Uber.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

Not entirely. So many drivers quit that it's always surging now and I can affordto only take surges. Before, that would have only been at bar closing time, for the most part


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## Greguzzi (Jan 9, 2016)

Do the surge rates even compensate for the rate cuts, in real terms (e.g. if your rate was $1/mile and is now $0.75/mile, it would take you a 1.33x surge to get back to $1, not a 1.25x surge as most drivers seem to think? If not, you have still lost ground overall.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

Nope. That's why I'm doing less miles as I refuse to drive for the far pickups anymore


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## Greguzzi (Jan 9, 2016)

ginseng41 said:


> Nope. That's why I'm doing less miles as I refuse to drive for the far pickups anymore


That is smart. So you now net more because you are driving smarter, and not because the lowered rates have increased volume, it seems. Good for you.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

Sort of. With our prior rates, I made money on a 12 minute pickup time to think mall or megabus stop as I knew they would be coming back to town. 10o% had in 1.5 years of doing this. I didn't have the worry most of you do that those would be a minimum fare and I still wouldn't. Volume per driver, has gone up here as there are fewer drivers on now but if I drove all those extra regular fare rides n I will, I wouldn't be making money. 46% effective rate cut here. I'm not driving any more smartly now than I was before, I just have to be a hawk now whereas before, almost everything was profitable


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## Andy Vu (Apr 4, 2016)

afrojoe824 said:


> I ALWAYS 1 star people who are going a mile or less. My thought is the app tells
> you how long the driver is gonna take and how far the driver is. If the driver drives
> 2 miles to get you and you're only going less than a mile, 1 star! People need
> to stop being lazy and actually walk


I used to pick up a girl from a station and sent her home safely. I think it's really depend, we might need to think about their safety if they have to walk back home after 10pm


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## Friendly Jack (Nov 17, 2015)

Andy Vu said:


> I used to pick up a girl from a station and sent her home safely. I think it's really depend, we might need to think about their safety if they have to walk back home after 10pm


Agreed, but at these rates they need to think about our profitability (tip?) if they want to be safe!


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

I had to stop taking a cancer survivor home from his job at the liquor store because what used to be an $8 ride turned into a $4.50 ride for 45 minutes of my time.

Besides, he never brought me any goodies from work.


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## William1964 (Jul 28, 2015)

I really don't know.

I'm able to pull off a consistent hourly average very close to $20 an hour.

Simple math says lower rate equal lower income. At least that's the logic. But then there's the surge which can double the low rate


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## oscardelta (Sep 30, 2015)

Briani said:


> I kind of feel Uber is a little or a lot misleading with how they implement the surge pricing. Seems like a manipulation to get drivers to take rides.


You "kind of" feel that way? I think it's pretty obvious that that's exactly what they are doing.


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## Kulwinder Singh (Dec 6, 2015)

I spoken to many riders about 15% fare reduction. And they said "really". They don't even know. They can't figure it out that how much are they saving?
If one rider is taking $10 ride one a week. He will be saving anly $1.5 only. They can't even notice. 
But when I tell them that if drivers used to make $1000 in week now they are making $850 out of same jobs. Drivers are loosing more than riders are saving. 
When more ride sharing companies will come in competition then Uber has to increase driver's earnings. Or they will loose their drivers. Then less drivers on road, more demand and more surge pricing. No one likes to call Uber in surge price even its 1.3x. Then people will go to other companies like GoCar. 
Uber has strong management but they are upsetting their drivers.


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