RIDEGURU
Angela Taylor (RedANT)
Ride Scholar from Seattle
1072 Rider DriverActivity
Posts by RedANT
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The Uber driver app in the Google Play store has a rating of 4.4/5 stars. I posted a comment/rating on Google Play:
Me: "If drivers have a 4.4/5 star rating, Uber calls us failures and deactivates us. Why is this rating acceptable or different?"
Uber: "Hi RedANT. This doesn't sound right. We want to take a closer look into this for you. Please send a quick note to t.uber.con/drivercontact so we can connect."
(Needless to say, I did NOT contact them with my real information)
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Old system:
$25 trip @ 2x surge = Passenger pays $50 (driver made approx 65% of the total = $32.50, and Uber/Lyft made approx 35% of the total = $17.50)
New system:
$25 trip @ 2x surge = Passenger still pays $50 (Driver makes 65% of $25 = $16.25 + a $2.50 fixed "surge" = $18.75 earned by driver. Uber/Lyft collect the balance of $50 - $18.75 paid to driver = $31.25 = approx 63%) Driver pays for 100% of their car payment, insurance, gas, and maintenance. Uber/Lyft does nothing but change policies and adjust app settings to increase their share. Passengers get fleeced.* Please note that all numbers are approximate, and will vary greatly depending on the area you're in.
** Driver pay was previously paid based on a per minute rate + mileage rate + surge multiplier.
Pay is now based on a per minute rate + mileage rate + a flat surge fee that is a fraction of the former multiplier payout. This change effectively increases Uber and Lyfts share of the fares significantly, taking money out of driver pockets and increasing company revenue. Regardless, I'd bet that Uber and Lyft will still post huge Q1 losses as they head into their respective IPOs.
This is why drivers are pissed. (And rightfully so)
Key to driver longevity...
DON'T LET RIDESHARE INTERFERE WITH YOUR FAMILY LIFE.
If you drive and are miserable, it will carry over to your personal life.
In some states "consent" is required from both parties. In other states only one party (the driver) needs to consent to record legally.
For me, I post a sign "Security cameras are in use for the protection of all and to prevent fraud" By entering my vehicle, one consents to be recorded. If a rider says that they don't consent, I'll immediately kick them from my vehicle and comment to Uber/Lyft that I did so for safety issues.
I don't know the people in my cars. My safety isn't worth the risk.
Plenty of companies have critical It infrastructure with similar reliability and uptime requirements. NONE of them, however, bleed through hundreds of millions of dollars every quarter.
That said, the app is still the face of Uber. App development as it currently stands can be done by 5 geeks in a garage, and certainly not up to par with one would expect from a muti billion dollar organization that relies on it. Can they add features like extra destination filters? (Lyft did) Even after acknowledging it in the "360 degrees of change" from last year, the team was still unable to solve such issues. What "development" do they do besides design the interface to interfere with the Lyft UI?
I'm a lightweight. I once drove a 10 hour shift, but my usual is only 4-6 hrs a day. (Mon-Fri)
More work than its worth.
Are you willing to set it up everyday?
How much time will it take to mount at the beginning of every shift, take down at the end of your shift, to charge, clean and maintain?
Unless you're making a lot of money, it probably isn't worth the time and effort.
Keep rideshare simple. Clean car. Fast and courteous service. No extras, snacks, cables/cords, or drinks. It just works.
When are you traveling? What service are you thinking of using?
I'd be happy to quote you Uber prices here in Seattle at 8:45pm Friday evening, but I'm not sure how relavant that would be to what you're looking for.
Do you have an app you want to use? What price is it quoting you?
The only thing I ask of my fellow rideshare drivers is that if you're at the airport and some insane Uber driver screams "FUCKING ASSHOLE" at you, don't take her commernt too seriously. She calls all idiot drivers the same thing.
The entire group is counted as ONE trip, from pickup of the first passenger to the dropoff of the last. The mileage and per minute rates DO NOT STACK, (Uber pockets the balance, which is why they push pool rides so hard) and the odds of bad ratings and problem passengers rise exponentially. Working a streak or next trip "surge?" You only get it for the first dropoff.
Lyft Shared just adopted the same policy.
It's Ubers latest spin on express pool that's supposedly being tested in the Seattle market. Everyone travels to a set location at a specific time, and are transported by a driver to a single dropoff. It's a variation of Uber pool, and another way that Uber is trying to compete with mass transit.
Quite frankly I don't see this as a very viable option until Uber expands exponentially the number of riders they have in the area. Short of that, you have nothing more than an inflexible shuttle to Amazon.
Offer classes? Really?
Uber doesn't know how to do anything except bleed cash. Their solution to conflicts is to declare passengers always right, drivers always wrong, and throw cash back at the riders to avoid having to deal with confrontation.
Don't obsess about your rating, because a certain percentage of riders are scammers and assholes and nothing you do will change them. I also only have two ratings for passengers... 5 stars for ones that I'd take again, and 1 star for those I never want back in my car. Over time the problem riders will weed themselves out.
Were you accused of not being professional? So have I. (and I'm still here)
You assume that I'm your run of the mill Uber driver, living on the cusp of homelessness and with no relavant business experience.
My background:
Former instructor at the Naval War College and the US Naval Academy. More than 2 decades spent at the DIA, CIA, and the White House. (Really)
After retirement I earned my Series 7 and Series 63 and spent several years as an advisor with LPL Financial, then moved on to be an analyst with Oppenheimer Funds. (I also hold insurance and real estate licenses)
While I drive a few hours a week to get out of the house, I also manage my 7 rental properties.
Unlike Uber, when I run my own businesses, I've always found success.
My point: I thrive on information analysis, and have some relavant experience with business building. Every ounce of instinct tells me that the Uber house of cards is in its death throes, and that Uber leadership will do anything necessary to make a $100 billion IPO happen. Current investors have faced the reality that Uber isn't going to be the breakthrough they were sold on by Travis Kalanick, and they're just looking for a return of their investments. They need new investors so they can cash out.
Do you really not see that?
Dara never believed in the self driving car scam, but he's now pushing the lie because he needs a more diverse prospectus to survive an Uber IPO. (Daras $100 Million bonus contingent on a $100 Billion IPO is a damn powerful motivator) People will invest in Uber, but not in a company whose sole business is an increasingly regulated and not at all profitable rideshare business. They need more diversification, so they formed Uber Eats, invested in autonomous vehicles, bikeshare, etc. Of all their companies, Uber Eats is the only one thats even partially profitable, and even that is only in limited markets.
A "technology company" isn't going to survive by renting bicycles at $1 /hr. A "technology company" isn't going to survive when they steal from their drivers and need to resort to misleading advertising and huge bonuses to lure new drivers. A successful company CANNOT survive with a 94% annual attrition rate. A successful business can't spend such a huge percentage of "their earnings" on legal fees and failing technologies. This is NOT good or sustainable business.
If a company steals money from its drivers, bleeds money on failing projects and legal fees, and still can't turn a profit even when drivers absorb almost all operating costs, it's time to close up shop and move on, because this business isn't going to survive.
Curious... how did you come to the conclusion that you came to?
App development? How many people do you think they need to develop and deploy a horribly buggy app? There are thousand of people that develop apps from their homes. Why is it that Uber can't do so even with the financial resources available to them? Is the app improved? No. did it add more destination filters and other enhancements that are important to drivers? No. What EXACTLY was done that required an army of software people to deploy and maintain? I don't see it.
Healthy data environment? When I tried to cash out this morning the system was "down." Does anyone here remember the data breech last year that Uber paid to sweep under the rug?
Does Uber have expenses related to driver background checks and recruiting? Sure, but it's minimal compared to the funds disbursed daily. Why hasn't Uber just invested in the background check company? Inquiring minds want to know.
Expenses are expenses. All business have them. The difference is that if I lost billions of dollars for 38 consecutive quarters, there's now way I'd empower these passengers to
LOL. It's a Ford. That, in itself, is its biggeest flaw.
Once you've owned a Ford, you'll know why so many of us hate their cars.
p.s. you don't need rocket launchers, the car will eventually destroy itself. Just give it some time.
Pools are for fools. DON'T DO IT.
Not only does pool not pay well, but for quest bonuses and for "surges" they all count as ONE fare, the passengers will destroy your rating if they don't like other riders, and the more pool rides you take the more that Uber will send you. If you take pools, Uber will send most of them to you and send the X rides to the drivers that refuse to take them.
If you decline or time out all pool pings, the number you receive will drop to almost none after a few days. I quit taking pools after it dropped my rating from 4.96 to 4.92 in a month. Now I can accept all but bad rating passengers and still keep my accept rate at 80% or more.
Depends on time of day, but probably around $35 + tip.
Most airports are very strict and leave no leeway for drivers to change pickup location. Your only option may be to call a cab or airport shuttle that can get to your required location.
Also understand that just because a driver picks you up doesn't necessarily mean that they will load/unload you luggage. I don't load anything because I'm also disabled and walk with a cane or walker dependig on distance. Other drivers don't load baggage because they don't want to accept liability for handling baggage. (we're not insured to handle bags like airport shuttles or the airlines)
Nope. Everyone pays the same rates.
Driver pay isn't really an expense, because the driver is earning those fees from the customers. It's all FREE MONEY for Uber, but like crackheads, they just want to steal more to pay for their addiction. Driver picks up passenger. Passenger pays and Uber get without doing a thing. No expense. (All expenses are paid for by the drivers)
Their problem is wasting money on ventures like self driving cars. Rather than perfect their core business and become profitable, they simply chose to fail in multiple fields simultaneously. Unfortunately for them the cash cow is sick and not producing milk anymore, leading to desperation and increasing theft from drivers. Once they lose their drivers their core business that floats verything else will fold and Uber will fade into the history books as one of the greatest scams in history.
In most major cities there are drivers available 24/7. If you're in a small town, it just depends on the number of drivers working that hour.
Never underestimate the ignorance of people. On many occasions I've had people stare at my car from the front, then from the side, back to the front, all at 4am in the damn morning on a deserted residential street with my Lyft amp and Uber beacon glowing brightly in the window. After I stick my head out the window and call them to my car, they say "I didn't know it was you because your license plate iss wrong. WTF? The plate listed is NA06123 and this is the tag on my car...