# Pay- Can it ever be good



## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

I always question how pay can get too high or even good.

Now, here, we are required to have a Uber Plate in the front window. I see all the drivers. Yesterday I saw an 83 year old woman driving a Chrysler 200 who looked like Betty White, two in the back and an Uber Plate in the window. I saw the dented up old Dodge Van. Uber. Old Corolla. Uber.

When pay was high (35 an hour) work got out. People quit McDonalds, Walmart, Construction. Every Marine drove here from 50 miles away to be Uber drivers when they were off. Housewives came 60 miles from a rural area in their 05 Impala. Uber.

Then we sat empty. Pay went down, less came, pay went up.

How can we make great money when everyone is an Uber Driver? No barriers to entry. No High School needed. No English is needed. No required hours are needed.

The only way is to go to the cab model. Limits on how many. Shifts ect


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

Low bar to entry, high driver availability, lower wait times for passengers, more money for Uber.

All of these factors are highly correlated. All of these factors additionally lower driver pay and keep costs lower for passengers.

I don’t know what to tell you besides pick a different market or start slashing your competitors’ tires. Taxis will never have as high demand again without further business model disruption.


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

waldowainthrop said:


> Low bar to entry, high driver availability, lower wait times for passengers, more money for Uber.
> 
> All of these factors are highly correlated. All of these factors additionally lower driver pay and keep costs lower for passengers.
> 
> I don't know what to tell you besides pick a different market or start slashing your competitors' tires. Taxis will never have as high demand again without further business model disruption.


I'm not complaining. Fear laws like AB5 which I fear will lead to limits on who can do it. Shifts. Unable to refuse rides or being sent to an area. 
Cabs here are owned by a few rich people. To get one on the good weekends, you must work 5 crappy week days.


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## Cold Fusion (Aug 28, 2019)

You need to 
_Manage Your Expectations _of
an Entry level No skill ground transportation gig


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## waldowainthrop (Oct 25, 2019)

I think you laid out the case well: pay is unlikely to ever go back up again. Why would it?

The only scenario I see changing the game is significant regulation (not AB5-style) that forces the market to pay drivers well while still allowing the companies to profit. The main labor issue in rideshare is driver pay. The working conditions are acceptable to a large number of people but the pay isn’t.


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

waldowainthrop said:


> I think you laid out the case well: pay is unlikely to ever go back up again. Why would it?
> 
> The only scenario I see changing the game is significant regulation (not AB5-style) that forces the market to pay drivers well while still allowing the companies to profit. The main labor issue in rideshare is driver pay. The working conditions are acceptable to a large number of people but the pay isn't.


Yea. I love it. Most of my time driving college girls to bars. (I am in a unique city/town)
But I still refuse to work when its not surging making 10 an hour. Fri Sat 6pm to 10:30 I can still get 20 an hour


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## Dekero (Sep 24, 2019)

Cold Fusion said:


> You need to
> _Manage Your Expectations _of
> an Entry level No skill ground transportation gig


And you need to coin a new mantra


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

To add to the above--Nobody is going to pay you 20 an hour to sit empty.
That is the problem I see.
Too many drivers= sitting empty.

Solution is??


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## 25rides7daysaweek (Nov 20, 2017)

I dont really ever complain about money
In Chicago theres a pretty good amount of rides and I can make $20 an hour for 13 hours a day. I work my ass off 7 days a week and make more money than I could for most other jobs I might get..
As far as getting more goes idk what that answer could be. Its probably not this though


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## Cold Fusion (Aug 28, 2019)

25rides7daysaweek said:


> I dont really ever complain about money
> In Chicago theres a pretty good amount of rides and I can make $20 an hour for 13 hours a day. I work my ass off 7 days a week and make more money than I could for most other jobs I might get..
> As far as getting more goes idk what that answer could be. Its probably not this though


Judging from the posting on the Chicago forum
you're the only person Not complaining

https://uberpeople.net/threads/no-rides.364046/
https://uberpeople.net/threads/awful-weekend.362700/https://uberpeople.net/threads/why-uber-drivers-are-doomed.362116/


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

Cold Fusion said:


> Judging from the posting on the Chicago forum
> you're the only person Not complaining
> 
> https://uberpeople.net/threads/no-rides.364046/
> https://uberpeople.net/threads/awful-weekend.362700/https://uberpeople.net/threads/why-uber-drivers-are-doomed.362116/


Everyone sees a different view from their own window. 
As a passenger I've spoken to some pretty dumb drivers. 
The girl who takes a request even when its 17 minutes away. 
I'm sure many here don't make what I make.


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## mch (Nov 22, 2018)

If tipping uber drivers was as standard as tipping bartenders it would level things out.


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

A bit...But like I said his people tell their friends they’re making 30 and hour we add to the ranks and we start to sit empty.
Catch 22


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## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

rates have gone back up...for the passangers...the rest of us are sucking hind tit


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

5☆OG said:


> rates have gone back up...for the passangers...the rest of us are sucking hind tit


I don't think it's fixable in any way that I would like it.
The only way I see is the taxi model. 
severe limits to who they allow out.
Shifts of 8 or 12 hours. Required area to work. No option to decline rides. A minimum wage of about 15 or 17 an hour including use of your car.


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## AngelAdams (Jan 21, 2019)

wallae said:


> I always question how pay can get too high or even good.
> 
> Now, here, we are required to have a Uber Plate in the front window. I see all the drivers. Yesterday I saw an 83 year old woman driving a Chrysler 200 who looked like Betty White, two in the back and an Uber Plate in the window. I saw the dented up old Dodge Van. Uber. Old Corolla. Uber.
> 
> ...


Naa, you're thinking of a traditional business model. Uber is by design a virus. It's goal is marketshare not profit or sustainability.


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

AngelAdams said:


> Naa, you're thinking of a traditional business model. Uber is by design a virus. It's goal is marketshare not profit or sustainability.


Most weekends I average 22 an hour starting at 6 pm and go in before the drunks at 10:30.

Seems every other Sun is good for 100 between 6 am and 11am.
That's fine for me. 
Good tax deduction too


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## 5☆OG (Jun 30, 2019)

wallae said:


> I don't think it's fixable in any way that I would like it.
> The only way I see is the taxi model.
> severe limits to who they allow out.
> Shifts of 8 or 12 hours. Required area to work. No option to decline rides. A minimum wage of about 15 or 17 an hour including use of your car.


the real question is,given that we all pretty much agree this job sucks and uber is satan reincarnate,why the F would we want to stay? you can have it im not interested in a future with this bs company...they have demonstrated that they have no concern for me,why would i think they would change just because they moved to some taxi model? forgettaboutit...


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

I replied above. It’s perfect for some.. like me. People who can only make so much ... early Social Security retirement or a disability. And most of the earnings don’t count because of the mileage deduction. Only report the net..if any. If you have a non-depreciating car you go away up


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

In my neck of the woods there are far to many people willing to work for $10 to 12 an hour. You can't fight that.


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

Disgusted Driver said:


> In my neck of the woods there are far to many people willing to work for $10 to 12 an hour. You can't fight that.


The strong move on.


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## AngelAdams (Jan 21, 2019)

wallae said:


> Most weekends I average 22 an hour starting at 6 pm and go in before the drunks at 10:30.
> 
> Seems every other Sun is good for 100 between 6 am and 11am.
> That's fine for me.
> Good tax deduction too


Focus on your net earnings. Gross doesn't mean jack in rideshare. Everyone's situation and expenses are different. What's your net?


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

wallae said:


> The strong move on.


That is correct, I drive many fewer hours and only when it looks like I have a shot at $30 gross an hour. My pay these days varies between $50 and $800 a week, fortunately i have a steady day job.


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

AngelAdams said:


> Focus on your net earnings. Gross doesn't mean jack in rideshare. Everyone's situation and expenses are different. What's your net?


On 22 about 19 or 20.
I work PT for a dealer only wholesale car auction. My last car 04 with 80k was bought for 2500. Sold 2500
gas 900 (2.10 a gal here) 4 gallons mobil 1 @22 walmart 4 filters 20 4 used tires 200. Deducted 3-4 times what I paid for the car.

Now have an 08 and expect the same. 27 MPG equals costs very low.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

wallae said:


> I always question how pay can get too high or even good.
> 
> Now, here, we are required to have a Uber Plate in the front window. I see all the drivers. Yesterday I saw an 83 year old woman driving a Chrysler 200 who looked like Betty White, two in the back and an Uber Plate in the window. I saw the dented up old Dodge Van. Uber. Old Corolla. Uber.
> 
> ...


If Uber discoveries it is " Good".
They will Remove it.


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

tohunt4me said:


> If Uber discoveries it is " Good".
> They will Remove it.


Then I will remove them. That's the advantage of not needing them. Already having a livable income


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## I_Like_Spam (May 10, 2015)

wallae said:


> The only way is to go to the cab model. Limits on how many. Shifts ect


That's not going to come back.

Uber and Lyft broke that business model forever. When the services were launched , they scoffed at the laws of the taxi commissions. New regulations would be scoffed at as well after the billions made by Uber and Lyft.


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

I_Like_Spam said:


> That's not going to come back.
> 
> Uber and Lyft broke that business model forever. When the services were launched , they scoffed at the laws of the taxi commissions. New regulations would be scoffed at as well after the billions made by Uber and Lyft.


I don't agree.


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## CTK (Feb 9, 2016)

wallae said:


> I always question how pay can get too high or even good.
> 
> Now, here, we are required to have a Uber Plate in the front window. I see all the drivers. Yesterday I saw an 83 year old woman driving a Chrysler 200 who looked like Betty White, two in the back and an Uber Plate in the window. I saw the dented up old Dodge Van. Uber. Old Corolla. Uber.
> 
> ...


1. How do you know she was 83?
2. When were we ever paid $35/hour?


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## Ubermcbc (Sep 25, 2016)

wallae said:


> I always question how pay can get too high or even good.
> 
> Now, here, we are required to have a Uber Plate in the front window. I see all the drivers. Yesterday I saw an 83 year old woman driving a Chrysler 200 who looked like Betty White, two in the back and an Uber Plate in the window. I saw the dented up old Dodge Van. Uber. Old Corolla. Uber.
> 
> ...


That's what they did in New York.
NYC has only 18k cabs allowed. Guber throw 150k drivers, the city start noticing more congestion, more pollution and less pay to the drivers. So they put the freeze on new hiring.

Dallas has 2k cabs allowed by the city and atleast 50-60k ridershare drivers available.


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## Don'tchasethesurge (Dec 27, 2016)

The only problem here are the drivers... just like uber eats... they lower payout to ridiculous low offer but guess what.... there are drivers who are still doing it low offers making below minimum wage. Uber is just being smart , dumb drivers are killing the gig


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## DexNex (Apr 18, 2015)

wallae said:


> I always question how pay can get too high or even good.
> 
> Now, here, we are required to have a Uber Plate in the front window. I see all the drivers. Yesterday I saw an 83 year old woman driving a Chrysler 200 who looked like Betty White, two in the back and an Uber Plate in the window. I saw the dented up old Dodge Van. Uber. Old Corolla. Uber.
> 
> ...


Even back then, 65% gone in six months and 95% in one year.


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

CTK said:


> 1. How do you know she was 83?
> 2. When were we ever paid $35/hour?


How do you know she was 83? She is my mother. I'm not going to support her.
When were we ever paid $35/hour? Last year


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

wallae said:


> I always question how pay can get too high or even good.
> 
> Now, here, we are required to have a Uber Plate in the front window. I see all the drivers. Yesterday I saw an 83 year old woman driving a Chrysler 200 who looked like Betty White, two in the back and an Uber Plate in the window. I saw the dented up old Dodge Van. Uber. Old Corolla. Uber.
> 
> ...


Here's an idea... Learn English, get a GED, go to trade school, become a welder or a construction worker and STOP being an Uber driver. The whole point of this job is that I don't want shifts. I don't drive for Uber to try and make more money than a construction worker. If you can succeed in making Uber driving a job as unpleasant as working at McDonald's but at wages just as good, I'll quit so you can earn that McDonald's style money with your McDonald's style shifts.


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

The pay used to be exceptional, now it's worse than driving a cab.

It could be good, but it's not thanks to the choices those companies made.


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

Trafficat said:


> Here's an idea... Learn English, get a GED, go to trade school, become a welder or a construction worker and STOP being an Uber driver. The whole point of this job is that I don't want shifts. I don't drive for Uber to try and make more money than a construction worker. If you can succeed in making Uber driving a job as unpleasant as working at McDonald's but at wages just as good, I'll quit so you can earn that McDonald's style money with your McDonald's style shifts.


Apparently you answered prior to reading on or just don't comprehend well. I've always said I'm happy with what I make, 22 an hour (though I was happier making 35) and I don't want shifts, a union or ab5.

I'm a retired vet and airline pilot, so I may have more education than you.... and collecting early social security I can only make a few bucks month. I only go out 12 hours a week. Hard to beat driving college girls to the bars. If I needed or wanted the money I would take them home too instead of going in when my screen turns bright red at 10:30.


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## nj9000 (Jun 6, 2019)

The pay varies, I'm a dumbass and tend to wake up too late and work during rush hour. Even then when I'm fighting traffic I average $15/hr before expenses (all numbers I quote are after Uber's cut). Some days it can be worse, bottoms out around $10/hr. If it goes well I do about $20/hr. Usually I'll work 5-6 hours and make about $90-$100 on a half tank of gas. That's like $15/hr. That's the same as what I made in my 1st job in my field just out of college, and they expected to hire me on @ 33,000/year and expect 50-60+ hour weeks out of me. Would've easily been $10/hr or less and beating on my car through rush hour every day.

Yesterday I worked 12 hours and made $295. That's nearly $25/hr. And I only had 1 surge for $5, and only 2 consecutive trip bonuses. So, I can improve. That also includes the 40 for $30 quest I finished tho. I drove about 360 miles which was 1 tank of gas in my car, filled up 10 gallons for $24. 36 mpg. That's with a turbocharged engine and a 6-speed manual trans.

From what I've seen, they offered good pay to begin with to attract a base of "employees" to get going and attract customers and provide good service, then dropped the pay to a "realistic" level. This isn't meant to be a gig where you make $4k/mo. Its meant to be like working pizza delivery where you actually control your own schedule. Every pizza delivery job I had was worse wear and tear on my car, rushing to get people their food while it was hot or else I'd get *****ed at and my tip would suffer. With uber I just drive slow (speed limit and slow acceleration) and try not to bend rims or wreck or anything.

I don't chase surge. I don't camp spots. Sometimes I might drive around aimlessly and take the risk on wasting gas. 

I accept just about every ping that comes up except for pool. Mostly I try to string rides together, 1 after another as fast as possible, in areas where I only travel less than a mile to pings. I also try to think about people's behavior patterns and anticipate where they'll be active, and also consider that sometimes RS drivers will over-saturate those areas. Sometimes more obscure areas pop with a lot of pings just because there aren't many drivers. Surge so far hasn't done much for me as too many drivers tend to be in the area. Rush hour has been surprisingly good sometimes as I think a lot of drivers avoid it and I can get ping after ping even if I spend some time in traffic.


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## SOLA-RAH (Dec 31, 2014)

Pay is still good, but only during the ~20 highest volume hours in a week (as it's always been). I've averaged $30-35/hr in a max of 20 hours/week going on seven years now. As the game constantly changes, you have to adjust your strategies accordingly. Most importantly, make as much as possible in as few miles possible while spending the least possible. You gotta drive when you know it'll surge, use up all your filters daily, hit the easy bonuses, and call it a day. It quickly drops to $20/hr driving 40, 50, 60+ hours weekly. Consistent $30+/hr part-time earnings are only available in the largest uber cities like DC, Boston, Houston, SF, and Seattle...large populations with high disposable incomes. Making $500/week in 16 hours is far more enjoyable than $1,000/wk in 50 hours.


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

SOLA-RAH said:


> Pay is still good, but only during the ~20 highest volume hours in a week (as it's always been). I've averaged $30-35/hr in a max of 20 hours/week going on seven years now. As the game constantly changes, you have to adjust your strategies accordingly. Most importantly, make as much as possible in as few miles possible while spending the least possible. You gotta drive when you know it'll surge, use up all your filters daily, hit the easy bonuses, and call it a day. It quickly drops to $20/hr driving 40, 50, 60+ hours weekly. Consistent $30+/hr part-time earnings are only available in the largest uber cities like DC, Boston, Houston, SF, and Seattle...large populations with high disposable incomes. Making $500/week in 16 hours is far more enjoyable than $1,000/wk in 50 hours.
> View attachment 382616


It is different everywhere..
Most I can do here on Fri and Sat 5-10pm (non holiday) is 22 without getting into taking drunks home.

On the low side, here, on weekdays you may only get 8 an hour. I won't do it. Just turning car equity into cash. Sadly some do, or pay would go up. Dara's not getting anyone.


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## wallae (Jun 11, 2018)

wallae said:


> On the low side, here, on weekdays you may only get 8 an hour. I won't do it. Just turning car equity into cash. Sadly some do, or pay would go up. Dara's not getting anyone.


Just want to add this is about the same as a cab driver here....maybe a bit more early Fri and Sat but they don't make jack either weekdays. Most of their money comes Fri and Sat nights, and the cab companies will not give you a cab those nights if you don't drive 5 week days (or nights) Unlike Uber, they don't let you just take the cream and leave the milk.


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