# Do Drivers get more from Rider Referal codes...or Driver Referals?



## ubercurious (Dec 24, 2014)

An Uber shill (glados) was advocating you hand out "en masse" printed flyers with your "RIDER REFFERAL CODE" that entitles both you and the NEW 1st time RIDER to a Free Uber ride UP TO the value of $xx.xx (depending on your location this could be up to $20-$30 off the UBER fare that you use it on personally.)

What Glados skimmed over/omitted in their *"Earn $800/hour" ficticious Uber PR Spin* was the detail ....the math... the reality. ...but hey. ..why let the facts get in the way of a good story?

*THINGS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE SPENDING MORE MONEY ON ADVERTISING YOUR RIDER OR DRIVER REFERRAL CODE: *

A) You, the referrer, have no way of knowing IF/WHEN any stranger that you give your mass produced RIDER code to actually uses it or not.... so you may or may not get 100% of all the referral credits you generate ..E. g. .you won't know if they take your advertising for UBER ....mention it to a friend who says ... "_don't use their code use mine_" and you miss out altogether ......you lose.*...but UBER still wins a new pax.*

B) if/when you do get the RIDER code credit applied to your Rider account it *automatically* applies the WHOLE amount to your NEXT UBER RIDE AS A PASSENGER.... this means that if you rack up 5 x $20 RIDER REFFERAL CREDITS in one day .... then take 5 uber rides @ say $10 each ..... t*he actual value of the exercise was only $50.. not $100 *....but Uber won 5 new pax with a lifetime value of potentially 10's of $1000's in rides over the years to come.... see why they want you to do it ??

B) You are going out for dinner and don't want to take your car coz you are going to drink... so that is minimum of two trips ... let's say they are $15 each way .... and you have 2x $20 ride credits.... you get *$30 value out of the $40 of face value* .......but you know you are *going to the airport the next day *and it is going to be $40 to get there..... ideally you would pay normally for the 2x short trips and apply the whole credit to the long trip.....*but no .....you are stuck* because there is no way to CHOOSE WHEN YOU USE THE CREDITS. ...they are AUTOMATICALLY applied to your NEXT RIDE..... and you can't choose to aggregate them unless you negotiate with the driver to stop the ride (approximately) half way and then re-request the ride for the balance of the trip.....yeah good luck with that....

C) each Pax referral credit has a *"use by/expiry" date*.... let's say it is a month after they use their first ride.
if you get 2x new Passenger referals that use their first ride 3 weeks apart and both are listed in your Rider App .... one expires Feb 28 and one expires March 15 
*
What Glados and Uber DON'T tell you *is that if you take an Uber ride on the 27th of Feb ..... Uber will use the credit from the 15th of March .... meaning you have to use the Feb 28th credit in next 24 hours *or you LOSE IT ......*

Imagine the laughs that went around the boardroom when some UberGenius graduate MBA intern came up with that little profit maker ..._*...but you wont find it mentioned in any Uber FAQ/fine print/ or promotional material *_.......yet another example of why I think Uber is an evil, dirty, deceitful and down right arrogant bastard of a company. 
*
SO WHAT ABOUT THE "CASH" BENEFIT (~$5) OF USING MY DRIVER REFFERAL CODE TO GIVE AWAY FREE FIRST RIDE ON UBER (UP TO $25~)

I thought I was onto something here that was a win/win ....
*
If I picked up a 5* passenger I would always ask the question "have you used Uber much ...?"

If the answer is " no this is my first time" I would give the Pax my Driver Referral code and get them to punch it in to their phone app under "promotions" ... and it would auto credit $25 for this ( their first) ride .... Boom! ... 5* for me, free trip for them ... and an extra $5 "tip/bonus" for me.... or so I thought....

*What actually happened* was that Maybe 1 in 5 of these referrals translated to cash in my Uber account....

When I followed it up with Uber I got a variety of responses including 
_"Check your next pay"_ 
_"What is the name and phone number of the person you referred_?"

So I stopped giving out Driver referral Code and started giving my wife's Pax Rider Referal code ....that's how I found out most of the info above because Uber is more interested in rewarding PAX than drivers....but they still screw both if they can

*So in a nutshell:*

A) If you give out your rider referral code you get Up to (say) $20 in rider credit ....*TAX FREE .*...but with the limitations mentioned above ....

B) Using your UBER driver referral code (depending on your region) you only get $5 per NEW (1st time) pax and *it forms part of your TAXABLE INCOME!!!!! *so the value to you of the new pax referral is *LESS THAN $5 after tax.*... why would you do it when you are not even guaranteed of getting the fare from the new PAX ..????

C) if you really want to work this angle then you need to get the Name and Phone number of Every Person that you give your Driver code to ....otherwise you will have no proof that they used your code....

Can you see how much Uber values the existing PAX and their network versus how much they value the existing schlep Driver?????


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## JaredJ (Aug 7, 2015)

Oh, padawan. You are young in the ways of the referal. Uber will tell you that there's no cap on rider referrals per week, but I can firmly tell you it's $300 for riders or 60 rider referrals per week. Track driver referrals by the emails that are initially sent out as the invite tracking page is largely erroneous. Follow-up directly with your referrals with a fair amount of time. I agree that its ridiculous that you can't track referal progress and Uber doesnt have an incentive plan thats clearly laid out. They'll get sued for it eventually. Every major corporation has to have incentive plans that are clearly defined. In California, incentive plans have to be explicitly agreed to. No doubt they get around this by defining drivers as ICs.


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## Don Oldenburg (Jul 17, 2015)

I'm not sure you have a full grasp of the referral system. 

First of all... From my stand point... Referral advertising works well. It may not be perfect. And I have no idea if Uber is skimming off the number of referrals actually used or not. I do know though that the referral $$$ i've gotten is worth it -- as the alternative is $0 for not even trying.

500 business cards cost me $12.00 with shipping (I had discount coupon on top of the $9.99 + shipping). Anyway for under $20 you can get 500 cards with your referral code on them. This can be used for both driver and rider referrals.

You talk about when a referral code is used, and wanting to use it on your more expensive rides to make better use of the $20 -- you are offering your discount card to people who are already in your cab for their first ride -- None of this makes sense as the FIRST TIME RIDER REFERRALS are ONLY good for the first ride. That means the code MUST be entered into the app BEFORE you request your FIRST ride.

So, not sure how you think this works.. and maybe there are other codes out there that are good for ongoing rides -- but the first time ride referrals are $5 to the driver and only good on their FIRST ride. So giving them your code to enter into their application while already on an ride is pointless and a waste of money.

I put a business card holder in my center console in the back seat area -- put my uber cards in there... and just about every shift I'm refilling it. I get a bunch of $5 referrals every week. Has long long ago paid for the first box and second box of 500 cards... 

...JaredJ -- didn't realize there was a cap on daily usage for the number of referrals that cn be credited to your account -- good to know. thanks.


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## ubercurious (Dec 24, 2014)

JaredJ said:


> Oh, padawan. ......cap on rider referrals per week, .... it's $300 for riders or 60 rider referrals per week...... Track driver referrals by the emails ..... Follow-up directly....


Thanks for insights Yoda i didnt know about caps 

Main thrust of OP was to
A) give new drivers some ideas on pitfalls of referral marketing for UBER (i.e. you are NOT promoting your business but theirs) and
B) even if you get a bunch of free Uber rides ... (as promoted by Uber shill) they wont pay your rent..or even equal the face value because of the Uber Dirty Tricks T&Cs

As I dont like over promoting/mass marketing to friends/associates I found the best form of referral was the "captive audience" I.E the First Time Rider in my car with no previous referral code ... "hey good news I am going to give you $20 off this ride" .... downside is I have no name/email address etc to track them


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## Don Oldenburg (Jul 17, 2015)

ubercurious said:


> As I dont like over promoting/mass marketing to friends/associates I found the best form of referral was the "captive audience" I.E the First Time Rider in my car with no previous referral code ... "hey good news I am going to give you $20 off this ride" .... downside is I have no name/email address etc to track them


And further downside -- the first ride code won't work if they are already in your car on their first ride.


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## ubercurious (Dec 24, 2014)

Don Oldenburg said:


> I'm not sure you have a full grasp of the referral system.
> 
> I have no idea if Uber is skimming off the number of referrals actually used or not. I do know though that the referral $$$ i've gotten is worth it
> 
> None of this makes sense as the FIRST TIME RIDER REFERRALS are ONLY good for the first ride. That means the code MUST be entered into the app BEFORE you request your FIRST ride.


Dear Don
Ya might want to try talking to your pax and trying the suggestion before telling me it doesnt work...it does... every new pax that entered the driver or rider code said "WOW Thanks!" ... what they were all hallucinating? So no the code only has to be entered before the END of the first trip... hence my post to ALERT drivers to the EASY way to get additional referral income....

You say you dont know if Uber is skimming your $5 commission or not ... that is the point of the OP ...my experience of having pax IN THE CAR tell me it is their first time - then getting a free ride creditted to their new account and showing me their Receipt being $0.00 ...when my app shows (say) $15.00 ... means it works.... but the number I gave away never equalled the comms in my pay.... Ergo Uber rips off a % of driver referrals
But... I did seem to get all or most Rider Referrals credited to my Wife's uber rider account .... Ergo : Uber doesnt **** with Rider referrals (as much)


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## ubercurious (Dec 24, 2014)

Don Oldenburg said:


> And further downside -- the first ride code won't work if they are already in your car on their first ride.


Really Don... and you know this how?

Are you ASSuming? .... or have you done as I have...... and actually put the theory into practice?


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## Don Oldenburg (Jul 17, 2015)

ubercurious said:


> Really Don... and you know this how?
> 
> Are you ASSuming? .... or have you done as I have...... and actually put the theory into practice?


What part are you questioning UberCurious and I'll quote the source.


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## Don Oldenburg (Jul 17, 2015)

ubercurious said:


> Dear Don
> Ya might want to try talking to your pax and trying the suggestion before telling me it doesnt work...it does... every new pax that entered the driver or rider code said "WOW Thanks!" ... what they were all hallucinating? So no the code only has to be entered before the END of the first trip... hence my post to ALERT drivers to the EASY way to get additional referral income....
> 
> You say you dont know if Uber is skimming your $5 commission or not ... that is the point of the OP ...my experience of having pax IN THE CAR tell me it is their first time - then getting a free ride creditted to their new account and showing me their Receipt being $0.00 ...when my app shows (say) $15.00 ... means it works.... but the number I gave away never equalled the comms in my pay.... Ergo Uber rips off a % of driver referrals
> But... I did seem to get all or most Rider Referrals credited to my Wife's uber rider account .... Ergo : Uber doesnt **** with Rider referrals (as much)


YOu have them wait around to show you their receipt that isn't generated until after you close out the fare and end rate them? How do you know it's on their receipt -- I doubt they are waiting around to show you it worked... that's just insane, and highly unlikely.

I said what I said because that is what UBER has posted in their help documents. "In order for the referral to be valid it must be entered into the app prior to requesting your first ride"

I call bullshit to your comments... Anyone else have a view?


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## Don Oldenburg (Jul 17, 2015)

ubercurious said:


> Really Don... and you know this how?
> 
> Are you ASSuming? .... or have you done as I have...... and actually put the theory into practice?


And since I have it handy.... Here is the UBER link to the policy!

http://palmsprings.ubermovement.com/refer-riders/


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## ubercurious (Dec 24, 2014)

Don Oldenburg said:


> YOu have them wait around to show you their receipt that isn't generated until after you close out the fare and end rate them? How do you know it's on their receipt -- I doubt they are waiting around to show you it worked... that's just insane, and highly unlikely.
> 
> I call bullshit to your comments... Anyone else have a view?


Dear Don, 
1) Please ensure brain is engaged before putting finger to keyboard.

2) Define insanity - oh yeah it's doing the same thing and expecting a different result - every tried doing something different Don ... something out of the box ... something ..I dunno radical ... maybe not believing everything you read and trying it out ...in real life... (PS But here's a tip: dont try being superman off your roof ... even if you are dressed like your avatar)

3) When new riders get I qualify them as being eligible ....then tell them they are *getting this ride for free* - hell yeah they stick around for a few minutes - mainly because they have no idea how to use the app or what is involved - so I provide an additional service ..and it's a Free (or mostly) Free Ride... and if there are two or more in the car and One or more doesnt have the APP ... guess what ... I give them my code and say "use this for the trip home" ... and I get the credit .....

Don, it kinda sounds like you have little to no idea of "Customer Service" and/or you are afraid to engage with your pax ...coz you just put cards in for them to take ...and have no idea who takes them or if they use them .... why not talk to them ?

Try it you might improve your rating ...???

Or..... you could just follow everything your Uber Overlords tell you and give them mints and water ... coz they have never been an Uber X driver ... but they did get an MBA in Economics ....so yeah give that a whirl genius -

I.e. Try it before criticising it .... you might just learn something if you open your mind to alternatives instead of ASSUMING they dont - a lot of people thought Capernicus was insane too ... but then they just assumed everything they thought they saw was true too ... obviously the Sun revolves around the Earth right .....the Earth is FLAT ....only a lunatic would suggest otherwise? .



Don Oldenburg said:


> And since I have it handy.... Here is the UBER link to the policy!
> 
> http://palmsprings.ubermovement.com/refer-riders/


Well whoop-de-****ing-do ... a "_policy_" .... so what you are saying in reply to my question above is :

"_No.... I *haven't** actually tried doing what you have done* and seen for myself with *REAL LIFE* experience what can/can't be done ... I have just *blindly followed the "policy" *and like every other piece of bullshit Uber spoon feeds me ... I believe them 100%....so no need for me to question their all powerful UberAuthority_"

So I bet you reckon you are better off with lower per mile/minute/minimum fares too....

Uber on ********....


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## Don Oldenburg (Jul 17, 2015)

You've made a TON of assumptions about me UberCurious (not to mention a ton of spelling errors)-- all of which are untrue. I didn't make any assumptions, I quoted what we are told, and I do have personal experience behind me as well "********" -- 

I have plenty of quality interaction between myself and the pax. I don't push referral cards in the car because I have both UBER and LYFT -- if I push referral cards, there is no convenient way to only push UBER and not LYFT or LYFT and NOT UBER. And, promoting other services -- ESPECIALLY the other rideshare companies *IS* groundss for immediate deactivation from both companies. At the beginning of my RideShare venture I received a very stern warning that a passenger indicated I was promoting LYFT when I was driving her for Uber. This wasn't the case at all. She saw I drove for both -- I have trade dress for both in my window as required by law. She asked which I liked better -- I told her the same as I tell the people here on the forum... I love them both, I hate them both. And she took a Lyft card from my holder. She indicated to Uber that I was pushing her to try Lyft. Which never happened. I've since put a dash cam in (for other reasons, but it works here also). And I stopped discussing the referral cards. If they ask I tell them, but I don't have a discussion about lyft vs uber.

My rating needs no help... as of right now it's 4.94 -- with over 700 rides. Average top drivers are at 4.88. 

As for my experience with the Referral cards. I've had people take the cards, different person in their group signs up and it won't accept the card. I get one or both of them again for a 2nd fare and they have told me the code doesn't work. They specifically told me they got a pop up message indicating a first ride credit needs to added prior to requesting their first ride. Perhaps, if what you're saying is true for you -- it's market related as so many aspects are. However, from my point of view -- it would be bad bad business to allow a paying customer taking their first ride to now be able to get that for free by entering the code mid-ride. The entire point of the first ride credit is to encourage NEW riders to TRY uber. These riders are already trying UBER. Why give them something for free when they are already willing to pay for it. That's just bad business all around.


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## ubercurious (Dec 24, 2014)

OK Don, I admit, on rereading my last post I spelled Copernicus with an A in stead of an O ... apart from that.... please... help me out coz I can't find this "TON" of spelling mistakes which you allude to .... ....?

BTW is that a metric Tonne or an imperial Ton? LoL

Don, if you re-read the original post and the original responses, you'll see that you keep missing the same simple question ("_Have you tried it?" ...*not *have you read/thought/speculated/hypothesised about it ..but have you *tried* it ?_ ) and just simply re-quoting "UBER POLICY" to me over and over again without actually saying you have tried it ....and disproved it.... doesn't mean it is... as you called it "Bullshit" ... you haven't backed up this assertion with any solid evidence..... only a link to Uber ...and your _perception _of why it wouldn't work in real life..not really a valid reason to call Bullshit or disprove what actually works in real life ....

As I said before ... *Try it* ... then come back and tell us if it works ....or not ...

You also "Assume" that what I have *done* (_not thought about, or speculated about, ... but yes... done on multiple occasions)_ is bad business practice ... for whom...?

*Uber?* - Yeah OK ..maybe it is probably not the most profitable thing for me to do for them - but seriously? .....who gives a flying **** about Uber losing $20 here or there when they make BILLIONS and screw every driver for as much as they can ... "_because they can_" . From a marketing perspective ....in the long run.... if the pax tells someone their Uber Driver showed them how to get their first ride Free and they then pass on that free code to 5 or 10 other NEW riders ... that is still delivering the desired outcome of the referral code ...is it not?
OR
*UberX Driver ?* - Bad Business practice for us ....? Not at all .. in fact it is a hell of a lot better "value add" to the pax than $0.01 mints or $0.25 water that all COME OUT OF the Driver's bottom line - this doesn't - and better yet you don't even have to spend money on Business Cards to promote UBER's business (not yours) ...



Don Oldenburg said:


> I get one or both of them again for a 2nd fare and they have told me the code doesn't work. They specifically told me they got a pop up message indicating a first ride credit needs to added prior to requesting their first ride.


Depends if they entered the code *BEFORE* the first ride is *completed* *!!*! .....

it is simple logic Don... the App can't determine it is their first ride until they have been *BILLED* for it ...

I.e.: what happens if they enter the code - request a ride and then CANCEL IT .....because they changed their mind - or caught a cab - or didn't like the look of their first driver etc .... ... does the Uber Policy also state that they will lose the credit even though they "requested" but haven't *COMPLETED* their first Uber Trip..I don't think so .. but then again I don't read Uber policy ???

I cant say for certain because I wasn't there when your repeat PAX entered the referral code you gave them .... but.... if they took the card *after* they rode with you ...i.e. *after* you _ended_ the first trip ....and if they then tried to enter the code on the same phone/same account on their 2nd/3rd Trip ... it *would* give them the pop up .... but maybe they have a localised cognitive impairment that precludes them from following simple steps....I dunno... maybe they bullshitted to you hoping to get another free ride .... who knows - some PAX lie...?

For anyone ELSE reading this .... just try it when you have a NEW (virgin) rider in the car that has NEVER used the UBER app before they got *this trip* *with you* ... i.e. you are the *first* person that has picked them up via the UBER App on their phone *and* they haven't shared a trip with someone else .....then get them to enter the referral code *BEFORE* you finish the ride ... not after ... not tomorrow ... not the next time they get you as their Uber Driver ... *NOW* ...ASAP and *before* you press journey completed ....

Then tell me it is only localised to Australia ...coz it works here ... and yes we spell words like localised the traditional way - without z's


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

My only question to Don - and I ask this sincerely - is this: You say you keep refilling your referral cards that are then taken by passengers. Who uses the codes? If your riders are giving them to other people like friends, why wouldn't they just give their own code to them?


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## Don Oldenburg (Jul 17, 2015)

JimS said:


> My only question to Don - and I ask this sincerely - is this: You say you keep refilling your referral cards that are then taken by passengers. Who uses the codes? If your riders are giving them to other people like friends, why wouldn't they just give their own code to them?


My guess is they don't know the system well enough for them to know they have their own refer code. Most of the riders with the accounts tell their friends to take a card -- so they clearly don't know they have them use THEIR code. And for all I know -- perhaps when they get out of the car they tell them -- don't use his card, use my number. I don't know honestly. But I do see quite a few referral $5's come through every week. So it's well worth it.


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