Bottom line is that tipping is not expected, but appreciated. If you don't tip, I probably won't give you a low rating unless you a rude or an ******* in some way. I'll just know you are a cheap bastard. On the other hand, if you do tip me, I'll know you are a decent human being, and I'll give you a 5 star rider rating even if you or your friends riding with you are a little more difficult or demanding. Be an ******* or don't. It's completely up to you, but being a decent human being is not expected or necessary, but it is very much appreciated. :-)

orlando,

You drive for Uber, Lyft, or both?

Driving what 80 hours a week?

Is Uber required to provide gap insurance in MN yet? If not, you were probably driving with no insurance when you had the app on.

All,

Uber->taxi post https://medium.com/p/a750979f587f

Op: have you ever wanted to rape? If so Uber could be a good stepping stone.

went down the rabbithole from diablo's link, some more interesting stuff:

https://idrivesf.wordpress.com/2014/...-uber-you-sow/

which includes a link to the time uber decided to put up a blog post of one night stand statistics and subsequently deleted it:

https://web.archive.org/web/20140827...m/ridesofglory

I never got a sticker mailed to me. They have my car listed as a hybrid which it's not, and never answer my emails.

Guy who referred me says to give 'em a week, and they'll get to the inspection/sticker thing.

Drove half a day yesterday, very pleased with the pay and the experience.

Trip report?

Tipped my Uber driver 25% last night, he seemed surprised and grateful. Will probably continue this practice going forward assuming the driver is good given what I learned ITT.

Vacuum the car at home, wash it at the car wash. Turn on the app as I emerge from the carwash in the burb's, plan to drive towards the city where most riders are (the downtown area was a Surge area at this time, 1.5x-2.0x). App immediately pings me to pick up a fare 10 mins away, nowhere near the Surge. I snap-accept.

First fare: Brazilian exchange student needed a ride from her host-house to class. She sat up front. We (calmly) discussed how jingoistic Americans are, and how angry they get when you try to tell them that. 10 miles, 18 mins, $17.16 fare. Headed toward downtown again.

Almost got there when I got a ping. Guy was 5 mins away. He was dressed casually, but sat in the back and worked on papers, no conversation. This was a long ride, 33 miles in 40 minutes, out to a neighborhood of McMansions under construction. $55 fare! I love this job.

Now I'm out in the middle of nowhere. Head back toward the city. About 15 mins later, get a ping from someone where I just left. I accept, turn back, pick up a rich middle-aged woman at her house. She sits up front. I pull out of her driveway, and pull over immediately, because I forgot to hit the "Begin Trip" button to turn on the meter. I'm new and still stumbling with this stuff. When the app asks, "Are you sure?" to confirm my choice, I mutter, "I'm not sure of anything, it's my first day!"

RMAW: Oh? Am I your first passenger?
YTF: Third.
RMAW: Oh, I was hoping you might be a virgin!
YTF: I think those days are long past for both of us.

She complimented my "spotless" car, spent the mercifully-brief ride raving about the Uber service while bitching about the jerk drivers she's had. 1.5 miles to the corner bar, 4 mins, $5. For this, I turned back and drove 15 mins out of my way?

Surge is over. I head back towards the cities, but again get pinged in the burbs. Young lady with a heavy suitcase going to the airport. Sweet! But I hurt my right shoulder this week. Thought about opening the trunk for her from inside the car, but I couldn't help myself, I hopped out and wrestled left-handed with her luggage. She sat in the back and didn't say a word the whole way. 18 miles in 20 mins, $28.24

My shoulder was really hurting at this point, and my gf lives near the airport. We both work nights, and this her last night off for about a week, so I knock off and go spend a night out with her.

Total: 4 fares, 3.5 hours. 71.5 miles (about 2 gallons of gas), $101.71 gross. Back off around $24 to Uber, $6 to Exxon-Mobil, and $4 for depreciation (@ .59 cents/mile), I'm left with about $65. Certainly not the road to riches, but it should tide me over until this shoulder gets better and I can get back to my real job.

Cliff Notes: sample size, tho.

Had 18 fares yesterday, but all but four were short rides < $15, no $50 rides this time. Finally made it to the surge area after midnight, took a couple back to the burbs for about $40.

That's when it hit me that by never turning down a ride, I'll never get to the surge. People just outside the surge will get passed around a groupie at a Stones concert, and I'm the schmuck who says, "Looks good to me!"

Speaking of the Stones, they had a concert here last night at the local stadium, and the surge went to 7.2x when the show let out! I never got NEAR it. Next time, I won't turn on the app until I'm there already.

Pro tip: don't chase the surge. Just let it happen. Nothing wastes time like driving into the city and you get there and the surge is gone. You will find during surge time a lot of people requesting and then canceling rides.

what was the total time/mileage/gross/profit breakdown on the second day?

this is actually interesting

Wife and I ubered to the Padres game last night, broke a $20 to tip the drivers and obviously forgot to tip the first driver. He had water, gum, phone charger and let us use his aux cable to listen to music. $30 fare that would usually cost about $70 in a cab plus the service is much better with Uber. Driver on the way home stopped so we could get food, he declined to get anything but I did remember to tip him. $40 (including $5 tip) for the return trip for a total of $70, about the same as a one way trip in a cab and that is before tip for the cab.

Uber GOAT.

Your 33 mile, $55 ride exceeds anything I did in 6 months in Seattle. Obv different cities have different needs, wonder if that will be anything remotely frequent for you.

This is good advice. Downtown city driving is the worst. Lot of hassle. So many times I'd have to circle around crowded one way streets, find out who was my person among the crowd, then end up picking up four people, and driving them a few blocks for <$5. Driving distances is where the money is. If you're getting business outside of a metro area, then that's great.

stupid question. if you drive for uber, who pays you? the company?

Something called Rasier ****s a sum of cash into your checking account on Thursdays.

If the question was literally where does the money come from, you keep 80% of your fares.

YTF,

you need to recalculate your depreciation.

I'm listening.

I'm sure he's referencing that you said $4 depreciation (I'm curious how you came up with that) at what you said was 59 cents per mile.

well he said .59 cents a mile but then the math still doesnt work (maybe he did it for 5.9 cents). $4 seems a lot more realistic than $40 though

At 59 cents/mile the depreciation would be ~$42. I don't know if that's reasonable for YTF's car though. I agree that $42 seems high.