# Did Uber help you change your financial status?



## meghan w (Jan 7, 2015)

I'm a journalist and am wondering if Uber (and Lyft) has potential to help drivers elevate their economic status? Has it created an opportunity for you or improved your financial life? Or is it like many other entry-level jobs that are almost impossible to live off of? Would love to hear your stories. Thank you.


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## Ben Hughes (Nov 2, 2014)

Pretty impossible unless you live with your parents. Of course this after they said we could make $90k a year.


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## marketmark (Dec 2, 2014)

It would be tough to live off of.
But as a part time, and very flexible, job it works well.
I pay a large percentage of my mortgage working the occasional weekday mornings and weekend nights.
If uber is a person's main source of income it is probably a different story with the frequent rate cuts and increasing percentage uber keeps.

and it's fun...


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

That's my week so far. I've been logged in most of the day today!

Last week, which included New Year's, I made $471 after Uber fees but before my expenses, which include gas, maintenance and depreciation. According to Uber, I made $12/hour, but that's before Uber's fees. $471/53.9 hours = $8.74/hour BEFORE expenses. And that was the "crazy" busy month of December, culminating in the biggest day of the year (NYE)!


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## UberHammer (Dec 5, 2014)

meghan w said:


> Or is it like many other entry-level jobs that are almost impossible to live off of?


It's worse.

At least an entry-level job is an entry point to a path to something better.

The Uber path is more rate cuts followed by increased driver saturation. Rinse and repeat.

Uber is only good to supplement a more reliable income, and only until the rate cuts make Uber volunteer work like it now is in Nashville.


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## just drive (Oct 29, 2014)

I do it part time and I'm about to use the Money from uber to pay for a nice vacation. 1 year of ubering. I have a friend who has a business where he sometimes needs help. For $12 an hour with him I always ditch uber and go work for him.


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

As many have pointed out, you're basically exchanging the equity in your car for cash. You are depreciating your car and getting paid for it.

The money is nowhere near what Uber advertises.

The tips are practically nonexistent.

It may seem like you're bringing in decent money until the expenses hit.

I started with a car that had 130k miles on it, so it may not depreciate as quickly, but I've had to put money into it. On Christmas eve, I had the timing belt package and rear shocks replaced for $1,000. Today, I had an oil change for $30, and the tires rotated. Also found out I need a catalytic converter -- another $1,000.


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## just drive (Oct 29, 2014)

You don't really need that catalyc converter


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## pako garcia (Oct 30, 2014)

meghan w said:


> I'm a journalist and am wondering if Uber (and Lyft) has potential to help drivers elevate their economic status? Has it created an opportunity for you or improved your financial life? Or is it like many other entry-level jobs that are almost impossible to live off of? Would love to hear your stories. Thank you.


Yes travis helpme change my economic status from poor to misserably poor
Besides my economic status my emotional condition is really precarius
Sometimes is really stressful to figura it out how to behave with pax in order to optain my five little stars
At this point im completaly aware how we are helping people to become more and more cheap, frugal, arrogant, rough, disgusted, shameless, demanding a lot for a lot less


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## Samhain13 (Aug 24, 2014)

McDonalds is always hiring.


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

just drive said:


> You don't really need that catalyc converter


But my check engine light keeps coming on, and when it's on, my car won't go into Eco mode and I get worse gas mileage. Are these things related?


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

JaxBeachDriver said:


> But my check engine light keeps coming on, and when it's on, my car won't go into Eco mode and I get worse gas mileage. Are these things related?


Yes, can be. When a sensor reports an out of parameter reading to the ECU, the ECU can go into limp mode. This will definitely impact fuel economy.


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## Lidman (Nov 13, 2014)

I'm glad I decided to drive for Lyft on occasional Tuesdays. I didn't make any changes with my mainstream job.


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## Long time Nyc cab driver (Dec 12, 2014)

Lidman said:


> I'm glad I decided to drive for Lyft on occasional Tuesdays. I didn't make any changes with my mainstream job.


But The Office is in reruns now.


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## AintWorthIt (Sep 30, 2014)

When you factor in the insurance risk and the wear and tear on your vehicle, I'm probably about even. There's no way in the world to live off this full time.


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## willb8907 (Oct 22, 2014)

It's not terrible, but ever since Uber started slashing prices it's pretty bad. I went from making around $1000 a week for part time driving in Sept, to struggling to get $400 working 12-14 hour days by Nov. I finally broke down and got a regular job again so I do Uber on the side to pay for my car payment. (No I didn't buy a car through Uber, I'd already had one.) I will say that I've met some amazing people thanks to Uber, from all over the world and I've learned more about my city in 5 months than I ever realized I didn't know in the 6 years I've lived here.


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## RacrXXX (Sep 29, 2014)

It has been a great supplemental income but I would never take the risk of counting on Uber as a full time job.... I enjoy the flexibility they offer and I am lucky to have an XL vehicle that can take a beating and gets pretty good gas mileage so I am ahead of the game in those areas.

I typically clear $600 - $900 in earnings for 30-35 hours of work a week so yes, it has been a great economic status boost for my family. Thanks to Uber we have been able to pay down most of our credit cards and are working on the last two, paid entirely for a 1 week cruise for 4 people (thanks Art Basel Miami - A $1500 week net!), had a very nice Christmas with a lot more gifts then usual, and we are even considering upgrading to a bigger house!

That being said I have several issues with Uber but overall it has been a very positive experience for me.

Feel free to contact me for more information.


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## pako garcia (Oct 30, 2014)

RacrXXX said:


> It has been a great supplemental income but I would never take the risk of counting on Uber as a full time job.... I enjoy the flexibility they offer and I am lucky to have an XL vehicle that can take a beating and gets pretty good gas mileage so I am ahead of the game in those areas.
> 
> I typically clear $600 - $900 in earnings for 30-35 hours of work a week so yes, it has been a great economic status boost for my family. Thanks to Uber we have been able to pay down most of our credit cards and are working on the last two, paid entirely for a 1 week cruise for 4 people (thanks Art Basel Miami - A $1500 week net!), had a very nice Christmas with a lot more gifts then usual, and we are even considering upgrading to a bigger house!
> 
> ...


Really?
You are a real travis succeed story
Like u im convinced travis loves us


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## RacrXXX (Sep 29, 2014)

Yeah, well like I said I am lucky in a few ways (XL vehicle, city that is currently in max travel season, lots of surges due to holidays and conventions.)

I ONLY sign in as XL and I am lucky to live near several major resorts in Miami so I typically pick up a few airport and port runs a day at XL rates and they are usually $50 plus for 30-60 minutes work. I however have had days where I have been lucky to make $40 bucks after expenses. That is typical of any job in the service industry, you are at the whim of the market.....


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

I managed to pay off 1 credit card. I like the flexibility and freedom it gives me. Lately there are a lot of drivers everywhere. I put a lot of hours to make the money. Almost all my free time from my day job. Holidays is when you make the real money, I continued working holidays too.

Downside: uber system is very inefficient for driver. It is not a true dispatch system that optimizes resources. Instead, it is a very convenient way for riders to get around town. When we drop somebody off somewhere we have never been before, we are clueless about the demand in that place and we don't know if we should stay or move to someplace else.
We put a lot of dead miles and probably many times more than a typical cab would put due to this lack of optimization. Riders are pleased at the expense of drivers. In 4 months I put 20k miles on my car. That's a lot for a part time job that pays barely minimum wage. But I still do it, since it is flexible and I need the money.


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## suewho (Sep 27, 2014)

Yes they did but we were being paid 43 bucks an hour. Unless they're topping up earnings, there's no way you will make money on this gig


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## puber (Aug 31, 2014)

I do uber, uberplus, lyft and sidecar full time and make twice more then I use to make driving a cab.

If I put as many hours in a week ubering as I did during my taxi work week, i would make a kill.

One concern I have is that travis cuts rates all the time. We had 3 or 4 rate cuts during the last year, depends on how you look.

But I have another business ready to launch when that happens.

I just like ubering full time and gonna do it till shit hits the fan


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## SCdave (Jun 27, 2014)

Uber had the potential to help change the financial lives of many. They decided they wouldn't. 

I understand completely that there was no obligation (obviously) on their part not to maximize growth & investor ROI, capture market share at all costs, and work towards a killer IPO. They aren't the first and won't be the last company to choose this path. But they did not have to...to this extreme.

Uber's choice was to go the route of taking as much as possible out of the Partner/Driver and transferring it to Uber and their Investors. In the case of promoting Uber/Santander Financing, they did this to an extreme or what could be called an Art Form.

Uber could have become maybe not the same meteoric investor darling but an equally high valued company that really could have had a positive financial impact on Partner Drivers. They could have been a leader in the OnDemand Workforce and also killed it financially. Might have taken a year or two longer, might have been just unbelievability profitable and not obscenely profitable, and might not have been creating the script for "Wallstreet II" but Uber could have spent a few minutes more thinking about how to create positive norms for the growing 1099 workforce.

After all of this, do I think that there are some cases of Partner Drivers making "good money: driving Uber? Yes, but it is in limited locations that just happen to work out well. Or it is in cities that haven't taken the "Uber 20-40%" Fare Reductions yet. Or for those that already had a very fuel efficient vehicle that already had taken a good depreciation hit. Or for those that haven't factored in insurance risk as a cost or transferring their vehicle depreciation into part of their weekly cash payout from Uber. You will always find drivers who "are" making good money but the question is, will that driver be making good money 6 months from now or next year?

OnDemand Rideshare/TNC is a great model and I believe benefits society as a transportation alternative. It is fantastic for riders/users of Rideshare. Unfortunately, with Uber as the current leader, it does not look good for the average Partner/Driver as a reliable means of financially rewarding work over time.

Personally, I got a very brief whiff of what you might have called - " Uber helping my financial status" back when I started in early January of 2014. Now, not so much and it isn't looking better going into 2015. I like driving, meeting people, having the OnDemand work-hour flexibility, but there is no trust built up with Drivers that Uber can or even wants to provide a long-term opportunity to "positively change our financial status".


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

meghan w said:


> I'm a journalist and am wondering if Uber (and Lyft) has potential to help drivers elevate their economic status? Has it created an opportunity for you or improved your financial life? Or is it like many other entry-level jobs that are almost impossible to live off of? Would love to hear your stories. Thank you.


I was on the verge of being homless, and took my last 1500 dollars and got into Uber's leasing program. The first few week, were what I expected. The lease and personal insurance, cost me 900 a month, so I knew it was going to be 8-10 hours a day, what with gas and cleaning expenses, and saving up for big time repairs, once the car begins to show wear.

But, i grossed 1500 the first week and netted a payout of almost 1200. But, I had very good luck with fares. I would get a trip from the Chicago burbs, to dtn. Buzz around dtn with some locals, then get another going to the burbs. Or, from the neighborhoods to dtn, and then dtn to a neighborhood.

I started in late august and in that short period of time, my last pay out was


meghan w said:


> I'm a journalist and am wondering if Uber (and Lyft) has potential to help drivers elevate their economic status? Has it created an opportunity for you or improved your financial life? Or is it like many other entry-level jobs that are almost impossible to live off of? Would love to hear your stories. Thank you.


You're no journalist. I mean really? You're going to rely your report/s on totally anonymous sources, and no validation whatsoever?

The first rule of journalism is, who, what, when, where, why and how.

I mean, this is blogging. No, that would disrespect bloggers. Most of them tend to want to stick to verifiable facts.

Another thing that is obviously suspicious is, where do you see drivers rejoicing over their earnings? You must not have even read the posts here.

Tsk.


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## pako garcia (Oct 30, 2014)

Shea F. Kenny said:


> I was on the verge of being homless, and took my last 1500 dollars and got into Uber's leasing program. The first few week, were what I expected. The lease and personal insurance, cost me 900 a month, so I knew it was going to be 8-10 hours a day, what with gas and cleaning expenses, and saving up for big time repairs, once the car begins to show wear.
> 
> But, i grossed 1500 the first week and netted a payout of almost 1200. But, I had very good luck with fares. I would get a trip from the Chicago burbs, to dtn. Buzz around dtn with some locals, then get another going to the burbs. Or, from the neighborhoods to dtn, and then dtn to a neighborhood.
> 
> ...


I was about to cry with your travis succeed story then you come out with that
Thats good
Lol


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## SCdave (Jun 27, 2014)

Shea F. Kenny said:


> I was on the verge of being homless, and took my last 1500 dollars and got into Uber's leasing program. The first few week, were what I expected. The lease and personal insurance, cost me 900 a month, so I knew it was going to be 8-10 hours a day, what with gas and cleaning expenses, and saving up for big time repairs, once the car begins to show wear.
> 
> But, i grossed 1500 the first week and netted a payout of almost 1200. But, I had very good luck with fares. I would get a trip from the Chicago burbs, to dtn. Buzz around dtn with some locals, then get another going to the burbs. Or, from the neighborhoods to dtn, and then dtn to a neighborhood.
> 
> ...


Yes, this is a possibility. But there are also journalist who start with reading in a blog or forum thread, or hearing from a friend or colleague about "this guy who....". The journalist then follows up and does the who, what, when, where, why and how.

Still, this "Meghan" could be a Taxi Union Rep, an intern or staffer doing research for their State Representative, or even a student writing a term paper or thesis. Who knows.


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## Txchick (Nov 25, 2014)

meghan w said:


> I'm a journalist and am wondering if Uber (and Lyft) has potential to help drivers elevate their economic status? Has it created an opportunity for you or improved your financial life? Or is it like many other entry-level jobs that are almost impossible to live off of? Would love to hear your stories. Thank you.


Uber as a full time job is not feasible to live on. With the rate cuts in 2014 drivers are making 25-40% less than in 2013 depending on the market. 
You should contact some Uber X drivers in the Nashville TN. Uber on January 6th, 2015 cut rates again by 25% in the Nashville TN market. Current rates for Uber X drivers: minimum fare $2.00 $1.00 base fare $0.14 per minute 0.73 per mile $1.00 safe riders fee. They lose money turning on their car! Coming to Uber theatre in you city soon!!


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## nuhuxi (Dec 21, 2014)

Hey Meghan. I think UberX is not quite a minimum wage job. It has been an interesting experience but I cant see why anyone would do this long term.


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## Struggling Actor (Jan 9, 2015)

Less than it used to due to Rate cut Today! 
Uber didn't need to lower rates, people already like it as it costs half what a taxi does, they can use credit cards and are sick of the type of people and service they get from cabs most places. So they already use Uber instead of a cab, so lower rates won't make them travel more.

What all Uber drivers need is a way for people to tip like on the LYFT App, Riders get a box after the
ride where they can add an optional tip along with their rating, so obviously it can be done and people
can still do a cashless trip. Also many riders falsely believe they are already tipping as they saw an optional 
box on the account page but what most don't realize is that the 20% changeable tip percentage only
applies to Uber Taxi ( Taxi's using uber app for payment like in New York City). So all drivers need to
email Uber and demand a tipping option on the app!!!


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## Schulz (Nov 25, 2014)

Meghan (at OZY), I am one of the newest drivers and there may be a story in how Uber is enticing drivers with ads claiming $1500 week on Craigslist, and new vehicle financing (a lease) that ties the driver to Uber so they can't drive for Lyft using their leased vehicle, getting a subprime loan through Santander, who repo'd more cars than any other lender in 2014; and finally, Uber cuts rates in Dallas, for instance, to just $0.90 per mile, so that it becomes even more difficult for a driver to drive enough miles to make the lease payments. See the Vehicles forum. I will email you a copy of the lease contract if you request by private message. Good luck with the story. Lots of angry Uber drivers at the reddit page http://www.reddit.com/r/uberdrivers/


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## Schulz (Nov 25, 2014)

Shea F. Kenney she is a journalist I fact checked her and she was easy to find. Since you had problems with your Uber lease bankrupting you maybe you should make friends since Uber might be stung by her story.


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## cybertec69 (Jul 23, 2014)

meghan w said:


> I'm a journalist and am wondering if Uber (and Lyft) has potential to help drivers elevate their economic status? Has it created an opportunity for you or improved your financial life? Or is it like many other entry-level jobs that are almost impossible to live off of? Would love to hear your stories. Thank you.


I suggest you do a bit of reading on this forum, I am sure you will get all the information that you need, but it will take a bit of your precious time, something I am sure you are short of, not trying to be rude here, but really. All of a sudden reporters caring about the plight of the Uber drivers.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

JaxBeachDriver said:


> But my check engine light keeps coming on, and when it's on, my car won't go into Eco mode and I get worse gas mileage. Are these things related?


Yes, you need the catalytic converter. Make no mistake about it. The comment about not needing it was made in jest.


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## Desert Driver (Nov 9, 2014)

meghan w said:


> I'm a journalist and am wondering if Uber (and Lyft) has potential to help drivers elevate their economic status? Has it created an opportunity for you or improved your financial life? Or is it like many other entry-level jobs that are almost impossible to live off of? Would love to hear your stories. Thank you.


No, you can't live off what is earned at Uber. But it does provide lunch money. And, I funded most of my family's xmas purchases with six long weeks of Uber driving in Nov and Dec.


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