# How far is too far?



## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

Just got a ping with a pick location 19 minutes away. Yeah...right!
*Cancel.*
What's your threshhold?


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## XLEX (Feb 18, 2015)

Depends if there is a surge or not.


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## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

My average fare here is $8. At non-surge rates that's 4.85 miles of billable miles. At less than 50% billable to total miles, the profitability on a trip goes down the tank at these rates. So to never go below 50%, 4.85 miles is as far as I will drive to a pickup location for what I believe is a non-surge average fare.

Also, if it turns out to be a cancel, about $1.60 of the $4 I get from a cancel covers my 4.85 miles getting there, and the $2.40 left over covers the 10 minutes driving those miles took, plus the 5 minutes waiting for the cancel. So that's $2.40 for 15 minutes of my time, or $9.60 an hour. Add more miles and more time and even cancels produce less than minimum wage.

If the area pinging is likely to be higher than average fare, then I would consider going a little farther. But again, the chance of cancel still exists, so even areas with higher average fares are a risk.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

Not to me. 19 minutes is just too far, statistically speaking. The data do not support ever driving for a half hour to a pickup. The odds of earning a profit are very low.


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## XLEX (Feb 18, 2015)

I only drive select, just for that reason. I've had quite a few triple digit rides that were 15-20 away. Tuesday night I had a hit from a strip club on the south part of town with a 2.0x surge. Turns out she was going all the way to the north side of town. Came out to $90 for about 15 min each way.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

UberHammer said:


> My average fare here is $8. At non-surge rates that's 4.85 miles of billable miles. At less than 50% billable to total miles, the profitability on a trip goes down the tank at these rates. So to never go below 50%, 4.85 miles is as far as I will drive to a pickup location for what I believe is a non-surge average fare.
> 
> Also, if it turns out to be a cancel, about $1.60 of the $4 I get from a cancel covers my 4.85 miles getting there, and the $2.40 left over covers the 10 minutes driving those miles took, plus the 5 minutes waiting for the cancel. So that's $2.40 for 15 minutes of my time, or $9.60 an hour. Add more miles and more time and even cancels produce less than minimum wage.
> 
> If the area pinging is likely to be higher than average fare, then I would consider going a little farther. But again, the chance of cancel still exists, so even areas with higher average fares are a risk.


Driving almost 5 miles to a rider would not work for me. Unless it's straight on and off the freeway here (houston) my experience is that most riders will cancel. And I honestly couldn't make any money driving that far for $8. It's not just the mileage it's the time involved. If I get any trips over 1 mile I call the customer to let them know where I am and get an idea of if they will wait. But then unless it's surging I don't take trips unless I'm working a guarantee. Then I take anything but still call IF I don't have minimum # of rides.

Maybe folks are less impatient in your town?

Obviously some exceptions. I'll take non surge from a few miles away to get me towards houston from where I live. That way I'm paid to go where I'm going anyway. But I do call and ask destination. In true rideshare fashion I tell them I'm heading toward houston and can only take rides that direction. I have so far not had anyone get upset.

If anyone ever complains to uber I'll just claim total ignorance of that not being ok.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

XLEX said:


> I only drive select, just for that reason. I've had quite a few triple digit rides that were 15-20 away. Tuesday night I had a hit from a strip club on the south part of town with a 2.0x surge. Turns out she was going all the way to the north side of town. Came out to $90 for about 15 min each way.


So let me ask you a question, select is new here so I'm trying to figure it out. Have you gotten any bad ratings that seemed uncalled for? i.e. a pax ordered select accidentally and was pissed when they got the receipt.

15 min. is my limit, I'll do 15 minutes to the airport because I know I'm going to get a winner 98% of the time, more like 10 or 12 minutes around town since a minimum fare on select is only going to net me 6.80


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

XLEX said:


> View attachment 5872
> I only drive select, just for that reason. I've had quite a few triple digit rides that were 15-20 away. Tuesday night I had a hit from a strip club on the south part of town with a 2.0x surge. Turns out she was going all the way to the north side of town. Came out to $90 for about 15 min each way.


We're discussing X here. But good on ya for that fare. Statistically speaking, an X driver should NEVER drive 19 minutes to a pickup.


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## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> Driving almost 5 miles to a rider would not work for me. Unless it's straight on and off the freeway here (houston) my experience is that most riders will cancel.


I hear a lot of people here at UP.net complain about customers cancelling in route. I'm not saying I don't believe them, but I can only recall two times that it ever happened to me. I drive a 2013 Acura TL, so maybe it has something to do with the kind of car they've been matched with. I don't really know. I'm just speculating. But again, I very rarely ever get cancelled on.


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## Lidman (Nov 13, 2014)

Desert Driver said:


> Just got a ping with a pick location 19 minutes away. Yeah...right!
> *Cancel.*
> What's your threshhold?


 five minutes


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## XLEX (Feb 18, 2015)

Disgusted Driver said:


> So let me ask you a question, select is new here so I'm trying to figure it out. Have you gotten any bad ratings that seemed uncalled for? i.e. a pax ordered select accidentally and was pissed when they got the receipt.
> 
> 15 min. is my limit, I'll do 15 minutes to the airport because I know I'm going to get a winner 98% of the time, more like 10 or 12 minutes around town since a minimum fare on select is only going to net me 6.80


Yeah I actually have. Out of all my trips I've only gotten a hand full that were not 5 star, most of those were people who were upset with the fare. Either they did not realize they chose select, never had to ride during a surge, or were first time riders. I need to add that to the information I provide on the back of the headrest"UBER DECIDES ALL PRICING!" I've had a few pax call me afterwords asking me why I charged them so much.

I'm a little over 200 rides in with a 4.75 and I've talked to my operations manager a few times and she said not to worry about it since it's a rare occurance. She said deactivation is not even something that I should be remotely worried about.

I actually just got an email saying they are raising rates so hopefully it's it just .10.


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## Western Warrior (Jan 20, 2015)

At the current slave labor rates, 19 min dead miles doesn't cut it. My limit is 5 min for X and 8 min for XL. If I'm in a slow area, will extend it a couple min but will always call pax and to get word that the numbnuts doesn't cancel on me. If its a short ride, it will be a money looser for sure.


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## Oc_DriverX (Apr 29, 2014)

If there is no guarantee or surge, then I hesitate taking anything in the double digits.


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## XLEX (Feb 18, 2015)

Keep in mind, I will drive most the night and then go offline between 1am-1:15am and go back online once all other drivers are taken up by 1:30 there's usually a nice surge with a fat ride at the end of it. I've had high 100s and even 200s doing this. That's what works for me though, I'm sure it's different for every market.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

XLEX said:


> Keep in mind, I will drive most the night and then go offline between 1am-1:15am and go back online once all other drivers are taken up by 1:30 there's usually a nice surge with a fat ride at the end of it. I've had high 100s and even 200s doing this. That's what works for me though, I'm sure it's different for every market.


Do bars close at 2am where you are?


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## XLEX (Feb 18, 2015)

Yes. Always get a good surge at last call.


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## Mrpushpop (Feb 3, 2015)

Depends on the area. No way in hell I'm driving more than 6 minutes for a downtown pickup because those people are just bar hopping or headed back to their home close by. Now I will sometimes do a 10 minute pickup 30 minutes north of the city because a good chunk of those rides are coming back into the city or even better, Kentucky or Indiana. The only time I would take ride that far is if someone fked me already and dropped me in a dead zone and I have to drive back to civilization and its on the way anyway. On the plus side those middle of nowhere rides pay well getting there.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

UberHammer said:


> I hear a lot of people here at UP.net complain about customers cancelling in route. I'm not saying I don't believe them, but I can only recall two times that it ever happened to me. I drive a 2013 Acura TL, so maybe it has something to do with the kind of car they've been matched with. I don't really know. I'm just speculating. But again, I very rarely ever get cancelled on.


I had two cancels today. But it was OK because I was half thinking about canceling anyway because I didn't want to go to that side of town.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

XLEX said:


> View attachment 5877
> 
> 
> Yeah I actually have. Out of all my trips I've only gotten a hand full that were not 5 star, most of those were people who were upset with the fare. Either they did not realize they chose select, never had to ride during a surge, or were first time riders. I need to add that to the information I provide on the back of the headrest"UBER DECIDES ALL PRICING!" I've had a few pax call me afterwords asking me why I charged them so much.
> ...


I'm well over 2000 rides and was running 4.85, last 3 weeks I got hammered by surprised riders who accidentally selected select so my rating fell below the 4.6 for the last 100 rides so I got the deactivation notice. You are probably in smaller driver market than I am, they have plenty of drivers here now so they could care less, if I don't get my average over 4.6 for the next 50 rides they pull the plug on me. I'm about 25 rides in with a 5.0 average so I'll probably be fine but I feel like a valued partner, ... NOT!

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the conversation about select. When I was driving X, 8 minutes, roughly 2 miles here, was about my limit unless it was megasurge.


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## Bob Smith (Jan 11, 2015)

i was in pjs and i rejected a 5 min ping last night


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## PTB (Feb 3, 2015)

19 minutes away?? ....what does it say when you type the same address into GOOGLE MAPS.
Uber navigation time estimate is NOT even close to accurate.
every time I retype into GOOGLE MAPS the time estimate is much lower...


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## XLEX (Feb 18, 2015)

Desert Driver said:


> I had two cancels today. But it was OK because I was half thinking about canceling anyway because I didn't want to go to that side of town.


 i get at least one cancel every day. I don't think its based on the car because I'm in a 14' Lexus GS. I assume its mostly distance/time or they accidentally chose select.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

Disgusted Driver said:


> I'm well over 2000 rides and was running 4.85, last 3 weeks I got hammered by surprised riders who accidentally selected select so my rating fell below the 4.6 for the last 100 rides so I got the deactivation notice. You are probably in smaller driver market than I am, they have plenty of drivers here now so they could care less, if I don't get my average over 4.6 for the next 50 rides they pull the plug on me. I'm about 25 rides in with a 5.0 average so I'll probably be fine but I feel like a valued partner, ... NOT!
> 
> Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the conversation about select. When I was driving X, 8 minutes, roughly 2 miles here, was about my limit unless it was megasurge.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

And what I find so truly sad about your comment is that you're trying desperately to earn you rating back in a known-flawed, statistically invalid rating system. I have explained the flaws to Uber several times and I have offered to consult to help them repair the useless system but they have explained that they're happy with the invalid data they use to rate drivers. It's like they have no clue about the difference between an interval scale and an ordinal scale.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

XLEX said:


> i get at least one cancel every day. I don't think its based on the car because I'm in a 14' Lexus GS. I assume its mostly distance/time or they accidentally chose select.


I just attribute it to paxs are ******bags. That's probably the most value assessment, we will agree.


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## Ubermanpt (Dec 23, 2014)

Not to change course but has anyone ever told a pax they couldn't take them to their destination because it was too far? I had a pax the other day who lived about 40 minutes away where would never get a ride back. I took it, luckily it was over 2x surge. The trip was highway miles and ended up being over $80. And the best part was it was kinda of in a circle so only took me about 25 minutes to go home. So after fees I made over $60 for about an hour which was great with the better gas mileage. Another time though , a pax called after I accepted and told me his destination which was about an hour away, again with no chance of a return fare. He asked if it was okay. I told him it was too far but thanked him for letting me know. The fare would have been a little over $80 with me getting around $50 for 2 hours (higher commission for xl) which is average and I didn't want to be out so late. Just curious if anyone has told a pax they couldn't do?


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

Ubermanpt said:


> Not to change course but has anyone ever told a pax they couldn't take them to their destination because it was too far? I had a pax the other day who lived about 40 minutes away where would never get a ride back. I took it, luckily it was over 2x surge. The trip was highway miles and ended up being over $80. And the best part was it was kinda of in a circle so only took me about 25 minutes to go home. So after fees I made over $60 for about an hour which was great with the better gas mileage. Another time though , a pax called after I accepted and told me his destination which was about an hour away, again with no chance of a return fare. He asked if it was okay. I told him it was too far but thanked him for letting me know. The fare would have been a little over $80 with me getting around $50 for 2 hours (higher commission for xl) which is average and I didn't want to be out so late. Just curious if anyone has told a pax they couldn't do?


Hell yes! I've told paxs I'm not willing to go to their destination. If the destination is an area I don't like or will result in dead miles on the return, I tell the pax I'm not interested. The good news is there's always another shmuck driver just down the road who doesn't know better.


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## CityGirl (Nov 29, 2014)

UberHammer said:


> I hear a lot of people here at UP.net complain about customers cancelling in route. I'm not saying I don't believe them, but I can only recall two times that it ever happened to me. I drive a 2013 Acura TL, so maybe it has something to do with the kind of car they've been matched with. I don't really know. I'm just speculating. But again, I very rarely ever get cancelled on.


Happens a lot. Maybe 1 out of 20. It's annoying as hell. Once I called the pax to tell her I have to turn around to come back to her and it would be a few minutes because there was traffic. She said okay. I exited the freeway, got back on to the point I could not do anything but sit in traffic until her exit and then...cancel. So yes, I called her back and *****ed at her, which I never would have done otherwise. She basically lured me into a position to be stuck in traffic out of my way for her, when she had no intention of waiting. That's really underhanded. I was so pissed I went off the app for the rest of the day.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

Ubermanpt said:


> Not to change course but has anyone ever told a pax they couldn't take them to their destination because it was too far? I had a pax the other day who lived about 40 minutes away where would never get a ride back. I took it, luckily it was over 2x surge. The trip was highway miles and ended up being over $80. And the best part was it was kinda of in a circle so only took me about 25 minutes to go home. So after fees I made over $60 for about an hour which was great with the better gas mileage. Another time though , a pax called after I accepted and told me his destination which was about an hour away, again with no chance of a return fare. He asked if it was okay. I told him it was too far but thanked him for letting me know. The fare would have been a little over $80 with me getting around $50 for 2 hours (higher commission for xl) which is average and I didn't want to be out so late. Just curious if anyone has told a pax they couldn't do?


Hell yes! I've told paxs I'm not willing to go to their destination. If the destination is an area I don't like or will result in dead miles on the return, I tell the pax I'm not interested. The good news is there's always another shmuck driver just down the road who doesn't know better.


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## Kalee (Feb 18, 2015)

The longest fare I've had was about 150 miles one way with no chance of a return fare. Total fare was about $215.

I would not even THINK about doing that at today's X rates.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

CityGirl said:


> Happens a lot. Maybe 1 out of 20. It's annoying as hell. Once I called the pax to tell her I have to turn around to come back to her and it would be a few minutes because there was traffic. She said okay. I exited the freeway, got back on to the point I could not do anything but sit in traffic until her exit and then...cancel. So yes, I called her back and *****ed at her, which I never would have done otherwise. She basically lured me into a position to be stuck in traffic out of my way for her, when she had no intention of waiting. That's really underhanded. I was so pissed I went off the app for the rest of the day.


That is the VERY reason that I will not accept a ping behind me. Impatient ******bag paxs don't deserve my services.


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## CityGirl (Nov 29, 2014)

@Desert Driver , I definitely always check now. I know we are not supposed to ask destination, so I make like I am just calling to inform them that, though it will look like I'm driving away, I actually am turning around, which will take a few minutes, and are they going to be concerned about missing a flight? They usually tell me at that point whether or not they are going to the airport or where. And then I can decide if I really do want to turn around or advise them to cancel and re-request for a closer driver.


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## getFubered (Feb 18, 2015)

UberHammer said:


> My average fare here is $8. At non-surge rates that's 4.85 miles of billable miles. At less than 50% billable to total miles, the profitability on a trip goes down the tank at these rates. So to never go below 50%, 4.85 miles is as far as I will drive to a pickup location for what I believe is a non-surge average fare.
> 
> Also, if it turns out to be a cancel, about $1.60 of the $4 I get from a cancel covers my 4.85 miles getting there, and the $2.40 left over covers the 10 minutes driving those miles took, plus the 5 minutes waiting for the cancel. So that's $2.40 for 15 minutes of my time, or $9.60 an hour. Add more miles and more time and even cancels produce less than minimum wage.
> 
> If the area pinging is likely to be higher than average fare, then I would consider going a little farther. But again, the chance of cancel still exists, so even areas with higher average fares are a risk.


How many Select rides are you getting? Do they tip more than X pax?


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

CityGirl said:


> @Desert Driver , I definitely always check now. I know we are not supposed to ask destination, so I make like I am just calling to inform them that, though it will look like I'm driving away, I actually am turning around, which will take a few minutes, and are they going to be concerned about missing a flight? They usually tell me at that point whether or not they are going to the airport or where. And then I can decide if I really do want to turn around or advise them to cancel and re-request for a closer driver.


Well played!


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## Western Warrior (Jan 20, 2015)

Desert Driver said:


> That is the VERY reason that I will not accept a ping behind me. Impatient ******bag paxs don't deserve my services.


Last night I got a ride way out in East Bum****. Deadheading back on the highway and kept my app on hoping to get a ride back. Got several pings and for all I just missed the correct offramp. Original 3-5 min pickup turned into 8-10 min for each and all were $4.00 rides.


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## XLEX (Feb 18, 2015)

getFubered said:


> How many Select rides are you getting? Do they tip more than X pax?


I don't even drive X at all. I do about 40-50 rides thurs-sunday. average between 30-40 a ride.


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## Casandria (Dec 20, 2014)

My experience is that Select does not tip more than X, but the higher rates make it worth driving. Only way I take X calls anymore is if it's slow and they're less than 5 minutes away.


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## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

Tonight I just started backing into my garage and got a ping 11 minutes away (but in an affluent neighborhood) ... so I sent him a text message to verify the address (Uber app's been buggy in ATX with SXSW lately) ... and headed out to p/u pax. Good thing I texted pax to verify address, Uber had the p/u more than 1 mile away. In either case, pax was only going a few miles down the road to p/u his car at some restaurant ... when we got to the destination he asked what the fare was (showed $13 on my phone) pax remarked "oh, that's not fair" ... and handed me a $20 *the perks of driving Select; had this been an X rider he would have been complaining that the fare was too high

I only drive Select; and normally won't take a ping more than 7 mins away, unless it's in an affluent neighborhood. I have driven 17 minutes for a trip once (affluent neighborhood) ... riders were going across town to another affluent neighborhood (fare $120 ... plus they gave me a very nice tip)


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## XLEX (Feb 18, 2015)

So I just got home and I noticed tonight right before i usually go offline that the surge is starting. Of course with horrible timing a regular calls and i get to them while it's 1.5x. Keep in mind my market has been capped at 3.0x for some time. I guess they were just trying to get uber more known...anyways so I get to almost dropping them off and I'm looking at the map and its 5.5x! Only problem is I'm too far to get those pings  would of definitely drove the 20min to get those. Ended up with a 2.8x though that paid $80 so I'm not too burnt up about it...but still...

we got an email saying St. Pattys is supposed to be pretty bonkers starting at 10am so hopefully that surge gets back up there and we all can take home a nice little chunk of change. Wish you all the best of luck.

Ps check out this surge.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

PTB said:


> 19 minutes away?? ....what does it say when you type the same address into GOOGLE MAPS.
> Uber navigation time estimate is NOT even close to accurate.
> every time I retype into GOOGLE MAPS the time estimate is much lower...


I keep a Garmin in my car. Generally speaking, the Garmin shows arrival times that are 10 to 15 percent longer than the interfaced Uber/Google maps. Uber is notorious for time-shaving when estimating. But when I saw 19 minutes, I didn't even both to cross-check it on Garmin. 19 minutes was an immediate NFW for me.


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## anOzzieUber (Oct 31, 2014)

I've had requests of over 30 mins. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN UBER! But yeah, the time estimates are totally screwed up. The majority of the time I'll accept and 8 minute ETA and it shoots immediately up to 11 or 12 minutes, but occasionally I'll get pings saying 10 minutes and I know full well it will only take 5 minutes to get there.

Peak hour (4pm-6pm) around the city is a whole other story, a 10 minute ping can easily be 20 minutes. Again, not going to happen. I've had some shocking acceptance rates in the last couple of months, but so far no word from Uber. 

No point emailing them about it, they don't know how to fix it and will just give the same old "rider experience" answer.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

UberHammer said:


> I hear a lot of people here at UP.net complain about customers cancelling in route. I'm not saying I don't believe them, but I can only recall two times that it ever happened to me. I drive a 2013 Acura TL, so maybe it has something to do with the kind of car they've been matched with. I don't really know. I'm just speculating. But again, I very rarely ever get cancelled on.


I get cancelled en-route all the time... usually very quickly into the call. I drive a Benz, so, for me at least, it has nothing to do with the car. (maybe they don't like my smiling face?)
A lot of cancels are new users trying to see how the system works. Others are just mistakes.


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## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> I get cancelled en-route all the time... usually very quickly into the call. I drive a Benz, so, for me at least, it has nothing to do with the car. (maybe they don't like my smiling face?)
> A lot of cancels are new users trying to see how the system works. Others are just mistakes.


I've never been a fan of Cleveland. Can't say this changed my opinion at all.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Desert Driver said:


> Just got a ping with a pick location 19 minutes away. Yeah...right!
> *Cancel.*
> What's your threshhold?


GREAT question.

It really varies for me. If things are slow I may accept a ping from a greater distance than if the day has been steady with one ping after another. If I am downtown and get a ping from out near my home neighborhood I may take it just to get back towards home late in the day. I'll definitely driver further to pick-up an UberSELECT ping - and basically drive them anywhere they want to go. 

There are so many variables that come into play it's hard to give just one straight up answer on distance.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

UberHammer said:


> I've never been a fan of Cleveland.


This coming from a guy who loives in the only city in America that had a Playboy club that shared a parking lot with a McDonalds (true story). hehehe...

Cleveland is a good city to drive in - very easy to navigate. And very quick to get from one side of town to the other. It's not as easy to make money driving here as a city like NY, LA, Houston, SF because it's just a small city... but it ain't awful either. If the X rates (currently $1/mi) were just 25% higher it would be pretty solid.

Talk to me about Columbus (where I used to live) when you get a pro sports team of any flavor, an orchestra worth hearing, or a theater district worth visiting.  just kidding!


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## [email protected] (Aug 1, 2014)

I jump on everything. I jump on everything because the long ones offered far-in-between and even then I will take them!!! take the money & the fares! Your acceptance rate will look good and so will the payout...it pays for itself!!I love my job and your next 15 min ping could be your fav pax who gives you a generous five star rating! The fares that look bleak in the beginning, usually turns out to be bright in the end


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## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> This coming from a guy who loives in the only city in America that had a Playboy club that shared a parking lot with a McDonalds (true story). hehehe...
> 
> Cleveland is a good city to drive in - very easy to navigate. And very quick to get from one side of town to the other. It's not as easy to make money driving here as a city like NY, LA, Houston, SF because it's just a small city... but it ain't awful either. If the X rates (currently $1/mi) were just 25% higher it would be pretty solid.
> 
> Talk to me about Columbus (where I used to live) when you get a pro sports team of any flavor, an orchestra worth hearing, or a theater district worth visiting.  just kidding!


We have two pro teams, and the best college football team in the country.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

we'll have to agree to disagree on the 'pro-teams'... BUT...

*O-H...*


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

[email protected] said:


> I jump on everything. I jump on everything because the long ones offered far-in-between and even then I will take them!!! take the money & the fares! Your acceptance rate will look good and so will the payout...it pays for itself!!


Absolutely no offense intended, but you are exactly what Travis hopes for in a driver: someone who accepts every stupid ride request thinking only about your revenue - with absolutely no consideration of your actual expense.

Drivers who operate like that LOVE their job... until a year goes by and the no longer have a driveable car and find their bank account empty.

Accepting unprofitable rides will bury you - you end up subsidizing Uber.

Drive safe and drive SMART.

(and look at the link in the signature above from UberHammer. Read about how to figure your actual expenses and learn to drive more profitably)


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## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> we'll have to agree to disagree on the 'pro-teams'... BUT...
> 
> *O-H...*


*...I-O!!!*


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## Ubermanpt (Dec 23, 2014)

I was going to pick up an xl ride after a concert, it was about 10 minutes away, but I was goi g there anyways so might as well get a fast ride. About 3 minutes out, they cancelled, I assume they found someone closer. Within 1 minute I got a 2x surge ping that ended up being an $80+ fare. Ended up with @55 after uber fees for about an hour worth of travel time to their house and back to my home, so worked out great. You never know what you will get, just got to go


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

UberHammer said:


> *...I-O!!!*


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Ubermanpt said:


> I was going to pick up an xl ride after a concert, it was about 10 minutes away, but I was goi g there anyways so might as well get a fast ride. About 3 minutes out, they cancelled, I assume they found someone closer. Within 1 minute I got a 2x surge ping that ended up being an $80+ fare. Ended up with @55 after uber fees for about an hour worth of travel time to their house and back to my home, so worked out great. You never know what you will get, just got to go


... and for every ride like that there are 10 that will lose you money.


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## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> ... and for every ride like that there are 10 that will lose you money.


I think the next blog I write needs to be how to do the math on how far a driver can go for a pickup before it's not worth it.


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## Ubermanpt (Dec 23, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> ... and for every ride like that there are 10 that will lose you money.


For the last 2 months I've been averaging twice any guarantee offered. For every ride I drive a little bit further for, only 1 in 10 haven't been worth it, the majority have all been good fares. Now I know the good areas and where to go so that plays a big part. And I am playing the surges so I make up in travel time with the surge fare. And I normally only accept those of I am heading in that direction. I don't accept pings of more than 5 minutes in the opposite direction. When you know the areas I think it makes a big difference since you have a good idea where you will get a good fare or not. Generally it doesn't make sense to drive far for a ride but my point was said with me heading in that direction. The lower rates have really helped my earnings as it surges a lot more now and I can do more earnings with less gas and wear and tear.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

UberHammer said:


> I think the next blog I write needs to be how to do the math on how far a driver can go for a pickup before it's not worth it.


It will be a tough one... making those decisions is a art, not science. While I'm sure that an actuary would happily provide 'averages' and 'statistics', I'm not sure there is a formula or logic that can be applied that will work for every driver in every circumstance in every location at every time of day. No individual is an 'average'.


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