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Every person Ive known that has tried it, didnt last long, said its not worth it and ended up making below minimum wage after expenses.
I dont think Uber, Lyft, etc will be around too much longer, what they created is a nice idea, but its not practical to do long term, you cannot ask people to work for so little and demand so much of them at the same time.
We already have cab companies, seems like Uber was just trying to re-invent the wheel to some degree.
What i dont understand, if enough Uber drivers got together and worked it out between themselves in a specific region, they wouldnt even need Uber, and they could make more money this way, its simply cutting the middle man, and then they would be individual LLCs, on their own, it would be their own ride service!
Location: Formerly Pleasanton Ca, now in Marietta Ga
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I had a friend do it and they killed 2 cars with all the mileage they put on and the maintanence put them in the negative. One car was sold because they couldn't afford to do the repairs and it was sold and they still came out upside down to pay the loan. The other car they gave to a mechanic when they couldn't afford to pay for the repairs.
It appears you make money until repairs and resale value come back to haunt you a few years down the road.
I hear more and more these people just are not making enough money for what they need to put out to do this work. Maybe in a small town where one does not sit in traffic like where I live, but it sounded like a great plan, but people are finding not the case.
It's not a full time job.
It's part time and all the uber drivers I talk to do it part time. The concept is ingenious and created millions of part time jobs overnight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobsell
They are researching the self-driving car. Profits from the drivers are paying for this.
In effect, the drivers are helping Uber and Lyft make the drivers themselves obsolete.
Considering self driving cars are still driving over humans at full speed, I'd say uber and lyft drivers aren't losing any sleep.
How many people let alone uber drivers are driving 75k miles a year? And if they are 5k in repairs probably should be expected no? Along with brakes, trans flush or possible replacement and on and on. That is unless you are exaggerating
Not many. I drive about 33,000 a year. I used to drive 45/50 and that was a lot of driving. The guy driving 75,000 would need to be in his car 24/7. Unless it’s a hot bunk kind of a car where it’s driven three shifts a day it’s going to be really hard to get that kind of mileage.
I can see a traveling salesman cranking that kind of mileage but not a rideshare driver.
Either way at 75k a year that cars resale value is the the dumpster, so better hope you’re just making it rain with the money and tips you’re making off ride-sharing. Which most likely you’re not.
I have never heard anyone say “man I’m raking IT IN” doing ride-shares. I don’t see how these people make enough money to support the overhead of doing it. And if they do make some money they sure aren’t raking it in.
Imo it was designed to be a you can pick up a person WHILE you’re on your way from point A to point B in YOUR own daily activities. Not being a taxi service which is what it basically is used as right now. The only people raking it n is Uber/Lyft. And once they figure out the autonomous vehicles all these drivers will be dropped like the crazy girlfriend
Another thing that makes Uber and Lyft not worth it:
They are researching the self-driving car. Profits from the drivers are paying for this.
In effect, the drivers are helping Uber and Lyft make the drivers themselves obsolete.
Oh come on, EVERY industry grows in efficiency by eliminating the need for paid humans wherever possible, and this is only done through spending on R&D. A company spending on R&D doesn't in itself make a job worth it or not worth it, it's only down to how much money you net. If $10/hour gross (or whatever it is) is worth it for you to have a job where you set your own hours, need very little skills/training, and basically sit in a comfortable climate controlled environment then it's worth it.
Software industry always has more and more coding that is done for you with so many available frameworks, these days I could get a website with a database, user accounts, admin features, etc. up and running in a day. That hasn't put a dent in demand for devs since expansion is outpacing automation, but the fact that more is automated didn't make the career not worth it.
How many people let alone uber drivers are driving 75k miles a year? And if they are 5k in repairs probably should be expected no? Along with brakes, trans flush or possible replacement and on and on. That is unless you are exaggerating
Battery replacement is very expensive. $5k would be the dealer price. Even a used one is expensive. If you put 150K on a hybrid even one only 2 years old battery replacement is possible. With the loss in value of a two year old car with such high mileage and repair costs you would have to be making really good money with Uber to offset all the expenses.
Another thing to look at is how many drivers are out there. I have read about the taxi situation in New York and Chicago. When you take the taxi's already on the road and multiply two or three times that number when you add uber and lyft drivers its a saturated market. There are not that many people needed a ride.
I am normally not for government regulation but when a city charges a fortune for these taxi medallions its assumed they are protecting the taxi market for these drivers and companies. Then they allow Uber and Lyft to come in and decimate the value of the medallions. Its like charging a high fee for a liquor license then letting others open up bars wherever they want unlicensed.
Every person Ive known that has tried it, didnt last long, said its not worth it and ended up making below minimum wage after expenses.
I dont think Uber, Lyft, etc will be around too much longer, what they created is a nice idea, but its not practical to do long term, you cannot ask people to work for so little and demand so much of them at the same time.
We already have cab companies, seems like Uber was just trying to re-invent the wheel to some degree.
What i dont understand, if enough Uber drivers got together and worked it out between themselves in a specific region, they wouldnt even need Uber, and they could make more money this way, its simply cutting the middle man, and then they would be individual LLCs, on their own, it would be their own ride service!
Uber will be around for a long time. They charge half or less what a cab does and are at your house in a few minutes.
What you don't understand is that without Uber how would they get customers? that's all Uber does is supply the customers that's all any of these gig economy jobs do find you customers and you pay them a share.
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