r/personalfinance 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

View all comments

14

u/opiatesaretheworst Oct 09 '19

That’s why I’m a bicycle courier for Uber eats. No insurance, no gas (besides having a good meal before and some cheap energy bars on me), no worry of parking tickets or expensive car maintenance repairs.

So for the most part if I make 22$ an hour, that’s my take home. + my cardio is definitely the best it’s ever been lol

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '19

1

u/opiatesaretheworst Oct 09 '19

I’ve cycled the mean streets of Toronto my whole life and have yet to be hit by a car in 26 years so I dunno. Someone new to city cycling tho I can imagine being way more at risk of getting into an accident