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
#2To support any discussion on this post, here is an earlier HN post of the same content but from a different source:
> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16498551
> The MIT CEEPR Research: http://ceepr.mit.edu/files/papers/2018-005-Brief.pdf
Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says
#3'If drivers are fully able to capitalize on these losses for tax purposes, 73.5% of an estimated U.S. market $4.8B in annual ride-hailing driver profit is untaxed," they add.'
So they might be making money, but only by avoiding taxes. Great. /s
Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says
#4It does seem that there are glaring flaws in the methodology:
1) They use average numbers for vehicle expenses which are going to be much higher than what professional drivers with strong profit incentives are going to pay
2) They report on a sampled average of all Uber drivers while acknowledging that the vast majority of these are part time and temporary employees who are not really optimizing their profits. If they looked only that those who do Uber full time or for more than temporary work they would get a completely different story.
Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says
#5Vs. 0 dollars if these services did not exist.
Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says
#6I'd be interested to see what the median profit would look like after adjusting for COL.
My guess would be that most high earning drivers are in areas with high population density (thus also likely to be more expensive) so I'm not sure if the increased hourly rate necessarily implies that they are doing better.
Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says
#7I wonder how much airbnb hosts are making. In Lisbon most airbnb hosts are amateurs who spend a few hours every week cleaning and greeting, and get the bejeezus taxed out of their parallel activity. I wonder if they’re doing any better than “transportation entrepreneurs” working for ridesharing companies.
Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says
#8“Of the five sources of cost estimated per mile (Insurance, Maintenance, Repairs, Fuel and Depreciation), approximately 40% of costs are attributable to Insurance, Maintenance and Repairs, 40% to fuel expenses, and 20% to depreciation.”
I don’t understand how insurance is a relevant cost. Insurance is required to legally operate a vehicle - this is something that they must have for their personal vehicle regardless of whether or not they are driving for Uber or Lyft. The only way this is a relevant cost is if they own their vehicle for the sole purpose of Uber or Lyft driving. I have to imagine that this is usually not the case.
Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says
#9Vs. 0 dollars if these services did not exist.
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).
Re: Uber, Lyft Drivers Earning a Median Profit of $3.37 per Hour, Study Says
#10“Of the five sources of cost estimated per mile (Insurance, Maintenance, Repairs, Fuel and Depreciation), approximately 40% of costs are attributable to Insurance, Maintenance and Repairs, 40% to fuel expenses, and 20% to depreciation.” I don’t understand how insurance is a relevant cost. Insurance is required to legally operate a vehicle - this is something that they must have for their personal vehicle regardless o…
Depending on where you’re from, the insurance premium will change depending on mileage, commercial use of the car, etc