# NYC Late Night Profit (Last 14 days)



## GhostDriver (Jun 26, 2014)

*Quick Thread with future edits coming...*

I'm a UBER BLACK, SUV, and starting yesterday July 7th, UBER X driver (Uber NYC just made this option available for UBER BLACK drivers since UBER X drivers were making more money than us, after 20% reduction in UBER X rates no less, but this issue is for another thread). This is my 4th week in the job and I have been working on a spreadsheet which I hope gives me all I need to know about approaching this business.

I work in the nightshift from 4PM-4AM, though, most days I have been getting out to work at Uber very late at night (6, 7, 8PM) due to school.

Here are my expenses per week so far:

*Fixed expenses:*

1) Rented Chevrolet Suburban LT 2013 12 hrs shifts: $350/ Week; *$50* a day.

*Variable Daily Expenses *
(All values are average. To this point, not enough data exist for final, concrete, amount):

1) Gas: *$45.34 *
2) Tolls: *$11.47*
3) Miscellaneous (This includes on the job food expenses, car wash, and transportation to and from the vehicle location): *$23.25*

Given these expenses, this is how my previous 14 days of *profit* look like, just on the revenue (fares) from *Uber, *with an average of 10 hrs of work each day*:
*









As shown in this graph, I have set a goal of making *$1,000 *of profit each week. In order for me to achieve this goal, I would have to have at least *$142.86 *in profit for each day, working every day in the week. The reddish line represents this goal.

The *blue line/shade* is the real *daily* *profit [Daily Uber fares payout - Total Expenses (fixed + variable)]. *

We could see that my daily goal was reached only in two occasions: Monday, June 23rd; and the ridiculously abnormal July 3rd-just when everyone and their mamas where heading for the exits outside of the city (I did a Hampton's trip this day, 100 miles away, $505 total fare Yeah baby!!!).

Now, it is obvious that I'm underperforming for the time dedicated and maybe one of the reasons for it is that many of those days I have missed on the 4-7PM rush-out-of work flood. Yet, This preliminary graph tells me that nighttimes are not the best of times for money making in NYC (though, more data is needed). Anyhow, if you are in this market, make sure your shift starts BEFORE 7pm because then you'll have a share of the busy time.

*THOUGH I WAS *afraid to do it during the first two weeks, if I were to reach my goal, I needed to hustle-and hustle I did. I was able to get some cash-jobs. Off the street, you say?! Nooo, of course not! we can't do that in NYC unless we have a Yellow OR Green license, right? Yes, that's right...

...bills, a family, and a dinner table teaches one to do what must be done, that and I was lucky to get referred to some guy who hands out jobs when other drivers bail.

This is how my graph looks after some *Non-Uber* jobs:









The Red bar represents the profit done on Non-Uber jobs/fares. The blue bars represent the profit from Uber. With the added revenue from the non-uber fares, I was able to achieve my goals 5 days out of 14. 
I will keep gathering data and working on my spreadsheet, so I could get a fuller picture. Once I'm done, I'm going to keep updating my figures and sharing more graphs with you.

I hope these graphs and analysis helps you gain some insight onto driving for Uber in NYC.


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## Nautilis (Apr 16, 2014)

Interesting info!

I'd only include Tolls in your variable expenses if they are un-reimbursed (maybe from your non-uber driving?), otherwise they are a wash. Food expenses are another expense that could be excluded from your calculations (unless you find that you are specifically spending more than you normally would on food due to driving)


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## uberx2015 (Jul 2, 2014)

if you are not booking at least 500 a day every day you are not even breaking even

so I guess the stories from ubersuv drivers / owners about them booking $700-1k a day, 5k a week is a GOD DAMN LIE !!!


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## AMBUDRIVER03 (Jul 1, 2014)

uberx2015 said:


> if you are not booking at least 500 a day every day you are not even breaking even
> 
> so I guess the stories from ubersuv drivers / owners about them booking $700-1k a day, 5k a week is a GOD DAMN LIE !!!


It depends on your market, It's possible to do that kind of booking if you have a lot of private clients, and or are in a busy uber market... Los Angeles seems to be the busiest (and possibly most lucrative) black market, but is the most difficult to get into, it has been locked to new entrants since I started ubering on X in December.

I have taken Uber Black a few times to talk to drivers, and it seems that most of them are renting the vehicle for $550-800/week, but it gives them access to the LA market. They could be lying to me, but they must be making enough money to pay the $800/week in rent and $500-1000/week in fuel....

*UBER BLACK is NOT FOR THE WEAK OF HEART, CONSTITUTION OR WALLET.

IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE.*


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## GhostDriver (Jun 26, 2014)

uberx2015 said:


> if you are not booking at least 500 a day every day you are not even breaking even
> 
> so I guess the stories from ubersuv drivers / owners about them booking $700-1k a day, 5k a week is a GOD DAMN LIE !!!


According to my preliminary figures, I would need exactly $195.58 in raw fares from Uber daily, working all 7 days in the week, just to break even.










Now, if a wanted to do $1,000 in profit, according to my modest expenses, I would need to make at least $410.00 in raw fares from uber each day, working all 7 days in the week.










They say that you could make "$5,000" and you really can. But then, we have to ask ourselves how much of that is really for us, after all operating expenses are paid and done. It is downright dishonest on their part to advertise this figure on the back of all nyc buses just to entice the masses down this rabbit hole.

Oh! There's this other thing. I know full well that out of those $1,000 a big chunk will have to go to Uncle Sam (taxes). I just haven't had the time to find out how much they will eat into my so-called profit.

However, I'm just a beginner still, and I haven't been starting at a decent time for my numbers to be a deciding factor yet. Once I get more data (probably another 4 weeks down the road) I will see how much of a good deal this is.

For the looks of it so far, this is a great business for Uber, and, for those who jump on it part time for the peak times during holidays like July 4th, Christmas, etc.


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## Bully (Jul 10, 2014)

Are you taking any UberX jobs? How much is your average payout every week?

Business is really slow at the moment. I book about $300-$400 a day but was averaging about $600-$700 during May. My lowest weekly payout is about $1450 and the average is about $1600 currently. 

I have a friend who showed me his partner's statements and his payout is at least 2k a week (during the summer). He said that during the winter, he gets $2.5k minimum and I believe him. I am new to Uber but I can't wait for the winter so I find out by myself. 

I know it's selfish but I really wish they stop hiring new drivers and lock the market like in L.A.


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## GhostDriver (Jun 26, 2014)

Nautilis said:


> Interesting info!
> 
> I'd only include Tolls in your variable expenses if they are un-reimbursed (maybe from your non-uber driving?), otherwise they are a wash. Food expenses are another expense that could be excluded from your calculations (unless you find that you are specifically spending more than you normally would on food due to driving)


Thank you @Nautilis for you reply and suggestions. At the beginning I had the food expenses all by itself, but I decided to include it all in the "Misc" category because the expense on it was very low, or non-existent some days (bringing house food with me, for example).

As for the tolls, like you said, most of them are paid back if the customer is from Uber; however, I created a field just for tolls because I have to replenish the vehicle's owner EZ-PASS account with amount spent on tolls each week. This makes it yet another cut out of my weekly payout. The final figure I'm trying to reach in "Profit" is the one I get after all operation-related costs are covered.

Unfortunately, too bad the IRS may not include the money spent on food as an expense.


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## GhostDriver (Jun 26, 2014)

uBerSUV_NYC said:


> Are you taking any UberX jobs? How much is your average payout every week?
> 
> Business is really slow at the moment. I book about $300-$400 a day but was averaging about $600-$700 during May. My lowest weekly payout is about $1450 and the average is about $1600 currently.
> 
> ...


Hello @uBerSUV_NYC and welcome to the Forum! The option to take UBER X jobs became available for UBER BLACK and SUV this past Monday, July 7th. The figure above do not include any UBER X rides. Yet, I have taken a total of 2 UBER X jobs and found it to be equal to plantation working, or like they say around here, the "$5 hustle."

For my first ride, I took a person from around 38th street and Madison Avenue all the way up to Washington Heights, 12 miles and half an hour away. The fare came out to be $31.00. The fare for such a job in UBER BLACK would be no less than $45. For my second ride, I drove a girl whose sugar daddy thought I would be intimidated by his loud mouth and angry face while requesting me to "make sure you drop her at home, you hear me?" attitude. I just don't put up with that shit, especially me who go out of my way to be the most kind and decent person I could be. The fare for this one was something like $8 or $10

Those two jobs made me see what UBER X is here in the city. I concluded that as a guy driving an SUV with 10MPG combined city and highway, I will have to break my back infinitely more in order to make any decent money, if any-and, plus, they had the gravitas of lowering the damn fare before they asked BLACK drivers to come in and slave up.

UBER X is not for those driving trucks like me. Moreover, when you drive BLACK there is this expectation of you to be little else than a ride from point A to point B (No disrespect to all great UBER X people in here). For example, most riders expect you to dress the part, be courteous, open the door, etc, etc. That shit cost money, and in no way UBER X pays for that kind of service.

So, imagine if us, driving BLACK and SUV, condition the riders to call us via UBER X, because, hey, its way cheaper, and the chances of getting this clean, luxurious, and souped-up ride just went up through the roof. Uh, no. Not me. **** Uber for doing this shit, and treating its drivers like damn slaves.

I rather wait to death and not get a fare than to work like a plantation worker-just to scrape by.

Oh, let me ask you something, do you own your SUV?


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## Bully (Jul 10, 2014)

I don't accept UberX either unless it's from the airport (better than going back to the city empty) It's pure garbage otherwise. The quality of riders is worst. I'm not a yellow cab. And yes I do own my car.


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## AMBUDRIVER03 (Jul 1, 2014)

GhostDriver said:


> Those two jobs made me see what UBER X is here in the city. I concluded that as a guy driving an SUV with 10MPG combined city and highway, I will have to break my back infinitely more in order to make any decent money, if any-and, plus, they had the gravitas of *lowering the damn fare before they asked BLACK drivers to come in and slave up.
> .. *.
> That shit cost money, and in *no way UBER X pays for that kind of service.*
> ...
> ...


Those are two of my main gripes with Uber.

1.) they are constantly changing the fee schedule (fares - commissions)
And
2.) conditioning the riders towards unfair expectations of their drivers.

I have stopped providing waters in LA since the commission went back to 20%.

Back when commission only cost me 10-20/day I could afford to give away $5-10 worth of bottled water per day. Once I had to start giving up 40-80 of my daily income to Uber, the free waters were the first to go.

Luckily diesel stays around the same price year round ±50 cents, less than the $1 swings between winter/summer here in SoCal.

I pay $4.00/gallon for diesel and gasoline is anywhere between $4-4.50 for premium.


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## Moofish (Jun 13, 2014)

What about taxes, are they considered part or the misc. expenses? or is it something that is planned to be negated with write-offs later?


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## LookyLou (Apr 28, 2014)

Moofish said:


> What about taxes, are they considered part or the misc. expenses? or is it something that is planned to be negated with write-offs later?


Water and anything else that you buy to provide to riders is tax deductible. Doesn't mean its free, but at least you will not pay taxes on the amount of those costs. It cuts the cost of those items by the % of the tax bracket you end up in.


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## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

LookyLou said:


> Water and anything else that you buy to provide to riders is tax deductible. Doesn't mean its free, but at least you will not pay taxes on the amount of those costs. It cuts the cost of those items by the % of the tax bracket you end up in.


All those magazine's you want to subscribe to, DVD's you want to watch in the car and have "available" for clients are NOW tax deductible for you


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## LookyLou (Apr 28, 2014)

Sydney Uber said:


> All those magazine's you want to subscribe to, DVD's you want to watch in the car and have "available" for clients are NOW tax deductible for you


Good point Sydney Uber.

Anything you really want but just can't bring yourself to buying for yourself? Just throw it in the car for a while and it should be tax deductible. Your riders might find it strange that you are hauling around that 70" Ultra HD TV while you are Ubering, but what the hell.


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## Moofish (Jun 13, 2014)

LookyLou said:


> Good point Sydney Uber.
> 
> Anything you really want but just can't bring yourself to buying for yourself? Just throw it in the car for a while and it should be tax deductible. Your riders might find it strange that you are hauling around that 70" Ultra HD TV while you are Ubering, but what the hell.


Lol, been looking to do a few upgrades to the car, maybe a fold down entertainment system. XD


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## GhostDriver (Jun 26, 2014)

Moofish said:


> What about taxes, are they considered part or the misc. expenses? or is it something that is planned to be negated with write-offs later?


The subject of taxes is twofold for us folks here in NYC. Here, we pay a whooping 12.375% in sale tax-just because we are black car service. Most other kind of transportation do not pay as a high a percentage of sales taxes (i.e. yellow and green taxis, and town cars).

In my figures I included such tax. This is reflected in the amount of revenue I have to make in order to achieve the amount I desire. What I don't still know is how much taxes I will have to pay at the end of the year, since our boy Uber Ceo does not wants to deal with proper tax deduction for us, his "partners".


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## MTBthePRO (Jan 9, 2016)

GhostDriver said:


> *Quick Thread with future edits coming...*
> 
> I'm a UBER BLACK, SUV, and starting yesterday July 7th, UBER X driver (Uber NYC just made this option available for UBER BLACK drivers since UBER X drivers were making more money than us, after 20% reduction in UBER X rates no less, but this issue is for another thread). This is my 4th week in the job and I have been working on a spreadsheet which I hope gives me all I need to know about approaching this business.
> 
> ...


Priceless data, well done. 
Let me ask you a few questions, how does one get an Suv for 350/week? Also is it worth switching from X to SUV/BLACK now(2016)? And finally what do you think is the future of uber NYC?


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