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Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says

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Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says

#71

Post by eqdw »

Ways in which this headline is potentially misleading:

1) Driving for Uber/Lyft/etc is not a full time job, and was not intended to be a full time job. It's a piecemeal work side job. The flexibility of working when you want, and not working when you don't want, is valuable and you don't get it for free.

2) "Profit" is not income. This is profit net of expenses. Expenses that, among other things, you can write off against your income. And to pre-empt the "Uber drivers can't afford tax accountants" criticism, Turbotax costs $50

3) The profitability of Uber driving can vary dramatically place to place. I often ask Uber drivers in SF how they like their jobs, what they make, etc. They consistently report to me that they make between $40k and $55k/yr. This is significantly higher than "below minimum wage". OTOH, I imagine that driving Ubers in a low density place, where cabs are less financially viable (say, Fargo) is a shitty job. Averaging across the San Franciscos and the Fargos of the country to say "Uber is a terrible job" is not an accurate representation of the facts.

Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says

#72

Post by aianus »

chimeracoder wrote: post #60
kbenson wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> see if anyone around me needs a ride going in that direction Do they allow you to set a destination area so that your fares are limited to this, or do you just get to review and accept fares so you can choose ones in the right direction? I wasn't aware it could be used to just pick up someone going the same direction. I can see something like that doing very well, but I can also see how Uber might want to brand it…

> Do they allow you to set a destination area so that your fares are limited to this, or do you just get to review and accept fares so you can choose ones in the right direction? Uber didn't last I checked, but Lyft does.

Uber has had this feature since I started driving with them in December 2016.

You can only use it twice a day, however.

Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says

#74

Post by ashelmire »

pwinnski wrote: post #54
ashelmire wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm with you, this study isn't worth a damn. I have friends that make $200-300 per night (in maybe 8 hours) driving for Uber (after Uber's cut). They'll use, what, $20-30 worth of gas in that time? And the rest of the costs (insurance and vehicle cost/wear namely) are negligible (tax deduction does not indicate real cost). Driving revenue in cities is way off the right of their chart. Seems like just another contribu…

That people think vehicle wear costs are negligible is how Uber manages to convince people to drive for such low wages. People are bad at math.

If someone is making $20/hr net income driving at night (pretty average for big cities according to this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1s08BdVqCgrZWZkV0ZfZnhGUGc...), do you really think the wear costs are more than a few bucks per hour?

Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says

#75

Post by misterbishop »

fjsolwmv wrote: post #59
monochromatic wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the driver’s perspective, is there any difference?

Yes. It's not "profit" because they aren't paying themselves a wage for working. I own a business that I work at, so personal profit only counts after expenses, including at less minimum wage for hours worked.

Yeah, that's a really clear way of putting it.

Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says

#76

Post by bsenftner »

csomar wrote: post #66

Two things: 1. The cost is absorbed by another entity, usually the parents. It is the parents' car, or your parents bought you a car. You need some quick cash, so you basically "eat out" of that car to generate that "cash". 2. You are trapped in a situation where you need quick cash. So you "eat out" of your vehicle to generate that cash. This also happens when you have a low "realization" consciousness. (ie: You are…

> a low "realization" consciousness. (ie: You are bad at math and economics and you think you are making money while you are losing money)

I've not heard that phrase before. It brilliantly captures exactly how such a clearly predatory business model was blindly accepted by drivers and passengers alike. My ethics won't let me use either as a passenger, regardless of the "good deal"; I never could, and this is an issue with my work as management insists any business travel uses Uber. I flat out refuse. Our CEO's mouth dropped when I explained why, replying in a tiny voice "I'd never considered it that way".

Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says

#77

Post by Guest9812398 »

toblender wrote: post #56
wyldfire wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? Hardly. The people who drive for Uber and Lyft are able-bodied adults who could be doing other unskilled labor positions for much more than zero. There's a real opportunity cost here. Hopefully studies like this help the drivers recognize their value and they can negotiate better (leave until their rates increase).

Would you use the service if it was 3x more expensive?

Why would it be 3x more expensive?

This study says they're earning $3.37/hr in profit. Most of the rides in my city are $10 and take less than 20 minutes of time for the driver. So, if I paid $12.25 instead of $10 for rides, and the extra money went to the driver, they would earn $10.11/hr profit instead of $3.37/hr. That's 3x the profit for the driver, and only a 22.5% increase in the cost of rides. I would continue to use the service just as often.

Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says

#78

Post by ghaff »

ec109685 wrote: post #55

The maintenance, insurance and depreciation cost of driving Uber an unlimited miles a week is $214 a week, minus a profit margin for a company like Hertz: https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/misc/index.jsp?targetPage=Ube... So any study that says it is more expensive than that to drive for Uber is wrong.

That doesn't seem inconsistent with a 30 cents per mile figure. If someone drives 1,000 miles over the course of a week (which is the minimum rental), that's about 20 cents a mile for the car and about 10 cents a mile for gas. You can quibble with the details but would seem to be in the right ballpark.

Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says

#79

Post by cypherg »

Questionable statistics. I know several people who driver rideshares for a secondary income and do quite well. They're not irrationally wasting their time. They're using vehicles that they're _already_ paying insurance on, et cetera. From their POV, they either drive rideshares and make money (couple hundred bucks maybe), or stay at home and relax. They've explained to me that they do it because their bored or have free time.
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