# Earn more by negotiating price via Surge and skipping requests...



## Showa50 (Nov 30, 2014)

... Hi all. Apologies in advance if you've read this elsewhere. 
I'm creating a video series on Surge and how it is a price/fare negotiation tool for drivers. Please watch and hopefully we all can start earning more.


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## glados (May 23, 2015)

Honestly sounds like a good way to get your account terminated.


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## Showa50 (Nov 30, 2014)

#2 is up

Surge Tutorial (Part 2)...Guidelines:


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## Showa50 (Nov 30, 2014)

Uber Surge Pricing Tutorial (Part 4)...Action:


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## 80sDude (Jul 20, 2015)

lol


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## dskatkov (Jul 24, 2015)

glados said:


> Honestly sounds like a good way to get your account terminated.


This is my 3rd week with uber and after watching this guys video and doing what he suggests accepting and then canceling my account is still active no emails from uber, driving less, and I'm makin more money...


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## UberFrolic (Sep 18, 2014)

I skip all day too


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## dskatkov (Jul 24, 2015)

How can we spread the word so we can make it surge all the time


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## Honkadonk (Jul 20, 2015)

Gotta say, man i've been trying this for a few days now and I just end up with tons of downtime and hardly any surge pings. This morning I was sitting in a sea of surge for an hour and nobody pings or the pings are 25 minutes away with no surge.

Apparently all the yuppies in Bergen County are afraid to pay a little more for a nice ride in a clean car.


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## mizzrock (Jan 3, 2015)

Honkadonk said:


> Gotta say, man i've been trying this for a few days now and I just end up with tons of downtime and hardly any surge pings. This morning I was sitting in a sea of surge for an hour and nobody pings or the pings are 25 minutes away with no surge.
> 
> Apparently all the yuppies in Bergen County are afraid to pay a little more for a nice ride in a clean car.


Same in San Francisco. They'll request pool or nothing at all when it's surge. Has it gotten worse? Or did I just not notice?


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## Honkadonk (Jul 20, 2015)

mizzrock said:


> Same in San Francisco. They'll request pool or nothing at all when it's surge. Has it gotten worse? Or did I just not notice?


I'm fairly new so I can't say. I think Uber has spun so many lies they've even confused the customers. They loved the service when the rates were 60% higher but they won't pay 1.6x on the lowered rates? Then Uber tries to talk them out of using the service during surge: "rates will change in 2 minutes" "let me know when surge ends" etc. What a racket!


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## Showa50 (Nov 30, 2014)

Honkadonk said:


> I'm fairly new so I can't say. I think Uber has spun so many lies they've even confused the customers. They loved the service when the rates were 60% higher but they won't pay 1.6x on the lowered rates? Then Uber tries to talk them out of using the service during surge: "rates will change in 2 minutes" "let me know when surge ends" etc. What a racket!


Educating pax is definitely a challenge. Most have no clue what the cost today of a ride is vs last year or even vs a taxi. All they see is the multiple and it scares them off. Plus there's still ample supply of low cost drivers in most markets.

It's still and interesting game of bidders and sellers out there. The best thing you can do in your makers is try to meet a few committed drivers and get a solid plan for understanding demand in your market. Getting Surge to show up doesn't work all the time, but knowing when your best opportunities to get Surge fares is key.


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## mizzrock (Jan 3, 2015)

Honkadonk said:


> I'm fairly new so I can't say. I think Uber has spun so many lies they've even confused the customers. They loved the service when the rates were 60% higher but they won't pay 1.6x on the lowered rates? Then Uber tries to talk them out of using the service during surge: "rates will change in 2 minutes" "let me know when surge ends" etc. What a racket!


Ubers never been for us. Uber lowered rates to get the cheap bus pax on the service. Since there's an abundance of drivers they needed more riders so they tapped into the bus crowd. Who knows what they'll do next to get the homeless in our car!


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## dskatkov (Jul 24, 2015)

This thread has a video how to create surge pricing you should watch it. Prices got lowered so you can hustle better to make the money you want. Money or work won't fall into your lap you have to go out and get it. So please stop complaining about how lazy and ungrateful you are.


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## uberAdam78 (Nov 8, 2014)

I also tried this around bar close here in omaha Friday and Saturday this week...
Friday I skipped a few regular rates and a few 1.4 and 1.5 pings to get a 2.7. Resulted in a short ride and almost $18 fare. But surge was over before I could get back online to get another. 
Saturday was a little better. Skipped some standard rate and watched other drives drop off the passenger app until there was only a few of us left with myself being the closest driver to downtown. Skipped until I got a 2.4 that was a really short ride for around $10. Immediately got another 2.7 surge that ended in west Omaha for a $72 dollar fare.


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## mizzrock (Jan 3, 2015)

uberAdam78 said:


> I also tried this around bar close here in omaha Friday and Saturday this week...
> Friday I skipped a few regular rates and a few 1.4 and 1.5 pings to get a 2.7. Resulted in a short ride and almost $18 fare. But surge was over before I could get back online to get another.
> Saturday was a little better. Skipped some standard rate and watched other drives drop off the passenger app until there was only a few of us left with myself being the closest driver to downtown. Skipped until I got a 2.4 that was a really short ride for around $10. Immediately got another 2.7 surge that ended in west Omaha for a $72 dollar fare.


See that's the flaw is there are certain crowds where there's enough people to make surge to make it worth it. Example, if you're doing early morning then people will need rides and you have a bargaining chip that people NEED to get to work. Now with the random midday crowd if you refuse a ride then you're just sitting there with nothing to do. My point is, there's not enough guaranteed need to have a bargaining chip to get a surge ride.


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## Honkadonk (Jul 20, 2015)

mizzrock said:


> See that's the flaw is there are certain crowds where there's enough people to make surge to make it worth it. Example, if you're doing early morning then people will need rides and you have a bargaining chip that people NEED to get to work. Now with the random midday crowd if you refuse a ride then you're just sitting there with nothing to do. My point is, there's not enough guaranteed need to have a bargaining chip to get a surge ride.


Yeah but as I said: Monday 4-7am and people just stopped pinging when it hit surge. I ended up giving in and taking a base fare for an airport ride. $47 gross. Ehhhh.


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## mizzrock (Jan 3, 2015)

Honkadonk said:


> Yeah but as I said: Monday 4-7am and people just stopped pinging when it hit surge. I ended up giving in and taking a base fare for an airport ride. $47 gross. Ehhhh.


Exactly pax are smart at avoiding that. We're severely underpaid as is.


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## Honkadonk (Jul 20, 2015)

mizzrock said:


> Exactly pax are smart at avoiding that. We're severely underpaid as is.


They really need to rethink this system. Surge is a cool idea on paper (as a driver) but it's not working when customers won't opt to take a ride that would still be cheaper, in a nicer car, and a faster pickup than a cab... Because it's like $4 more.

In my area people always say they don't like cabs and they often have to wait super long or they refuse the ride completely. Clearly a 1.5 surge for a 5 minute pickup isn't enough for some people.


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## mizzrock (Jan 3, 2015)

Honkadonk said:


> They really need to rethink this system. Surge is a cool idea on paper (as a driver) but it's not working when customers won't opt to take a ride that would still be cheaper, in a nicer car, and a faster pickup than a cab... Because it's like $4 more.
> 
> In my area people always say they don't like cabs and they often have to wait super long or they refuse the ride completely. Clearly a 1.5 surge for a 5 minute pickup isn't enough for some people.


It's definitely contradictory. But the lower rates DO attract more cheap pax and the pax willing to pay surge are becoming a minority. Plus pax talk to each other about strategies to avoid surge. Like walking a few blocks. It's not sustainable and Uber should do what Lyft is doing with surge, make it mandatory.

Lately Lyft has been rigging prime time to increase driver earnings. It's only 25% (.25x) but it turns a $5 into $7 or $8 and pax don't notice or care.

Now Lyft should try 50% (.50x) surge and see if requests are still sent. Uber should do the same. Rig the surge, make it what they want, they own the app.


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## Honkadonk (Jul 20, 2015)

mizzrock said:


> It's definitely contradictory. But the lower rates DO attract more cheap pax and the pax willing to pay surge are becoming a minority. Plus pax talk to each other about strategies to avoid surge. Like walking a few blocks. It's not sustainable and Uber should do what Lyft is doing with surge, make it mandatory.
> 
> Lately Lyft has been rigging prime time to increase driver earnings. It's only 25% (.25x) but it turns a $5 into $7 or $8 and pax don't notice or care.
> 
> Now Lyft should try 50% (.50x) surge and see if requests are still sent. Uber should do the same. Rig the surge, make it what they want, they own the app.


So is Lyft more worth it right now?


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## mizzrock (Jan 3, 2015)

Honkadonk said:


> So is Lyft more worth it right now?


Not sure. Ubers busier and more widely known I can see. I've been with lyft since August 2014, just started uber last week. Uber is easier to find a ride, surge or not. Lyft is less known. Will be able to say after this week of working uber only.


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## Honkadonk (Jul 20, 2015)

mizzrock said:


> Not sure. Ubers busier and more widely known I can see. I've been with lyft since August 2014, just started uber last week. Uber is easier to find a ride, surge or not. Lyft is less known. Will be able to say after this week of working uber only.


Well it depends on the location too, obviously. I'm sure San Fran market is totally different from my own on both platforms.


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