# Why drive full time? Statistics Poll. 2 easy questions for statistics Class



## ShelbyUberfied (Jul 28, 2017)

Hey there! My name is Shelby. This fall I am taking a 18hr college load. I am considering quitting my full time job of 16 yrs and working Uber for the flexible schedule that it can provide. Can you help me determine whether or not this is a good option for me financially? 

I am taking a poll for a statistics class and the result will quantify which is more lucrative working Uber full time or working Uber part time.
Q1. How many hours per week do you drive
Q2. What is your avg net (profit after expenses) per hour
Q3. Do you typically work Mon-Fri 8-5
Q4. Do you typically work weekends or surge hours

To complete the statistics requirements I need at least 30 respondents . I know it may be a pain but if you would please respond, I would really appreciate your consideration. And, who knows, it may be enlightening for you too, to analyze when you are making the most per hour profit. I have a hypothesis but do not want to list it, and I know the statistics Uber has released, but I do not want to list it for it may bias the random sampling.


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## Mamba24 (Feb 27, 2017)

1. Too much hours
2. Not enough
3. I usually start at night till morning.
4. My peanut making days with Uber are most def weekends and surge hours. I refuse to drive 1:1. At least, boosties or surges :/


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## UberProphet? (Dec 24, 2014)

Dear Shelby,

Congratulations on being in college! DO NOT QUIT YOUR 16 YEAR JOB!

In 90% of Uber markets, the rates do not allow you to make a profit, let alone a wage.

Bottom line: if you factor in a reasonable estimate of car cost {http://exchange.aaa.com/automotive/driving-costs/} and allow for 2 driving miles to get one paid mile, driving for uber/lyft is a flat out loser. Why 2 milesfor every paid mile? because in general you do big circles all day or nite long. Early in the evening you sit in the suburbs and take people to the bars and restaurants, and because no one is leaving yet, you return to the suburbs empty to get another fare. 1 mile paid to destination and 1 mile unpaid return. Later in the nite you will do the reverse. in the middle of the nite, you will get early leavers going home and get paid both ways for a trip or two, but this won't change your unpaid/paid ratio much. {my ratio is generally 1.7 to 1.85}

The other estimate number you need is paid miles per hour. The taxi industry (and you are a taxi) standard is 13 paid miles per hour. Most trips are done on surface streets (30 mph with stoplights). So to make $10/hour you need to make $.77 over your car cost per mile. To drive an econo box you need $.40 for the paid mile cost PLUS $.40 for the unpaid mile cost PLUS $.77 for your wage equals $1.57 per mile net to you over and above Uber/Lyft fees. Thus you need some combination of time and mileage that charges the customer at least $2.01 per mile. (per mile rate PLUS 2 times per minute rate to approximate total charges to customer rate.)

I am sure you get at least $10 per hour in your job of 16 years with little risk and some benefits. Stay there!


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## mr. mean gene (Jul 12, 2017)

Don't quit your day job if: 

- Your employer giving you benefits
- There is more security with your day job than Uber
- Risk of auto accident is higher than your day job. Unless your day job requires you to drive


To answer your Qs:

1. P/T...up to 25hrs
2. After expense (gas, food, water, insanity) $12+/-
3. and 4. Varies. Depends on my responsibilities. ...weekdays and weekends. Morning weekdays, rush hours, and weekend nights are best


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## ShelbyUberfied (Jul 28, 2017)

Mamba24 said:


> 1. Too much hours
> 2. Not enough
> 3. I usually start at night till morning.
> 4. My peanut making days with Uber are most def weekends and surge hours. I refuse to drive 1:1. At least, boosties or surges :/


Mamba, thank you for reading and replying to my post! I appreciate your feedback. It will help me with my class and my job decision.



mr. mean gene said:


> Don't quit your day job if:
> 
> - Your employer giving you benefits
> - There is more security with your day job than Uber
> ...


Mr Mean Gene. Thank you for your detailed answers! Those statistics are exactly what I need for my X Y data.

Your advise is sound. I appreciate your help and your experiences reply.



UberProphet? said:


> Dear Shelby,
> 
> Congratulations on being in college! DO NOT QUIT YOUR 16 YEAR JOB!
> 
> ...





UberProphet? said:


> Dear Shelby,
> 
> Congratulations on being in college! DO NOT QUIT YOUR 16 YEAR JOB!
> 
> ...


Prophet,
Thank you very much. Your statistically detailed response was very, very considerate. Super kewl of you answer as you did.

I do have a fabulous day job. I live/work in Texas and with an Associate of Science working as a utility coordinator I make @ $54K annual, 5 week vacation and my company is fabulous to work for. However my passion is Social Work and at my age in order to attain a Bachelor and start State work by age 50, I wish to go to school full time. I do not think I can stay at my job and take 32 hrs plus an internship while with my current employer. That is why I thought the flexible Uber schedule would work.

I quickly found, as you detailed, that there is not a sustainable profit for Uber Driver.

Thank you again for your post!! I am hoping to get another 27 responses so I can have a varying sample.

Shel


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

ShelbyUberfied said:


> Hey there! My name is Shelby. This fall I am taking a 18hr college load. I am considering quitting my full time job of 16 yrs and working Uber for the flexible schedule that it can provide. Can you help me determine whether or not this is a good option for me financially?


I find that it is too hard to do a full time job and also go to college for 18 credits! In fact, for me, I found that even working part time while doing 12 credits was too much. My grades suffered a lot from the inflexibility.

Do you NEED the pay to survive? If not, then quitting and doing college and Uber is probably a good way to go so you can focus on grades. If you DO rely on your pay, you probably should keep your job. Getting a new job may not be so easy once you graduate college, and you may find that you don't make enough on Uber to pay your way through.

On Uber you will be able to work on homework a little bit between pings maybe, which could be helpful. I wish I was able to do Uber when I was going to college.



> I am taking a poll for a statistics class and the result will quantify which is more lucrative working Uber full time or working Uber part time.
> Q1. How many hours per week do you drive
> Q2. What is your avg net (profit after expenses) per hour
> Q3. Do you typically work Mon-Fri 8-5
> ...


Q1. 20-50 hours usually, depending on the week. That's going by Uber's numbers on the Uber app. I have other side gigs that I do so that's why it varies so much. It's actually also somewhat hard to figure the true hours because I spend a lot of time with the app on not getting requests and I also spend a lot of time driving with the app off doing related things like returning lost items, driving to get gas, driving towards surge, etc, plus I run Lyft also. I usually run both apps at the same time but Uber is always off when actually doing a trip on Lyft, and sometimes I will just do Lyft for a while.
Q2. That's tough to say because expenses are hard to figure. I tend to average around $10-14 an hour (of Uber app on time and Uber pay+tips) before expenses (based on mileage spent). My best guess is that I make somewhere around $8.50 an hour after expenses, but my more conservative estimates that I use to determine how much money I can spend on non-car related expenses peg that number as closer to $6 per hour. I'm also not counting any hours spent with the app off doing things like fixing my car, vacuuming out the insides, cleaning spilled coffee etc.
Q3. Not at all. Those are the worst hours to work. I try to avoid those hours. Hardly anyone needs a ride during those times because everyone is at work or school. I pretty much spend midnight to 10 AM in my car most days a week but some of those hours are spent napping... probably at least 3 hours every night in my car, sometimes with the app on, sometimes off, and then sometimes I spend a lot of time at home with the app on too and do random trips during the day. Fun fact: I gave away my bed on craigslist to make room for non-perishable food items!
Q4. Sometimes. You're probably more likely to find me driving on Tuesday at 3AM though than Friday at 1 AM. Simply because my other sidegigs tend to be on weekends.


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## ShelbyUberfied (Jul 28, 2017)

Thank you Trafficat. I appreciate your stats. I'm glad to incorporate them into my project. 

I have savings and loans in place to cover my school and living expenses. I'm looking to supplement my income for entertainment, family obligations and unexpected costs. After a few 10 minute drives to pick up a $2.88 fare, I may consider bar tending/waitressing. Something like that. I'm getting a lot of useful feedback from This survey. 

The next year will b demanding but I'm ready and excited (as long as I can pass this stats class lol).


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

Mon-friday 10:00 am to 3:30 PM is the WORST POSSIBLE TIME TO WORK

Bartending or waitress would probably be a better idea.
(HOWEVER)

In my check of the minimum wage list,

The min wage for a tipped employee in texas is $2.13 per hour (however your employer must ensure you make at least $7.25 per hour)

so as much fun as tipped job are, as much as $5.00 per hour in tips *could* be going into min wage and your taxes.

Now that i throw that out as a possiblitly,

*in general* i would recommend doing *ANYTHING* besides uber. A decently busy restaraunt or bar *could* vastly outstrip what you can make ubering.

Due to your gender i recommend reading this

https://uberpeople.net/threads/what-can-happen-on-a-thursday-night.187310/


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## Frustrated!!!! (Jul 7, 2017)

Best suggestion is take comments of drivers in Your area and not from drivers in other states that can only make minimum wage. Also drive for both lyft and uber the same time. In Maryland I make 20 a hour with no problem. And that doesn't include the morning surge at 6am. In closing don't base your decision on drivers that drive for peanuts in markets where rideshare is trash


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## TonyG (Nov 3, 2015)

1. 20 hrs
2. $20 net/he
3. No
4. Yes


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## MHR (Jul 23, 2017)

ShelbyUberfied said:


> Hey there! My name is Shelby. This fall I am taking a 18hr college load. I am considering quitting my full time job of 16 yrs and working Uber for the flexible schedule that it can provide. Can you help me determine whether or not this is a good option for me financially?
> 
> I am taking a poll for a statistics class and the result will quantify which is more lucrative working Uber full time or working Uber part time.
> Q1. How many hours per week do you drive
> ...


Sign up, drive a few trips and you'll answer your own questions very quickly.

I drive in Texas, mileage rate is 72 cents, waiting time is 7.5 cents a minute. In my area.

Weekends unless I'm going somewhere during week.
Drove 4.25 hours today grossed $125. That was running both Uber and Lyft apps and includes my tips, in app and cash.

Haven't put the pen to notebook to figure our actual profit this weekend. Still have to figure out cost of fuel and all that crud.


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## CODenver26 (Jan 3, 2016)

Don't quit your job, for real. Only do Uber on Weekends or during the surge. Not worth it to put your car through wear and tear. I only work a few hours on Saturday night.


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

Frustrated!!!! said:


> Best suggestion is take comments of drivers in Your area and not from drivers in other states that can only make minimum wage. Also drive for both lyft and uber the same time. In Maryland I make 20 a hour with no problem. And that doesn't include the morning surge at 6am. In closing don't base your decision on drivers that drive for peanuts in markets where rideshare is trash


ya know thats a good point, but it's not the ridership or poor demand killing it in orlando, it's the pitiful rates.


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## ShelbyUberfied (Jul 28, 2017)

Thank you to everyone whom responded to my poll. Especially all of those who encouraged me to keep my day job. I appreciate your feed=-back. 

Thus far nights and surge is the most popular time to drive and $16 per hour is the average net pay. 

I needed 30 participants for my statistics project and I only received 9 comments. So if you are out there and you know the avg number of hours your drive weekly, your avg net pay and whether you mostly drive traditional day shift mon-fri 8-5 or untraditional hours (nights and surges). I could really use your numbers!

Thank you, 
Shelby


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

The data these guys are providing is accurate. Really the per mile rates need to be doubled from where they are now, or at least 1.6x

I am on the side of quitting day job if it will be too demanding and inflexible. It all depends on how much money you need a month. Working 8-10 hours a week you should be able to easily gross 800 per month. If that isn't enough and if you need just a little more do like 12-14 a week. That should bring you to 1000 a month. Gas cost is going to be your most immediate expense per week. Figure 200 miles per 10 hours roughly, average about 40 miles per hour speed at worst 20mpg. 2 gallons per hour is about $5 per hour hard cost, or about 50 per week, better if your car gets 30+mpg. It's actually a little better than this because you won't always be averaging 40mph drive speed. Some of that might be sitting waiting at 0. If it is hot you will want to run A/C probably. 

So 800-1000 a month without someone telling you when to work. It really is just up to $$ needed vs how flexible your work schedule is with current job.


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## ShelbyUberfied (Jul 28, 2017)

Thank you jfinks,

I can tell you've really analyzed your net. Uber published that @51% of their drivers work 15 hrs or less per week. I am sure that, that is due to people only driving peak hours. So for my statistic study I was trying to find out if it would be profitable to work Uber full time. 

My experience working nights and surges I make @$14 per hour net and Mon-Fri form 8-5 I actually only make about $5 per hour. 

My survey and poll statistic results thus far indicate:
driving less than 15 hours per week nets @19 per hour
driving more than 15 hours per week nets @$13 per hour

The statistics confirm my hypothesis. But, my statistics are biased because my survey and poll data has been non-responsive, the way the questions are written haven't yielded very good data and also these amounts do not have a metric that considers cost of driving\living in the different response zones.

Although what I was needing is the statistical data, I have really appreciated the feed back about regarding giving up my job. The survey\poll is about at 70/30 keep my job .


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Problem is there are so many variables. Different times of year, whether schools are in semester, weather, time of day, day of week, many more... Some drivers are better at "working" things in their favor too.  Knowing city and what surges where helps a lot. 

Driving uber is never "lucrative". It is exchange miles on your car for cash. Driving Uber full time is dumb if you have other options. If no other options then go for it, will at least keep you from starving.


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## emdeplam (Jan 13, 2017)

ShelbyUberfied said:


> Thank you jfinks,
> 
> I can tell you've really analyzed your net. Uber published that @51% of their drivers work 15 hrs or less per week. I am sure that, that is due to people only driving peak hours. So for my statistic study I was trying to find out if it would be profitable to work Uber full time.
> 
> ...


do not give up Uber....It sounds like your skills with stats are an issue


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## IMMA DRIVER (Jul 6, 2017)

Shelby,
As a full timer, I can tell you that sometimes hourly rate means absolutely nothing. At other jobs you get paid the same amount each hour.
But when you work full time you may avg $18-$20/hour M-TH. Then on Friday you land 2 trips that net you $150/hr. This drastically scews the numbers. 
Most full timers may give you their hourly rate and discourage you...but most of us FTs understand that the more we're able to grind the better chances of landing trips that can make $200/hr. Some full timers have all day, every day so hourly rates doesn't really apply or matter.

Just my $02


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## UberBastid (Oct 1, 2016)

Economics major here.
Be careful what you ask, make sure that the listener has the same definitions that you do.
Part of your question includes the term "profit".
Have you looked up the definition of profit?
Do you think everyone here has the same concept of what profit is as you?

Example:
I had a poll taker ask me once; "Do you think this is a good time to buy a refrigerator?"
I said, "If the one you have isn't keeping your food cool, then, yes, its a good time to buy a fridge."
She thanked me and made a note.
Now, my response was included in with a thousand others who were asked that same question. Their conclusion would be that "33% of the respondents said they were going to be buying durable goods soon." When, that's not what I said. And some company somewhere would base an important decision on my answer.


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

Another issue...

Someone could make $150 in 10 hours in seattle, with 100 miles driven
VS

someone makes $150 in 18 hours in Orlando, with 300 miles driven

The "profit" difference is astronomical.

at .30 per mile in costs the driver in Seattle made $120 in 10 hours, (or $12.00 an hour)

While the guy in Orlando made $60 in profit in 18 hours. (or $3.33 an hour)

You have to include the number of miles they drove in addition to how much they made in hour many hours.

Yes the differences are that extreme.


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