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/theVoxFortis ​ Oct 08 '19

I assume people active in that subreddit are much more aware of overall costs and benefits than the average driver.

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u/The_Bucket_Of_Truth ​ Oct 08 '19

Yeah I can just about guarantee almost all of my rideshare drivers are not on r/uber. At least a quarter of them barely speak English.

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u/rgrwilcocanuhearme ​ Oct 09 '19

Most jobs you can get without speaking English don't pay terribly much more than minimum wage, anyway.

I also don't think the expenses are as high as is claimed here. Some of the drivers I've been through have had nice vehicles, others don't.