UberX Driver – Your Private Underpaid Driver
(Also see Craigslist Uber Scam #UberScam)
Potential UberX drivers, do not rely on what Uber tells you about how much you will make. The inflated figures Uber bandies about on Craigslist and in its PR about how much you might make are 1) inflated, and 2) before expenses. So you must discount what you make from Uber by 50% to account for Self Employment taxes (remember that you will be paying both the employee and the employer portion of these), fuel, depreciation, maintenance, and income taxes.
And after Uber has been in a city for a while, and after Uber runs its promotional discount during which drivers do not take a hit, Uber will unilaterally cut rates with little advance notice to drivers, and you will then make even less (and if you unwisely used Uber-arranged financing to buy a car, you are really stuck).
Even before your costs and deductions, Uber’s take is more like 25% of the “fare” charged to riders after Uber deducts the “Safe Rides Fee” ($1 per ride) and its 20%. Yet Uber shows the rider the top-line “fare” to the rider and to you as if that is what you earn. It’s not.
Uber’s “Safe Ride Fee” of $1 per ride is shown to the rider as part of the fare, but Uber shows the $1 fee separately when it pays drivers. So Uber makes, at the outset, $1 on every single trip. #UberLies
For example, a $6 “fare” will result in the driver being paid $6 – $1 Safe Rides Fee = $5 – (20%) $1.00 = $4.00. $4.00 / $6 = you making 67% of the “fare”. Uber’s take is more than 30%. (A $10 fare results in the driver being paid $7.20, which means Uber’s take is 28%, not 20%.) And if you think “fares” under $10 are unusual, especially after a rate cut, think again.
Uber gets so much positive press because it is allegedly “high-tech” and “innovative” and “disruptive”. But it is building its valuation on a very shaky foundation of grabbing market share by lowering rates and thus lowering driver quality and increasing driver churn. And many journalists who cover Uber have no clue about and are not interested in the misrepresentations of “income” that Uber uses to recruit drivers. After all, most journalists, like most UberX riders, love riding around for cheap, without wanting to know that UberX driver car equity is helping pay for that cheap ride.
Don’t believe us? Then read the stories linked below and listen to the Columbus, Ohio UberX driver who quit (YouTube at bottom). You have been warned.
See
– Some Uber drivers say company’s promise of big pay day doesn’t match reality, by Luz Lazo
– Uber’s EPIC blunder, on UberPeopel.net
– Beautiful Illusions: The Economics of UberX, by Justin Singer
– Ride-share service Uber drivers say pay is shrinking, by William D’Urso
– Driving in LA since the latest pay cut, on UberPeopel.net
– Uber’s Battle Against Its Drivers Continues, by Olivia Nuzzi
– What Uber Isn’t Telling uberX Drivers, by Nate BoroyanPS. Are you sure your auto insurance covers you? Are you sure your policy won’t be canceled if your agent finds out?
Uber as a company is very disrespectful of its (mostly brown and black male) drivers. After Uber runs it promotions discounting rates (especially UberX), and stressing that the drivers are not losing anything, at the end of the promo period Uber then announces to its riders that lower rates are here to stay, making the decision unilaterally and with only a few hours advance notice to UberX drivers. The new rate reduction DOES impact drivers as the entire rate reduction comes out of drivers’ pockets. (In some cities that have had recent rate cuts, some UberX drivers did not work the Labor Day weekend to protest those rate cuts.)
Uber has recently pulled this underhanded trick on UberX drivers in Boston, Washington DC, London, Los Angeles, NJ, Tampa, Fresno, and Seattle, among other cities. So, current and potential UberX drivers, be prepared to see Uber unilaterally cut your fares by 15% to 20% while letting riders know how great Uber is for cheap rates, and giving drivers little advance notice of the new “improved” 15% to 20% pay cut.
In response to Uber unilaterally lowering rates, many Uber drivers are now attempting to cause surge pricing.
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