# They Asked why I haven't been driving lately



## jkoreklaw (Jan 27, 2016)

My reply:

Hello Melissa,
I wanted to thank you for reaching out.
I have previously emailed concerns that I have had with Uber & but would be happy to reiterate.
With the new rate decrease the only people that have benefited have been the customers and Uber. 
Drivers like myself have not seen any value in driving more, in adding more of our time/labor driving + the added wear and tear to our vehicles only to make less money.
While Uber makes the same exact amount in an exploitative manner the only ones that have taken the hit in the rate decrease have been us the drivers.
Uber benefits more as we are working non stop, Uber makes more in the continuous fees as customers are attracted to the lower rates. 
The customer benefits as they get a cheap ride. 
While on the other hand "Us" the drivers, the backbone of the company are being worked to the core and barely making anything and wasting our time giving away rides while making Uber a lot of money and not seeing a proper compensation for our time, effort, or wear and tear on our vehicles. It almost feels like slavery at this point!
Another thing is getting a call having to waste 10 minutes of wear and tear on my car and gas to give a rider a 5 min ride and only get $4 for my wasted efforts. I drive a hummer, it is not right.
When I first started driving with Uber the slogan that lured me in was "Make up to $30 an hour in driving with Uber!" $30 turned to $17 if I drive nonstop with the rate decrease and now with 2 feet of snow in dangerous conditions we can make a whopping $23 an hour?!?!?! 
Thanks but... NO THANKS!!! 
I see the class action lawsuits in California against Uber & I now can see why they have taken place.
I refuse to work for practically nothing and know of other drivers in the same situation.
Until this situation is corrected I will not be wasting my time and efforts in slaving for a company who is pimping out my services.
Uber needs to realize that it is just a glorified peer to peer GPS communication application and it is nothing without the drivers that it is continuing to exploit. 
I would have had more respect for Uber had it brought a significant % decrease on their own cut on the fares when lowering their rates. But instead Uber decided to further take money out of their drivers pockets. Drivers who resorted to driving for a greedy company putting their safety on the line and wasting their time and efforts. To try to get by in this messed up economy.
At this point flipping burgers is more lucrative in comparison to the waste of time that driving for Uber has been as of late.
Anyways, Again I appreciate you reaching out but I will not be driving for Uber until Uber gets its act together and looks out for its drivers financially rather than exploiting them as it has been as of late.
Regards


----------



## Hackenstein (Dec 16, 2014)

POW!


----------



## sicky (Dec 18, 2015)

Great letter jkoreklaw I am looking for a real job and will be sending them something similar when I find it. It's tough because I have a very specialized background in the oil industry and there are no jobs in field currently.

Please post their response when you get it. I am curious to see if they 1) read your letter or just give a cut and paste reply and 2) feed you lies that the cuts are temporary


----------



## jkoreklaw (Jan 27, 2016)

This was their reply:

Thanks you for sharing your concerns with us.

We understand that by accepting more trips, you may be driving further and longer. This extra mileage can increase your vehicle gas and maintenance costs. This is an important consideration for you. We're confident that you'll see an increase in earnings. Our guaranteed gross fares will remain in place while your city adjusts to price changes.

Our Momentum Partner Rewards program includes vehicle maintenance discounts. To learn more about how to save up to 15% on maintenance, visit the Rewards tab in your partner dashboard.

Please reach out anytime to let us know how things are going. Should there be any other concerns, don't hesitate to email us.

*Jeannett*
help Uber


----------



## jkoreklaw (Jan 27, 2016)

Then my response:

Again there is no benefit for the driver with the current state of things.
Thanks but NO THANKS!

Regards


I seriously can't believe their logic they truly are shameless!


----------



## sicky (Dec 18, 2015)

They aren't even claiming the price changes are temporary. You are correct, they are truly shameless. The line "We're confident that you'll see an increase in earnings" is utter BS and says that everything you wrote in your letter is untrue.

As for discounts on maintenance, I get better deals by clipping coupons in the newspaper. They are full of it, but just don't care.


----------



## Marlan P. (Oct 8, 2015)

They are paid to be puppits. Jkore...


----------



## Tony Montana (Feb 16, 2016)

Super nice letter jkoreklaw but I think you were overly polite with these people they don't deserve
thank you for sharing with us 

Travis I know you are reading this you still have a chance to reverse the damage that has already in place and you can't deny the obvious
According to my calculations you have about 10 months left until Uber's tipping point then will be too late for any reversal listen to your advisers 
Look at your shrinking recruit rates I hope that tells you what it means
you might go for IPO in about 4-5 months but that may not be enough to save your company 
You might be overly trusting your technology or your employees but your true soldiers are your drivers you called them partners but you don't treat them like partners 30 cents a mile in Detroit shame on you your days with Uber are numbered unless you make some drastic changes
But I am hopeful trusting your intelligence that you will do the right thing 

Without good fed soldiers all wars doom to fail


----------



## UberKW (Feb 3, 2016)

What I saw was a slight uptick in overall gross fares, but a large jump in the amount of miles I was putting on my vehicle.

I input all my Uber stats into a spreadsheet to see just how much money I am (or should I say "was") making. Prior to their most recent round of price cuts, I was making about $13.50/hour during non-surge times after Uber's cut and vehicle expenses. Vehicle expenses (gas, maintenance and depreciation) I pegged at $0.30/km which is very generous in Uber's favour! Realistically, it should probably be ten cents higher than that. Actually, Revenue Canada allows you to claim $0.54/km, but if I put that into my stats my wage would have been $5/hour. And that's before the price cuts! So I hope Revenue Canada is being very generous with that figure.

So $13.50/hour before the price cuts.

After the price cuts? *$7/hour*. I colour code the spreadsheet based on hourly wage (red=<$5/hour, orange=$5-$10, yellow=$10-$15, green=$15-$20, blue=>$20). Before the price cuts, it was rare to get any red or blue (w/o surge) on the spreadsheet...it was mostly yellow, with frequent orange and green. After the price cuts, it was almost exclusively reds and oranges, with the occasional yellows. Pretty obvious the price cuts didn't help me!

So whenever I get one of those ridiculous emails from Uber saying "We cut prices to drum up demand and it worked! Drivers are making more than ever!" all I can think of is giving them a giant middle finger.

Don't kid yourselves, Uber is aware they're screwing over drivers. And they're going to continue with their misleading emails to both drivers and riders because there's no repercussions to doing so.


----------



## MotownUberDriver (Mar 2, 2016)

jkoreklaw said:


> My reply:
> 
> Hello Melissa,
> I wanted to thank you for reaching out.
> ...


Good grief! How can any of you read this wall of text?

It is like an insult to my eyesight.


----------



## sicky (Dec 18, 2015)

MotownUberDriver said:


> Good grief! How can any of you read this wall of text?
> 
> It is like an insult to my eyesight.


I understood it. Our high schools are quite poor, but if you graduated you should also have the ability to read and understand it. If not, who cares, you are an uber driver!


----------



## MotownUberDriver (Mar 2, 2016)

sicky said:


> I understood it. Our high schools are quite poor, but if you graduated you should also have the ability to read and understand it. If not, who cares, you are an uber driver!


I could absolutely have read it. It's like I am overwhelmed by it, and just don't try.

I suppose I am a bit of a jerk, and have no real contribution. However, it's a pet peeve.

Edit: Hookd on fonics werked fer me!


----------



## sicky (Dec 18, 2015)

MotownUberDriver said:


> I could absolutely have read it. It's like I am overwhelmed by it, and just don't try.
> 
> I suppose I am a bit of a jerk, and have no real contribution. However, it's a pet peeve.
> 
> Edit: Hookd on fonics werked fer me!


Yeah I'm just giving you s**t because I understand the op's frustration. I gave up writing to uber a long time ago, but the more messages they get from pissed off drivers the better.

It's true that it's not worth writing a wall of text because csr's barely know English and won't read it. But hey, at least he tried!


----------



## BostonBarry (Aug 31, 2015)

They sent me that email last June when I started driving Lyft under a $1500/week guarantee for 4 weeks. My reply was that I was trying Lyft and would let them know how it goes. Never drove Uber as much after trying Lyft. This week I've told Uber to deactivate me after discovering they are reporting my 1099 incorrectly and were unwilling to explain ANYTHING to do with how they came to the figures they reported, I just got the "suggest you consult with a tax professional" over and over again. Three days and they still haven't deactivated me despite saying they would. Today I told them to deactivate me immediately or tomorrow I'll be online and giving every passenger a referral code for Lyft and a letter explaining how many active Uber drivers I've had to fail at Mentor Sessions for safety issues, how Uber is overcharging them, encouraging drivers to commit fraud, and lies about things like tips and earnings. I'm actually hoping they don't deactivate me. At this point I am looking forward to trashing them all day tomorrow.


----------



## naplestom75 (May 3, 2015)

Do you seriously drive Uberx in a hummer?


----------



## sicky (Dec 18, 2015)

naplestom75 said:


> Do you seriously drive Uberx in a hummer?


yeah, no offense OP, but that is pretty dumb. If you really want to drive for Uber, get a used vehicle with good mpg. you are losing money driving UberX with a hummer.


----------



## Clifford Chong (May 3, 2015)

I'm pretty sure they stopped reading after "rate decreases". Your response most likely fell on deaf ears after that.


----------



## Dannyyellowcab (Feb 3, 2016)

Who drives hummer for uber ??? Lol


----------



## Briani (Mar 10, 2016)

jkoreklaw said:


> My reply:
> 
> Hello Melissa,
> I wanted to thank you for reaching out.
> ...


Accurate and well written. And I am guessing no personalized response


----------



## DieselkW (Jul 21, 2015)

"Hi Melissa, thanks for your kind and considerate and 'personalized' email. It certainly deserves a response.

It costs me 60¢ a mile to drive my car.
Uber compensates me 53¢ a mile to drive my car and has the unmitigated gall to tell passengers NOT to tip me.

Any other questions?"


----------



## dpv (Oct 12, 2015)

jkoreklaw said:


> This was their reply:
> 
> Thanks you for sharing your concerns with us.
> 
> ...


That's the exact same script Uber replied to me the other day. Today after I read their new percentage that they will be taken off the top I have decided to no longer drive.


----------



## dpv (Oct 12, 2015)

Clifford Chong said:


> I'm pretty sure they stopped reading after "rate decreases". Your response most likely fell on deaf ears after that.


For UberX it's no longer 80/20 in the Phoenix Area. It's now 75/25. Thanks to the service fee increase.


----------



## Greguzzi (Jan 9, 2016)

DieselkW said:


> "Hi Melissa, thanks for your kind and considerate and 'personalized' email. It certainly deserves a response.
> 
> It costs me 60¢ a mile to drive my car.
> Uber compensates me 53¢ a mile to drive my car and has the unmitigated gall to tell passengers NOT to tip me.
> ...










That hits the trifecta that defines good writing: it's pithy, trenchant, and germane.


----------



## dpv (Oct 12, 2015)

I wrote to Uber and volunteered to get deactivated with a rating of 4.93. It's no longer worth driving with the fees.


----------

