Uber

[Sam1000]

Pros: Your own boss. Your own schedule.

Cons: After its all said and done with taxes, costs, and depreciation, you’re not making much more than you would at a job like Dairy Queen

[bjsint]

I thought about doing it for a while. Every time I got in an uber i would ask the drivers about driving, how many hours they did, how much they made etc.

I quickly released that my area is over saturated and the online projections were generous.

Incentives have changed since then and I think pay has gotten better. Just speak to drivers in your area to get a good idea of viability.

[riverwed070707]

Looking for a way to pull in some side income to offset some major expenses I’ve incurred/have coming up. Was reading through these responses for some insight and it was funny to see I actually responded 3 years ago and how wrong I was about uber being location specific and in a gray area haha. SO popular now, and I myself use it a few times a month. Way cheaper than airport parking. Just got signed up to drive for Lyft, pending background check. I’ll post some updates on how much I make vs time spent in case anyone is curious in the future! In the meantime, I’d be interested to hear any updated experiences

[disneysteve]

Just got signed up to drive for Lyft, pending background check. I’ll post some updates on how much I make vs time spent in case anyone is curious in the future! In the meantime, I’d be interested to hear any updated experiences

One of my coworkers started doing Lyft a few months ago. He said it was okay but he stopped after a few weeks. He said no matter what he did, how nice he was, how much he helped people with their bags, or how pleasant their conversation was, he was having people give him negative ratings for no reason. If your car isn't in pristine condition, be prepared for negative marks. If you don't take the exact route that passengers expect, you'll get negative marks. If everything isn't exactly as they want it to be, you'll get negative marks. He finally said it just wasn't worth the hassle.

Personally, when I've used Uber (I've never used Lyft), I'm as laid back as can be. I don't particularly care what the car looks like as long as it doesn't smell bad. I don't care if the driver talks to me or not. As long as he comes promptly and takes me where I need to go and isn't on the phone while driving (I've had that happen more than once and I slammed them in my review), I'm happy.

[amastewa93]

I have some friends that drive for Uber and Lyft. However, the friends working these types of jobs and really making money are working for the companies like DoorDash and Postmates. In fact, some of the Uber drivers I know also work for one of the food delivery services as well. I'm not 100% sure how they get paid outside of tips, but my friend has been able to make an extra $1,000 a month or so just picking up and delivering food around his apartment.

[nadine_doa]

I was talking to someone whose ragtag family was given thirty days to leave the house they'd been renting for cheap. Owner died. There are six people in this family and none of them have verifiable income (as in, regular paychecks). The guy I spoke with drives for Uber, but landlords don't accept that as a source of income. The others work mostly for cash.

Driving for Uber full-time seems a dicey proposition. I wonder how many Uber drivers pay self-employment tax.

[disneysteve]

The guy I spoke with drives for Uber, but landlords don't accept that as a source of income.

That’s a good example of the establishment not keeping up with societal changes. Uber is well established at this point. I’m sure there are thousands of people who do it as their main or sole source of income. There’s no reason a landlord shouldn’t accept that. I bet they’d accept a cab driver.

Driving for Uber full-time seems a dicey proposition.

Dicey in what way?

[amastewa93]

That’s a good example of the establishment not keeping up with societal changes. Uber is well established at this point. I’m sure there are thousands of people who do it as their main or sole source of income. There’s no reason a landlord shouldn’t accept that. I bet they’d accept a cab driver.

You are absolutely right! I know plenty of folks who use it as their primary source of income. In fact, I know a few people in retirement that use it to supplement their income as well. Uber is established enough to be recognized as an employer.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I can attest that more than a few people use it as their primary source of income. But I wonder if it's worth it. Seeing that most have to trade to a prius. But I guess flexibility is important and usually they are starting a business or something else as a "job" they want but drive uber to pay the bills.

[disneysteve]

Seeing that most have to trade to a prius.

What do you mean by this? A lot of people do need to upgrade their cars to drive for Uber. Is that what you were referring to? Obviously, you don't need a Prius or any other specific model. I was just saying yesterday that I couldn't drive for Uber with my current care because it doesn't meet their guidelines, but if I was going to start driving for them on a regular basis, I wouldn't mind replacing my car as a business expense.

[OldJew11]

I know that you don't earn a lot of

[amarowsky]

Lyft has a cool incentive deal for those who want to do a little more than "dip their toe in". The basic stipulation is you have to be active for at least 30 hours a week. And Lyft will guarentee you at least $2000 of pay for that time available. (there is some stipulations that you must be active during some week & weekend times).

In Detroit area, Lyft seems to be overtaking Uber as the dominant ride sharing for drivers. I think i remember the driver cut being like 80% for Uber and 85% for Lyft. Plus lyft offers more incentives for the driver.

I really am curious to apply and just test it out on a few saturday & sunday mornings. I figure getting hung over people to their cars should mitigate any negative "drunk person exposure" and give me a decent test of what non-surge income v.s. operating costs would be.

Also in detroit we have no/very little public transport into downtown. So surge prices on game days, events, and concerts can get crazy high. I know we have spent like $80 to go as little as 20 miles on hyper demand days or rainy days. It may be worth it alone, to wait for an opening day or saint patricks day, and only offer to drive people TO the party (@ surge rates) instead of driving them home sloshed and volatile.

[amarowsky]

You cant take his word for gospel. But a seemingly honest and genuine lyft driver told me he can make about $1500 - $1700 a week. But he admitted, this is if he hits most/all of his incentives which requires like 80 hours a week of work (he was driving a hybrid sedan).

It would be relieving to know, that if one fell into a career pinch, and needed some income on their time & their hours. That they may be able to potentiallly generate ~$1,600 * 52 = ~$83,200.

I think the top incentives are like 320 rides a month. If you assume each ride is about 12 months * 320 trips per month * 10 miles avg trip = 38,400 miles @ $3 per gallon *25 mpg, the gas cost would be like $0.12 per mile. So accepting these assumptions, yearly gas would be $4,608 (or $400 a month).

Even at double the gas cost, it still seems to be a pretty big positive. It's not career money @ typical work loads (lyft exponentially pays more money for the more time you give to them). But it can definitly help keep a person of family afloat in a pinch, or even allow to generate some suplus money should u give them the time.

Lyft Prices in Detroit:
Initial cost: $1
Service fee: $2.90
Price per minute: $0.15
Price per mile: $1
Minimum fare: $4

Overall: I'll eventually test it out and report my findings. I love the idea still. And they're very efficient and useful. I think it's a good program and an acceptable side money alternative, considering you have almost complete control of your hours and workload. It's hard to put a dollar sign on that. And even it it only pays "Dairy queen wages", when u control when you clock in / out, that is a level of control worth the difference in wages.

Also who knows.... You could be super friendly and provide the right service to the right person, and possibly receive a TIP that is worth a small fortune! I heard plenty of server/bartender stories that blow my mind when they receive a tip >$500. A friend of mine drove a person from Traverse City to Detroit via lyft, I think the fare was $230 ish for 4 hour drive. If I recall, I think she gave him like a $40 or $50 tip, which paid for all of the gas for the long trip plus surplus.

I do think this will be a short lived trend though. Autonomous drive is around the corner. So Lyft & Uber will probably jettison drivers in the not to distant future. My job is sales for an engineering company, and my products are all AD parts for cars (sonar, cameras, radar, lidar, v2x, etc...). And this stuff is going to be here, before we know it. Completely my speculation, but I think maybe we will be ALLOWED to drive as lyft or uber driver for maybe another 5 years? Possibe total cutoff @ 10 years? I think thats a safe general estimate.

[scfr]

Before anyone starts rideshare or delivery work, they may want to investigate their insurance coverage (auto and, if you have it, umbrella).