# Uber driver subscription fee vs. 20% + $1.00



## ABC123DEF (Jun 9, 2015)

Since Uber is a technology company and not a transportation provider, it might be nice if the individual driver paid a subscription fee on a sliding scale based on the dollar amount of generated fares. I would be willing to pay $50-100+ a month based on the number of rides given. This would truly allow drivers to be independent contractors and perhaps set up their own websites with particular options to set up a base of steady clientele. Uber could pass the regulations for drivers on to a local governing body who could do whatever checks necessary to keep drivers on the up and up. 

After 8 months of Ubering, it seems that *if* you gave $5,000 in rides for a month, you are giving $1,000 to Uber for the month plus the $1.00 per ride...plus gas, depreciation, car washes, maintenance, labor...etc. This might make too much sense and allow both Uber and the drivers to succeed.


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## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

Uber will raise the % taken from the driver.

"Because they can" said the CFO.


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## Smooth954 (Aug 25, 2014)

I been pushing this idea for months in NYC and it's getting great responses with the drivers but it will take a deal of capital to convert the clientele. You are wasting your time if you thing uber will change to a subscription based model it's too lucrative to charge per trip especially when your taking a cut from gross earnings. This will be on you to implement this model it can be scaled to include individual cities driver will be down for it so long as the client is there.


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## ABC123DEF (Jun 9, 2015)

Smooth954 said:


> I been pushing this idea for months in NYC and it's getting great responses with the drivers but it will take a deal of capital to convert the clientele. You are wasting your time if you thing uber will change to a subscription based model it's too lucrative to charge per trip especially when your taking a cut from gross earnings. This will be on you to implement this model it can be scaled to include individual cities driver will be down for it so long as the client is there.


Very interesting. Just out of curiosity, why would capital be needed to convert to the subscription method?


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## Smooth954 (Aug 25, 2014)

ABC123DEF well I feel the more drivers you can convert the more reliable your service will be. The best way of converting drivers would be the earning potential said drivers can achieve. That earning potential will come from the amount of rider request you would need to be generating on your platform. Uber being an household name how would you convince an customer to request a ride on your platform as opposed to uber? Well one way would be an incentive usually this incentive is in the form of a free ride of some sort Lyft came to NYC with 10 are more can't recall the exact number of free rides up to a certain amount 15$ I think again can't remember the exact amount. You can image of 1000 rides are done on your platform at 15$ you have to be able to float a 15k bill which is why I say you may need some capital. Spreading awareness you will also need capital to market this platform to bring awareness that it even exists. Uber is not going to switch to an subscription based platform as it is not as profitable as the current one even if drivers are falling deeper into debt. The CEO is a Randriod and we all now Ayn Rand have no compassion for the little guy as expressed in Atlas Shrugged and many of her messages and literatures. This is going to be up to us are a new company to implement this platform.


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## ABC123DEF (Jun 9, 2015)

I see...I think?


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## Christopher D (Jun 20, 2015)

I think that a per ride fee is logical, we are using their software and they are doing all the advertising. I do not agree with the commission based fee, Uber does no more work if I take a 5 minute ride or a 50 minute ride, however they take more money on the longer ride.


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## Smooth954 (Aug 25, 2014)

Christopher D said:


> I think that a per ride fee is logical, we are using their software and they are doing all the advertising. I do not agree with the commission based fee, Uber does no more work if I take a 5 minute ride or a 50 minute ride, however they take more money on the longer ride.


True so you would be opposed to paying a monthly fee like 200 a month but you keep all your profit? You pay 200 and you work commission fee for the whole month if you book 1200 week one you get payed the whole 1200 week two you do 750 you get 750 etc... In essence that 200 subscription would have paid for itself week one.

Even a lower commission would be better like 10%. The problem is uber is taking too much and keep lowering rates. Razor thin profit margins are even thinner now some people are one bad week away from a car repossession.


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## Christopher D (Jun 20, 2015)

Of course a simple monthly subscription makes sense for full time drivers. I don't think it's likely that Uber will ever change is commission system. What I described is a nice happy medium between what they are doing now and what you are describing, but what you are describing is best for Drivers and what they currently do is best for Uber.


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## Smooth954 (Aug 25, 2014)

Christopher D said:


> Of course a simple monthly subscription makes sense for full time drivers. I don't think it's likely that Uber will ever change is commission system. What I described is a nice happy medium between what they are doing now and what you are describing, but what you are describing is best for Drivers and what they currently do is best for Uber.


Right. We know uber have no intent are will they ever have any intent to change anything the post is was referring to the creation of a new app that would try to compete by catering to the drivers the idea would be happy drivers better service better product etc... The trick is getting enough drivers to commit during the building stages. Uber without driver currently would be an app that looks good but is pointless. Staring enough drivers away from them would force them to reevaluate the current course.


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## Williegee (Jun 23, 2015)

I have a full time job working as a Electrical Designer for a Fortune 500 Company. To supplement my income, I just started to work for Uber as a driver. So far, it's a love hate affair. Great concept, but ridiculous rules and extremely low pay for service render. The App need major improvement but Uber does not take feedback from their driver who are suppose to be Business Partner. The App only tells you the customer pickup address when it first alerts you, but not where the person is going(destination) until you arrive at their location. At 5pm, I had a pickup to go about 40 miles to a location that would take me over 2hours in heavy Friday summer rush hour. I refused when I got to the pickup site and I told the person to call another Uber driver, because I didn't want that headache after I leave 8 hours of my regular work. Naturally, the young lady was very upset and she rate me very low. Why is she allowed to rate me when I didn't provide any service to her? All I told her was the truth and how I felt about the trip in heavy traffic. If you check out Uber Ad to attract drivers, it states all this great stuff about freedom and flexibility; but in reality there none.


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## ABC123DEF (Jun 9, 2015)

We're only lowly driver minions in the field. What would we know about practicality?


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## CNJtrepreneur (Mar 25, 2015)

Williegee said:


> At 5pm, I had a pickup to go about 40 miles to a location that would take me over 2hours in heavy Friday summer rush hour. I refused when I got to the pickup site and I told the person to call another Uber driver, because I didn't want that headache after I leave 8 hours of my regular work. Naturally, the young lady was very upset and she rate me very low. Why is she allowed to rate me when I didn't provide any service to her? All I told her was the truth and how I felt about the trip in heavy traffic. If you check out Uber Ad to attract drivers, it states all this great stuff about freedom and flexibility; but in reality there none.


I personally no longer accept pick-ups that are more than 10-12 minutes away, UNLESS it's from a "no-nightlife area" in the middle of the night so there's a pretty high chance they're going to one of the major airports (based on my experience with my area so far - a ping at 3AM is most likely an airport ride, a ping at 11PM going be going to the bar around the corner). Once, I've gotten a ping from 37 minutes away. I just laughed at the screen.

Even then, before I drive out 12-15+ minutes, I would call the rider and say, "Hi, {name}, it's your Uber driver {my name}. Just wanted to let you know, I'm on my way, but it will take me 15-18 minutes to get there. Also, could you tell me where you're going?" Make it sound like it's a customer-service call, i.e. "don't worry, I'm coming, but not right this second", and find out their destination in advance. If they say something like, "I'm just going from the train station to my house, it's about 5 minutes", I usually tell them, hey, I would recommend cancelling and trying again, chances are there's another driver who's a lot closer.

Yes, I know Uber says you shouldn't do that. But, A.) it's actually good customer service - why make them wait for me for 15 minutes, when there could be someone else local who's going to drop off in a minute and rejoin the map? and B.) I'll be damned if I'm driving to pick up for 15 minutes, for a $5 fare.

As far as the ratings go, remember this - if THEY cancel, they do NOT get to rate you! Be polite, explain the situation, that you have no idea why the system gave you a ping from so far away, but it would serve THEM better if they cancel and re-check locally. Once they cancel and find another driver, they can't rate you, since the trip never happened - they can only rate the NEW driver. (Disclaimer: at least that's how it worked when I joined, unless they changed the rules).

Only once, did I come across a jackass who flat-out said he will not cancel, and will wait for me and "report me to Uber". I said I hope he's got a lot of patience, because I'm not driving 22 minutes out of my way, and I'm turning off the phone and getting some lunch. I kept the phone on, and eventually, after about 20 minutes, he finally cancelled. I still got a 5.0 rating for the day, because I waited this guy out. If I would have cancelled, that would be a 1* rating for sure, which would throw my whole day into the 4.7-4.8 area.


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## glados (May 23, 2015)

I agree!

They should charge a subscription fee of $20 per $100 worth of fares generated, and $1 per ride.

How does that sound?


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