# Should I drive for Uber/Lyft?



## Maggie Q (Oct 22, 2016)

A friend invited me. But I did the math and found: 
Uber charges rider $0.80/mile. They take 25%(=$0.20) and leave me $0.60/mile. But IRS defined every mile you drove it depreciates $0.54/mile, that means only $0.06/mile I make. Wait. If I drive an empty car home the earning will be slashed by 1/2. Drive 100 miles a day means I will need a new car every 3-4 years. Looks like I am busy for the car dealer and gas station. Still a supplementary poor.....

Any reason you guys keep driving? Pls help me to make the decision. Right now the only reason to accept is the first 100 trips incentive....

Thanks,


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## kdd612 (Oct 22, 2016)

I have found with UBER it's just a source of supplemental income to make a few extra dollars. If you live in a larger area you may make more money, which could be beneficial. Otherwise, I think you've broken it down the best way possible to make a qualitative decision. It's an individual decision, because every areas is different. Where I lived I drive 4-5 hours per day, and most times only make $8.00-12.00 per hour. However in larger cities like DC, NYC, etc they make more per hour.


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

kdd612 said:


> However in larger cities like DC, NYC, etc they make more per hour.


Its all relative. The money you make in NYC and SF doesnt go as far since it is so expensive to live there. My city pays 1 35 per mile but minimum wage is 13 an hour. Going to be 15 soon. McDonalds workers make more than Uber drivers.

Uber is only profitable if you have your own car and drive part time to minimize expenses.

Lyft pays slightly better but Uber gets you more work.


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## kdd612 (Oct 22, 2016)

Shangsta,

I have my own vehicle and do work part time driving 4-5 hours per day, 5 or 6 days a week. I live in Hampton, VA and when I drive those hours I am only making $8.00-12.00 per hour. The city does not have a very accessible transportation system, so most people use UBER to travel the majority of the time less than 5 miles. So unless I get a surge in the evening or on the weekend, I'm usually only taking home $30.00 to $40.00 per night.


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

kdd612 said:


> Shangsta,
> 
> I have my own vehicle and do work part time driving 4-5 hours per day, 5 or 6 days a week. I live in Hampton, VA and when I drive those hours I am only making $8.00-12.00 per hour. The city does not have a very accessible transportation system, so most people use UBER to travel the majority of the time less than 5 miles. So unless I get a surge in the evening or on the weekend, I'm usually only taking home $30.00 to $40.00 per night.


Nice my wife grew up in Richmond. Yeah my point was people in big cities arent getting rich off their higher rates. Some people pay 2500 for one BR apartments in my city.


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## agtg (Jun 8, 2016)

kdd612 said:


> I have found with UBER it's just a source of supplemental income to make a few extra dollars. If you live in a larger area you may make more money, which could be beneficial.


This is a good assessment, but in some smaller markets it may not even be worth driving a little on the side. If you're in So Cal, it may be worth it, though.


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## agtg (Jun 8, 2016)

kdd612 said:


> Shangsta,
> 
> I have my own vehicle and do work part time driving 4-5 hours per day, 5 or 6 days a week. I live in Hampton, VA and when I drive those hours I am only making $8.00-12.00 per hour.


This is really the breaking point economically. From what I can tell, you've got to get into the $15 and up per hour range to make it worth the wear and tear on your vehicle. That being said, my market sounds a lot like yours, though some nights I can get the $15 hour rate. I've cut back on my driving considerably lately.


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## KINGOFTHENORTH (Jul 9, 2016)

Maggie Q said:


> A friend invited me. But I did the math and found:
> Uber charges rider $0.80/mile. They take 25%(=$0.20) and leave me $0.60/mile. But IRS defined every mile you drove it depreciates $0.54/mile, that means only $0.06/mile I make. Wait. If I drive an empty car home the earning will be slashed by 1/2. Drive 100 miles a day means I will need a new car every 3-4 years. Looks like I am busy for the car dealer and gas station. Still a supplementary poor.....
> 
> Any reason you guys keep driving? Pls help me to make the decision. Right now the only reason to accept is the first 100 trips incentive....
> ...


It almost certaintly doesnt cost you 54 cents to operate a car but atleast 1/2 of all miles drive should be dead miles so it will be like its costing you atleast 54cents a miles. At 80 cents a mile uber almost certaintly is not work it. You could do it maybe on New years Eve becuase there is typically huge surges but other than that hell no. You also arent not covered by your insurance policy when you drive for uber, so if you get in a major accident expect to declare bankruptcy.


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## Maggie Q (Oct 22, 2016)

Another consideration is: I don't have a job right now so I pay only tens dollars under the Obamacare, with a big subsidy from Uncle Sam. Also I have food stamps, section-8, etc. But once I drive Uber and get the Form-1099 income, all these gone.....


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## KINGOFTHENORTH (Jul 9, 2016)

Maggie Q said:


> Another consideration is: I don't have a job right now so I pay only tens dollars under the Obamacare, with a big subsidy from Uncle Sam. Also I have food stamps, section-8, etc. But once I drive Uber and get the Form-1099 income, all these gone.....


Well how much money/or hours do you have to work to lose those benifits ?


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

Maggie Q said:


> A friend invited me. But I did the math and found:
> Uber charges rider $0.80/mile. They take 25%(=$0.20) and leave me $0.60/mile. But IRS defined every mile you drove it depreciates $0.54/mile, that means only $0.06/mile I make. Wait. If I drive an empty car home the earning will be slashed by 1/2. Drive 100 miles a day means I will need a new car every 3-4 years. Looks like I am busy for the car dealer and gas station. Still a supplementary poor.....
> 
> Any reason you guys keep driving? Pls help me to make the decision. Right now the only reason to accept is the first 100 trips incentive....
> ...


Good job on doing your research. You are absolutely correct in EVERYTHING you are assuming.

Just so you know depending on your market you will be empty up to 2/3 of the miles you drive. I hear it's about half in most places. I have no idea on San Leandro California.

Personally i would not do UberX for those rates. You may find that after paying to put your car back together that it isn't worth it. I'm just curious as to what the 100 trip incentive is for your area?

Beyond that Uber's incentives are extremely difficult to get them to pay out on. When i attempted them last about half I came up over the garuntee anyway, and the other half i was disqualified for one reason or another.

If you do decide to this,

I am advising you that you will be in a false "honeymoon" phase thinking you are making more money than you actually are until your down at the Toyota dealership (or wherever) figuring out how your going to come up with the cash to put your car back together.


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## NorCalPhil (Aug 19, 2016)

Maggie Q said:


> Another consideration is: I don't have a job right now so I pay only tens dollars under the Obamacare, with a big subsidy from Uncle Sam. Also I have food stamps, section-8, etc. But once I drive Uber and get the Form-1099 income, all these gone.....


Given your situation, don't drive for Uber. The upfront costs and RISK you take on as a driver are too high, and you are not financially in a position to offset the risk if things don't go your way. You need a low-risk job that pays you for your time and labor without imposing the costs of doing the job (car, gas, insurance, etc). That job should be temporary, and only take up a minimum amount of your time so you can focus on next steps.

If you are taking public assistance and are worried about losing it, go volunteer. Consider something like the Peace Corps, Military or any volunteer work that will give you experience and let you network. Write down a list of 5-10 jobs that are interesting to you, and go knock on doors. Talk to people and see how you can learn more about the jobs by volunteering/interning/just being nice. Opportunities are everywhere if you want them, and are willing to work for them.

Minimum wage jobs in the service industry don't provide the networking you need.

Being afraid of losing your benefits is the hardest psychological issue you face. It makes you fearful of having small successes, as they may result in you 'losing' what you have.


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## steveK2016 (Jul 31, 2016)

I'd rather earn my living doing Uber than take government subsidies, but that's just me...


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## satan (Oct 29, 2016)

I don't let the help I get from the government stop me from any thing - whenever someone else gives you something they can take it at any time-I work a low wage job and I'm seriously thinking about driving for uber-


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## the rebel (Jun 12, 2016)

Maggie Q said:


> Another consideration is: I don't have a job right now so I pay only tens dollars under the Obamacare, with a big subsidy from Uncle Sam. Also I have food stamps, section-8, etc. But once I drive Uber and get the Form-1099 income, all these gone.....


Doubtful as they have to calculate in the costs of operations when you get a 1099 and under federal law you get to deduct your mileage, meaning you are likely only making a very minimal profit.

While you are correct in your calculation using federal tax laws, the truth is for most small cars you are not spending that much on actual costs of driving your car. The more realistic number is the Triple AAA number of $.38 a mile, which still makes it very low profit to do the job for anything less than $1 a mile net after the real costs of driving your car that many miles.

Uber gets their drivers in 2 ways, people who are desperate and buy into their advertising scheme of how much money you can make and need any kind of income while they get a good job, and those who do it for the part time extra income because of the flexibility. The 1st group get into it expecting to make enough to survive while they find a good job, only to find out that due to the time and energy the have to spend to make enough to cover their bills they really do not have a chance to find a better job without taking some time off and than not having the money they need for bills and having to pay a financial price in the end. The 2nd group often convinces themselves that they will only do it long enough to pay off a couple of bills or save for a vacation or something, and never really sit down and do the math on how much they actually make long term as they end up driving for longer than they expected sometimes just to pay for the repairs on their cars that happened due to driving. In the end if you are already on public assistance, and there are any other jobs in the area, than I would spend the time to find something better than driving for Uber or Lyft as they will only extend the pain.


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## Eggroll (Oct 25, 2016)

First, I think it's strange you call yourself Maggie Q with a picture of Ziyi Zhang.

Second, my gut tells me your full of crap. 

You're getting government aid? Go find a job that pays cash. I would. I drive for Uber, Lyft and Amazon Prime for the flexibility. I make $500-$600 on the weekend in Atlanta. I go to school during the week. I guess I need to stop driving so I can get government aid. I pay $400/month just for health insurance.


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## YorkieLover (Aug 28, 2016)

Maggie Q said:


> Another consideration is: I don't have a job right now so I pay only tens dollars under the Obamacare, with a big subsidy from Uncle Sam. Also I have food stamps, section-8, etc. But once I drive Uber and get the Form-1099 income, all these gone.....


You won't loose any benefits at all, I'm a full time uber driver for the past 2 years and still qualify for all of the government's subsidies.


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## RedFox (Nov 29, 2015)

Maggie Q said:


> A friend invited me. But I did the math and found:
> Uber charges rider $0.80/mile. They take 25%(=$0.20) and leave me $0.60/mile. But IRS defined every mile you drove it depreciates $0.54/mile, that means only $0.06/mile I make. Wait. If I drive an empty car home the earning will be slashed by 1/2. Drive 100 miles a day means I will need a new car every 3-4 years. Looks like I am busy for the car dealer and gas station. Still a supplementary poor.....
> 
> Any reason you guys keep driving? Pls help me to make the decision. Right now the only reason to accept is the first 100 trips incentive....
> ...


*Don't drive for either of them...it is a waste of time and there are too many drivers out there to make a good profit. *


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## MrBear (Mar 14, 2015)

Maggie Q said:


> Another consideration is: I don't have a job right now so I pay only tens dollars under the Obamacare, with a big subsidy from Uncle Sam. Also I have food stamps, section-8, etc. But once I drive Uber and get the Form-1099 income, all these gone.....


Maggie, your a smart girl. You think things out. Are you married? I like you!


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## Eggroll (Oct 25, 2016)

MrBear said:


> Maggie, your a smart girl. You think things out. Are you married? I like you!


That's not her pic. It's a pic of a Chinese actress Ziyi Zhang.


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

Eggroll said:


> That's not her pic. It's a pic of a Chinese actress Ziyi Zhang.


Creepers gonna creep


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## Cray91 (Nov 6, 2016)

I think it is good to look at the money up front, but I wouldn't use the IRS figure as the end-all. Depending on your vehicle and strategy, you will not spend that amount so that can help things.


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## texasuberxdriver (Aug 16, 2018)

Maggie Q said:


> A friend invited me. But I did the math and found:
> Uber charges rider $0.80/mile. They take 25%(=$0.20) and leave me $0.60/mile. But IRS defined every mile you drove it depreciates $0.54/mile, that means only $0.06/mile I make. Wait. If I drive an empty car home the earning will be slashed by 1/2. Drive 100 miles a day means I will need a new car every 3-4 years. Looks like I am busy for the car dealer and gas station. Still a supplementary poor.....
> 
> Any reason you guys keep driving? Pls help me to make the decision. Right now the only reason to accept is the first 100 trips incentive....
> ...





Maggie Q said:


> Another consideration is: I don't have a job right now so I pay only tens dollars under the Obamacare, with a big subsidy from Uncle Sam. Also I have food stamps, section-8, etc. But once I drive Uber and get the Form-1099 income, all these gone.....


I know this is an old post, but I am on food stamps/medicaid also while in school. I got suspended from the master's program for getting a C and had to find a job quick as I only had 2 weeks notice. Well, I decided to do UberEats delivery. Upon reapplying for food stamps/medicaid, the lady told me I can't deduct the irs standard mileage deduction as an expense and only use gas as a deduction and need receipts....seriously? I was saving them as I was going to deduct the actual expense, but decided it would take too much time and to deduct the irs .54 a mile. I don't think this is right. So now, I can only deduct the few gas receipts I do have.


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## Trump Economics (Jul 29, 2015)

Maggie Q said:


> A friend invited me. But I did the math and found:
> Uber charges rider $0.80/mile. They take 25%(=$0.20) and leave me $0.60/mile. But IRS defined every mile you drove it depreciates $0.54/mile, that means only $0.06/mile I make. Wait. If I drive an empty car home the earning will be slashed by 1/2. Drive 100 miles a day means I will need a new car every 3-4 years. Looks like I am busy for the car dealer and gas station. Still a supplementary poor.....
> 
> Any reason you guys keep driving? Pls help me to make the decision. Right now the only reason to accept is the first 100 trips incentive....
> ...


Save yourself - drive for neither.


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