Who uses uber/lift ?

I could tell some stories of a couple of regulars who would order but never tip the driver LOL but I wont. I wouldn't wanna be eating it.

I do the same I always tip $5 or more depending. That's a nice tip for delivery driver.

And on busy nights when theyve got several deliveries in the car you can bet the known tippers get priority!!!

And yup I never would mind it when I've had customers give me change, easy to just cash it in when I get back to the store. Definitely better than getting nada.

 

Use them occasionally here in the states. It's a handy service when it's available.

In the Philippines I use Grab daily which is very similar when I am in bigger city's like Manila. Both for rides and for food. It's crazy cheap there and I don't have to have the stress if attempting to navigate the madness and congestion on their streets.

 

I use it. I've found their service in Oregon and Washington sucks. Everywhere else is pretty good.

 

I had a guy pick me up in a navigator before. I was curious as to how much he made off the fare because that thing couldn't have been easy on gas but I didn't want to be rude and ask. I always tip them too because I have heard it's a hard way to make money (dunno if that's true or not, just what I've heard).

 

I ran the numbers a while back. From a business standpoint it's not worth it. By the time you look at depreciation, repairs, maintenance, insurance, and a wage for you there isn't much if any profit.

 

Uber can be a life saver. Best way to get to a strip club.

 

I'd say it's closer to 80% that don't tip, why anyone would not tip the pizza delivery person is beyond me, I delivered pizza on/off for 15 yrs, when I worked at Pizza Hut, we had a huge house by house wall map, any home that didn't tip would get a red pin, after 3 pins, their order would get screwed with in some way. I can tell you from first hand knowledge, a well shaken can of soda will reach a 12' ceiling...…..

 

I drive for both..with lyft in my area I get 50 to 60% of the fare. Its a good way to make some extra money a few months at a time here and there. No way I would do it all the time because of the wear and tear on my car. I usually avoid late nights cause I dont want a bunch of drunks in my car. Depends on the area where u live. Big city drivers do ok..smaller areas like where I am not so much

 

Also I would add Lyft is presently offering more incentives for riders and has somewhat better pricing in a lot of areas.

 

It depends on the vehicle you drive, etc. My pickup only qualifies for the base platforms, I typically spend $55/week in gas, my cost per mile (insurance, depreciation, repairs, washes, upkeep, etc.) is currently at $.28 cpm. It was at $.20, but I've had a couple of really big suspension/brake expenses this year. My wife and I just did a refi, they made me do a P/L for the last 7 quarters. For 2019, in Qtr 1 I turned a $1,470 profit, in Qtr 2 I showed a loss of $657, in Qtr 3 I showed a profit of $326. In qtr 2, my insurance came do, I had to rebuild my front suspension, and I had a 100K scheduled maintenance. In quarter 3 I had rebuild my rear suspension, and I didn't work as many weekends. I know that in Qtr 4 it will be similar to Qtr 2, or larger as I just got my insurance renewal, I have to renew my plates, and I have another big scheduled repair at 115K, so about 3 week.

The last two weeks I've done $400 and $320 respectively for 13 hours each weekend. The weekend I did $400, averaged out to $33.33/hour, after expenses I made $24.60/hour. The weekend I did $320, before expenses I made $26.66/hr, after expenses, I made $19.16. In the case of the latter, it was partly my choice, and partly a screwed up weekend, all my rides were further apart, I had a lot more deadhead miles, then on Sunday morning I had 3 back to back crappy Uber riders and ended up signing off Uber early in the day. I generally work 2:30 am to 9:30 am, and take a breakfast about 5 am. Lyft is really busy in those early hours, Uber starts to get busy later in my shift.

One thing you will always hear older (length of time) drivers say, is how they used to make a lot of money. When I started we got 80% of the fare. I used to work Friday 5 pm to 3 am and Saturday 6 pm to 3 am. For a 20 hr weekend, I could make $550 to $600. Then they cut us to per mile/per minute. I know drivers who still do those overnight hours, the common comment, now it's $300 to $400 for those same 20 hours.

My best night ever, the week before Christmas 2017, we had a huge snow storm hit about 6:30 on Friday night, Lyft and Uber started to surge 7pm. By 8pm, Lyft had 350% prime time in downtown Denver, I took a ride that was normal $6.50, it paid $22.75. I worked 5 pm till 1 am, only reason I stopped then was my wiper broke and I couldn't see. In 8 hrs, well 7.5 since I took a half hour dinner, I made $400. Uber and Lyft started to surge at 7 pm on Friday and didn't stop till about Noon on Monday. On Saturday night, I worked 5 pm to 2 am, came home, grabbed 8 hours sleep and signed back in for another 6 hours. That weekend, I logged 22 hours, but made $960. The downside, I was in 4wd a good portion of the time too, and that killed my mileage, I spent $150 on gas.

Any more, it's simply a tax write off. The first year, 2015, when I did my taxes in 2016, I paid $90. In 2017, on 2016 earnings, I paid $180, in 2018 on 2017 earnings, it lowered my taxes by $290, in 2019 on 2018 taxes, it lowered my taxes $180.

I've got three friends who do this full time, but they have vehicles that allow them to qualify for every platform, plus allow them to get livery plates and operate as a standalone limo/blackcar service. One bought a '19 Escalade in Jan. 2019, his payment is $1,300/month. But, in addition to doing all of U/L platforms, he also has livery plates, and has a lease agreement with a regular limo company. He's averaging $10K per month of income, makes double and triple payments every month on the Caddy (he's a retired firefighter, his pension and savings are enough he could have paid cash for the Caddy, he's going to actually pay it off at the end of the year). During prom season, he rolls in the cash. One night he was booked for 2 couples, dropped them off for dinner, signed into Uber black, in the 2 hours they were at dinner, he made $400 off 3 rides. While the couples were at prom later, he signed into Uber and Lyft, he had 5 hours to kill and made another $350. The prom riders paid him $1050 for 8 hrs of booked time, and he double dipped. In roughly 9 hours, he made $1,800. Few weeks back, there was a series of storms across the plains that screwed up the airlines. His nephew manages one of the airport hotels. There were two couple flying back from Hawaii, because of the storms, their flights were grounded, they needed to get home. Nephew gave them his number, he charged them $1.45/mile with a pickup charge of $150, they tipped him $250 when he dropped them off in Wichita. He made $1,400, went through two tanks of gas, 14 hrs of driving.

Another friend has a Lincoln MKT, he's doing about $6,500 to $8,000 per month, his MKT is paid off, after expenses and taxes, he nets about $3K per month. The last one just bought a used Navigator, 2 yrs old, got a really good deal on it. He tracks his expenses meticulously, same thing, he qualifies for all platforms and has livery plates. He's averaging $1,400 per week, working 6 day, about 8 hrs per day. To truly be profitable at this, you need to have a vehicle that can qualify for more than one platform, you also need to be able to do some repairs yourself.