# Uber drivers should be paid for the distance they cover to pick up a passenger.



## GM-1 (Nov 27, 2016)

Hello Uber Policy makers,
1) I feel that all Uber drivers should be be paid for the distance they cover to pick up a passenger in every ride.
Now that is not being done. 
2) Plus each passenger should be charged a fine of $5 if they cancel a ride request after 5 mins from the time they submit a ride request. That $5 should be given to the driver. Many times Passengers behave like insane & cancel request just before the driver reaches to pick them. It is a loss for the driver.
3) Next there should be a filter setup for finding drivers who are willing to travel "out of state" & send "out of state " ride requests only to them .
4) The Uber app screen should display both the pick up address & drop off address on the app screen before the driver decides to accept a request .


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

1. Somewhat disagree, but if it is over 10 minutes drive I agree, maybe 15 minutes in some markets. It is a cost of doing business and you do get a tax deduction for that pickup.. But how will this look to a customer? Will they be willing to pay for a variable amount depending on how far away the driver is? How will the fare estimate work with that? It gets complicated.

2. They do get a cancellation fee after 5 minutes, I think it should be 2 minutes since that is the average time it takes me to get Nav going and change heading if needed. Not sure why Uber takes a percentage of the cancel fee, probably cause they can and do. But the full cancel fee $5 should go to the driver.

3. Agree with this, or long ride ability. I have asked for the driver to be able to add some meta data to their profile for that day on what they are capable of doing. Maybe toward the end of their drive time they would want to change to short trips only to avoid the 2 hour round trip to an airport when they are about done for the day. Earlier in the day or "shift" they would be all for longer trips.

4. Not gonna happen, too many drivers would cancel because of long pickup and short trip. It is kind of like a box of chocolates, never know what you are gonna get. - Forrest Gump. lol From my experience this isn't a big issue in normal and peak times, there are enough or so many requests that the drive to pickup is relatively close. As you get further from peak times when you may want to consider not going online, the probability of getting a long drive to pickup gets higher, less drivers out there to canvas the area.



GM-1 said:


> Hello Uber Policy makers,
> 1) I feel that all Uber drivers should be be paid for the distance they cover to pick up a passenger in every ride.
> Now that is not being done.
> 2) Plus each passenger should be charged a fine of $5 if they cancel a ride request after 5 mins from the time they submit a ride request. That $5 should be given to the driver. Many times Passengers behave like insane & cancel request just before the driver reaches to pick them. It is a loss for the driver.
> ...


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## ChortlingCrison (Mar 30, 2016)

I totally agree. I know this sounds pessimistic, but it's never going to happen.


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

GM-1 said:


> 1) I feel that all Uber drivers should be be paid for the distance they cover to pick up a passenger in every ride.
> Now that is not being done.


I am sorry but if you are driving 20 minutes to pick up a pax that is your fault for accepting the ping.

I think from a fairness perspective not giving you the destination pre pickup is only fair. Ensures a level playing field for drivers.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Thing is when the ping hits, sometimes it says 12 minutes and I get there in 7-8. 20 sometimes might be 12-14. It could be taking into account traffic. I always look at the address and time. Sometimes I'm like I can get there in half that time and take it even if it is 15 minutes or more.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

Remember, federal deductions provide 54 cents per mile for every mile you drive while driving for Uber _including dead miles between trips and back home when you're done._ If you take care of your deductions properly, you DO sort of get paid for every mile.


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## Truman (Nov 27, 2016)

You'll never get what's fair. Uber isn't interested in "fair" their interested in exploitation. And that's what you will continue to get.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> Remember, federal deductions provide 54 cents per mile for every mile you drive while driving for Uber _including dead miles between trips and back home when you're done._ If you take care of your deductions properly, you DO sort of get paid for every mile.


Yep and if I use my car for the company I work for I get directly reimbursed for the mileage via a check. Since it is your own business you take it as a deduction in revenue, because writing yourself a check for it is silly, you already have the money in your account. lol


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

jfinks said:


> Yep and if I use my car for the company I work for I get directly reimbursed for the mileage via a check. Since it is your own business you take it as a deduction in revenue, because writing yourself a check for it is silly, you already have the money in your account. lol


I don't know anything about writing yourself a check, but I do know I deduct all my miles as is allowed by the U.S. tax code, and it helps tremendously.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

You don't write yourself a check because it is a wash. However an accountant might funnel that .54 per mile into an account that you credit all gas and maintenance to.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

Driving and Driven said:


> Remember, federal deductions provide 54 cents per mile for every mile you drive while driving for Uber _including dead miles between trips and back home when you're done._ If you take care of your deductions properly, you DO sort of get paid for every mile.


Deduction is not equal to earning.
This way of reasoning is flawed.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

UberXTampa said:


> Deduction is not equal to earning.
> This way of reasoning is flawed.


Every cent you deduct is a cent you don't have to pay to taxes. You get to KEEP those cents. Does that make cents? Yes, it does.

It is not only important to make money. It is important to keep the money you make.

Just because you don't understand doesn't mean I'm wrong.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

"
1) I feel that all Uber drivers should be be paid for the distance they cover to pick up a passenger in every ride.
Now that is not being done. "

Add a universal service fee to each ride.
It should be a certain percantage on top of the fare.
All universal service charge money should then be used to compensate drivers for accepting long distance trips. It is unacceptable to have a driver pay for such long distance pickups. In my case, it would be 60% of the trips. I get so many long distance trip requests that, my acceptance rate is very low. In the 30%s!


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

Driving and Driven said:


> Every cent you deduct is a cent you don't have to pay to taxes. You get to KEEP those cents. Does that make cents? Yes, it does.
> 
> It is not only important to make money. It is important to keep the money you make.
> 
> Just because you don't understand doesn't mean I'm wrong.


Keeping money makes this job a hobby. My mileage deductions wipe away all my earnings for the last 2 years. I am not even close to 50% utilization rate in my Uber/Lyft work. How is that right? Pax need to compensate for miles to pick up so we can pay tax from it.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

UberXTampa said:


> "
> Keeping money makes this job a hobby.


Huh?



UberXTampa said:


> "
> My mileage deductions wipe away all my earnings for the last 2 years.


How do deductions wipe away ANY earnings? I'm not sure we are discussing the same thing.



UberXTampa said:


> "
> Pax need to compensate for miles to pick up so we can pay tax from it.


Well, like my pappy used ta say...hope in one hand and ***t in the other and see which one weighs more.

Good luck wit dat.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

UberXTampa said:


> Deduction is not equal to earning.
> This way of reasoning is flawed.


But it is: Say you drove 100 miles and made $100 net after fees. That 100 miles would pay you 54 dollars. So if you took the 54 dollars and pocketed it you would pay tax on the $46 that is left, lets say 30% tax, that is $13.8. If you instead deduct the $54 from $100 you would pay taxes on $46 which is 13.8$. 
You wouldn't pocket the $54, you would put it in an account to cover gas and car maintenance and eventually a down payment on a newer vehicle or possibly buy a newer vehicle out right.

I'm still thinking there has to be a way to deduct some or all of the Uber fees as Marketing costs. It is also a referral/booking service and if you employed someone to book rides that cost would cut down net revenue.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

jfinks said:


> But it is: Say you drove 100 miles and made $100 net after fees. That 100 miles would pay you 54 dollars. So if you took the 54 dollars and pocketed it you would pay tax on the $46 that is left, lets say 30% tax, that is $13.8. If you instead deduct the $54 from $100 you would pay taxes on $46 which is 13.8$.
> You wouldn't pocket the $54, you would put it in an account to cover gas and car maintenance and eventually a down payment on a newer vehicle or possibly buy a newer vehicle out right.
> 
> I'm still thinking there has to be a way to deduct some or all of the Uber fees as Marketing costs. It is also a referral/booking service and if you employed someone to book rides that cost would cut down net revenue.


So, I assume it is totally acceptable for you to respond to any and every trip request and especially the ones more than 20 minutes away at base rates.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

UberXTampa said:


> So, I assume it is totally acceptable for you to respond to any and every trip request and especially the ones more than 20 minutes away at base rates.


I accept every ping and I don't think I have ever received a 20 minute trip to go pick up a passenger. I don't know how you guys get those kind of pings.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

Driving and Driven said:


> Huh?
> 
> How do deductions wipe away ANY earnings? I'm not sure we are discussing the same thing.
> 
> ...


First 2 years of doing Uber/Lyft was not profitable after applying IRS standard deductions. I believe, if you have a business losing money 3 years in a row, from IRS perspective it is considered to be a hobby.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

jfinks said:


> But it is: Say you drove 100 miles and made $100 net after fees. That 100 miles would pay you 54 dollars. So if you took the 54 dollars and pocketed it you would pay tax on the $46 that is left, lets say 30% tax, that is $13.8. If you instead deduct the $54 from $100 you would pay taxes on $46 which is 13.8$.
> You wouldn't pocket the $54, you would put it in an account to cover gas and car maintenance and eventually a down payment on a newer vehicle or possibly buy a newer vehicle out right.
> 
> I'm still thinking there has to be a way to deduct some or all of the Uber fees as Marketing costs. It is also a referral/booking service and if you employed someone to book rides that cost would cut down net revenue.


This is an over complication of the situation at hand. Let me simplify things.

You drive a hundred miles for Uber.

1. You can not claim any miles and pay all your taxes. You have less money than when you started.

2. You can claim only your trip miles and pay _less _in taxes and keep _more_ of your money.

3. You can claim ALL of your legal deductions including car washes and monthly music subscription fees and new tires and dead miles and all that good stuff and pay even _less _in taxes and keep even _more _of your money.

The less you have to pay in taxes with legal deductions, the more you get to keep for yourself. This is not rocket science.


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> Every cent you deduct is a cent you don't have to pay to taxes. You get to KEEP those cents. Does that make cents? Yes, it does.
> 
> It is not only important to make money. It is important to keep the money you make.
> 
> Just because you don't understand doesn't mean I'm wrong.


You seem to think that deductions are 1 to 1 as a reduction of taxes paid and they are not.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

UberXTampa said:


> First 2 years of doing Uber/Lyft was not profitable after applying IRS standard deductions. I believe, if you have a business losing money 3 years in a row, from IRS perspective it is considered to be a hobby.


Well, then I don't know what to tell you. If you aren't literally making a profit after deductions, you probably shouldn't be driving for Uber.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

Driving and Driven said:


> Well, then I don't know what to tell you. If you aren't literally making a profit after deductions, you probably shouldn't be driving for Uber.


Each market is different. If I live at the edge of wilderness with very few Uber drivers and communities far away from me, what magical formula does anyone have to ensure service? We need a solution not a smart pass answer.

Edit: smart pants


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

uberdriverfornow said:


> You seem to think that deductions are 1 to 1 as a reduction of taxes paid and they are not.


Let's make an example.

You make $5,000 driving for Uber after fees and tolls.

You do the calculations and determine you have $3000 in deductions.

You only have to pay the taxes on remaining $2000 of income.

It's not a one to one ratio, but it is significant.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

UberXTampa said:


> Each market is different. If I live at the edge of wilderness with very few Uber drivers and communities far away from me, what magical formula does anyone have to ensure service? We need a solution not a smart pass answer.


It wasn't a smart pass answer. It was advice. If you took offense at it, that's just you.

I would sincerely find something steadier and more reliable as income in the area in which you live.


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> Let's make an example.
> 
> You make $5,000 driving for Uber after fees and tolls.
> 
> ...


Your exact words were "every cent deducted is a cent you don't have to pay" which is 100% incorrect.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

UberXTampa said:


> So, I assume it is totally acceptable for you to respond to any and every trip request and especially the ones more than 20 minutes away at base rates.


Answer is, it depends. I live way South Kansas City area. Sometimes I end up downtown or up north somewhere. If that 20 minute ping takes me back south then probably would jump on it. It really never happens though, it is usually around 7-15 minutes and that ends up being 5-10 after you get headed in the right direction. But even if it was 20 minutes, that could be 5-10 miles and I would essentially make up to $5 to drive up up there and I would also make $5 to take them 10 miles plus the base fare and time and mileage. So total is about $17.50 for about 30 minutes of actual work. $10 of that would be the actual fare minus any fees so $7.50, plus 20 miles at .54 a mile is 10.80 = about $18 Gas for that trip would be about $2. So net before maintenance is about $16. That projects to $32 per hour.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

uberdriverfornow said:


> Your exact words were "every cent deducted is a cent you don't have to pay" which is 100% incorrect.


Some is either correct or it's not. There aren't varying degrees.

I already admitted I was wrong in the way I worded it and I corrected myself in the example above.

Long story short: Know your legal deductions because you can save a lot of money.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> This is an over complication of the situation at hand. Let me simplify things.
> 
> You drive a hundred miles for Uber.
> 
> ...


That's dumb, then why would you keep track of mileage at all? You can claim all mileage driven while online.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

jfinks said:


> That's dumb, then why would you keep track of mileage at all? You can claim all mileage driven while online.


You just answered your own question. You have to keep track of mileage so you can deduct it.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> This is an over complication of the situation at hand. Let me simplify things.
> 
> 2. You can claim only your trip miles and pay _less _in taxes and keep _more_ of your money.
> 
> 3. You can claim ALL of your legal deductions including car washes and monthly music subscription fees and new tires and dead miles and all that good stuff and pay even _less _in taxes and keep even _more _of your money.


Then 2 and 3 contradict each other...


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

Driving and Driven said:


> Well, then I don't know what to tell you. If you aren't literally making a profit after deductions, you probably shouldn't be driving for Uber.


The problem is twofold:

1. How do you expand the service to everyone and even to riders at remote locations?
2. How do you compensate drivers when they respond to such requests?

Telephone companies have solved the puzzle. They have universal service fee and stuff like that. You need to load some of the costs to the customers using the service and not all of it to drivers. Telling drivers not to drive if they don't like it doesn't make the problem go away. Still other drivers will have the problem. Why not try to improve what we have ?


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

jfinks said:


> Then 2 and 3 contradict each other...


OMG. They don't contradict each other. There is an entire myriad of possibilities about how anyone can file their taxes for Uber. You can do it poorly and deduct less or you can do it smart and deduct more legal deductions and save money. Those were just examples.

They certainly don't contradict each other.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

UberXTampa said:


> The problem is twofold:
> 
> 1. How do you expand the service to everyone and even to riders at remote locations?
> 2. How do you compensate drivers when they respond to such requests?
> ...


That may be a way to go. Only the future will tell.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Part of the answer is for drivers to take every request as they come. If a driver rejects a 20mile pickup but would have accepted a ten mile pickup the loss is the difference between the 2, not 20 miles. Their loss is only 10 miles. And they get a mileage deduction for the the full 20.



UberXTampa said:


> The problem is twofold:
> 
> 1. How do you expand the service to everyone and even to riders at remote locations?
> 2. How do you compensate drivers when they respond to such requests?
> ...


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> OMG. They don't contradict each other. There is an entire myriad of possibilities about how anyone can file their taxes for Uber. You can do it poorly and deduct less or you can do it smart and deduct more legal deductions and save money. Those were just examples.
> 
> They certainly don't contradict each other.


You said you can deduct ONLY your trip miles. Then next said can also deduct dead miles. That means you can deduct all miles.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

jfinks said:


> Part of the answer is for drivers to take every request as they come. If a driver rejects a 20mile pickup but would have accepted a ten mile pickup the loss is the difference between the 2, not 20 miles. Their loss is only 10 miles. And they get a mileage deduction for the the full 20.


What? They get a mileage deduction for exactly what is driven. Each and every time. No more and no less.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> What? They get a mileage deduction for exactly what is driven. Each and every time. No more and no less.


That's what I said, "And they get a mileage deduction for the the full 20." This is regarding just the pickup, not the trip, which is the topic of this thread.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

jfinks said:


> You said you can deduct ONLY your trip miles. Then next said can also deduct dead miles. That means you can deduct all miles.


Those were three distinct possibilities, each separate from each other. They were different options.

Yes, it is POSSIBLE that there are people out there who only deduct their trip miles. THOSE people are losing money by not deducting all of their legal deductions.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

jfinks said:


> That's what I said, "And they get a mileage deduction for the the full 20." This is regarding just the pickup, not the trip, which is the topic of this thread.


How do they reject a trip with a twenty mile pickup and still deduct twenty miles for it?

It isn't the difference between a trip they accepted and one they didn't. They just deduct what they actually drive.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> Those were three distinct possibilities, each separate from each other. They were different options.
> 
> Yes, it is POSSIBLE that there are people out there who only deduct their trip miles. THOSE people are losing money by not deducting all of their legal deductions.


Yep, I think that is possible and why a lot are saying they are losing so much money. In reality I think they are just bad at business.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> How do they reject a trip with a twenty mile pickup and still deduct twenty miles for it?
> 
> It isn't the difference between a trip they accepted and one they didn't. They just deduct what they actually drive.


I'm talking about additional cost to pickup a pax 20 miles away vs someone that is 10 miles away. The difference between the 2 is 10 miles. So if they would have taken the ping for 10 miles but rejected the 20, the additional cost to pick up the pax 20 miles away is only 10 miles. There are some other opportunity cost things though, they could have had the opportunity to get a closer ping. That is an unknown.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Driving and Driven said:


> Remember, federal deductions provide 54 cents per mile for every mile you drive while driving for Uber _including dead miles between trips and back home when you're done._ If you take care of your deductions properly, you DO sort of get paid for every mile.


Bullshit. A deduction is not the same as getting PAID.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> Bullshit. A deduction is not the same as getting PAID.


It is good that Bullshit is not a banned word!


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

That's not what I said, I said "if" they reject a 20mile pax but if that same pax was 10 miles away they would have accepted it. Their loss is 10 miles, the extra it took to pick up the 20mile pax. And they would have gotten a $10.80 deduction for picking up the 20 mile pax. Basically saying it is stupid to reject a 20mile pax only on the premise that it is too far. Now there may be other reasons to reject. Could be a bad area that you know about, a grocery store run that everyone seems to hate, or maybe you just gotta poop and can't wait 20 miles.



Driving and Driven said:


> How do they reject a trip with a twenty mile pickup and still deduct twenty miles for it?
> 
> It isn't the difference between a trip they accepted and one they didn't. They just deduct what they actually drive.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> Bullshit. A deduction is not the same as getting PAID.


So don't deduct anything and see how much more tax you pay. It all affects the bank account whether you are getting paid or paying taxes.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> Bullshit. A deduction is not the same as getting PAID.


Then don't deduct your mileage on your taxes. See if I give a flying fruit bat.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Driving and Driven said:


> I accept every ping and I don't think I have ever received a 20 minute trip to go pick up a passenger. I don't know how you guys get those kind of pings.


Happens when your pax all learn to wait out surge. So you sit in the middle of the surge and get all the pings at no surge from outside the surge area.

Also, I get pings from my house to the local town center (sugar land) and they all say 7 minutes. It takes about 12 minutes from my house to get there, assuming not much traffic. With traffic it could take 20. Even in houston busy areas the eta is often much less than the actual drive time will be.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> Happens when your pax all learn to wait out surge. So you sit in the middle of the surge and get all the pings at no surge from outside the surge area.
> 
> Also, I get pings from my house to the local town center (sugar land) and they all say 7 minutes. It takes about 12 minutes from my house to get there, assuming not much traffic. With traffic it could take 20. Even in houston busy areas the eta is often much less than the actual drive time will be.


To each their own, but that is one more reason I don't chase surge.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

jfinks said:


> So don't deduct anything and see how much more tax you pay. It all affects the bank account whether you are getting paid or paying taxes.


I didn't say it didn't. But that's not the same as getting paid. Spending 30 cents (or whatever your car costs you) to get a 54 cent tax deduction is not the same as getting PAID. If it were, no one would care about dead miles.

If you have very low vehicle costs, and are in a high tax bracket and can offset other income you MIGHT come out ahead. But if you're in that situation you're doing this for fun anyway, as your time is worth more than most drivers.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Driving and Driven said:


> To each their own, but that is one more reason I don't chase surge.


Where did I say ANYTHING about chasing surge?


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> Where did I say ANYTHING about chasing surge?


You didn't. I did.

Chill out, Fuzzy.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Ya that is tough on the Surge part. One could say once it surges then it stays surged for 30 minutes or so. So the pax would have to wait 30 minutes. But how does that play into the surge x multiplier? Does it stay surged at 3x for 30 minutes once it got there so the pax would have to wait it out, Then tier down to 2x for another 30 minutes? You always have to think about the customer, and their options, and whether they use ride share at all or call a cab. At some point they'll call a cab as the surge cost approaches the cost of a cab. Ride share has the upper hand on billing though and probably lower cost even at 2x surge.



Fuzzyelvis said:


> Happens when your pax all learn to wait out surge. So you sit in the middle of the surge and get all the pings at no surge from outside the surge area.
> 
> Also, I get pings from my house to the local town center (sugar land) and they all say 7 minutes. It takes about 12 minutes from my house to get there, assuming not much traffic. With traffic it could take 20. Even in houston busy areas the eta is often much less than the actual drive time will be.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Driving and Driven said:


> This is an over complication of the situation at hand. Let me simplify things.
> 
> You drive a hundred miles for Uber.
> 
> ...


3 is wrong. You can't deduct new tires AND mileage.


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## Paolo Pierro (Jan 26, 2016)

I totaly agree .I want to add one more thing.When we arrived to pick up a rider we have to confirm arrival and it start to count down from 5:00 minutes


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> 3 is wrong. You can't deduct new tires AND mileage.


That's not what I said. I said you can claim it. But you are correct. They won't let you deduct it.

Two points to the dead cat.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

It's a tough one and they will never pay full mileage to pick up because the customer would be charged for that. It could determine if the pax chooses ride share, a cab, doesn't go anywhere at all or drives themselves if they can.

I can see some model that says over 10 miles to pickup and you get either a set cash amount or lower fees for that ride only. You serviced an outlying customer and could have had 2 closer pax during that time.

What screws the drivers most is that one driver that never takes that long distance pickup even if they were the closest and could have taken it.



Fuzzyelvis said:


> I didn't say it didn't. But that's not the same as getting paid. Spending 30 cents (or whatever your car costs you) to get a 54 cent tax deduction is not the same as getting PAID. If it were, no one would care about dead miles.
> 
> If you have very low vehicle costs, and are in a high tax bracket and can offset other income you MIGHT come out ahead. But if you're in that situation you're doing this for fun anyway, as your time is worth more than most drivers.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> 3 is wrong. You can't deduct new tires AND mileage.


Think you can deduct the percentage of business use even if claiming the standard mileage deduction. That is for tires only though.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

jfinks said:


> Think you can deduct the percentage of business use even if claiming the standard mileage deduction. That is for tires only though.


No. Fuzzy is correct. You can either deduct the tires and maintenance and oil changes and fuel and such...OR...you can deduct the 54 cents per mile. You just can't deduct both.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Paolo Pierro said:


> I totaly agree .I want to add one more thing.When we arrived to pick up a rider we have to confirm arrival and it start to count down from 5:00 minutes


Once rider is notified that is arrival confirmation. The next step is to start trip after passenger gets in.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Driving and Driven said:


> That's not what I said. I said you can claim it. But you are correct. They won't let you deduct it.
> 
> Two points to the dead cat.


Well you can CLAIM absolutely anything. But the way you wrote it implied it was deductible.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> No. Fuzzy is correct. You can either deduct the tires and maintenance and oil changes and fuel and such...OR...you can deduct the 54 cents per mile. You just can't deduct both.


Ya, looks like it. I was reading some deduction stuff and it listed a tire example separately. Actual expenses for a car used for personal and business would be very tedious to track.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

jfinks said:


> It's a tough one and they will never pay full mileage to pick up because the customer would be charged for that. It could determine if the pax chooses ride share, a cab, doesn't go anywhere at all or drives themselves if they can.
> 
> I can see some model that says over 10 miles to pickup and you get either a set cash amount or lower fees for that ride only. You serviced an outlying customer and could have had 2 closer pax during that time.
> 
> What screws the drivers most is that one driver that never takes that long distance pickup even if they were the closest and could have taken it.





jfinks said:


> What screws the drivers most is that one driver that never takes that long distance pickup even if they were the closest and could have taken it.


Yes. This. And the pax that always gets frustrated that drivers keep ignoring their requests because of distant pick ups.


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## OlDirtySapper (Jul 26, 2016)

Every driver in transport Indy wants paid to deadhead. People in he'll want ice water.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Can you imagine how many zig zag routes to pick up would be made if they were getting paid by the mile? No passenger to complain. Dead heading to pick up means the driver is going to get there the shortest fastest direct route.


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## GalinMcMahon (Jun 30, 2016)

We should also be paid for wait time. Even though we are just sitting there (or circling the block) doesn't mean we aren't working. Lyft does this and I've yet to hear a rider complaint. Yes, we should also get the whole cancel fee. We navigated, likely turned around, and drove 1-20 minutes...why should Uber get paid for doing nothing?



GM-1 said:


> Hello Uber Policy makers,
> 1) I feel that all Uber drivers should be be paid for the distance they cover to pick up a passenger in every ride.
> Now that is not being done.
> 2) Plus each passenger should be charged a fine of $5 if they cancel a ride request after 5 mins from the time they submit a ride request. That $5 should be given to the driver. Many times Passengers behave like insane & cancel request just before the driver reaches to pick them. It is a loss for the driver.
> ...


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## GalinMcMahon (Jun 30, 2016)

Well, kind of. That 54 cents we are using to buy gas and fix our cars somehow only comes out to 10 cents less owed in taxes. Not sure how we can operate a vehicle for 10 cents a mile (?)



Driving and Driven said:


> Every cent you deduct is a cent you don't have to pay to taxes. You get to KEEP those cents. Does that make cents? Yes, it does.
> 
> It is not only important to make money. It is important to keep the money you make.
> 
> Just because you don't understand doesn't mean I'm wrong.


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## Driving and Driven (Jul 4, 2016)

GalinMcMahon said:


> Well, kind of. That 54 cents we are using to buy gas and fix our cars somehow only comes out to 10 cents less owed in taxes. Not sure how we can operate a vehicle for 10 cents a mile (?)


Holy ***t, people. I am done trying to defend my post.

The whole point of my post is...you can claim ALL of your Uber-driving miles and not just the trip miles. What you DO with any tax savings is, of course, completely up to you.

I think we can all agree that claiming ALL of your miles and not just the trip miles is financially a better choice, right? Can we at least agree on that?


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## GalinMcMahon (Jun 30, 2016)

That is true. I count every mile that my app is turned on.


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## yojimboguy (Mar 2, 2016)

Shocking as it seems, Uber appears to be considering bonus payments for some kind for picking up pax a long way away, but only it the resulting ride is short. How long is long, how short is short? They don't say, but I received this email today, and I'm already promised an unspecified amount of extra money in my next paycheck. Here is the email in its entirety:

*Hi James,

We're checking in because we noticed some recent trips on your account where you traveled a long distance to pick up a passenger who took a short ride. We know these trips can be frustrating, so we've added a payment to your next statement.

Here's how we calculated the payment: In addition to your regular trip payment, we've added this payment to make up for the distance you travelled to your rider. So, if you traveled 6 miles to give a rider a 3 mile ride, you'll see a payment on your next statement for the 3 mile difference.

We'll keep looking for and adjusting these fares on your account, at least for the next 4 weeks. We're always looking for ways to help our drivers, and this is a new type of payment we're testing out. The feedback from riders has been very positive: they're thrilled that they can always count on Uber to get a ride, but some feedback from driver-partners about these trips have raised valid concerns we're digging into. We're dedicated to making Uber a platform where riders can find reliable transportation and drivers are happy with the money they can make. We'll keep you posted as we continue to roll out improvements to the driver experience.

Payments will become visible in the app each Tuesday for trips the prior week. We look forward to seeing you on the road!

All our best,
Uber Madison*


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## yojimboguy (Mar 2, 2016)

GalinMcMahon said:


> That is true. I count every mile that my app is turned on.


And my app is on before I leave my driveway.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

This method of driver compensation for long distance trip requests has been my idea and I have mentioned it more than a dozen times in this forum alone: if I know I will always be paid for the greater of the 2 (i.e. "distance to pick up" vs "pick up to drop off"), I will gladly accept 100% of all requests. This approach will make Uber universally available. I can respond to a request 35 minutes away knowing that if actual trip is 3 miles, I will be paid for the difference. 

Next saga: ants must stop flooding surge areas. Everyone must stay exactly where they are. Moving around will be wasting resources. Nobody pays you when you move around.


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## Redwood Elf (Nov 28, 2016)

jfinks said:


> But it is: Say you drove 100 miles and made $100 net after fees. That 100 miles would pay you 54 dollars. So if you took the 54 dollars and pocketed it you would pay tax on the $46 that is left, lets say 30% tax, that is $13.8. If you instead deduct the $54 from $100 you would pay taxes on $46 which is 13.8$.
> You wouldn't pocket the $54, you would put it in an account to cover gas and car maintenance and eventually a down payment on a newer vehicle or possibly buy a newer vehicle out right.
> 
> I'm still thinking there has to be a way to deduct some or all of the Uber fees as Marketing costs. It is also a referral/booking service and if you employed someone to book rides that cost would cut down net revenue.


To be more accurate, it doesn't "pay" you 54 dollars, it lets you keep 54 dollars that the government would otherwise pick out of your pocket at tax time.

To make an analogy, if you get mugged and the mugger lets you keep $20 out of the $100 that was in your wallet, he didn't pay you $20, he took $80.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

Imagine you are a brand new uber driver.
You just got your approval to drive.
While watching tv In your comfy living room, you turn on the app and wait anxiously for that hot chick to request a ride.
Sure enough from 25 minutes away you get a ride requests but it is a George and not a hot chick name.
Since you are new and you don't know better, you accept and drive 20 miles.
Just as you expect George to come out and ride, he decides to cancel at 4:50 minutes.
According to Uber policy, you don't get any cancellation fees if it happens within 5 minutes of arrival!
So, you get pissed and you say "F- this sh!t" and head back home for another 25 minutes and another 20 miles.
You decide to quit Uber and never drive again.

You made no money from your endeavor that you spent 1 hour of your life and 40 miles of your vehicle's life. Now, some people will argue that I made $0.54/mile per IRS rule. That is $0.54 * 40 = $21.60.
In reality, if i had another income, $21.6 of it is now tax exempt.

If I am in the 10% tax bracket, the IRS rule would allow me to not pay $2.16 of my income because I was able to expense it as mileage deduction.

However, if the trip completed and I drove a total of 40 miles and made exactly $21.60 after Uber cuts, I would pay $2.16 in extra taxes while keeping an additional income of $19.xx.

That's why, mileage deduction is just a deduction of dead miles and it is not the same as making money and paying taxes on it. It will be foolish to treat the mileage tax deduction the same as making the money for the miles driven.


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## optyman (Apr 23, 2015)

yojimboguy said:


> Shocking as it seems, Uber appears to be considering bonus payments for some kind for picking up pax a long way away, but only it the resulting ride is short. How long is long, how short is short? They don't say, but I received this email today, and I'm already promised an unspecified amount of extra money in my next paycheck. Here is the email in its entirety:
> 
> *Hi James,
> 
> ...


I received this same verbiage in today's statement when I saw a $1.33 "other" payment with a little "2" reference that took me to the link. See t.uber.com/trip_payment It too did surprise me. Guess they had too many drivers ignoring that 15+ minute request, only to gamble for a 3-mile ride. Man, it's been a while since I posted on this forum. I'm only driving one-tenth of what I used to. Too many frickin drivers, not enough surges, and the two work hand-in-hand, and too low of fares. Last Saturday, I had 9 fares (little over 3 hours), and not one was over $6 earnings, and only one was over $5, and four in the low $4's and the other four in the low $3's. Pathetic.


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Nice, I'll test it out. lol Where do I sign up?


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## gooberMike (May 21, 2016)

I haven't read any of this....but of course I will comment! LOL!!!

If not that, then if were 10 mins away, and stupidly accept the ping and then the idiot cancels right when were there....THATS WHEN WE NEED A RAISED CANCEL FEE.....INCLUDE DISTANCE!

Sorry for the shouting. OF course if other people said this....then I'm going back to baking my cookies.


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## kron (Nov 29, 2016)

I drove 9 miles to pick up a passenger who went 0.81 miles. I sent uber a message after seeing this post.


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

The problem is that uber is trying to serve areas that no one has any business trying to serve with a taxi service at way below taxi prices. There's a reason a lot of these small communities never had taxi service before, there's a reason that taxi services were only big in big cities, because the money simply wasn't there. The population density in the US is simply too low to have services nation wide, it's the same reason that public transit is so horrible in the US.

Take the densest part of NYC, it has population density of 50,000+ per SQUARE MILE. operating a for-hire business with a density this high is relativly easy. Now take the US's population density in total, it's 85 people per square mile.

57,000 Per square mile- good business
85 people per square mile (US collectivly)- bad business

It's not rocket science.
The lowest parts of the country it's as low as a few people per square mile. Some areas will just be terrible business in relations to others. If Uber wants drivers in some of these rural areas to actually thrive there needs to be a $25 minimum. In other areas a $2.00 minimum would be just fine.


The only way that this will work is if Uber is deeply subsidized. Right now it's the drivers subsidizing the passengers. With the distance some drivers have to go for such terrible rates that's what is happening.


At the end of the day... certain areas just arn't serviceable by ANYONE because there just isn't any price that's actually fair to the drivers that the customers will actually pay.


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## yojimboguy (Mar 2, 2016)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> The problem is that uber is trying to serve areas that no one has any business trying to serve with a taxi service at way below taxi prices. ...


This is very true. The northern edge of the Madison, WI Uber zone is Montello, which is 65 miles and more than an hour's drive from Madison. I drove a pax there from the airport, and on the way he asked me if I had any ideas on how he could get back. I contacted the local office which told me that there wasn't a driver within 30 miles, and there was about a 100% chance that no one would respond to a call from there.

So I made a private deal with the guy to pick him up at a certain time and get him back. And it was for comfortably more than Uber would pay me for the same drive.


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## Kos (Jul 31, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> I accept every ping and I don't think I have ever received a 20 minute trip to go pick up a passenger. I don't know how you guys get those kind of pings.


come drive in worcester and you will get ping up to 24 minutes and than you get only 3 dollar on that trip


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## kron (Nov 29, 2016)

They pretty much told me to f off.


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

kron said:


> They pretty much told me to f off.


Some people will wait 20+ for a 1/4 ride... it happens all the time... doesn't mean it's worth anyone's time to provide service.


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## NorCalPhil (Aug 19, 2016)

Here's a proposal. Take the distance covered to get to the pickup, compare it to the distance of the ride. Calculate the ride fare with the longer distance plus the time the pax is in the car.


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## GClarkage (Jun 8, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> Holy ***t, people. I am done trying to defend my post.
> 
> The whole point of my post is...you can claim ALL of your Uber-driving miles and not just the trip miles. What you DO with any tax savings is, of course, completely up to you.
> 
> I think we can all agree that claiming ALL of your miles and not just the trip miles is financially a better choice, right? Can we at least agree on that?


Agreed. This will be my first year filing, but I know you can deduct every mile start to finish. In you past filings, how much did it actually deduct in taxes? Say you would be paying approx. 30% before deductions...what did the deductions drop that down to...about 20% or even less? Just curious on how much I should be saving for year end.


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## shiftydrake (Dec 12, 2015)

GClarkage said:


> Agreed. This will be my first year filing, but I know you can deduct every mile start to finish. In you past filings, how much did it actually deduct in taxes? Say you would be paying approx. 30% before deductions...what did the deductions drop that down to...about 20% or even less? Just curious on how much I should be saving for year end.


Last year when I did my taxes for me and wife my "income" was negative $30k with ALL of my deductions...mileage..lease fee...commercial insurance every little thing I could claim I claimed.....so my negative $30k versus my wife's income and what she paid in we got close to $6k back as a refund


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## Bulls23 (Sep 4, 2015)

shiftydrake said:


> Last year when I did my taxes for me and wife my "income" was negative $30k with ALL of my deductions...mileage..lease fee...commercial insurance every little thing I could claim I claimed.....so my negative $30k versus my wife's income and what she paid in we got close to $6k back as a refund


I made a mistake last year when I only included miles reported by Uber/Lyft. Not gonna happen next year. So far my Uber income pretty much equals miles driven.


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## Who Me? (Dec 1, 2016)

Who Me? I decline to pick up any rider Ping that is more than 10 mins away. That's how I do my business.
I also HATE Downtown uberPOOL Pings just to go a few blocks.
CheapAss Riders!!


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## Who Me? (Dec 1, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> This is an over complication of the situation at hand. Let me simplify things.
> 
> You drive a hundred miles for Uber.
> 
> ...


You mean you can't claim the miles you "troll" for customers?
You have to stop and be stationary until your next Ping?
I understood if you drive around waiting for a Ping, it was all part of "doing business"


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## GClarkage (Jun 8, 2016)

shiftydrake said:


> Last year when I did my taxes for me and wife my "income" was negative $30k with ALL of my deductions...mileage..lease fee...commercial insurance every little thing I could claim I claimed.....so my negative $30k versus my wife's income and what she paid in we got close to $6k back as a refund


Nice. The last few years we usually have received a couple thousand back....looking forward to see the results this year.


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## Reversoul (Feb 8, 2016)

I never accept pings that exceed 12 minutes. 95% of the time those fares never end up being profitable. 

We've all driven 15+ minutes to pick up a pax and then it ends up being a minimum fare. It never works out. 

Same thing with deliveries. 

Best to let those ridiculously far away pings timeout. Travis doesn't care if we make money or not.


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

Who Me? said:


> You mean you can't claim the miles you "troll" for customers?
> You have to stop and be stationary until your next Ping?
> I understood if you drive around waiting for a Ping, it was all part of "doing business"


_ You can also deduct your mileage if you travel to visit customers or use your vehicle to run business-related errands_,

Visiting customer.. business related "errands" ... check and check...

I say it's good enough to play stupid...

Additionally if you have "Home office" you can deduct 100% of your miles.

Let's call my garage where i Vacuum my car, clean it, matain it... and STORE IT... as my home office... just pretend that Lawn mower is... self defense implement...

Voila... I have given 3 rational arguments for getting away with it.


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## yeahTHATuberGVL (Mar 18, 2016)

Shangsta said:


> I am sorry but if you are driving 20 minutes to pick up a pax that is your fault for accepting the ping.
> 
> I think from a fairness perspective not giving you the destination pre pickup is only fair. Ensures a level playing field for drivers.


There are some times when you're the only driver out, especially in smaller markets, so it's something that happens, and for pennies per mile, it wouldn't bankrupt Uber. Maybe they don't pay out against the mileage, but the time spent, and tack on a cancellation fee if you've driven the 5 minutes towards the pickup and the ride is cancelled.


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> I accept every ping and I don't think I have ever received a 20 minute trip to go pick up a passenger. I don't know how you guys get those kind of pings.


Different markets. Also when it surges in one place, drivers close ignore non surge pings making the ping go to drivers 15 to 20 minutes away


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

yeahTHATuberGVL said:


> There are some times when you're the only driver out, especially in smaller markets, so it's something that happens, and for pennies per mile, it wouldn't bankrupt Uber. Maybe they don't pay out against the mileage, but the time spent, and tack on a cancellation fee if you've driven the 5 minutes towards the pickup and the ride is cancelled.


Dont take the ping! its not your problem there arent other drivers. let someone else deal with it. You are running a business. Only take reasonable trips.


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## yeahTHATuberGVL (Mar 18, 2016)

Shangsta said:


> Dont take the ping! its not your problem there arent other drivers. let someone else deal with it. You are running a business. Only take reasonable trips.


In my area, those are few and usually end up being airport runs. I'll take the chance. If you're buying into the 'make your own hours' mantra, and accepting 80% or more, then it is what it is.


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

yeahTHATuberGVL said:


> In my area, those are few and usually end up being airport runs. I'll take the chance. If you're buying into the 'make your own hours' mantra, and accepting 80% or more, then it is what it is.


And that is your right but dont complain about driving a long way for a short trip when you chose to take the risk.


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## CaseyHome2 (Nov 29, 2016)

GM-1 said:


> Hello Uber Policy makers,
> 1) I feel that all Uber drivers should be be paid for the distance they cover to pick up a passenger in every ride.
> Now that is not being done.
> 2) Plus each passenger should be charged a fine of $5 if they cancel a ride request after 5 mins from the time they submit a ride request. That $5 should be given to the driver. Many times Passengers behave like insane & cancel request just before the driver reaches to pick them. It is a loss for the driver.
> ...


I agree with you for the most part on #1, but I would spin it a little different.. I think the Uber app should review the planned trip length., and compare that to the distance the driver has to drive to get to the PAX. If the distance to get to the PAX is shorter than the anticipated trip length, the app should warn the passenger that the minimum fee will include the trip mileage to get to the pickup rather than the actual trip distance.. give the option to the rider if he/she is willing to pay for that.. I wouldn't mind picking up someone 15 miles away, if I have some sort of a guarantee that I'll be paid at least 15 miles fare.. since I'm not allowed to see destination before accepting (your #4), at least this gives us the assurance that we'll get compensated regardless of trip length plus gives that decision to the PAX if they're willing to pay for it.. if they're not willing to pay for a 15 mile pickup trip to take them across the street to the hotel, then the PAX just doesn't accept it up front and we don't get the trip request to deal with.

I also completely agree with your #3 about long distance trips. The app should review the anticipated trip length and if the destination is outside the home territory boundaries, we should be compensated for the trip time to get back to the home territory where we're not forced to "dead heat" it back.. if rider is willing to pay for the fare back to home territory, and if driver is alerted or given the option up front if he's willing or not to take a long distance trip, it saves a lot of headaches and frustration on both the PAX as well as driver.. personally I would love to accept long distance trips, if given compensation to get back to home area where we can pickup a new fare, otherwise it's just a conversation that I have to have with PAX up front and decide whether they can tip me the cost to get back, or allow me to just keep clock running until back, or last resort we cancel trip (resulting in frustrated PAX, higher cancellation rate on driver, and wasted time on both parties)


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## jfinks (Nov 24, 2016)

Yep, it isn't the driver's fault they live out in the boonies. They just need to find a nice way to present this to the customer. Something like when it says "no drivers in your area" the app can say something like "would you be willing to pay a small fee to redirect a driver?". On the ping to the closest driver the screen could show the driver that there is a pickup fee due to distance.

The reality is, these problems weren't an issue when the per mile rate was higher. But when they cut the per mile rate from 1.60 or what ever it was to .8, then these distance things matter much more.



CaseyHome2 said:


> I agree with you for the most part on #1, but I would spin it a little different.. I think the Uber app should review the planned trip length., and compare that to the distance the driver has to drive to get to the PAX. If the distance to get to the PAX is shorter than the anticipated trip length, the app should warn the passenger that the minimum fee will include the trip mileage to get to the pickup rather than the actual trip distance.. give the option to the rider if he/she is willing to pay for that.. I wouldn't mind picking up someone 15 miles away, if I have some sort of a guarantee that I'll be paid at least 15 miles fare.. since I'm not allowed to see destination before accepting (your #4), at least this gives us the assurance that we'll get compensated regardless of trip length plus gives that decision to the PAX if they're willing to pay for it.. if they're not willing to pay for a 15 mile pickup trip to take them across the street to the hotel, then the PAX just doesn't accept it up front and we don't get the trip request to deal with.
> 
> I also completely agree with your #3 about long distance trips. The app should review the anticipated trip length and if the destination is outside the home territory boundaries, we should be compensated for the trip time to get back to the home territory where we're not forced to "dead heat" it back.. if rider is willing to pay for the fare back to home territory, and if driver is alerted or given the option up front if he's willing or not to take a long distance trip, it saves a lot of headaches and frustration on both the PAX as well as driver.. personally I would love to accept long distance trips, if given compensation to get back to home area where we can pickup a new fare, otherwise it's just a conversation that I have to have with PAX up front and decide whether they can tip me the cost to get back, or allow me to just keep clock running until back, or last resort we cancel trip (resulting in frustrated PAX, higher cancellation rate on driver, and wasted time on both parties)


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## tmlucia (Dec 8, 2016)

GM-1 said:


> Hello Uber Policy makers,
> 1) I feel that all Uber drivers should be be paid for the distance they cover to pick up a passenger in every ride.
> Now that is not being done.
> 2) Plus each passenger should be charged a fine of $5 if they cancel a ride request after 5 mins from the time they submit a ride request. That $5 should be given to the driver. Many times Passengers behave like insane & cancel request just before the driver reaches to pick them. It is a loss for the driver.
> ...


I agree! I got a call 30 minutes away and the fair was $4.00....so I got paid $4.00 for an over an hour trip - bogus! We should start getting paid the second we accept the trip!


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## gooberMike (May 21, 2016)

At least the closer get the higher the cancel fee


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## Kembolicous (May 31, 2016)

GM-1 said:


> Hello Uber Policy makers,
> 1) I feel that all Uber drivers should be be paid for the distance they cover to pick up a passenger in every ride.
> Now that is not being done.
> 2) Plus each passenger should be charged a fine of $5 if they cancel a ride request after 5 mins from the time they submit a ride request. That $5 should be given to the driver. Many times Passengers behave like insane & cancel request just before the driver reaches to pick them. It is a loss for the driver.
> ...


I would like to see long distance pick ups in Surge or Prime Time. The whole idea of surge, is because there are no drivers available, or enough available. Put that 10 mile run out to the burbs at 2:00 am at 200% and it would be a better deal than just a strait fare. If people want to live out in the boonies, why the hell should they receive city services, at the same rate as the person that actually lives in the city. I have done those 15 mile trips, just to take someone down the road for a $6 fare.


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

tmlucia said:


> I agree! I got a call 30 minutes away and the fair was $4.00....so I got paid $4.00 for an over an hour trip - bogus! We should start getting paid the second we accept the trip!


I am blown away you actually drove 30 minutes to a ping. Never drive desperate


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## tmlucia (Dec 8, 2016)

Shangsta said:


> I am blown away you actually drove 30 minutes to a ping. Never drive desperate


I got pinged 3 times in a row for the same call. It was during a snowstorm so I'm assuming there weren't many drivers out....I felt bad...plus, not accepting three pings will hurt my acceptance rate...


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

tmlucia said:


> I got pinged 3 times in a row for the same call. It was during a snowstorm so I'm assuming there weren't many drivers out....I felt bad...plus, not accepting three pings will hurt my acceptance rate...


I would have ignored all 3. Acceptance rate doesnt matter. They cant deactivate you for it.

You can either drive for charity or try to make money. The choice is yours


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## tmlucia (Dec 8, 2016)

Shangsta said:


> I would have ignored all 3. Acceptance rate doesnt matter. They cant deactivate you for it.
> 
> You can either drive for charity or try to make money. The choice is yours


I didn't know that! Thanks for the tip! I won't be making those long trips anymore!


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## Kembolicous (May 31, 2016)

tmlucia said:


> I didn't know that! Thanks for the tip! I won't be making those long trips anymore!


On Lyft, not sure if Uber works the same way, you can shut phone off, or go to airplane mode, before the. 15 seconds run out, and avoid that ping as going against stop your acceptance rate.


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

Shangsta said:


> I am blown away you actually drove 30 minutes to a ping. Never drive desperate


30 minutes is too far. The odds of them canceling is too high. $4 is too little to be going that far.


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## UberXTampa (Nov 20, 2014)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> 30 minutes is too far. The odds of them canceling is too high. $4 is too little to be going that far.


For that very reason, long distance trip requests need a special pay structure that guarantees a minimum fare that is dependent on the pick up time/distance. Surge can be gamed by pax and it cannot be used neither can it be trusted as a form of compensation. Many times a pax will attempt to cancel and re request trying to see if the surge multiplier is lower or if there is a driver nearby. Drive 30 to a surge fare and more than half the trips will be cancelled while you are still on your way.


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## Keith1987 (Jul 8, 2015)

Will u get deactivated for cancelling a trip? What does
It even do to your account by canceling ?


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

Keith1987 said:


> Will u get deactivated for cancelling a trip? What does
> It even do to your account by canceling ?


If you cancel too many you get deactivated


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

UberXTampa said:


> Drive 30 to a surge fare and more than half the trips will be cancelled while you are still on your way.


Any driver who drives 30 minutes to a pax is a fool. You simply wait for a closer ping


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## Lebowskii (Oct 27, 2016)

Driving and Driven said:


> I accept every ping and I don't think I have ever received a 20 minute trip to go pick up a passenger. I don't know how you guys get those kind of pings.


This is forum for uber all over the world obviously different markets have different trends


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