re: Any uber or lyft drivers in here?

This thread confirms my fear that most people don't understand basic math or fundamental economic concepts (opportunity cost, risk and reward, ROI).

The consequences of this societal failure have significant consequences for all of us and will continue to do so in the future.

No one thought turning your car into an uninsured gypsy cab for less than minimum wage would have made sense a few years ago. I guess no one remembers the tech bust in 2001 or y'all are too young to remember.

"Let's call our gypsy cab app a "technology company", take 20% of the top and let suckers eat the real losses, and maybe they won't notice the unsound fundamentals." Uber still can't make money and you could buy literally every taxi medallion in NYC for less than its current valuation.

This is how we have the current state budget, social security, Medicare, virtually all healthcare has effectively become welfare and 140 trillion in real deficits are right around the corner.

quote:

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if you sold drugs to your passengers you could make a killing

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This is the only profitable idea yet in the thread. No pesky IRS mileage reports or 1099s and it probably pays more than minimum wage.

ya, i dont see how driving for uber can be profitable at all.

especially if uber is reporting all your earnings to the irs, which im assuming they do?

You can make better money doing it in NOLA, especially on busy weekend and nights. I hear it's pretty bad in BR.

That being said, I signed up to be a driver in August and did it a handful of times. I never worked a late night so I did not get to many surges. You won't use that much gas but I thought the payouts were crap so I quit. Picking up a Tulane student from Mcallister Hall and bring her to a restaurant off Magazine in the Garden Dist. (3-5 miles, 15 min trip pending on what time of day) and the payout would be like $4.

An airport run from about anywhere in NOLA to MSY is an automatic $25, which is pretty cool but I did not do many.

I can see where it might be ok in a major city where the demand was high for rides. But in a small city like Lake Charles it really only makes sense for me to drive on the weekends. I just go to the Golden Nugget around 10PM on Friday & Saturday nights & park as close to the entrance as possible. From 10PM-4AM it's pretty much non stop pick-ups. Most of the rides are to the hotels less than 2 miles away.

The key to making a profit is to go to a high traffic area and park so that you aren't burning gas while you are waiting for your next pick-up.

The minimum fare is $5 & most people tip $5, so if you can get a bunch of short trips you can come out ok...

I'm not sure what the pay scale is for Uber, but for Lyft I get 75% of the fare & 100% of my tips.

99% of the people I pick up have been drinking & would have no business behind the wheel of a car. So at least in my area, people are using Lyft for all the right reasons.