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Half of US Uber Drivers Make Less Than $10 An Hour After Vehicle Expenses, Study Says (recode.net)
Echoing a similar study by the JPMorgan Chase Institute, a new study finds the median hourly pay with tip for Uber drivers in the U.S. is $14.73, which includes tips and excludes expenses like insurance, gas and car depreciation incurred while working. The study was conducted by Ridester, a publication that focuses on the ride-hail industry. Recode reports: Using Ridester's low-end estimate of $5 per hour in vehicle costs, drivers would bring in $9.73 per hour and potentially much less. That implies a driver working 40 hours per week would make an annual salary of almost $31,000 before vehicle expenses, and about $20,000 after expenses (but still before taxes). That's below the poverty threshold for a family of three. It's also a far cry from the $70,000 to $90,000 Uber once claimed its drivers made in major markets.
The study, which was conducted this summer, asked drivers for a screenshot of their Uber app's earnings page from their last full day driving. The 719 valid screenshots they used show how many hours the drivers worked and how much they were paid after Uber's cut. It doesn't factor in other costs like taxes or healthcare. And -- worth noting -- the study only represents drivers who were motivated enough to send in their data and isn't necessarily representative of the geographical distribution of Uber drivers.
The study, which was conducted this summer, asked drivers for a screenshot of their Uber app's earnings page from their last full day driving. The 719 valid screenshots they used show how many hours the drivers worked and how much they were paid after Uber's cut. It doesn't factor in other costs like taxes or healthcare. And -- worth noting -- the study only represents drivers who were motivated enough to send in their data and isn't necessarily representative of the geographical distribution of Uber drivers.
They should go to Amazon. They are paying $15 now.
and took an Lyft. 14 mile round trip during 'surge' pricing (it was raining) was $26 bucks. I left a $10 tip each way (hopefully Lyft doesn't take 30% of it). One guy was pretty obviously a recently out of work fellow driving an SUV bought during better times...
Also, $20k is below the poverty threshold for a family of one. Screw the gov't for not raising it. I don't think it's been raised significantly since I was a wee lad.
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but Amazon's very physically demanding. A lot of Uber drivers are folks who can't stand up straight let alone for 8 hours a day. Still, Amazon being forced to pay $15 will help drive wages up. When it comes to wages a rising tide lifts all boats.
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to run my shop I would be making twice as much. No forced them to be an Uberneer.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Uber never promises you will make any sort of minimum amount. They tout "make up to...", but ever "make at least". On one hand, I can feel bad. Think is, only way it really changes is if the drivers band together and won't drive unless they get paid more. Oh wait, that's what Uber is against........
It's downright sad to be sure but they're trading capital in their vehicle for income. When that capital is gone due to wear & tear they lose their income. Taxis were priced as they were for a reason - and it wasn't to become rich.
Nothing showed me the "bad at math" tax more than talking to a driver who was renting their car via Lyft... at $250/week with insurance. They looked at it as they just need to drive 12 hours per week and the car is free. I understand extenuating circumstances, but talk about indentured servitude...
I really appreciate the fact that it is half the price of a taxi-- it means I don't have to rent a car and drive myself nearly as often, so potentially it is better in economic terms. At 20% more though, I don't think I would be able to justify it as much though (with still tipping).
Uber and Lyft both are now offering "rent to drive" options, where driver does not even own a car. They "rent" a vehicle from Lyft/Uber and then drive it. So, no wear and tear on their own vehicle, although of course their take home pay is even less and they are basically a completely hired employees (except for any benefits).
As an Uber driver let me just add that you can to catch mad amounts of pokemon in Pokemon Go while waiting for a ride so there's that.
According to Google the average cost per year for a car is $8000-$9000 which brings a $15 and hour salary down to about $11.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
Taxis never cost more than Uber/Lyft where I live.
They also would never show up when called. Uber/Lyft made a huge difference here. I don't really know what the appeal was in bigger cities with a functional cab market, but in my little city (Wilmington, DE) the appeal was a ride within 20 minutes at 2am or 6am both. I saw someone wait over 2 hours for a cab that they scheduled where I work. They pretty much onky show up for airport runs, and you can get them at the train station, maybe a hotel if they have a good relationship with a driver.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
No skill required besides driving that everyone does anyway, no job interviews, no fixed hours. Car depreciation only needs to be paid off years later, which is a good tradeoff if you need cash now. So the main complaint is that an entry level job is... an entry level job. If you learn to drive a bus or a luxury limo, or do something that requires more skill than just driving around, you can get more.
Of course you can.... look at Rembrant arranging paint, or the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Or the invention of the airplane.
It may not have been BG who won, but someone would have ended up owning the OS market. Cause interoperability works like that.
Does it matter if Einstein came up with his theories on his own or based them on extending other people's work? Why?
Your ad here. Ask me how!
Taking on student loans you can't afford and won't be able to afford is pretty silly, especially if you get a degree in Iranian History or Women's Studies at a private university for $60,000.
My Cisco CCNA cost me $400. ($300 for the exam, $100 for study materials, YouTube study videos free). The payback period from the salary increase was well less than a year. I've now quadrupled my income after earning six certifications.
My masters degree in computer science from Georgia Tech will cost $5,600. That's $7,000 tuition minus $1,400 tax credit.
In my family, we get training and education, not loans. You can do what you want.
PHD is the new High school and US people have 250K loans vs others with no loans and much lower costs.
And you may be better off not working vs working at min wage with no benefits and a big loan to pay back.
Is this ridesharing, where the title suggest that you're just sharing your vehicle on the way to a prescheduled event. Or are these people professional taxi drivers?
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
Well, gee, we should just let Hallux run our economy and then only perfectly just economic decisions would get made. You are entirely capable of determining what is fair for everyone to get paid for what they know and are capable of, right?
And if someone wants to pay someone more than you'll allow... well I guess you could have either the willing buyer of services or the willing seller of services imprisoned for trying to perform an unjust transaction!
In a free society, however, prices aren't set by a third party who thinks he's got it all figured out. They're made by mutual agreement of the concerned parties.
Plenty of Billionaires make a point of giving away huge amounts of money to charities... but it's theirs to give away, not yours. You worry about yours. Bill Gate's billions didn't take a bite out of your mouth, though you think you'd be great at taking billions from Bill Gates and putting it in other people's mouths.... nothing could possibly go wrong with that, correct?
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
It afffects the used-car market significantly, though. Had an Uber driver who mentioned that the rules for an Uber Black require that the car be less than a certain age - five years, I think - and so, in the fourth quarter of the year, all the drivers who had a car that was about to age out had to replace them. Result? A six-year-old car plummeted in value, and he was able to pay for a flight and hotel to buy a car thousands of miles away with how much he saved vs buying one locally.
Taxis never cost more than Uber/Lyft where I live.
They also would never show up when called. Uber/Lyft made a huge difference here. I don't really know what the appeal was in bigger cities with a functional cab market, but in my little city (Wilmington, DE) the appeal was a ride within 20 minutes at 2am or 6am both. I saw someone wait over 2 hours for a cab that they scheduled where I work. They pretty much onky show up for airport runs, and you can get them at the train station, maybe a hotel if they have a good relationship with a driver.
Sounds like regulation forced taxi prices to an artificially-low level, resulting in an insufficient number of taxis. Uber/Lyft tune their prices to a more "natural" level, making them more available.
Personally, I'd like to see an Uber/Lyft competitor that doesn't set prices at all, but instead facilitates a real-time auction market between drivers and riders, so that prices are truly supply/demand driven -- and drivers are inarguably independent businesspeople.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Also,
unlike a cab company, Uber allows for people to pick up busy times with cars that have other primary purposes.
Here there's sufficient demand about 2 hours in the morning, 2 in the afternoon during the week, and then 2 hours in the evening and 2 in the late night during the weekend.
It'd unlikely a sufficient number of cabs to meet demand could be cars with that as their only intent.
Or if they did, they'd be too expensive, having only 4 busy hours a day.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
So is your excuse that you're bad at math, or you think your Business Adminstration degree is going to earn hundreds or thousands more than my masters in Comp Sci?