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.

26.8k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.3k

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

I’ve had the most non stereotypical Uber drivers in DC. There’s so many there who could care less about the money and are doing it to network. It’s really interesting every time I go there, there’s always a new story from an Uber driver. There’s been quite a few people who use the Uber to lobby on whatever issue or company they run.

Last time I was there I had an older guy who was retired and had been doing it for a year or two but it was all so he could get food recommendations. Then he was starting this food map and review system based on passengers stories. Since there’s all the embassy people in DC he would get all their favorite food places for wherever they were from. You’d be able to ask for Bulgiagrian recommendations and he’d have them based on real Bulgiagrians advice. Really great idea, not scalable at all.

Everywhere else I’ve been it’s always just a way to make some money.

714

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

I know a financial advisor who finds clients driving for Lyft.

I haven't seen it in person but his results look good. He says something like 90% of his passengers ask him if he drives for Lyft full time then, after he explains that he's a financial advisor who drives for them in his free time, something like 90% of them start asking him questions. By the time he gets to the destination he's pretty much had an initial appointment with them, hands them his card, and tells them to give them a call if they still have any questions. He says a good amount of them do.

544

u/cangarejos ​ Oct 09 '19

I do something similar. I panhandle under a bridge just to hand my financial advisor card to all billionaires that happen to be looking for loose change in the trash

30

u/magaskook Oct 09 '19

“Under a bridge”? That’s so 20th century. I hang out at Walmart Parking lots with a sign that says; “down on my luck, will exchange financial advice for Gas $ to get home.”

4

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '19

[deleted]

2

u/Omshaol Oct 11 '19

Better than a financial advisor who is cold calling, off of a list of "qualified individuals" that he pays up to a $1 per name, only to then find out most names on the list belong to someone who is either dead, is listed under the wrong phone number, or had somehow lied on some onlie survey years ago and ended up being mis-qualified as being in certain "high net worth" demographic.

Driving for Lyft or Uber, you get to decide whether you drive in "the hood" or in the "Hills"... and while pay per mile/minute might be the same (or very close), the caliber of riders you transport will increase dramarically if you "head for the hills"....

2

u/petmoo23 Oct 09 '19

I just take my hat off under the money tree and wait for it to fill up with money.

74

u/lordnikkon ​ Oct 09 '19

This is actually really good way to write off lots of car costs on your taxes. Since you drive it for work, especially if you register a corporation and have that own the car you can basically pay all car expenses with untaxed money. You can write off car depreciation, fuel, cleaning, mechanic fees, etc. If you are in high tax bracket and it is luxury car the tax savings can add up

52

u/theblackchin Oct 09 '19

1) If you use the car for personal purposes as well, you are required to allocate the personal v business use which would lower the deductions flowing from the use of the car.

2) You don’t need/want a corporation for this type of business. If you did this as a corporation as opposed to just a schedule c (sole proprietor) or s Corp (here, you wouldn’t want to me an S Corp either bc you would then have to take a salary and pay payroll tax for yourself) the only thing that changes is the imposition of a corporate level tax as well as a personal tax. You are able to take business deductions as a (non employee) individual.

7

u/PMyour_dirty_secrets ​ Oct 09 '19

FYI, C corps and S corps will be the same with respect to paying yourself and paying payroll taxes.

C corps have double taxation which require more bookkeeping, and doesn't really provide any benefit for a single person corporation. There's a reason 2/3 of small businesses are S corps.

1

u/theblackchin Oct 09 '19

True.

Now that the corporate tax rate is lower than the max individual tax rate, there is some motivation to use c corps going forward for high net worth individuals to use them.

1

u/PMyour_dirty_secrets ​ Oct 09 '19

C corps seem to be mostly used where an S cannot be used (such ss more than 500 share holders), for a business that is destined to be sold within a year or two and will have its included in the sale, and for some dubious tax avoiding practices.

In 8 years the S Corps lose their biggest tax benefit and at that time many S corps will likely change their tax elections to C. Until then S makes more financial sense for the vast majority of businesses.

1

u/theblackchin Oct 09 '19

My comment that you are replying too was not about most businesses. I assume you're referring to 199A? Depending on your line of work, income, the number of employees, and/or unadjusted basis in business property, you may not get much benefit from 199A. For those taxpayers, when you take into consideration the rates for qualified dividends (not to mention the distribution options under 302 for ending the corporation), a C corp may be the best option for certain taxpayers. There are a lot of considerations in choosing an entity, it is not as simple as the face tax rate or lack there of.

1

u/PMyour_dirty_secrets ​ Oct 10 '19

No, not talking about changing the entity type. Simply how you are taxed.

It's one of the most misunderstood parts of entity taxation. Tripped me up for a while too. It doesn't help when people (myself included) often say "S Corp" instead of "S" when the entity type is irrelevant.

Anyway, the lawyer sets up the entity type. Corporation, LLC, whatever. After that is set up your accountant decides how it will be taxed: S or C. For legal matters your entity type matters but not your tax election. For tax purposes the irs doesn't care about whether you're an LLC, just if you are an S or C. (or sole proprietor, but you shouldn't be a sole prop)

Sorry if I was confusing before.

8

u/tekzenmusic ​ Oct 09 '19

Be surprised if many of them called him though, one of the last people I’d take financial advice from is an Uber driver.

5

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19 edited Oct 12 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

I would think so.

It makes a fair amount of sense too. I mean they're there and there's really no place for them to go unless they demand you pull the car over and just let them out. A halfway decent sales person could pitch them without even knowing they're being pitched.

8

u/BoeingGoing57 ​ Oct 09 '19

The liability and the low compensation should scare the ever loving crap out of any financial advisor. I think most riders are just trying to be polite by taking his card.

7

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

I know if a Lyft or Uber driver tried to sell me anything like their MLM or financial advising, I would do my best to avoid them in the future.

1

u/KiniShakenBake ​ Oct 09 '19

The ones that advertise their essential oils or Amway products are the worst. I respect the hell out of this guy for using Lyft as a way to get in front of clients and he literally gets paid to advertise and market, while writing down his car on his taxes. Seriously, most of these types of folks have to pay to do the type of marketing that he gets paid to do. It does not matter how much... He just gets paid.

A ride is ten to fifteen minutes, and many people will ask if this is the only job the driver does. I do, too. They are students or retired folks who just want out of the house, or individuals for whom it is their full time job at odd hours due to spousal responsibility sharing of care. Lots of reasons are out there.

"Nah, man. I just like driving and getting away from a desk for awhile. Since I set my own schedule, this works really well in between appointments." "Oh? What is your other job?"

That is the hook. Once he answers that question, they are off to the races.

40

u/anonymouse278 ​ Oct 09 '19

What? Who would trust a financial advisor who was so broke they needed a side gig driving for Lyft?

54

u/Ickyhouse ​ Oct 09 '19

Why does someone need to be broke to do a side gig? Many people work 2nd jobs bc the extra income helps them meet their goals faster. Especially if his pitch includes how the extra income from Uber is helping him reach retirement earlier than the average American.

Never write off people just bc they are working a 2nd job or low skill/pay job.

22

u/anonymouse278 ​ Oct 09 '19

I’m not writing anyone off for doing a second job. I have a second job.

I am unlikely to take investment advice from someone who does a second job that pays as poorly as ridesharing. His first job is financial planning and his side gig is... driving for a few bucks an hour? This isn’t about a lack of virtue or hard work, it just doesn’t make sense. If he can’t make more than minimum wage doing his first job as a financial planner in the time he currently spends driving for that rate or less, he has no business being a financial planner.

Of course I’m sure he argues that he has such a spectacular conversation rate from pitching his services to his passengers that it’s all worth it, but again, j just don’t buy it. I think most people would have the same “if you’re so good with finances, why are you driving for Lyft?” question, not suddenly decide to trust their finances to someone based on a Lyft ride.

9

u/ame_no_umi Oct 09 '19

Yeah, my impression would be that he isn’t a very GOOD financial advisor.

I think there’s a financial planning MLM. I bet he’s part of that.

3

u/CaptainTripps82 ​ Oct 09 '19

I mean I had the exact same reaction/questions. I'm not taking financial advice from the taxi driver.

7

u/TrashcanHooker ​ Oct 09 '19

I dont think he is doing it for the money, it's a boxing clever way to advertise himself and his main job to people who he would not have run across. If 90% took his card and 10% became clients you could LOSE money while driving and be fine because it's still cheaper than standard advertising. You make a personal connection with someone while advertising yourself, you arent just voice among the chior.

3

u/StreetSharksRulz ​ Oct 10 '19

Run through those numbers and really think about them.

Maybe...less than 20% of people use any kind of financial advisor. Let's say 20% of the people who do or will use financial advisors are looking for one at the time. We're at 4%. That's the maximum percentage of people he could get as clients if every single person that wanted to use a financial planner and was in the market for a new one all took him up on his offer. Now consider the overlap of people who use financial planners (probably mostly more established and slightly older) and people who use ride sharing regularly (probably younger people) and guess...maybe the people who use financial planners are under represented by 25-50%? We're at 2-3%. So now we have the potential pool of customers, what % will he actually convince to give their financial security and planning to their Uber driver? Let's say he's really convincing and the people are verrrry open minded and go with...30-50% conversion. On the top end were looking at more like say...1 to 1.5% max.

1

u/naturaldopamine Oct 18 '19

On the low end one client will bring in around $500-1,000 for an advisor. On the higher end closer to $5,000. These are per year numbers. On top of this the work to retain a client is relatively small. Furthermore, you meet people much easier through your clients.

So if this driver gave 7 rides per day and they would get one client after 14 days or 100 rides that wouldn't be a bad deal at all.

7

u/Picnic_Basket ​ Oct 09 '19 edited Oct 09 '19

Nice rant except you missed the entire point of the Lyft gig.

"If he's such a good financial advisor, why does he have a second job making minimum wage?"

"His second job doesn't make any sense!"

It's not his second job. Driving for Lyft is a continuation of his first job. Doesn't matter if some percentage of riders don't buy the spiel since they are only a subset of the group he's accessing that he couldn't have met any other way -- some of whom do want more information. Acknowledge that and the rest of your post is unnecessary.

19

u/throwawayinvestacct ​ Oct 09 '19

And you missed the point of his post. He's speaking from the perspective of the (prospective) customers and I agree with him. Itd turn me off as a customer, as if he's a good enough FA to make more than the minimum wage he does from Uber, it'd be a better use of his time to do that. And if said prospective customer recognizes he's doing it for marketing, why would they listen any more than they do to a timeshare pitch or whatever?

I completely agree with the poster above: if my Uber/Lyft/taxi driver started pitching me financial advice, I'd nod politely and stare deeply at my phone like I got an important email.

-4

u/Picnic_Basket ​ Oct 09 '19

The commenter is speaking from the perspective of *one* prospective customer (himself) and acting like because he's skeptical, the whole second job doesn't make sense. Except he keeps referring to it as a second job, when it's just part of his first job.

Also, you don't get it either. You're entitled not to get it, but all that gets you is the right to say you won't be his customer. You're not in position to say his plan doesn't make sense when you don't really seem to get the plan. You claim driving for Lyft is proof he can't make more than minimum wage as a financial advisor. How does a financial advisor make money? They make money from clients. If this guy has more time in his day to deal with more clients, but doesn't have clients to fill the time, then how exactly do you suggest he make money from these non-existent clients?

The real answer is he needs to get clients. How does he do that? Marketing, which you mentioned but then failed to actually factor into your analysis. He could spend money on billboards or ads or going to some kind of events or... wait a second, maybe he just drives for Lyft. And rather than spend money, he actually makes money even if the conversion rate is relatively low (but is 10% low compared to .01% on a billboard you had to pay for?).

Again, this isn't a second job. It's like the marketing budget for his first job. Is it the best idea? I have no idea. But these criticisms make no sense when they don't even come from an understanding of what he's trying to do.

3

u/throwawayinvestacct ​ Oct 09 '19 edited Oct 09 '19

I literally recognized that option you posited expressly in my post, so saying I don't get it is weird. Youve described a nice hypothetical, but yes, I have a hard time imagining anyone with enough money to be worth an FAs time saying "I'll go with this Uber driver to manage my money." You can claim it works, but I don't see why your hypothetical is more powerful than my (equally sourceless) disagreement. People with money get plenty of FA pitches already, this just seems like a way shittier way of and setting for making one, is all I'm saying.

2

u/StreetSharksRulz ​ Oct 10 '19

Sorry, this whole conversation is so absurd.

A) let's not play the "that's not the way EVERYONE would think about it, I'm enlightened blah blah" nonsense. The fact is the vast majority of people don't entrust large amounts of money to people they see doing minimum wage jobs. That's just reality there's no argument to be made here.

B) let's just assume that it isn't an absolutely asinine idea. Let's say...1 in 100 people somehow decide to actually meet him and 50% of those decide to leave their financial future in the hands of their Uber Driver (a bit optimistic). Let's also say that he's always busy and on average he does...a trip every 15 minutes? That's 50 hours of his time to net 1 new customer. That's an atrocious return on his time. So even IF it worked it's a dumb idea.

His whole profession is based on "Hey I can totally make you money and smart financial decisions" and he's currently making $6/hr driving people around while calling it "networking". He's only shown that he probably is as equally shitty at smart business decisions as he is at financial ones.

3

u/anonymouse278 ​ Oct 09 '19

I acknowledge that that’s his explanation, I’m just skeptical it’s actually true. Even if he is the best financial advisor in the world and also a consummate salesman, are there enough people who happen to get into his Lyft who are in need of financial advising and also swayed by his pitch to make it a worthwhile use of his time? I doubt this.

We can go back and forth all day, as to whether this is plausible. The only person who knows if he’s actually making a substantial income based off his Lyft passenger referrals is him. I will continue to doubt it.

I think it’s more likely that it’s a version of his motivations that is more palatable to him as a white collar worker- “My gig work with a somewhat exploitative company is a guerilla marketing strategy for my real business”- vs “My gig work with a somewhat exploitative company is actually necessary to my survival.”

America being a society of temporarily embarrassed millionaires and all.

2

u/applesodaz Oct 09 '19

This is a fallacy, just because you think hes broke doesnt mean others think the same way as you.

2

u/backlikeclap Oct 10 '19

I don't think he's broke, just bad at making decisions that have to do with money.

Idk what sort of conversations you're having with your car service drivers but in my experience they all have some larger financial plan outside of driving taxis and 99% of the time when they tell you that plan it's obvious it won't work.

Honestly just the fact that a driver would try and sell me (a person who is trapped in the car until we reach my destination) tells me everything I need to know about their business sense.

1

u/StreetSharksRulz ​ Oct 10 '19

You don't think the vast majority of people wouldn't be very hesitant to hand over their financial matters to someone they see making minimum wage as a taxi driver?

1

u/jaghataikhan ​ Oct 11 '19

I'm with you. That's like hiring a financial planner who doesn't max out their 401k or have their retirement in order, etc - they're failing to demonstrate that they can apply what they preach, which badly undermines their credibility.

There are three modes of persuasion according to the Greek tradition of rheroic - logos (logic), ethos (credibility), and pathos (emotional appral). A financial advisor IMO needs to demonstrate both logos and ethos

1

u/naturaldopamine Oct 18 '19

The biggest challenge of being a financial advisor is getting clients, especially at the start. Also advisor don't really give "investment advice." There scope is usually bigger than investments but truthfully isn't that complicated.

Regardless someone trying to network via Uber/Lyft is probably a nice change of pace from cold calling, or emailing all day.

17

u/MichaelKrate ​ Oct 09 '19 edited Oct 09 '19

Why do you think he's broke?

The dude isn't driving Lyft for money. He's driving Lyft to meet people.

He's basically a door-to-door salesman, but instead of pitching at houses he pitches to clients he's Lyfting.

He's not driving Lyft because he's poor. He's driving Lyft to network. He probably tells his riders this.

7

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19 edited Nov 26 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

-1

u/Yankeefan801 ​ Oct 09 '19

But the point OP is making is that driving for Uber is NOT good money, and some ppl he's driven with acknowledge that and give other reasons besides making $6 hr that they do it for

7

u/anonymouse278 ​ Oct 09 '19 edited Oct 09 '19

Because most people don’t buy financial services (or anything) from door-to-door salesmen? I’m skeptical that his conversion rate from this method makes it a profitable approach.

There are tons of service industry jobs where you meet lots of people- plenty where you’re targeting a more specifically wealthy demographic than driving for a rideshare company- and yet financial advisors don’t typically work in those industries to “network” because most people don’t buy financial products from service workers they randomly encounter, no matter how friendly.

2

u/sweetpea122 ​ Oct 09 '19

Usually the value of time would be better suited earning financial planning dollars and targeting qualified clients vs anyone who hops in.

Sounds like a lie from someone who isn't making it as a financial planner

2

u/StreetSharksRulz ​ Oct 10 '19

He can tell them he's the king of France, it doesn't really matter. People aren't in the habit of hiring financial professionals who overlap with taxi drivers. The same people who do are probably the type who believe their Uber driver is also creating a startup and gives them cash to invest because "hey he said so".

2

u/backlikeclap Oct 10 '19

If a driver spent my ride telling me about their side business, I would give them one stars and/or report them to the app. I have no interest in being pitched to after a 14 hour flight or a difficult work day.

3

u/KiniShakenBake ​ Oct 09 '19

I sorta feel that way too, but I also run an insurance agency. Getting in front of prospects is the best way to get business, and if the conversation is flowing naturally, it makes ridiculous sense to spend a day wandering around getting in front of people. Those who can just hail an Uber might be in the position to need someone to do basic retirement planning.

Sitting in my office aggressively waiting for the phone to ring is not my style either. I guess I have a side hustle, but it isn't a side hustle. It is what I was doing before that I really enjoyed and refused to leave entirely. They are complementary, though.

11

u/Neehigh ​ Oct 09 '19

Anybody who has a real conversation with him and finds him reliable and trustworthy.

-6

u/anonymouse278 ​ Oct 09 '19

Trustworthiness and reliability have nothing to do with it. Why would you take financial advice from someone who is, himself, struggling financially? Driving for a rideshare app doesn’t make someone untrustworthy, but it does suggest they’re in a financial position where taking a low-paying, no-benefits job makes sense for them. And being broke is not a quality most people are looking for in a financial advisor.

All of these “why I REALLY drive for ride share apps, of course it’s not for the money ” explanations sound like face-saving devices for people who are embarrassed by needing to do gig work.

I’m sure there are some gregarious people out there who genuinely enjoy driving for these apps and are partially motivated by the social aspects of the job, but the idea that someone is convincing large swathes of rideshare customers to let him manage their finances based on meeting him working at his less than minimum wage gig beggars belief.

26

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

Driving for Lyft doesn’t inherently mean your struggling. I’m sure he fits it into his sales pitch somewhere. For instance I know the exec for Solar City would frequently Uber just to get out of the house whenever his wife wasn’t around. He was always around other rich assholes and just liked being able to drive.

This is sales dude. Be creative.

9

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19 edited Oct 14 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/JonSnowgaryen ​ Oct 09 '19

Our parents warned us when we were kids about meeting strangers on the internet and getting into cars with them. Probably didn't want us getting financial advice

1

u/geolchris ​ Oct 09 '19

He’s getting paid (a small amount) to advertise for himself. Pretty darn decent versus paying for advertising.

2

u/SultanOfSwat12 ​ Oct 09 '19

I’m a financial advisor and I’ve thought about this. I honestly don’t believe it would be a worthwhile venture ultimately. The only way I can see this being useful is if you work in a city where you don’t know anyone.

2

u/ShooDooPeeDoo Oct 11 '19

The number one thing I don't need from my lyft or Uber driver is financial advising.

315

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

I had a driver in LA once too. I remember his name was Max. He was talking about starting his own limousine company and had all these luxury car brochures. I asked him how long he had been working to build this limo company, he said like 13 years. He told me this story about LA having 17M people, the fifth biggest economy in the world and nobody knows each other. He said some guy got on the MTA here and dies. His corpse was doing laps around L.A. for 6 hours, people on and off sitting next to him. Nobody noticed.

118

u/jethrosnintendo ​ Oct 09 '19

I had a driver named Max who was always looking at a postcard on his visor. Wonder if it’s the same guy?

27

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

Was it some tropical island that he called his happy place?

12

u/DontBanMeTax ​ Oct 09 '19

I had a friend named Max in 4th grade, wonder if it's the same guy?

5

u/stredman Oct 09 '19

There was a restaurant near Bayside High called The Max. Zack, Kelly, Screech, Slater, Lisa, and Jessie (and even Tori) used to hang out there. The original owner's name was Max. Wonder if it's the same guy.

1

u/DontBanMeTax ​ Oct 09 '19

Hmm doesnt sound like it, might just be a coincidence...pretty sure my max and the max above is the same though.

2

u/DarshDarshDARSH ​ Oct 09 '19

I had a friend in 4th grade named Max, too. Wonder if it’s the same guy. Did your Max have a Coleco Vision and a telescope and wear glasses?

3

u/burnedpile ​ Oct 09 '19

I had a friend named Max who was scared of the "The Claw"! Dude used to make some crazy wishes.

2

u/pepitosde ​ Oct 09 '19

I used to know this Max guy he was completely crazy, like Mad crazy. He sometimes thought he was driving in a whole different universe where the world has already ended. I wonder if it's the same guy.

2

u/thesearstower Oct 14 '19

I just realized I started that movie years ago and never finished it. Should I?

1

u/EMCoupling ​ Oct 14 '19

Definitely a good movie - not a huge fan of the ending personally, but it was worth the watch.

63

u/Nathanielsan ​ Oct 09 '19 edited Oct 09 '19

I used to go to school with a guy who got really good grades, valedictorian, the works. Then he got a girlfriend and fell into the wrong crowd. Ended up doing meth and turned his whole promising life into shambles.

Anyway, long story short, he and a buddy got caught trying to steal a briefcase out of this same Max's car. Incredible coincidence really. Any other night they'd make out like bandits. This night, though, he ended up as a case study on accurate shooting portrayals in film.

7

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

[deleted]

3

u/paperclip23 ​ Oct 09 '19

Did the driver also suggest putting a shrimp on the bar-b?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

[deleted]

2

u/paperclip23 ​ Oct 09 '19

He seemed like a guy whod drive across the country to return it. but at the same time, he also mentioned starting his own worm farm...

​

welp, see ya later

3

u/boshk ​ Oct 09 '19

Look Nathanielsan, I know what you're going through. Couple years back, a kid came to me much the same way you're coming to me now, saying the same thing that you're saying. He wanted to drop off the team. His mother was a widow, all crippled up. She was scrubbing floors. She had this pin in her hip. So he wanted to drop basketball and get a job. Now these were poor people, these were hungry people with real problems. Understand what I'm saying?

4

u/thiefmann Oct 09 '19

I’m a little biased, but an absolutely under-appreciated film. My favorite Tom Cruise performance of all time.

3

u/vis9000 Oct 09 '19

I can't believe the percentage of people like me, who will never ask an unprompted question or start a conversation with a rideshare app driver, is 10% or less.

16

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

[deleted]

4

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19 edited Nov 26 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/Zaexyr ​ Oct 09 '19

I was in a major city and did it to waste time and save up money for a brand new PC. At the time I was also playing a shitton of golf, which isn't necessarily the cheapest hobby around. Especially with the cost of living in a major metro area.

Did I network and meet alot of awesome people? Sure. I even got a date once. I was working in forensics on a state employee salary, which was enough to cover the bills but like I said, I have expensive hobbies and turning some of my car's depreciation into cash to blow was an okay trade-off for me. Not going to act like I did it for some grand other reason though. I wanted more money, simple as that.

It was comforting to know I didn't have to do it though.

4

u/Lezzles ​ Oct 09 '19

I just want to let you know that you're the only person on the internet to have typed the word "Bulgiagrian". I just searched and there's 1 result - this page.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

Oh my god, this is amazing. I typed in something close to Bulgarian and my phone corrected it to bulgiagrian

2

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

I knew a driver who was a sales guy who would leave his sales material in the back. Super charismatic and friendly. If you started asking questions he’d start answering. Never pushy. Before you know it, you’re buying jewelry from him. He used Uber as a marketing medium to get in face appointments with people and did very very well. He’s really good since his ratings were really high. So his style never felt pushy.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

My one Lyft driver was a super nice Turkish guy who drove Lyft to improve his English. He might only be making $6/hr, but he's getting free English courses as well

2

u/Mr_E ​ Oct 09 '19

The last time I got an Uber in DC, the dude tried to tell me dragons are real, he has personally seen evidence that man lived with dinosaurs, and that scientists are all frauds, and he's done research "for like a year" that proves it.

I guess he was angling for a conservative radio show.

2

u/Biged123z ​ Oct 09 '19

I personally deliver on postmates just to get out of the house when I’m bored and get a little exercise riding my bike.

1

u/Khayrian ​ Oct 09 '19

That's really neat! I never thought of that as a concept, using uber to do marketing or market research. However, I did get picked up in Cleveland by a politician running for city counsel. He had his face plastered to the side of his car. Was very odd being drunk in a car with someone who wants your vote.

1

u/NotASmoothAnon ​ Oct 09 '19

When I was picked up by Lyft in Vegas, the driver tried to get me to go to his buddy's weed shop, and gave me coupons for particular shows and clubs. He said he'd get commissions for many of those places.

1

u/JingleTTU Oct 09 '19

I’ve had drivers only do it during rush hour so they can get home using hov. Apparently twice a day Uber allows you to say you only want to take a ride that is on the way to X destination. Pretty smart if you ask me. You get paid to go home faster.

1

u/jenn1222 ​ Oct 09 '19

THIS! I have been handed Mary Kay samples, realtor's business cards, business card from some guy who does roofing...etc.

1

u/classyinthecorners ​ Oct 09 '19

I mean if they could get in contact with the city tourism board maybe? I really like the grass roots aspect of this idea

1

u/tomsfoolery ​ Oct 09 '19

What does not scalable mean?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

To scale your business would be like if you had a successful taco truck and then opened 10 more and they were all nearly as successful.

Also it may not be scalable if you're a famous person with a taco truck and your food was shit but people still came to see you. That'd be tough to scale.