101–110 of 224 posts
In my city (Montreal) there are some Uber drivers who seem very content and have driven for 3+ years. They often have very nice cars. What is going on: are these drivers just doing it as a hobby? Are they somehow earning more than others? One would assume that you can be fooled and stay in the game for 3-9 months at $3.37 an hour, but not 3+ years.
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…
Is "eat out" a real term, or just something you made up? The term I've heard for this sort of thing would be "capital consumption".
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 ag…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Uber was more expensive than a Taxi for me in Paris. Uber gave me a 10-14 euros quote. And for the same distance the taxi took only 7 euros. I'm pretty sure the math might be working on some places. I'm only suggesting that it is possibly not working on other places and users are not aware of that.
Was this before UberX? Checking just now Uber quotes about the same as a taxi for UberX in Paris. The premium Uber (called "Berline" in Paris) is 60% more, so matches your experience. The rentals I'm referring to are all UberX. https://www.uber.com/fare-estimate/ https://www.taxifarefinder.com/main.php?city=Paris-France
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes: self-employment tax.
Can’t this be avoided by being taxed as an S-corp?
The problem isn't the profit, but that there are a number of people using this as one of their primary income sources. I'm not sure how Uber et. al was originally promoted to drivers, but I've originally seen it as something like "I'm heading home from work, let me turn on my uber app and see if anyone around me needs a ride going in that direction". Or, "I feel like riding around tonight, no particular place to go,…
Fairly sure that the parameters of driving for Uber/Lyft preclude every single aspect of what makes that activity enjoyable for an 18-22 year old.
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 ag…
Edit, adding: In Lyft’s ExpressDrive program, the quota to get free rental is 105 rides per week. They apparently think it should be a full time job. You might get 3 rides per hour during peak periods, if nobody barfs in your car after closing the bar, but mostly you’ll average about 2 rides per hour over a week.
Vs. 0 dollars if these services did not exist.
Are you implying that if they were not earning $3/hr, they would use those hours to sit around and mope? The point is that $3/hr is a very small reward for your time when compared to pretty much any other use of that hour(i.e. flipping burgers, bagging groceries, making coffee is 3x as lucrative)
I assure you I wasn't earning $3/h though, that was just what it ended up saying on my taxes because they let me deduct part of my fixed expenses that I was paying anyways like insurance, finance interest, license, registration, etc. It was closer to minimum wage, and tax-free at that (which suited me because my marginal tax rate was high from my day job).
Before Uber I just drove for free by myself in random directions for fun. That was way more expensive.
Edit: I also have an expensive car that guzzles premium fuel, or it would have been significantly more than minimum wage.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My experience in a big metro area has been that almost every Uber driver does this full-time, and their vehicle is for the sole purpose of Uber. I guess it depends on where you are.
They have another car to drive themselves around when they aren’t working for Uber?
What is the incentive to drive for one of these services at that price point? Couldn't these people make more money (and not have to replace their car in five years) flipping burgers or the like? Are drivers misled into believing they will make more? Is the cost per mile intentionally hidden from them?
Subprime leasing programs. Initially the lease looks very attractive, because you get a swanky new car, combined with bonuses and stuff that you get as a new driver. Few months in, the incentive turns into a shackle. You start realizing that incentives are dwindling and the monthly payments are eating into most of your Uber earnings, which was masked by higher new driver incentives initially. At this point, loss aver…