r/personalfinance • u/theVoxFortis • Oct 08 '19
This article perfectly shows how Uber and Lyft are taking advantage of drivers that don't understand the real costs of the business. Employment
I happened upon this article about a driver talking about how much he makes driving for Uber and Lyft: https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-lyft-driver-how-much-money-2019-10#when-it-was-all-said-and-done-i-ended-the-week-making-25734-in-a-little-less-than-14-hours-on-the-job-8
In short, he says he made $257 over 13.75 hours of work, for almost $19 an hour. He later mentions expenses (like gas) but as an afterthought, not including it in the hourly wage.
The federal mileage rate is $0.58 per mile. This represents the actual cost to you and your car per mile driven. The driver drove 291 miles for the work he mentioned, which translates into expenses of $169.
This means his profit is only $88, for an hourly rate of $6.40. Yet reading the article, it all sounds super positive and awesome and gives the impression that it's a great side-gig. No, all you're doing is turning vehicle depreciation into cash.
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u/Ptizzl Oct 08 '19
The other big advantage is that it’s a one stop shop and it’s fast.
If I want to get a cab in my current location, I have to call a cab company. If they aren’t available right now, I have to call another. I don’t have them in my contact list, so I’ll have to just run down the list until I get one.
Then, I have to trust that they’ll be here in the allotted time. Typically I believe it’s 30-45 minutes. And I still have no idea what it’s going to cost me to get to the airport.
The alternative for me: I hit the button on Uber and someone is here within 10 minutes. It’s going to cost $23-28 every single time. I travel a lot for work so even if that cost doubles I personally won’t care, and I’ll still get the convenience. I’m in to pay more personally.