The Uber Experience

While school is out, I have been driving for Uber. When I first started driving for Uber, I thought this is awesome! I get money the same day, and all I have to do is drive people from point A to point B. Well after 2 months, I am not so thrilled about driving for Uber. Even though there are positives, there are also plenty of negatives.

Positives

1. Make business connections
2. Money earned in your pocket the same day
3. Flexible schedule
4. Work as many hours as you want
5. You get to meet interesting people

Negatives

1. You are a slave to ratings
2. You put a TON of non-paid miles on your vehicle
3. People are fucking inconsiderate and nasty
4. You make minimum wage at best
5. Wear and tear on your vehicle
6. You are responsible for your own taxes

I think the positives are self-explanatory. But the negatives, however, I should explain. Ratings. When a driver is matched with you, you can see their rating. And when a rider is paired with a driver, the driver can see their ratings. These ratings speak volumes to the driver and rider. If a passenger or driver has anything below a 4.5/5, then this is a BAD rating! It says that there are a lot of people out there that don't like that driver/rider. And if you are a driver and your rating is anything below a 4.5 then you are at risk of your account being deactivated by Uber. The way the rating system is set up, the driver has to get 5-star ratings consistently, or they run the risk of losing their job. The ratings do not affect passengers as negatively. But as a driver myself, I'm leery of picking up any passenger with a 4.5 or below rating. A bit of advice, if your driver gets you from Point A to Point B safely, give them a 5-star rating. Anything below a 5-star rating, I am automatically going to think that you are an asshole.

The trick to working with Uber and making a bit of money is you can't stop driving. You have to be on the move. As a result, you put a lot of "empty" miles on your car. You only get paid for your time (and miles) if there is a passenger in your vehicle. And if you want to make sure there is little downtime between passengers you have to keep your acceptance rate above 80%. It's preferred that your acceptance rate is 90%+ or you run the risk of not being sent passenger request (as often as drivers with a higher acceptance rate).

Number 3. People get in my car with dirty shoes, they smell, and they put their dirty, greasy heads on my windows. Just last week I had a couple in my car that left an open container in the trunk of my car. People have little to no respect for your property. To top it off, you only get about 7.25 an hour (if that) after all your expenses. Let that sink in a bit.

Number 5. After all that riding and making minimum wage, you still have to make repairs to your car. Which can be costly! If you are doing Uber part-time, GREAT, this means you can afford those repairs and keep making a bit of extra money on the side. But if you are doing Uber full time, I would recommend getting a second job. Which brings us to number 6. Taxes. After all that hard work and kissing customers' ass for 5-star ratings, Uncle Sam will be waiting for his cut come tax season. Uber doesn't take taxes out of your pay. You are responsible for keeping track of your earnings and paying taxes on that money.

Uber can be rewarding at times. If it weren't for driving with Uber, I never would have heard about different school districts that are hiring for the upcoming school year or how to build my LinkedIn network. However, in 31 days I plan to stop ubering and concentrate on my career.