# My Response to Uber Support Feedback E-mail



## Robert121231 (Mar 7, 2015)

*What could we do to improve your experience driving with Uber?*

I can not believe you are asking me this. I have assumed that you didn't care about my opinion at all for the past 6 months.

Driving for Uber loses me money. The only way to work for Uber successfully is to drive during surges. 90c/mile is a loss for me. This is an expensive town where people have lots of money, that is why you are getting so many people willing to pay for these rides. Remember that your drivers also have to sustain a life in the same expensive town as their passengers.

I worked HARD for you guys and couldn't afford to live and I have SO many advantages on other drivers, I live in North Hollywood (close to the action), am on food stamps, free medical insurance from the state, living in my parents basement, NEVER buying food or drinks on the road (beans and rice only at home) and STILL couldn't afford to work for you.

When you guarantee $20/hr, that works out to about $6/hr in my pocket. 20% for you 30% for the govt. 12% for gas 10% for repairs 5% for car wash mints and waters.

This is unsustainable, its not a living, its indentured slavery. I make more as a dishwasher at minimum wage and don't risk having to pay a life changing deductible for a possible car accident and don't have to bare a 30% tax burden.

Now that the Uberpool has cut the uberX crowd in half therefore cutting the surges in half (again, surges are the only way to make a living with Uber), the game is over.

The only people you can have driving for you now are people with ulterior motives. No one wants to work for $6/hr unless they are promoting their own business or trying to get something out of the passengers.

With such little wages and needing to pay rent, insurance, car payment, car maintenance, cell phone, food, utilitys, and so on, there is just no way unless your drivers are living in their cars, skipping showers and not maintaining the vehicle, which I am sure is happening out there.

When driving for Uber, I know that I am not getting a tip, so I don't need to try to make the passenger happy. I get paid the same whether they liked the ride or hated it. No tip = no need to go out of my way for any passengers in any way.

There is no fun in driving for Uber. There are no goals to meet. It is just mindless work, for as long as you can until your body and brain hurts. No incentives, no rewards, nothing to encourage drivers.

With the winter guarantee, it is now more profitable to hide from calls rather than hunt them out. This pits drivers against free loading passengers who are getting rides for way too cheap.

You guys don't understand that putting miles on my car COSTS me, its NOT good to drive more for less money. I lose more money per hour the more I drive, so driving more for this low of pay has made it no longer worth it to drive for you.

I was sticking it out, letting you use me and giving you my time and money, hoping that uberpool would charge passengers something like 65% of normal cost, making it more lucrative, therefore fixing the $6/hr problem. When you announced that it was the same pay, that ended my hopes and turned me from a interested hopeful driver, to a bitter regretful driver who tells his friends and family to avoid you guys at any cost.

Uber was amazing and exciting as a taxi alternative. It is now a slimy sketchy alternative to the city bus. Taking over the whole travel industry is a ridiculous business model.

What you could do to improve my experience -

1. Make incentives that help you get what you need but excites the drivers, such as only taking 15% commission after 20 rides in a week or past 4 hours in a day.

2. Allow for tipping. If you don't allow for tipping, you will continue to have negative news stories of drivers vs passengers or vice versa because no drivers care to go out of their way.

3. There is no way to make a living driving for Uber. If you care about keeping your highest rated drivers, start offering drivers with over a 4.9 rating some rewards or bonuses so they can be able to pay for their lives.

4. Make a short timer that clearly displays for the passengers so they don't leave the drivers waiting for 5+ minutes and suggest that they request their Uber ride from the curb because the average wait time is less than 3 minutes (or was before you lowered the drivers pay to so little)

5. Help me pay for car repairs, gas, insurance, road food and drinks, and other items that I use to work for you guys.

6. Add a delivery service so that we can stack up 65% paying uberpool passengers with 2 or 3 simple deliveries (drop it at the door) so we can actually make closer to an ACTUAL $20/hr which is not an unreasonable goal considering your drivers are providing their own cars, gas, maintenance, car washes, and more.

7. Your yearly charitable donations should go to your drivers. There are real people out there with real life stories that are trying their best and being screwed by your low wages. If you refuse to make it fair for the drivers, at least get your tax deductions by helping these great people out.

8. Make a lottery of 5$ target gift cards or some other small incentive for all drivers who do more than 10 rides per week to be entered in. This would add excitement and give drivers a goal and cost you very little.

9. Focus on raising your drivers pay in some way. Every move you have made for the past year has been to lower drivers pay and make their life more and more uncertain every time.


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## Kalee (Feb 18, 2015)

Very nice


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## Txchick (Nov 25, 2014)

Robert121231 said:


> *What could we do to improve your experience driving with Uber?*
> 
> I can not believe you are asking me this. I have assumed that you didn't care about my opinion at all for the past 6 months.
> 
> ...


Well said! My heart goes out to you!!


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## puber (Aug 31, 2014)

Why bother


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## uberguy_in_ct (Dec 29, 2014)

Very well said, but I doubt their attention span is long enough to read the whole thing. They are probably starting to believe their own propoganda that Lower pay, I mean rates (oops), = HIGHER pay!


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## 7Miles (Dec 17, 2014)

I stopped driving for them a month or two ago. Working for competition now. 
It's actually simple- why lose money and waste time? I really surprised as a passenger to see almost all Lyft drivers also have Uber sticker on opposite side of the Lyft trade mark. So they still drive for Uber ? Why? But that changes I see. Yesterday in my neighborhood there was no Uber available and 5 or 6 Lyft cars. Customers almost always check both apps before ordering.


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## nicoj36 (Dec 14, 2014)

Sarcastically propose for an even lower fares so we could make more money LOL!!!


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## Amsoil Uber Connect (Jan 14, 2015)

Someones got a tell the truth even if they don't like it. Sooner or later the media will come across this. Hope it will have a positive change for us.


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## ReviTULize (Sep 29, 2014)

Sorry you are in the situation that you are in...

...with that said, I don't understand why you are wasting your time. If you are(were) working and losing money, it's your own fault...period!! You can't blame Uber for your situation in life. If I had lost money after the first week...I never would have logged in again(unless I was bored, suddenly single, 15 years younger and needed a social outlet).

This _should not_ be a full-time gig for someone in your situation. You seem to have done your research on all expenses and I commend you for that. If you haven't already, you need to own it and look out for 'number one'(you)!!! I guarantee you, that is all Uber is doing.


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## Robert121231 (Mar 7, 2015)

Thanks for the encouragement guys! I signed up with Lyft and things seem to be going much better. Tips keep me on my toes (I have been getting a lot of them!), being friendly to the passengers is much more fun, and I am finding it a lot more enjoyable than driving for Uber. 

I am also looking for a brick and mortar type job but Lyft is a great solution in the mean time. 

This is a great support group and I am glad I posted here, thanks again guys and gals!


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## jackstraww (Jan 20, 2015)

Robert121231 said:


> I can not believe you are asking me this. I have assumed that you didn't care about my opinion at all for the past 6 months.


some good suggestions- - and some good reasons to jump ship-


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## Casandria (Dec 20, 2014)

@Robert121231 I totally know how you feel and we're in the same boat right now. Kudos to you for telling them the truth. I doubt it will have much of an affect, but at least someone is telling it like it is. Lyft is much better and I wish there was a bigger market here for them. Welcome to the boards!


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## ARG28 (Mar 18, 2015)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That was fantastic.


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