Instead of driving around for three hours wouldn't it be smarter to be stationary in a highly populated region for until a rider requests you? You don't actually have to be in the car to run the app, just ready to pic some one up.
No. The key is to do more than one app..Lyft Uber Uber eats Post Mates etc , increases your odds by 100 % of getting another ride within seconds or minutes after completing the last one and within 3 miles. See my comment above.
That was my technique after doing it for a little while. I found driving around or deadheading somewhere else didn't do all that much good. My strategy usually was just to hang out near wherever I dropped off a passenger and wait there, unless I was in the absolute middle of nowhere. If I didn't get a ride out of the airport I'd drive away from it though because I know a ton of other drivers were waiting there, but otherwise I'd just sit. Driving somewhere else didn't usually seem to help much, and cost me more in effort and fuel.
Right they didn't take off the sales city sales tax that wasn't deducted, or the cost of depreciation per mile for gas, insurance, maintenance, and lost value of car for added miles. All of a sudden $600 isn't that much at all.
I agree. I've only driven Uber for one week, and it became glaringly obvious after the first two days that I needed to rethink where I was trolling for rides.
Marcus Acosta actually it depends where you're from. I think the math is right. There are more drivers than passengers and we're all competing against each other. I've had bad days like this. Maybe in bigger cities it's easier to get ride requests.
Sir, I quit LYFt because 75% of the time my request required me to drive 30 minutes to pick up the passnger and then take them just a few miles. I don't think it's anything I am doing wrong. I do not live in the country that would require me to drive 30 mintues to pick up. I live in a fairly large city area called Hampton Roads, Virginia. We have Newport News, Hampton, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake....With Uber, I average about $10.00 an hour, in lyft I averaged about $3.00 an hour. am I an idiot as well ?
In linguistics, creaky voice (sometimes called laryngealisation, pulse phonation, vocal fry, or glottal fry) is a special kind of phonation[1][2] in which the arytenoid cartilages in the larynx are drawn together; as a result, the vocal folds are compressed rather tightly, becoming relatively slack and compact. They normally vibrate irregularly at 20-50 pulses per second, about two octaves below the frequency of normal voicing, and the airflow through the glottis is very slow. Although creaky voice may occur with very low pitch, as at the end of a long intonation unit, it can also occur with a higher pitch.
you don't have to drive around looking for passengers, that's a waste of gas. pull over and wait until someone requested you. look for any gas stop or 7-11 and just chill for awhile. I average driving in LA for lyft about $150-200 Saturday nights, sometimes more during promotions.
There's a huge opportunity cost of waiting to pick up passengers. The longer you wait, the less money you earn. Taxi drivers are employees of a taxi company, and therefore earn money regardless of how many passengers they pick up.
When I first heard about Uber/Lyft the appeal for drivers was that it was a great way to make supplemental income. None of the drivers that I've chatted with did it full-time. I realize that things have changed since then and both companies are pushing as many people as possible to drive as much as possible to grow their market share... But damn, I miss when it was so much simpler.
I was expecting real math, how many drivers in what area with so many customers with likely trip distances and good / bad destination concerning the next fair.
theBraxil You are an independent contractors so you have to run it as your own business. You have to plan your week out taking into account events, concerts, weather, etc to know when you will have the biggest payout. Knowing when those surges will happen because of these things. Just plugging in and playing taxi will do you nothing but run yourself into the ground. I easily made their benchmark by not driving but also working outside the car and doing my research.
Pardon my naivete but why were you driving around when you didn't have a customer? Doesn't the app notify you when a customer needs a ride? So it's not like you're a regular taxi trolling for street fares, right? Seems like a waste of gas, so I assume I'm missing something.
The app tells you when there is someone new near your GPS coordinates. Moving is a tough optimization to try to figure out in a large city like that, but the odds seem much more in you favour if you're moving.
Just adding my two sence, as I am a Lyft/Uberx driver mostly Uber because uber offers the promise of paying me anywhere from $27 - $50 an hour , as long as I do 1 ride per hour and reach a rating of 4.75, but when I am looking for a fare like when I start for the night I stay in one place til I get that first request after which the request come fairly regularly once I get going for the night, but you also have to use common sence, where are there going to be people needing rides more than other people , near big cities or the surrounding towns and cities
Jeru Sanders and Cnetral Control in Beijing wants to be able to move you around like a pawn since it can follow you on GPS. They are playing you like a game. Welcome to teh People's LIberation Army. zuckerz
I drove Uber for over a year. You make no more than 15 dollars an hour after taxes and gas... Car depreciation is a major factor as well. Uber and Lyft draws in drivers by providing a quick money way out. You need a job and some money, your in between jobs, you need extra cash on the side... They target that audience by providing quick cash... In the long run it is not worth while for drivers... Try to get out of this industry as soon as you can... Don't stick around.. It will burn you.
I used to ride Uber a lot. They need to offer a tipping option. I generally don't believe in tipping, however it is an individual-based job. Some drivers are WAY better than others, but they all make the same. A simple $1 tip button at the end of a ride would drastically improve the riding experience. When a driver does 20 or 30 rides in a day, he could make $10+ more daily without costing Uber apart from, perhaps, a very slight drop in use, but unlikely.
I agree, but Uber has a strong opinion on making a seamless experience... and even tho most people don't care about tipping... Just psychologically the fact that a person has to deal with one extra transaction (which is the tipping screen) makes an impact... The whole point of Uber is Get in... Get out... Its seamless... This part of the reason why Uber works better than Lyft. It's just that one little extra thing you have to do can add up... As a driver .. of course I would love frequent tips.... But from a business stand point I get their decision... In today's world, tech and business... people wanna do the most amount of things in the fewest amount of clicks... its just how everything runs... Just look at Rocket Mortgage... Its a quick mortgage tool... .It's mortgage.. its not supposed to be quick... but ppl want quick.. quick sells.
You are an independent contractors so you have to run it as your own business. You have to plan your week out taking into account events, concerts, weather, etc to know when you will have the biggest payout. Knowing when those surges will happen because of these things. Just plugging in and playing taxi will do you nothing but run yourself into the ground. I easily made their benchmark by not driving but also working outside the car and doing my research.
5Cents Media Please there's more than one asterisk on their 19 dollar an hour claim. I know what an independent contractor is. Your an independent contractor so Uber doesn't have to provide you with certain benefits and pay part of your taxes while completely avoiding any sort of vicarious liability. Uber can be great for a specific demographic. But beware and do your research. That's it.
I can verify these figures. As a 4.9 driver with years of driving experience I thought I was in a good position to make extra $ driving both Uber and Lyft. Uber has twice the ride demand that Lyft does in my town, which is a very busy tourist destination. Factoring in tips I can confidently tell you my average pre tax and pre expense net is $13 per hour. I average 1.6 rides per hour. Do NOT buy a new car to drive Uber/Lyft!! If you are looking for part time income and own a nice used car you don't mind racking miles on this is a good opportunity for part time money.
I am a 4.7 with Lyft and 4.8 with Uber. I have 23 years experience I drove metered cabs and town cars. I average about $20 an hour gross. Then I average another $30 a day in cash tips mostly from Uber customers.Increased my salary by $75 a shift when I started working Lyft and Uber after working only Lyft for 2 months. You are right about not buying a car. I lease a Prius that has 459,000 miles on it and used to be a cab on the biggest metered cab fleet in town with over 600 cars that Uber crushed. It is going on its 3rd engine this week. My personal car is a Black Lincoln Town Car that is retired from a town car service that also took a pretty good hit . it has 393,000 miles, with about 220 on its 2nd engine. I can take Lyft Premier and Uber Select rides with this car .We buy cars specifically to use as work cars. They may double as personal cars and our personal cars do get used for business on occasion or part time. All our cars also carry ride share endorsements on our insurance policies.
Full time Lyft driver here, and I have to say a lot of variables come into play. Demand greatly depends on the neighborhood you're in..it just takes a little trial and error to find the sweet spot. I used to spend about 40 hours/week to make around $600 (before gas expenses). I've since shaved it down to ~25 hours to make the same amount. Drivers can also double or triple their income by marketing the Lyft app to new drivers ($150 to $750 each) and passengers ($10 each).
I drove Uber and Lyft for a short period of time in 2015. I did some math, the percentage cut taken by the company, a percentage set aside for income tax, fuel costs, and average wear and tear on my car. After all those things, I was taking home $3-5 /hour... so I quit. One thing that killed me was the fuel cost for all the miles with no passenger. I get a request, drive (unpaid) to the location of the customer, drive (paid) to their destination, and then drive (unpaid) from their destination to a populated area where I'm likely to get another passenger. I think this dynamic is worse in the suburbs where everything is spread out and each of those unpaid drives could be long.
I have tried Lyft in two different cities as well as Postmates and Uber Eats, I earn around the same amount. Most people actually earn around this amount per hour in these types of ridesharing and food delivery services.
Wouldn't people in the suburbs have their own car? I mean would you wait 10 minutes for a car to get from there to here if you even get one in the suburbs. Im pretty sure the main appeal for uber and lyft is people coming from the airport or doing business in a location they cant bring their car.
The $35/hr is a bit of a trick. EARN (meaning how much you bring in, before any deductions) UP TO (meaning in a great hour with solid tips). so take off 25%, then another 35% for taxes (with a 1099 you should expect this, but know that many only pay 5-15%), then about $0.65 per mile for all car expenses. then you get reimbursed $0.54 per mile for taxes. bear in mind this is only while you have passengers. If you drive smart, you should get reimbursed around $0.40 per mile while driver mode is on. Tips are not reduced, so it's hard to count for that in all of this, but if you're great and drive a few groups to a club on a Saturday night and get tipped $5 each group, you can expect to profit $6/hr before tips. I assumed that you drive at about 15mph with waiting (how it is where I am). Giving you around $21 profit per hour at best. That's a Lyft estimate though. sometimes you'll make much more and sometimes much less. Also, I didn't account for prime time. That's how you use math to analyse Lyft profit.
there are many other costs associated with a car that you didnt take into account. fuel is not the only thing you have to pay for, you have to service your car and fix it when it breaks or when you have a car accident, clean it, antifreeze, oil, deprecation of the value of the car because of adding mileage, pay tickets and fines, have a bigger data plan on your phone, insurance, and other variable and fixed expenses as well as the time spent doing all these things and wasted time to wait for customers ( while you could be doing something else, opportunity cost) Take all of those into account over a longer period, and you would probably make MUCH LESS.
Those jobs are goods for part-time and it is better if you have an older car. I like to drive for uber and lyft because I'm a part-time student in college and I have a flexible schedule for studying and working. Now I am renting a small apartment and thanks to my jobs uber and lyft I can do that.
My mom used to drive for lift and uber but the said if she could go back in time she wouldn’t do it again. She said she barely broke even with the gas and the wear and tear on her car was horrible.
+Jeremy Eaken independent contractors have to pay their own taxes, so set aside 20% for that, plus their own gas, so depending on where you live and what type of car you drive will determine how much goes towards that. One should set aside a healthy percentage towards future auto repairs, car washes, potential upgrades for equipment, insurance, plus save for the deductible on Lyft's insurance should one get into an accident, plus potential phone data plan increase. All this costs money and will make one's dollar per hour even less. Do some quick math and you'll see it's not amazing money, unless you can keep all overhead low and drive during those hours and in places where the rate that is charged to riders translates to more money per mile to the driver.
+fisherphotoworks That's a common criticism, but it actually isn't so simple. As an employee, you also pay for many of those costs. The only difference is you don't have to do the math yourself, but often doing the math yourself can be to your benefit. This is similar to the argument about self-employment taxes vs payroll taxes. People often think their employer pays part of their social security and medicare benefits, but that isn't so. The employee bears all of those costs.
Yep Yep and Yep .. you might wanna see sometimed 140$ for 11h1/2 also .. as you can drive certain speed in residential area .. it wont accumulate into a higher rate.. still 3.50 ~ 3.88 for few miles ..reagardless how much time you drive another word.. not worth it
if you didn't get any passenger on sunday is because you didn't know where to go, there are some areas where you should go and depends on the time too,
That's not how accounting works. You still depreciate the car for the amount you used it during that week. For example, if you need a $50 oil change every 5,000 miles, you expense it at $0.01 per mile. So 50 miles in a day is $0.50 cost. Do that for all of the expenses of the car though. Tires, Brakes, oil, etc.
My mother was a taxi driver for a while. That was way before services like this existed. But the fundamental problem and uncertainty about income is the same either way. You never know if you're going to get 100 customers in a 12 hour shift, or 10... So your income is equally unpredictable... (with traditional taxis you also have to note that, at least in the places I know of, the driver gets 50% of the profits, and the owner of the car the other 50%, and the driver also pays 50% of the fuel costs. - the net effect of this is that average wages tend to be below minimum wage on all but the busiest of days...)
Yesterday: 12 ride requests - 5 cancellations. Today: 3 out of the first 4 ride requests cancelled. The money sucks. The gas expense sucks. The cancellations suck. Don't drive for Uber or Lyft. You will NOT make "life-changing" money. In fact, you won't make jack shit.
+The Artful Dodger I used Lyft for the first time and got my first $50 in rides for free. Used this code: GOLDENTICKET1 Once more people use Lyft, the more rides will be available to service.
+The Artful Dodger I'm considering doing Uber but only for going to traffic court. People need rides because their licenses may be suspended and cancellations mean they don't go to court and get an arrest warrant. How is the experience in general. Is it frustrating to deal with the passengers/Uber as an organization?
This "vocal fry" is driving me crazy (no pun intended). I'm really grateful it isn't a thing in my country. It's really a chore, listening to someone talking like that.
It's not a meme - it's just a thing people do with their voices that only recently got a name. Now instead of saying "I hate the way he/she talks" we can be more specific and point to this terrible thing called "vocal fry".
What country? People are built pretty much the same all over the world, so I presumed there would be examples of vocal fry in every culture. (No worries on the pun intention. No pun detected.)
Poland. I can't recall meeting anyone talking like that - I've only heard it from americans on TV or Internet. Because this is NOT a "biological" thing, but a cultural mannerism. I don't know about other countries but it's definitely not present where I live at all.
+Nicholas Lorenson - If people are all built the same, why does everybody have a unique voice? Why can't Chinese people say _R,_ why do French people struggle _TH,_ why cant English speakers do a Xhosa click? Because our vocal tracts might be built the same, but we still have control over _how_ we use them. Just because all humans are _capable_ of doing vocal fry, doesn't mean they actually _will_ do it.
i drove for uber for a couple of months and all i gotta say is its ok if u need quic cash but other than that not worth wearing out your car and people messing it up, had a problem with a passenger and uber never covered the cleanup, said it wasnt a big mess
Recently started with Uber and I have made more off of Uber than with Lyft. Most riders I asked on why they chose Uber vs Lyft most of the time I heard they were more familiar with Uber than with Lyft. At times cost was the reason for going with Uber as a rider than with Lyft.
I live in Hampton Roads region of Virginia. I drove one week with UBER, and averaged $10.00 an hour. I drove a week with LYFT, and averaged $3.00 an hour.I did considerably more sitting around with LYFT then I did with UBER. ( I drive part time, 2-3 hours weeknights after work, and about 5 hours Saturday and Sunday. I earned 3X more in UBER than I did with LYFT. I live on the Virginia Peninsula, Newport News between Hampton and Williamsburg. Through the tunnels is Southside Hampton roads. For the most part, UBER will keep my pickups within 10 miles. LYFT will have me drive 30 minutes to pick up and take rider 3-5 miles. I got 5X more cancellations in LYFT than I do in UBER. ( Mostly because LYFT riders would request, I would be a half hour drive away and the rider didn't want to wait that long )
Yes it all depends on what city you are driving for LYFT. Some of the comments are correct below. Tuesdays you are probably not going to get a lot of rides, however there are peak times on anyday during the week that LYFT advises you to go out and make some $$. Yes the weekends are the best and the evenings are a must to work if you want to make some amaazing money. $35hour? Yes and then some. It is a "HUSTLE" to get it. No breaks, non stop early evening till 3am. thanks Go LYFT! (San Francisco LYFT Driver 3 weeks) Looove it !
Rideshare profits for drivers are actually much shakier than that, he only took fuel into consideration for drivers expenses. But as a full time driver you know there is much more than that.
I drive a Prius v in San Francisco. I usually work 2-5 hours a day and make roughly $120-$200 clear then spend anywhere from $5-$10 on gas assuming gas stays at $3.70. So when people say stuff like that you gotta wonder if it's just a taxi driver trying to make u we sound bad. I do hate the rating system though. If you maintain a average of 4.6 or lower for uber and lyft your booted off as a driver.
I believe it also depends on what city you're in.. From what I understand, San Francisco is one of the more profitable cities as opposed to other places where there are just as many drivers on the road as they're riders that requests them.
While I'm sure that Lyft's $35/hr ads are a bit exaggerated, I would guess that a driver could make MUCH better money if he drove late in the evening, especially on weekends. Tuesday morning is probably the worst time to pick up fares. Unfortunately, that means that drivers can't be home with their families or out with friends, so it's not exactly a perfect job.
Dale E No dispatch company deserve more than 3%. Go drive a legal taxi and Lauren exactly how much you're getting ripped off by paying 25% of your money to a company that only does a dispatch function. It's your money not theirs you are providing equipment and doing the work all they have is a couple of computers and a building somewhere. Legal taxis pay $15 a week for dispatch services
Despite all the negative comments, his video is to the point and basically gives you the info you need. Drive sharing is minimum wage after deducting expenses. Car wear and tear is more than the cost of gas. I like to simplify the math: deduct half of what you gross and that amount is what you actually made.
You are forgetting to factor in the cost to buy the car, the cost to insure the car, maintenance & oil changes, repairs, depreciation, and also the cost to eventually buy a new car, as after a few years they won’t let you drive that car once it hits a certain age. Once you factor in all of those costs, you will soon see that you are subsidizing the company, and not getting compensated for all of those costs, not to mention the self employment taxes and federal & state taxes. Add it all up and you are losing money regardless of whether it is Lyft, Uber or any other rideshare company. YOU ARE GETTING RIPPED OFF!
Issues with this: 1. Started at 12:30pm. It is dead at that time. Try 5-6am start or 3-4pm start. 2. You're constantly driving wasting fuel while waiting. AKA Deadmiling. Just sit and wait. Don't drive around.
I did Lyft last summer, had a mixed experience. Was better in many ways than a bottom-feeder unskilled "crap job" (as an engineering student with 3 years of school finished I'd hoped for something better like an internship), but I had plenty of complaints as well. Pay I estimate came to around $15 an hour, better than minimum wage but not awesome - I drove a Prius so fuel costs weren't bad. Didn't have bosses to deal with (bottomfeeder job bosses are always horrible in my experience, like to make sure their employees know they are beneath them), very flexible, and most passengers were pretty chill. It was very unsteady though, mostly due to the problem of market saturation. I saw tons of others driving around, most empty, and when I logged out of driver mode and logged in as a passenger (for some reason they didn't want us to see where the other drivers were) I could see that there was one on every corner much of the time. Problem is one of economics of their business model, as this guy says. Most businesses want to balance supply with demand - they have to pay for supply, whether that be employees to provide services, food, manufactured goods, whatever it may be, whether or not it's sold, so having too much is a loss. With Lyft, they don't pay for people to sit around, that's the drivers' loss, the company is best off to have one on every corner, even if they rarely get rides and hardly make any money. Thus they aggressively recruit drivers and are constantly urging them to get out and drive, with annoying texts that say "demand is skyrocketing." I found there is no good strategy, as if there were everyone else would be doing the same and it thus wouldn't do any good. I always avoided sports games and concerts because I figured every other driver was going to them. Just wander about and hope for the best - I generally targeted morning and afternoon commuters myself. Overall I found it to be decent, but it was very unsteady, and as a result somewhat stressful. A nice supplement, but not a trustworthy income source. I would not suggest it as a career or primary job, and one should NEVER buy a car for this purpose (unless they wanted to buy a suitable car anyway), but if you have a suitable car it's not bad as a temporary or sideline thing while between jobs, being a student, or having another job.
It's one of the hardest jobs out there, stop and go , stop and go , drive to passenger 7 miles - customer cancels the trip-- customer lies for free ride -- pick up customers who are doing laundry 9 bags -- customers have a few stops fast food drive thru, target , Wal-Mart ect ect waste gas , tire change , breaks , cleaning you're car daily , scratches, dents, the worst job and if a customer complains then good luck because you get deactivated and it can be weeks if not months before they let you back on. Lyft and Uber make half of what you take on a ride without lifting a single finger , it gets worse and worse
You have a lot more expenses than just fuel. Insurance Maintenance/repair Vehicle registration, taxes, fees Payroll taxes (self-employed individuals pay SE tax) Cell service (with a big data plan) The IRS says that the standard cost of operating a vehicle (which includes fuel, maintenance, insurance, registration) is 53.5 cents/mile (for 2017 taxes). I like to use that figure when calculating my actual earnings. Of course in reality, any reliable and reasonably efficient vehicle actually costs much less per mile to operate. But the IRS says anyone who drives for work can deduct 53.5 cents/mile, so the difference between that and one's actual costs is as close to free money as exists in this world.
Wonderful is the freedom of being your own boss and working only when you feel like it! What's not so wonderful is the minimum wage net income (if you're lucky), along with no paid holidays, no paid sick days, no paid vacation, no insurance benefits, no 401-K or other retirement benefits, and NO chance for advancement. None, zippo. All those deficiencies make a $10/hr job at Walmart or Home Depot look pretty damn good.
They forgot to add the cost of depreciation and maintenance to "the math". I drive for Uber and Lyft in Seattle and have calculated that gas is .08 per mile, depreciation is approx. .11 per mile, and not sure about maintenance, but approx .08 per mile on my 2013 Prius C. If you factor these things into the math, these drivers are probably making less than $10 per hour in this market. In Seattle, I make about $25 per hour, which is adjusted to about $15 per hour after the "math". But I know when and where to drive. Plus $15 an hour is to be Seattle's minimum wage. Still worth it, but I wanted to correct the "math".
You have to learn where the good spots are at and try not to drive around, you will waste gas. I made $188 in just 2 hours in Inland Empire area in Cali.
never be self employed, if its not as part of a firm you own, and see the final reward from, and certainly never be full time self employed for someone elses business, always ask what costs are being passed on to you, and ask if business is soo good, why does the firm need to pass on those costs? So many of these online firms start with the idea of you doing it occasionally, then people start to use them as full time gig, and we wonder why it goes wrong.
Self employment tax is 15.3% for 2015, add that to the income tax of ~15% (if you make under 40K) and you get twice the tax. And that's just federal...
You pay double the self-employment tax because you also pay the half that the employer normally pays. But the self employment tax is only part of the whole income tax. I have discovered that with an annual income of around $30,000 driving full time, my overall taxes are about 25%.
Someday those with steering wheels will be phased out due to not enough demand; except those only rich people could afford anyway. Around the time there are about 1 robot car per 6 humans who commute daily.
The real math would add in commercial vehicle insurance, 54 cents per mile expenses, and also a stipend for risking your life every day as well as the risk of tickets and higher insurance if you make a mistake. It ends up you break even almost exactly. And thats if you work 60 hours a week. Any less than that and your paying to work.
You are an independent contractors so you have to run it as your own business. You have to plan your week out taking into account events, concerts, weather, etc to know when you will have the biggest payout. Knowing when those surges will happen because of these things. Just plugging in and playing taxi will do you nothing but run yourself into the ground. I easily made their benchmark by not driving but also working outside the car and doing my research.
This video is pretty accurate. The real way you make money driving with Lyft & Uber... is NOT to drive with Lyft & Uber... it's to get other ppl to sign up to drive with Lyft and Uber. So now you know the secret.
He is right, I drove for uber and Lyft for a week each and after estimating the mileage ,tear and wear on my carand taxes to be paid at the end of the year I’m making $4/hr. It’s not for everybody. If you’re jobless and need to pay your car note it may be good for you other than that its a mere waste of time
I make about $20/hr or $1/mile not including bonuses. If I go 10 minutes without a ride I get a meal, and if still no ride, I go home and take a nap. I have taken graduate-level math and I make about $1500 a week for working 40-50 hours. I maintain a 4.95/5.00 rating and clean my car's exterior once per day, and the interior at least twice per day. I spend an average of an hour a day maintaining the car not including repairs. About $200 month at the car wash (including tips), and $500 in maintenance/repairs a month. Lyft is a blessing compared to working for UPS. These critics have no idea what a hard job is. I spend tens of hours researching the exact solvent to use when washing my car, for just an example. I also do all the mechanic work myself. Regardless, I treat every customer as a private driver, in hopes of becoming a professional driver.
I made $935.00 in Portland Oregon this week plus the 20% power driver bonus in 37.5 hours. It might just be that pdx is the perfect environment, but my system of going out during prime hours works.
This is literally why taxi and hackney licences exist. This same problem happened during the mid 20th century. Licences are not some cartel, they are needed to make driving profitable. If he get 14$ per hour and in 3 years he will have to lease or buy a new car, he will find his wage has gone down to below minimum wage.
These guys don't really understand a couple of things that make a difference. Sure it's 12.00 an hour but you are not paying taxed until tax season and then, they have to calculate all your deductions like miles, gas, car washes, dash cam, maintenance etc... that will lower what you pay on taxes. These math statistics these guys use are so incomplete. Also, he wasted gas driving around that's his fault wasting gas. I'm not saying he is completely wrong about what he is saying, he just isn't giving you all the info. Good Luck!!!
Some locations have no parking spot without alerting locals of a suspicious loitering vehicle or taking a spot reserved for the nearest business' customers. I guess that means frequent stops to buy something fast, random and cheap.
Depends on which city he drove in, I'm a fulltime driver and I get at least 5 rides an hour so its bullshit if you can't make money with lyft its not because lyft isn't worth it for you its because you're an idiot. I make minimum of 1,750 a week my tips pay for gas and I take home at least 1,200 after taxes. I work when I want and I don't when I don't want to. Its the best thing that's happened to me, I wish I found this earlier! I work in the boston area!
however, service, insurence (company grade)/extra insurence for customers, usage and downriding of the value of the car, tire ware, increased expenses on repairs.?
You're reported earnings are somewhat inaccurate, because you neglected the fact that youre milage is tax deductible, I think at around 59 cents/mile. So, if you drove 100 miles that's about a 59 dollar tax deduction. Make sure you keep good records if you're driving for Uber or Lyft (and keep receipts for meals you eat inbetween fares, pencils, pens, notebooks, business cards, water you give out or candy-anything you are using to promote you're ride share business.)
I drive lyft in Detroit and I drive everywhere. I made over 100,000. After all expenses I pocketed about 85,000. I do drive 12 hours a day most days. I took vacations also.
I just took a gentleman and his wife on a ride for Lyft. He showed me his charges which were $6.50. When I looked at my app it showed me that Lyft only collected $4. Then Lyft charged me a $1 fee. So I collected $3 for the ride while Lyft collected $6.50.
kuhataparunks that's the point, these drivers don't make enough to live on, I think it's meant for if you're out already and want to make a few extra bucks, in some places, a taxi fare is $30, so you would make $30 in less than an hour, but it wouldn't be enough money to live on in the long term since the other days of the week don't pay nearly as much. for example, where I live, $500+ a week is amazing money, only the top earning people make that here, but in the cities, you need a lot more.
Staying still and waiting for requests does not always work. Sometimes you have to drive somewhere else, otherwise you sit/stay still for hours and not much can happen. You have to chase the action, most of the times.
Instead of driving around for three hours wouldn't it be smarter to be stationary in a highly populated region for until a rider requests you? You don't actually have to be in the car to run the app, just ready to pic some one up.
Plus you don’t have to pay for the gas
I was thinking the exact same thing!! These types of things you gotta be smart, those that are not are not doing it right.
No. The key is to do more than one app..Lyft Uber Uber eats Post Mates etc , increases your odds by 100 % of getting another ride within seconds or minutes after completing the last one and within 3 miles. See my comment above.
That was my technique after doing it for a little while. I found driving around or deadheading somewhere else didn't do all that much good. My strategy usually was just to hang out near wherever I dropped off a passenger and wait there, unless I was in the absolute middle of nowhere. If I didn't get a ride out of the airport I'd drive away from it though because I know a ton of other drivers were waiting there, but otherwise I'd just sit. Driving somewhere else didn't usually seem to help much, and cost me more in effort and fuel.
Raven's Reflections, Thats a very smart idea.. i never thought of it
so basically, no maths involved in this video. just being a lyft driver
Or maybe it was an ad?
The ad finished before the video started. That's how is supposed to work on youtube
+Morgan Phillips lol... maybe this one did not..
Right they didn't take off the sales city sales tax that wasn't deducted, or the cost of depreciation per mile for gas, insurance, maintenance, and lost value of car for added miles. All of a sudden $600 isn't that much at all.
he did basic math
If you're driving around for 3 hours and don't get a single ride, you are an idiot
- Full time Lyft driver
look at when the video was made things have changed by now
I agree. I've only driven Uber for one week, and it became glaringly obvious after the first two days that I needed to rethink where I was trolling for rides.
Marcus Acosta actually it depends where you're from. I think the math is right. There are more drivers than passengers and we're all competing against each other. I've had bad days like this. Maybe in bigger cities it's easier to get ride requests.
Sir, I quit LYFt because 75% of the time my request required me to drive 30 minutes to pick up the passnger and then take them just a few miles. I don't think it's anything I am doing wrong. I do not live in the country that would require me to drive 30 mintues to pick up. I live in a fairly large city area called Hampton Roads, Virginia. We have Newport News, Hampton, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake....With Uber, I average about $10.00 an hour, in lyft I averaged about $3.00 an hour. am I an idiot as well ?
Yes, because you work for these companies. Keep doing it though, I need someone to take me to the dope house.
In linguistics, creaky voice (sometimes called laryngealisation, pulse phonation, vocal fry, or glottal fry) is a special kind of phonation[1][2] in which the arytenoid cartilages in the larynx are drawn together; as a result, the vocal folds are compressed rather tightly, becoming relatively slack and compact. They normally vibrate irregularly at 20-50 pulses per second, about two octaves below the frequency of normal voicing, and the airflow through the glottis is very slow. Although creaky voice may occur with very low pitch, as at the end of a long intonation unit, it can also occur with a higher pitch.
OMG, it's "Cliff Claven" from cheers!!!! ha ha
You forgot to mention that it's extremely annoying and make some ppl ( like me) wanna smash the phone/computer/tablet against the floor.
you don't have to drive around looking for passengers, that's a waste of gas. pull over and wait until someone requested you. look for any gas stop or 7-11 and just chill for awhile. I average driving in LA for lyft about $150-200 Saturday nights, sometimes more during promotions.
0% chance this is true
Angelo Lopez same here
X0Gamingx0 Imagine how much you can be making if you worked for a good ride sharing app, like Uber for example. Lyft is for retards tbh.
yeh, and Jesus is real too
There's a huge opportunity cost of waiting to pick up passengers. The longer you wait, the less money you earn. Taxi drivers are employees of a taxi company, and therefore earn money regardless of how many passengers they pick up.
he has such a scratchy voice
It's called vocal fry, and I hate it too.
Yujin J what that
NanoForest no I thing there's something wrong with the microphone.
Croak
Alex Loo its not he is just young
When I first heard about Uber/Lyft the appeal for drivers was that it was a great way to make supplemental income. None of the drivers that I've chatted with did it full-time. I realize that things have changed since then and both companies are pushing as many people as possible to drive as much as possible to grow their market share... But damn, I miss when it was so much simpler.
I was expecting real math, how many drivers in what area with so many customers with likely trip distances and good / bad destination concerning the next fair.
theBraxil You are an independent contractors so you have to run it as your own business. You have to plan your week out taking into account events, concerts, weather, etc to know when you will have the biggest payout. Knowing when those surges will happen because of these things. Just plugging in and playing taxi will do you nothing but run yourself into the ground. I easily made their benchmark by not driving but also working outside the car and doing my research.
Well considering drivers aren't "workers" and these companies aren't transparent that type of data isn't cheap or easy.
*fare, not fair
Was thinking the same thing, how much did you spend on expenses, gas etc. It was pretty shitty reporting.
check my math above I explained everything in great detail about how the whole thing is a sham
4/10 needs more math
who reduces fractions these days lol
pwoodson21 people who don't want their rating to be on a scale of 1 to 10.
he has soooooo much vocal fry.
i literally had to watch a dnews video to understand what vocal fry was
Sooo irritating...
Who cares, it's fine.
Justin Harber IKR
Justin Harber that’s the first thing I thought. I had a hard time listening to him.
Pardon my naivete but why were you driving around when you didn't have a customer? Doesn't the app notify you when a customer needs a ride? So it's not like you're a regular taxi trolling for street fares, right? Seems like a waste of gas, so I assume I'm missing something.
The app tells you when there is someone new near your GPS coordinates. Moving is a tough optimization to try to figure out in a large city like that, but the odds seem much more in you favour if you're moving.
Just adding my two sence, as I am a Lyft/Uberx driver mostly Uber because uber offers the promise of paying me anywhere from $27 - $50 an hour , as long as I do 1 ride per hour and reach a rating of 4.75, but when I am looking for a fare like when I start for the night I stay in one place til I get that first request after which the request come fairly regularly once I get going for the night, but you also have to use common sence, where are there going to be people needing rides more than other people , near big cities or the surrounding towns and cities
Jeru Sanders and Cnetral Control in Beijing wants to be able to move you around like a pawn since it can follow you on GPS. They are playing you like a game. Welcome to teh People's LIberation Army. zuckerz
I drove Uber for over a year. You make no more than 15 dollars an hour after taxes and gas... Car depreciation is a major factor as well. Uber and Lyft draws in drivers by providing a quick money way out. You need a job and some money, your in between jobs, you need extra cash on the side... They target that audience by providing quick cash... In the long run it is not worth while for drivers... Try to get out of this industry as soon as you can... Don't stick around.. It will burn you.
I used to ride Uber a lot. They need to offer a tipping option. I generally don't believe in tipping, however it is an individual-based job. Some drivers are WAY better than others, but they all make the same. A simple $1 tip button at the end of a ride would drastically improve the riding experience. When a driver does 20 or 30 rides in a day, he could make $10+ more daily without costing Uber apart from, perhaps, a very slight drop in use, but unlikely.
I agree, but Uber has a strong opinion on making a seamless experience... and even tho most people don't care about tipping... Just psychologically the fact that a person has to deal with one extra transaction (which is the tipping screen) makes an impact... The whole point of Uber is Get in... Get out... Its seamless... This part of the reason why Uber works better than Lyft. It's just that one little extra thing you have to do can add up... As a driver .. of course I would love frequent tips.... But from a business stand point I get their decision... In today's world, tech and business... people wanna do the most amount of things in the fewest amount of clicks... its just how everything runs... Just look at Rocket Mortgage... Its a quick mortgage tool... .It's mortgage.. its not supposed to be quick... but ppl want quick.. quick sells.
With the Lyft app it is super simple for a rider to leave a tip but based on my experience driving for two weeks just about no one will do so.
You are an independent contractors so you have to run it as your own business. You have to plan your week out taking into account events, concerts, weather, etc to know when you will have the biggest payout. Knowing when those surges will happen because of these things. Just plugging in and playing taxi will do you nothing but run yourself into the ground. I easily made their benchmark by not driving but also working outside the car and doing my research.
5Cents Media Please there's more than one asterisk on their 19 dollar an hour claim. I know what an independent contractor is. Your an independent contractor so Uber doesn't have to provide you with certain benefits and pay part of your taxes while completely avoiding any sort of vicarious liability. Uber can be great for a specific demographic. But beware and do your research. That's it.
I can verify these figures. As a 4.9 driver with years of driving experience I thought I was in a good position to make extra $ driving both Uber and Lyft. Uber has twice the ride demand that Lyft does in my town, which is a very busy tourist destination. Factoring in tips I can confidently tell you my average pre tax and pre expense net is $13 per hour. I average 1.6 rides per hour. Do NOT buy a new car to drive Uber/Lyft!! If you are looking for part time income and own a nice used car you don't mind racking miles on this is a good opportunity for part time money.
I am a 4.7 with Lyft and 4.8 with Uber. I have 23 years experience I drove metered cabs and town cars. I average about $20 an hour gross. Then I average another $30 a day in cash tips mostly from Uber customers.Increased my salary by $75 a shift when I started working Lyft and Uber after working only Lyft for 2 months. You are right about not buying a car. I lease a Prius that has 459,000 miles on it and used to be a cab on the biggest metered cab fleet in town with over 600 cars that Uber crushed. It is going on its 3rd engine this week. My personal car is a Black Lincoln Town Car that is retired from a town car service that also took a pretty good hit . it has 393,000 miles, with about 220 on its 2nd engine. I can take Lyft Premier and Uber Select rides with this car .We buy cars specifically to use as work cars. They may double as personal cars and our personal cars do get used for business on occasion or part time. All our cars also carry ride share endorsements on our insurance policies.
Full time Lyft driver here, and I have to say a lot of variables come into play. Demand greatly depends on the neighborhood you're in..it just takes a little trial and error to find the sweet spot. I used to spend about 40 hours/week to make around $600 (before gas expenses). I've since shaved it down to ~25 hours to make the same amount. Drivers can also double or triple their income by marketing the Lyft app to new drivers ($150 to $750 each) and passengers ($10 each).
I drove Uber and Lyft for a short period of time in 2015. I did some math, the percentage cut taken by the company, a percentage set aside for income tax, fuel costs, and average wear and tear on my car. After all those things, I was taking home $3-5 /hour... so I quit.
One thing that killed me was the fuel cost for all the miles with no passenger. I get a request, drive (unpaid) to the location of the customer, drive (paid) to their destination, and then drive (unpaid) from their destination to a populated area where I'm likely to get another passenger. I think this dynamic is worse in the suburbs where everything is spread out and each of those unpaid drives could be long.
I have driven for lyft for a week and just did all of the math and found the same thing
I have tried Lyft in two different cities as well as Postmates and Uber Eats, I earn around the same amount. Most people actually earn around this amount per hour in these types of ridesharing and food delivery services.
Wouldn't people in the suburbs have their own car? I mean would you wait 10 minutes for a car to get from there to here if you even get one in the suburbs. Im pretty sure the main appeal for uber and lyft is people coming from the airport or doing business in a location they cant bring their car.
The $35/hr is a bit of a trick. EARN (meaning how much you bring in, before any deductions) UP TO (meaning in a great hour with solid tips). so take off 25%, then another 35% for taxes (with a 1099 you should expect this, but know that many only pay 5-15%), then about $0.65 per mile for all car expenses. then you get reimbursed $0.54 per mile for taxes. bear in mind this is only while you have passengers. If you drive smart, you should get reimbursed around $0.40 per mile while driver mode is on. Tips are not reduced, so it's hard to count for that in all of this, but if you're great and drive a few groups to a club on a Saturday night and get tipped $5 each group, you can expect to profit $6/hr before tips. I assumed that you drive at about 15mph with waiting (how it is where I am). Giving you around $21 profit per hour at best. That's a Lyft estimate though. sometimes you'll make much more and sometimes much less. Also, I didn't account for prime time.
That's how you use math to analyse Lyft profit.
Factor in depreciation of driving the car, and the fact that you will need to buy a car faster.
there are many other costs associated with a car that you didnt take into account.
fuel is not the only thing you have to pay for, you have to service your car and fix it when it breaks or when you have a car accident, clean it, antifreeze, oil, deprecation of the value of the car because of adding mileage, pay tickets and fines, have a bigger data plan on your phone, insurance, and other variable and fixed expenses as well as the time spent doing all these things and wasted time to wait for customers ( while you could be doing something else, opportunity cost)
Take all of those into account over a longer period, and you would probably make MUCH LESS.
Don't forget the blinker fluid
Those jobs are goods for part-time and it is better if you have an older car. I like to drive for uber and lyft because I'm a part-time student in college and I have a flexible schedule for studying and working. Now I am renting a small apartment and thanks to my jobs uber and lyft I can do that.
You forget about the tax deduction
My mom used to drive for lift and uber but the said if she could go back in time she wouldn’t do it again. She said she barely broke even with the gas and the wear and tear on her car was horrible.
Working with lyft you have to not just drive but also plan your day. People that just drive with lyft don't make any money and actually lose money.
this guy just tryna make some quick lyft money while being paid more money to make a video
WHY ARE YOU TALKING LIKE THAT?
$163 for 10 hours? Not worth it.
+MpJ27 lol
you forgot to minus fuel first
They dont pay for you gas, Your paycheck does!
+MpJ27 That's $16 bucks an hour! That's twice what I'm making now! Shit anything over $12 an hour and you're rich!
+Jeremy Eaken independent contractors have to pay their own taxes, so set aside 20% for that, plus their own gas, so depending on where you live and what type of car you drive will determine how much goes towards that. One should set aside a healthy percentage towards future auto repairs, car washes, potential upgrades for equipment, insurance, plus save for the deductible on Lyft's insurance should one get into an accident, plus potential phone data plan increase. All this costs money and will make one's dollar per hour even less. Do some quick math and you'll see it's not amazing money, unless you can keep all overhead low and drive during those hours and in places where the rate that is charged to riders translates to more money per mile to the driver.
+fisherphotoworks That's a common criticism, but it actually isn't so simple. As an employee, you also pay for many of those costs. The only difference is you don't have to do the math yourself, but often doing the math yourself can be to your benefit.
This is similar to the argument about self-employment taxes vs payroll taxes. People often think their employer pays part of their social security and medicare benefits, but that isn't so. The employee bears all of those costs.
Yep Yep and Yep .. you might wanna see sometimed 140$ for 11h1/2 also .. as you can drive certain speed in residential area .. it wont accumulate into a higher rate.. still 3.50 ~ 3.88 for few miles ..reagardless how much time you drive
another word.. not worth it
if you didn't get any passenger on sunday is because you didn't know where to go, there are some areas where you should go and depends on the time too,
A magical car with no wear & tear, depreciation, insurance, etc. Only needs fuel and will run for ever & ever! "Math" LOL.
I couldn't watch the rest of the video because it bugged me so much
I believe the term is: depreciation
in a week? its not gonna wear and tear in a week
That's not how accounting works. You still depreciate the car for the amount you used it during that week. For example, if you need a $50 oil change every 5,000 miles, you expense it at $0.01 per mile. So 50 miles in a day is $0.50 cost. Do that for all of the expenses of the car though. Tires, Brakes, oil, etc.
imscared6 by depreciation he means the loss of value of the car
BRO. Here's a glass of water
My mother was a taxi driver for a while. That was way before services like this existed.
But the fundamental problem and uncertainty about income is the same either way.
You never know if you're going to get 100 customers in a 12 hour shift, or 10...
So your income is equally unpredictable...
(with traditional taxis you also have to note that, at least in the places I know of, the driver gets 50% of the profits, and the owner of the car the other 50%, and the driver also pays 50% of the fuel costs. - the net effect of this is that average wages tend to be below minimum wage on all but the busiest of days...)
wait a minute you "drove around" and didn't get any trips? Your waisting gas stupid your doing it all wrong. no wonder your not making that much.
Ironic calling someone stupid who can't spell the right waste and you're
Education and intelligence are separate things.
lostinYourReality you just got roasted
That what i was saying
Explain
Yesterday: 12 ride requests - 5 cancellations.
Today: 3 out of the first 4 ride requests cancelled.
The money sucks. The gas expense sucks. The cancellations suck.
Don't drive for Uber or Lyft. You will NOT make "life-changing" money. In fact, you won't make jack shit.
I work for uber I HATE cancellations so I started calling customers first
+The Artful Dodger I used Lyft for the first time and got my first $50 in rides for free. Used this code: GOLDENTICKET1
Once more people use Lyft, the more rides will be available to service.
+The Artful Dodger I'm considering doing Uber but only for going to traffic court. People need rides because their licenses may be suspended and cancellations mean they don't go to court and get an arrest warrant. How is the experience in general. Is it frustrating to deal with the passengers/Uber as an organization?
kindjordan And what exactly do you call "decent money"?
I make well over $100 for 4 or 5 hours of work. I think that's decent
This "vocal fry" is driving me crazy (no pun intended). I'm really grateful it isn't a thing in my country. It's really a chore, listening to someone talking like that.
It's not a meme - it's just a thing people do with their voices that only recently got a name. Now instead of saying "I hate the way he/she talks" we can be more specific and point to this terrible thing called "vocal fry".
What country? People are built pretty much the same all over the world, so I presumed there would be examples of vocal fry in every culture.
(No worries on the pun intention. No pun detected.)
Poland. I can't recall meeting anyone talking like that - I've only heard it from americans on TV or Internet. Because this is NOT a "biological" thing, but a cultural mannerism. I don't know about other countries but it's definitely not present where I live at all.
its definitely annoying but i guess you get used to it after a while. I hate it when I catch myself doing it.
+Nicholas Lorenson - If people are all built the same, why does everybody have a unique voice? Why can't Chinese people say _R,_ why do French people struggle _TH,_ why cant English speakers do a Xhosa click? Because our vocal tracts might be built the same, but we still have control over _how_ we use them. Just because all humans are _capable_ of doing vocal fry, doesn't mean they actually _will_ do it.
That's why this is a good for side money tbh Its great if you have another job with hourly pay
Yup if your driving more than 16 hours a week you need to figure something else out. Uber/Lyft are bad full-time positions...
i drove for uber for a couple of months and all i gotta say is its ok if u need quic cash but other than that not worth wearing out your car and people messing it up, had a problem with a passenger and uber never covered the cleanup, said it wasnt a big mess
His vocal fry is KILLING me.
That man had the croakiest voice ever
Vox, don't allow this guy to speak out loud please
He's fine, I didn't care at all.
I think he can't
Recently started with Uber and I have made more off of Uber than with Lyft. Most riders I asked on why they chose Uber vs Lyft most of the time I heard they were more familiar with Uber than with Lyft. At times cost was the reason for going with Uber as a rider than with Lyft.
I live in Hampton Roads region of Virginia. I drove one week with UBER, and averaged $10.00 an hour. I drove a week with LYFT, and averaged $3.00 an hour.I did considerably more sitting around with LYFT then I did with UBER. ( I drive part time, 2-3 hours weeknights after work, and about 5 hours Saturday and Sunday. I earned 3X more in UBER than I did with LYFT.
I live on the Virginia Peninsula, Newport News between Hampton and Williamsburg. Through the tunnels is Southside Hampton roads. For the most part, UBER will keep my pickups within 10 miles. LYFT will have me drive 30 minutes to pick up and take rider 3-5 miles. I got 5X more cancellations in LYFT than I do in UBER. ( Mostly because LYFT riders would request, I would be a half hour drive away and the rider didn't want to wait that long )
Yes it all depends on what city you are driving for LYFT. Some of the comments are correct below. Tuesdays you are probably not going to get a lot of rides, however there are peak times on anyday during the week that LYFT advises you to go out and make some $$. Yes the weekends are the best and the evenings are a must to work if you want to make some amaazing money. $35hour? Yes and then some. It is a "HUSTLE" to get it. No breaks, non stop early evening till 3am. thanks Go LYFT! (San Francisco LYFT Driver 3 weeks) Looove it !
Why Tuesdays though? Like smack dab in the middle of the week you don't get that much.
With that much fry in his voice I just stopped watching.
me too
I didn't even care, it was fine.
The voice of this dude...
Rideshare profits for drivers are actually much shakier than that, he only took fuel into consideration for drivers expenses. But as a full time driver you know there is much more than that.
I drive a Prius v in San Francisco. I usually work 2-5 hours a day and make roughly $120-$200 clear then spend anywhere from $5-$10 on gas assuming gas stays at $3.70. So when people say stuff like that you gotta wonder if it's just a taxi driver trying to make u we sound bad. I do hate the rating system though. If you maintain a average of 4.6 or lower for uber and lyft your booted off as a driver.
* trying to make uber and lyft sound bad.
Sorry typo
Alex Silcock Its. ride sharing ride sharing is not for profit or a job. Ride sharing is commuting and asking for a little bit of gas money
This mans a genius, he just got paid by lift and Vox for driving 50 hours
rideshare profits are like real estate: it depends on the market you're in.
+uncoverbrother So true, Honolulu is HOT.
uncoverbrother Ride sharing is not a for profit activity. What you're doing is actually a taxi not ride sharing
I believe it also depends on what city you're in.. From what I understand, San Francisco is one of the more profitable cities as opposed to other places where there are just as many drivers on the road as they're riders that requests them.
And las Vegas.
Can this guy talk without croaking?
5 years later it is still absolutely awful and getting worse by the day.
This video underestimates the costs of driving, which are more than just gas. Maintenance, the expected per mile wreck costs, etc. matter.
While I'm sure that Lyft's $35/hr ads are a bit exaggerated, I would guess that a driver could make MUCH better money if he drove late in the evening, especially on weekends. Tuesday morning is probably the worst time to pick up fares. Unfortunately, that means that drivers can't be home with their families or out with friends, so it's not exactly a perfect job.
Lyft is taking 25% now
Dale E yeah and they're are paying less for miles
Dale E No dispatch company deserve more than 3%. Go drive a legal taxi and Lauren exactly how much you're getting ripped off by paying 25% of your money to a company that only does a dispatch function. It's your money not theirs you are providing equipment and doing the work all they have is a couple of computers and a building somewhere. Legal taxis pay $15 a week for dispatch services
Despite all the negative comments, his video is to the point and basically gives you the info you need. Drive sharing is minimum wage after deducting expenses. Car wear and tear is more than the cost of gas. I like to simplify the math: deduct half of what you gross and that amount is what you actually made.
You are forgetting to factor in the cost to buy the car, the cost to insure the car, maintenance & oil changes, repairs, depreciation, and also the cost to eventually buy a new car, as after a few years they won’t let you drive that car once it hits a certain age. Once you factor in all of those costs, you will soon see that you are subsidizing the company, and not getting compensated for all of those costs, not to mention the self employment taxes and federal & state taxes. Add it all up and you are losing money regardless of whether it is Lyft, Uber or any other rideshare company. YOU ARE GETTING RIPPED OFF!
Issues with this:
1. Started at 12:30pm. It is dead at that time. Try 5-6am start or 3-4pm start.
2. You're constantly driving wasting fuel while waiting. AKA Deadmiling. Just sit and wait. Don't drive around.
If they are offering $30/hr, then why don't you just turn on the app, and do a different job?
Rahul K Your boss won't appreciate you running out every hour or so to pick someone up.
You have to meet minimum pickup and hour quotas to get matched for the difference. And these promotions are usually one time only
I did Lyft last summer, had a mixed experience. Was better in many ways than a bottom-feeder unskilled "crap job" (as an engineering student with 3 years of school finished I'd hoped for something better like an internship), but I had plenty of complaints as well. Pay I estimate came to around $15 an hour, better than minimum wage but not awesome - I drove a Prius so fuel costs weren't bad. Didn't have bosses to deal with (bottomfeeder job bosses are always horrible in my experience, like to make sure their employees know they are beneath them), very flexible, and most passengers were pretty chill.
It was very unsteady though, mostly due to the problem of market saturation. I saw tons of others driving around, most empty, and when I logged out of driver mode and logged in as a passenger (for some reason they didn't want us to see where the other drivers were) I could see that there was one on every corner much of the time. Problem is one of economics of their business model, as this guy says. Most businesses want to balance supply with demand - they have to pay for supply, whether that be employees to provide services, food, manufactured goods, whatever it may be, whether or not it's sold, so having too much is a loss. With Lyft, they don't pay for people to sit around, that's the drivers' loss, the company is best off to have one on every corner, even if they rarely get rides and hardly make any money. Thus they aggressively recruit drivers and are constantly urging them to get out and drive, with annoying texts that say "demand is skyrocketing." I found there is no good strategy, as if there were everyone else would be doing the same and it thus wouldn't do any good. I always avoided sports games and concerts because I figured every other driver was going to them. Just wander about and hope for the best - I generally targeted morning and afternoon commuters myself.
Overall I found it to be decent, but it was very unsteady, and as a result somewhat stressful. A nice supplement, but not a trustworthy income source. I would not suggest it as a career or primary job, and one should NEVER buy a car for this purpose (unless they wanted to buy a suitable car anyway), but if you have a suitable car it's not bad as a temporary or sideline thing while between jobs, being a student, or having another job.
Urber is a rip off! You’re car gets messed up and low pay! Too many drivers on the road too! It’s a dead end job! Trust me!
He is book smart, but Lyft is about being street smart pun intended
I live in Nashville, started driving yesterday. I've made $160 in two days, prob drove a total of 10hrs.
It's one of the hardest jobs out there, stop and go , stop and go , drive to passenger 7 miles - customer cancels the trip-- customer lies for free ride -- pick up customers who are doing laundry 9 bags -- customers have a few stops fast food drive thru, target , Wal-Mart ect ect waste gas , tire change , breaks , cleaning you're car daily , scratches, dents, the worst job and if a customer complains then good luck because you get deactivated and it can be weeks if not months before they let you back on. Lyft and Uber make half of what you take on a ride without lifting a single finger , it gets worse and worse
You have a lot more expenses than just fuel.
Insurance
Maintenance/repair
Vehicle registration, taxes, fees
Payroll taxes (self-employed individuals pay SE tax)
Cell service (with a big data plan)
The IRS says that the standard cost of operating a vehicle (which includes fuel, maintenance, insurance, registration) is 53.5 cents/mile (for 2017 taxes). I like to use that figure when calculating my actual earnings.
Of course in reality, any reliable and reasonably efficient vehicle actually costs much less per mile to operate. But the IRS says anyone who drives for work can deduct 53.5 cents/mile, so the difference between that and one's actual costs is as close to free money as exists in this world.
Wonderful is the freedom of being your own boss and working only when you feel like it!
What's not so wonderful is the minimum wage net income (if you're lucky), along with no paid holidays, no paid sick days, no paid vacation, no insurance benefits, no 401-K or other retirement benefits, and NO chance for advancement. None, zippo. All those deficiencies make a $10/hr job at Walmart or Home Depot look pretty damn good.
They forgot to add the cost of depreciation and maintenance to "the math". I drive for Uber and Lyft in Seattle and have calculated that gas is .08 per mile, depreciation is approx. .11 per mile, and not sure about maintenance, but approx .08 per mile on my 2013 Prius C. If you factor these things into the math, these drivers are probably making less than $10 per hour in this market. In Seattle, I make about $25 per hour, which is adjusted to about $15 per hour after the "math". But I know when and where to drive. Plus $15 an hour is to be Seattle's minimum wage. Still worth it, but I wanted to correct the "math".
You have to learn where the good spots are at and try not to drive around, you will waste gas. I made $188 in just 2 hours in Inland Empire area in Cali.
why does it seem like every vox employee has vocal fry. my ears are in legitimate pain
never be self employed, if its not as part of a firm you own, and see the final reward from, and certainly never be full time self employed for someone elses business, always ask what costs are being passed on to you, and ask if business is soo good, why does the firm need to pass on those costs? So many of these online firms start with the idea of you doing it occasionally, then people start to use them as full time gig, and we wonder why it goes wrong.
there was little to no math.
Don't forget self-employment taxes mean that you pay almost twice as much tax as a normal employee
+tyu3456 I call BS, 10% for 2015.
Self employment tax is 15.3% for 2015, add that to the income tax of ~15% (if you make under 40K) and you get twice the tax. And that's just federal...
+tyu3456 You don't pay more tax than a normal employee. You pay tax + Medicare + social security. You just have everything bundled together.
You pay double the self-employment tax because you also pay the half that the employer normally pays. But the self employment tax is only part of the whole income tax. I have discovered that with an annual income of around $30,000 driving full time, my overall taxes are about 25%.
with lyft you can keep all your gas,food,bebarages receipts for your income taxes and you can save few buks
In 5 years lyft and uber will both sack all their drivers in favor of robot cars.
Someday those with steering wheels will be phased out due to not enough demand; except those only rich people could afford anyway. Around the time there are about 1 robot car per 6 humans who commute daily.
The real math would add in commercial vehicle insurance, 54 cents per mile expenses, and also a stipend for risking your life every day as well as the risk of tickets and higher insurance if you make a mistake. It ends up you break even almost exactly. And thats if you work 60 hours a week. Any less than that and your paying to work.
You are an independent contractors so you have to run it as your own business. You have to plan your week out taking into account events, concerts, weather, etc to know when you will have the biggest payout. Knowing when those surges will happen because of these things. Just plugging in and playing taxi will do you nothing but run yourself into the ground. I easily made their benchmark by not driving but also working outside the car and doing my research.
He did it for a week so clearly he knows everything and is an expert.
He also drove around the entire time instead of picking a good spot to wait for a customer lol profits -100
Supply and Demand folks.
Get.uber.com/cl/rideshare/500/?invite_code=iddrg
This video is pretty accurate. The real way you make money driving with Lyft & Uber... is NOT to drive with Lyft & Uber... it's to get other ppl to sign up to drive with Lyft and Uber. So now you know the secret.
He is right, I drove for uber and Lyft for a week each and after estimating the mileage ,tear and wear on my carand taxes to be paid at the end of the year I’m making $4/hr. It’s not for everybody. If you’re jobless and need to pay your car note it may be good for you other than that its a mere waste of time
I drove for Lyft for 50 rides... after expenses... I made approximately $10.50 per hour.
..
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I no longer drive for Lyft.
you are driving during the daytime...first mistake...
Vehicle depreciation? Auto Repairs? Auto Insurance? Medical Insurance?
I make about $20/hr or $1/mile not including bonuses. If I go 10 minutes without a ride I get a meal, and if still no ride, I go home and take a nap. I have taken graduate-level math and I make about $1500 a week for working 40-50 hours. I maintain a 4.95/5.00 rating and clean my car's exterior once per day, and the interior at least twice per day. I spend an average of an hour a day maintaining the car not including repairs. About $200 month at the car wash (including tips), and $500 in maintenance/repairs a month.
Lyft is a blessing compared to working for UPS. These critics have no idea what a hard job is. I spend tens of hours researching the exact solvent to use when washing my car, for just an example. I also do all the mechanic work myself. Regardless, I treat every customer as a private driver, in hopes of becoming a professional driver.
fryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyying voice
I made $935.00 in Portland Oregon this week plus the 20% power driver bonus in 37.5 hours. It might just be that pdx is the perfect environment, but my system of going out during prime hours works.
It would be nice to see an updated, more thorough version of this video.
so much croaking
Then one day your car breaks down with a million miles and you can't afford to fix it with 14 bucks an hour....
Tip: do research for high demand to get the max profit for your second job.
This is literally why taxi and hackney licences exist. This same problem happened during the mid 20th century. Licences are not some cartel, they are needed to make driving profitable.
If he get 14$ per hour and in 3 years he will have to lease or buy a new car, he will find his wage has gone down to below minimum wage.
I got an ad from Careem, which is basically the Uber/Lyft of the United Arab Emirates, but we still have Lyft and Uber in there.
My dad was driving Lyft on March 5 2018 and he got in a car accident and Lyft didn't want to pay anything for his car.
These guys don't really understand a couple of things that make a difference. Sure it's 12.00 an hour but you are not paying taxed until tax season and then, they have to calculate all your deductions like miles, gas, car washes, dash cam, maintenance etc... that will lower what you pay on taxes. These math statistics these guys use are so incomplete. Also, he wasted gas driving around that's his fault wasting gas. I'm not saying he is completely wrong about what he is saying, he just isn't giving you all the info. Good Luck!!!
Some locations have no parking spot without alerting locals of a suspicious loitering vehicle or taking a spot reserved for the nearest business' customers. I guess that means frequent stops to buy something fast, random and cheap.
Depends on which city he drove in, I'm a fulltime driver and I get at least 5 rides an hour so its bullshit if you can't make money with lyft its not because lyft isn't worth it for you its because you're an idiot. I make minimum of 1,750 a week my tips pay for gas and I take home at least 1,200 after taxes. I work when I want and I don't when I don't want to. Its the best thing that's happened to me, I wish I found this earlier! I work in the boston area!
however, service, insurence (company grade)/extra insurence for customers, usage and downriding of the value of the car, tire ware, increased expenses on repairs.?
And what about pension, healt insurence and other benefits that is normally paid by the employer?
Those disappeared for most people back around 1995.
Range Wilson those?
Are you an avid fisherman? Those are some stories. 5 rides an hour? Tips? 1,750 a week?
I don't know where you drive, but in Chicago, there's isn't a 3-hours stretch with no passengers, even at 5a.m. on a Sunday morning.
Serious vocal fry
So...barely any math, and the most vocal fry of anyone I've ever heard.
Dislike.
New Driver Referral Code: "DERRELL596839"
Lmao $163 for 10 hours? I usually make $250 on a Saturday night driving for uber
You're reported earnings are somewhat inaccurate, because you neglected the fact that youre milage is tax deductible, I think at around 59 cents/mile. So, if you drove 100 miles that's about a 59 dollar tax deduction. Make sure you keep good records if you're driving for Uber or Lyft (and keep receipts for meals you eat inbetween fares, pencils, pens, notebooks, business cards, water you give out or candy-anything you are using to promote you're ride share business.)
why is everybody getting so mad about this guy's voice? I get if you dont like the video but seriously stop picking on him just cause of his voice
I drive lyft in Detroit and I drive everywhere. I made over 100,000. After all expenses I pocketed about 85,000. I do drive 12 hours a day most days. I took vacations also.
I just took a gentleman and his wife on a ride for Lyft. He showed me his charges which were $6.50. When I looked at my app it showed me that Lyft only collected $4. Then Lyft charged me a $1 fee. So I collected $3 for the ride while Lyft collected $6.50.
question, where was he driving? $30/hr might be possible in more busy places like NYC and downtown LA.
Isn't the standard of adequate living there somewhere around $50?
kuhataparunks that's the point, these drivers don't make enough to live on, I think it's meant for if you're out already and want to make a few extra bucks, in some places, a taxi fare is $30, so you would make $30 in less than an hour, but it wouldn't be enough money to live on in the long term since the other days of the week don't pay nearly as much. for example, where I live, $500+ a week is amazing money, only the top earning people make that here, but in the cities, you need a lot more.
So many people are complaining about this guy's voice
Am I the only one that doesn't notice anything??
Staying still and waiting for requests does not always work. Sometimes you have to drive somewhere else, otherwise you sit/stay still for hours and not much can happen. You have to chase the action, most of the times.
He should be doing surveys for rewards points or cash on his cellphone while he is waiting for his next customer ;)
I drive in philly and even if i have someone in my car 50 mins out of he hour, i have never made more than $26 an hour.