# Great first day!



## gubernj (Dec 23, 2014)

My first fare was a beautiful young Asian lady going to Newark airport. She insisted on tipping me, I refused 3 times, but it got to the point where it would have been rude to refuse again. $20 on a $35 fare.

Then I crawled around downtown Newark for an hour for a couple of $5 fares, I'm staying out of there in the future. 

After that I had a great tour of Jersey City and Hoboken It's a young crowd that uses Uber, the oldest person I had was 35. They love the price, of course. Plus they know when the car is arriving and who's driving it.

My last fare was a miracle. I had just dropped off in the middle of the block and got a ding from someone at the beginning of the block. I backed up 500 feet and called him. He was shocked at how quickly I'd gotten there. I told him that was just the Uber way. He tells me he's going to Montclair and do I know where it is. I said "I live in Montclair!" So a $35 fare gets me 10 blocks from my house. I took it as a sign that I was done for the day.

If I did my calculations right, taking into account the commission, Safe Ride fee, maintenance, depreciation and the IRS mileage allowance, I made $195 in 9 hours, about $22/hour.

Does this sound typical? Or should I quit while I'm ahead?

BTW, I'm a computer programmer so I put together an Excel spreadsheet to do all the calculations. If anyone wants it, let me know and we'll figure out a way to get it to you.


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## SuperDuperUber (Sep 25, 2014)

gubernj said:


> My first fare was a beautiful young Asian lady going to Newark airport. She insisted on tipping me, I refused 3 times, but it got to the point where it would have been rude to refuse again. $20 on a $35 fare.
> 
> Then I crawled around downtown Newark for an hour for a couple of $5 fares, I'm staying out of there in the future.
> 
> ...


I will not sully your first day experience and give you an answer. Just relish this one sweet moment in time.


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## Sydney Uber (Apr 15, 2014)

gubernj said:


> My first fare was a beautiful young Asian lady going to Newark airport. She insisted on tipping me, I refused 3 times, but it got to the point where it would have been rude to refuse again. $20 on a $35 fare.
> 
> Then I crawled around downtown Newark for an hour for a couple of $5 fares, I'm staying out of there in the future.
> 
> ...


Well done!


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## UberDude2 (Nov 19, 2014)

You should quit


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## DriversOfTheWorldUnite (Nov 11, 2014)

Yup. Quit while you're ahead. Do NOT "double down"


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## MKEUber (Aug 20, 2014)

Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to.


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## UberOne (Oct 31, 2014)

I'm shocked you reversed your car for 500 feet.. would be safer to do a u turn!


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## CityGirl (Nov 29, 2014)

LOL @everyone. Congrats on a good day. Here's hoping for many more! I would just say never refuse a tip. The Uber official suggestion on their site is to say "That's not necessary, thank you" and accept.


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## MKEUber (Aug 20, 2014)

Never refuse a tip and never say it is not necessary (who cares what Uber's official policy is, they aren't doing you any favors). Just take it and say thank you. You want the next driver to get tipped too.


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## CaptainJackLA (Dec 4, 2014)

DONT EVER refuse a tip. Especially 3 TIMES? But make sure to tell her you are giving her a 5 star rating. That puts in their mind they may return the favor. A lot of psychology in this job


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## Lidman (Nov 13, 2014)

I agree with Mike and CaptainJack. Never refuse a tip!!!! Especially one that is $20. It's ok to show appreciation for it though. Screw Uber's policy on that matter.


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## jaymaxx44 (Sep 19, 2014)

I stopped refusing tips the day of the rate cuts and never looked back.


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## UberFrolic (Sep 18, 2014)

"You really didn't have to" and accept it.


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## Casuale Haberdasher (Dec 7, 2014)

gubernj said:


> My first fare was a beautiful young Asian lady going to Newark airport. She insisted on tipping me, I refused 3 times, but it got to the point where it would have been rude to refuse again. $20 on a $35 fare.
> 
> Then I crawled around downtown Newark for an hour for a couple of $5 fares, I'm staying out of there in the future.
> 
> ...


POST # 1 / GUBERNJ: ... No .... Yes Consider
that your beginner's luck is all used up now.
Go out on top. Happy New Year from
Marco Island.


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## pako garcia (Oct 30, 2014)

gubernj said:


> My first fare was a beautiful young Asian lady going to Newark airport. She insisted on tipping me, I refused 3 times, but it got to the point where it would have been rude to refuse again. $20 on a $35 fare.
> 
> Then I crawled around downtown Newark for an hour for a couple of $5 fares, I'm staying out of there in the future.
> 
> ...


Dont ever reject a tip
Spetially from oriental people
In a. 35dlls fare they know that they are saving around 70dlls comparing with the stinky taxis


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## formeruberdriver (Dec 27, 2014)

My first day been much more productive, but I quit.


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## Casandria (Dec 20, 2014)

My first day was good, too. I've had some not so great ones and some really good ones. Enjoy the success, and don't let the naysayers get you down. On the flip side, if you have a couple of crummy days, bust out that spreadsheet and try and figure out a pattern. I'm a spreadsheet nerd (even have one for Christmas gifts) so I love the fact that you have one, but honestly, the Uber site breaks it all down on the invoice for you so you might want to let that one go and work on one to track which areas are best and which times and days.


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## Ehmtbescrewingus (Oct 16, 2014)

Second day was pretty good; I don't drive that much and will drive less in 2015. Especially after the phone debacle on New Years Eve where you couldn't call a passenger and texting wasn't working. Great fares from 4-6AM this morning.


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## Shea F. Kenny (Jan 3, 2015)

I had not only fantastic first days, but weeks. And even a couple of months. Now, it's all short fares, and really stupid people who can't use the app and properly locate themselves, and cancel because you have to drive to where they really are, after sitting five minutes waiting for them, or answer phones, or texts, or cancel when you're halfway to them, and 4.9 minutes into the trip. 

I think Uber targets new drivers, and set them up for big trips(Trips with long destination arrival estimates), and near trips, for a while. The "older" drivers, have to deal with the real world, and being queued behind new drivers, who are offered a preferred status.

When I started in Sept, I easily grossed 1500, 8-10 hours, 7days. 

Today, I'm 1100, and with NYE, it's dropped below that!

But, good luck!


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## Ramon (Jan 4, 2015)

gubernj said:


> My first fare was a beautiful young Asian lady going to Newark airport. She insisted on tipping me, I refused 3 times, but it got to the point where it would have been rude to refuse again. $20 on a $35 fare.
> 
> Then I crawled around downtown Newark for an hour for a couple of $5 fares, I'm staying out of there in the future.
> 
> ...


Hey can you send me the spreadsheet? plz


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## UberHustla (Dec 2, 2014)

gubernj said:


> My first fare was a beautiful young Asian lady going to Newark airport. She insisted on tipping me, I refused 3 times, but it got to the point where it would have been rude to refuse again. $20 on a $35 fare.
> 
> Then I crawled around downtown Newark for an hour for a couple of $5 fares, I'm staying out of there in the future.
> 
> ...


Why are you refusing a tip? It's part of the job. Of course they don't have to tip you, but why say no? People like me want to tip. So when I do just say thank you and accept it


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## pako garcia (Oct 30, 2014)

Pax should realize that all they save with us comparing with the stinky taxis they should pay us 3x plus tips and stop pretending to be generous and be less shameless


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