# my first night and my first disappointing morning



## GeoffreyCoffee (Nov 12, 2014)

I drove las night for the first time. it was fun, all of the riders were actually decent human beings.

but heres the part that you already know is coming.

after 8 hours of driving all over this ****ing traffic ridden town I came home and crashed. this morning I decided to check my earnings for the night.

after all of my expenses I profited 120 dollars for 8 hours of driving. I drive in LA, I was busy non stop all night with back to back rides. the problem is that they are all such far rides, downtown to the valley, the valley to hollywood, hollywood to downtown.

those seem like they would all be good fairs but not one of them cost more than 6 to 11 bucks. I had 17 trips last night.


not complaining, not upset just can't imagine what it would be like trying to making a living off of this in LA


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

$15 an hour, that's what most chauffeurs are making these days.

Advantages: with Uber you get to set your own hours.

Disadvantages: With Uber you get to pay for the $600 brake job.

Pros and cons. At least you had a good time. That will wear off eventually.


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## Worcester Sauce (Aug 20, 2014)

GeoffreyCoffee said:


> I drove las night for the first time. it was fun, all of the riders were actually decent human beings.
> 
> but heres the part that you already know is coming.
> 
> ...


I hate to break it to you......but you did NOT make $120 in profit. Think about it.


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## Elite Uber Driver (Nov 15, 2014)

Worcester Sauce said:


> I hate to break it to you......but you did NOT make $120 in profit. Think about it.


Maybe he did. Depends on if he calculated his expenses accurately. Without the details we don't know what he profited.


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## UberLuxbod (Sep 2, 2014)

Worcester Sauce said:


> I hate to break it to you......but you did NOT make $120 in profit. Think about it.


Did you read his post?

He said after expenses.


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## ElectroFuzz (Jun 10, 2014)

UberLuxbod said:


> Did you read his post?
> 
> He said after expenses.


90% of Uber drivers do not 
know/understand their true expenses.


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## UberLuxbod (Sep 2, 2014)

And you assume that this poster doesn't then?

Nice


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## GeoffreyCoffee (Nov 12, 2014)

Worcester Sauce said:


> I hate to break it to you......but you did NOT make $120 in profit. Think about it.


I understand exactly what Ive spent and will spend in the future to cover this one evening. I made a profit of 120 dollars as I stated in my post.

can you not read? do you skim thru text? does your mind take you somewhere else before you've finished a paragraph!? I think that might be a diagnosable disorder.


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## PingPong (Oct 13, 2014)

I remember seeing your post about getting activated and stating you would be starting soon. I am sure you've seen the negative post but wanted to experience it on your own, as I have. Top issue for me is wear and tear. But the fact that there is constantly strangers in my car who do not appreciate the service I give them, let alone that i'm using my personal car bugs me. The ceiling in my car is grey I looked at it the other day and yup someone put there dirty hands on it or else it could be some residual hair dye from some ******.


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## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

GeoffreyCoffee said:


> I drove las night for the first time. it was fun, all of the riders were actually decent human beings.
> 
> but heres the part that you already know is coming.
> 
> ...


The silent killer expense is depreciation and wear & tear.

Every scuff mark, drag mark, door slam, pothole etc has an effect that is not noticed until in 2-3 years time you put your car up beside a same age vehicle then drive them both.

On the way their a major component failure or ECU failure can blow all "profit" for the prior 2-4 months. When margins are so small, it makes the inevitable bills that much harder to get over


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

GeoffreyCoffee said:


> I drove las night for the first time. it was fun, all of the riders were actually decent human beings.
> 
> but heres the part that you already know is coming.
> 
> ...


Welcome to Uber reality 101! And you made that profit in a busy period as well. Yeah, that's pretty much it. And you can tell people repeatedly but they don't and won't believe it til they screw themselves into the ground for awhile. Sometimes a good long while. But eventually it sinks in, that it's a huge waste of time.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Sydney Uber said:


> The silent killer expense is depreciation and wear & tear.
> 
> Every scuff mark, drag mark, door slam, pothole etc has an effect that is not noticed until in 2-3 years time you put your car up beside a same age vehicle then drive them both.
> 
> On the way their a major component failure or ECU failure can blow all "profit" for the prior 2-4 months. When margins are so small, it makes the inevitable bills that much harder to get over


And it's not always the repairs themselves that are a *****. It's the downtime. To make a full time gig you HAVE to punch the hours perpetually. Losing a day or two just kills the week. I hate having to miss a Fri. or Sat. nite for a social event. They are the only make up days for the shit for pay after a long week of marginal margins.


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## Worcester Sauce (Aug 20, 2014)

UberLuxbod said:


> Did you read his post?
> 
> He said after expenses.





GeoffreyCoffee said:


> I understand exactly what Ive spent and will spend in the future to cover this one evening. I made a profit of 120 dollars as I stated in my post.
> 
> can you not read? do you skim thru text? does your mind take you somewhere else before you've finished a paragraph!? I think that might be a diagnosable disorder.


Geoffrey, my boy...try and calm down. Everything will be alright. Put a paper bag over your head and breathe slowly....


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## pUBERty SUCKS (Nov 2, 2014)




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## Lou W (Oct 26, 2014)

So after a couple of weeks on this site it seems most comments are negative, you'll never make any money, it's a hopeless 50¢/mile situation if only you weren't so stupid you'd realize it and turn off the app, etc. Yet it looks like all the nay Sayers continue to uber on. Whaz up wid dat?


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## ElectroFuzz (Jun 10, 2014)

Lou W said:


> So after a couple of weeks on this site it seems most comments are negative, you'll never make any money, it's a hopeless 50¢/mile situation if only you weren't so stupid you'd realize it and turn off the app, etc. Yet it looks like all the nay Sayers continue to uber on. Whaz up wid dat?


Bad economy, no alternatives.
If the economy was booming like in 2007
none of us would be here.


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## Dany (Oct 30, 2014)

There is easy alternative just turned off ur uber phone & wait for surge 
That's how u help ur self & other drivers


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## shayyy (Nov 18, 2014)

that LA life, I'm thinking of starting uber in LA too. You're making me not want to


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## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

Lou W said:


> So after a couple of weeks on this site it seems most comments are negative, you'll never make any money, it's a hopeless 50¢/mile situation if only you weren't so stupid you'd realize it and turn off the app, etc. Yet it looks like all the nay Sayers continue to uber on. Whaz up wid dat?


Hi Lou, good question you pose at the end.

I guess its partly due to many early X drivers watching their average takings fall, whilst some of the inevitable high-mileage issues finally rear their ugly heads.

Its a little different for me in the Black fleet. Watching my weekend take over 12 months go from $1200-$1500 to $200-$300. That may not be fair comparison as once I saw UBER numbers heading south I revisited my core private business and farmed that harder, so I'm spending less time logged on UBER. But it started getting heartbreaking waiting well over an hour for a ping that would then cancel.

Uber is still great at filling gaps at times. Did a 2.8x surge job the other day, took 40 mins for $248.00 (less 20% comm & 10% GST tax)


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Lou W said:


> So after a couple of weeks on this site it seems most comments are negative, you'll never make any money, it's a hopeless 50¢/mile situation if only you weren't so stupid you'd realize it and turn off the app, etc. Yet it looks like all the nay Sayers continue to uber on. Whaz up wid dat?


*Every driver in the room knows full well we only stick around for surge pricing.*

Were it not for that Uber could put this gig where the sun don't shine.


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## Lou W (Oct 26, 2014)

Wish I had your crystal ball, the surges in Orlando come and go random like.


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## LastGenerationHumanDriver (Oct 18, 2014)

I'm still here because I do 90+% of my driving during peak times when either surge or extremely high utilization % are in play, or both.

If it weren't for that, I wouldn't be doing it. I don't think that Uber with current pricing is a fair or reasonable deal for drivers during most hours, and Im in their home market of SF Bay Area.

If you pick and choose the right hours, it can still be worth it, but the trend is a fairly quick decline, and I think a lot of us are aware of that. So we keep doing it, but we know the party is coming to an end quick.


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