Boston Globe's Uber pay story has dropped.
Bostonium
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100%. How much a driver's pay increased or decreased per active hour doesn't really capture the change in overall hourly earnings, which has gone down significantly, because on top of the offers being lower, we spend a lot more time waiting on rides than before. It's really hard to stay consistently busy these days.
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The article never mentions that all trips are long pu’s and that hurts pax in the wallet, inconveniences everyone, and laughs in the face of the climate folks
Yes. The disappearance of the Quests and Offers is my biggest loss. My weeks of $50 ph was 40% incentives.
Agree, there haven't been any quests on either platform for over a month now I think. Even small quests used to be helpful to supplement the earnings.
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I think the long pu times depend on where you are working. For me in Boston they are not. The fact is drivers need to be compensated based on the environment in which they work. If you work an area in which pu times are longer and demand is less then you need to be compensated as such. That's how it has worked for taxis. Each town regulated taxis and pricing based on that. A driver had to be able to make a fair wage for a days work.
But as a rideshare driver, it’s your responsibility to optimize your working location so that you are maximizing the balance between demand and earnings. I live in Norwood, and if I knowingly stay in my area to drive, knowing that it is always dead slow at night, that’s my own fault for choosing to do that. I wouldn’t expect to be bailed out in terms of compensation.
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I guess it's like fishing. If you're not catching fish where you are then move. Still I think we have to figure in total online time into the pay. Perhaps something like after you accept your first ride then that starts the pay clock running and it runs as long as you accept every request sent. You decline a request and the pay clock stops.
I get to Norwood enough. I'm not too far away in Roslindale. You're right it is dead slow at night. If I get out that way I'll likely get something but it's often local. If I'm unlucky it starts to take me further south. If I'm lucky I'll get something toward Legacy Place. Good chance there of getting a ride in to my neighborhood area.
This is all why it's important to get driver data so as to create accurate models of demand by zip code and hour and then show driver pay. Because this is what Uber always says and this is from the recent article.
"A spokesperson for Uber said that pay varies widely depending on individual driving patterns and fluctuating demand, noting that looking at a single driver’s pay is “never informative.”"
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No Rafael, Mr. Uber Apologist, cutting pay is NOT "what companies do", certainly not the vast majority.
Also, there's a dramatic public safety difference between cooking for 14 hours and operating a vehicle for 14 hours per day, every day.
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How do you define "routinely"? Making $50 per hour in his sleep means constantly. Almost zero chance he's full time.
Unless you're driving in some spot that operates like a shuttle service there's no reliable way to get 4 short rides every hour. Every experienced driver wants short trips in those circumstances and it's highly unlikely there'd be enough to go around.
In any event those numbers are most definitely outliers.
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Not an outlier if driving in Boston outside the slow period during December thru March, otherwise predictable and regular week after week. The typical weekly engaged time would be over 90%. For Boston rush hours 6-10 AM and 4-7PM, you would have a pax in the car constantly. Most drivers would never share this information at the time as doing so might lower hourly earnings by bringing in too many drivers, which is what has happened...
Nope. Not outliers. 1000 dollar weekends were the norm during the peak season (Fall and spring).
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They're outliers as far as in relation to the average driver. Suffice to say the average driver wasn't grossing anywhere $1000 per weekend.
Nope, your right. The highest earners were doing double that.
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It's an outlier as far as being way above average. You and the others making the money were a small group of outliers. The "ants" that invaded your picnic represent the vast majority of drivers. You were fortunate you were able to keep your secret as long as you did.
Nah. With the quests, streaks, boosts ect, pretty much any moron with a car could clean up. Especially when we had a rate card.
My problem with the Globe story is the manner of questions asked of Uber. The questions encouraged evasive responses from Uber.
Specific dollar amounts aren't needed, it's about annual average trends.
Average hourly fare changes? Average hourly compensation changes? Average ratio of passengers to drivers trends?
Good for Ironman, but the dude is an extreme outlier and a distraction. We need statistics for the average driver.
BTW if you're a fulltimer, you're a 4-percenter. 96% of the drivers drive less than 20 hours a week and most of them never see Boston — they're too far away.
Specific dollar amounts aren't needed, it's about annual average trends.
Average hourly fare changes? Average hourly compensation changes? Average ratio of passengers to drivers trends?
Good for Ironman, but the dude is an extreme outlier and a distraction. We need statistics for the average driver.
BTW if you're a fulltimer, you're a 4-percenter. 96% of the drivers drive less than 20 hours a week and most of them never see Boston — they're too far away.
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The 4% figure is inaccurate. It's more like 20%.
In any case using the physical number of full time drivers is misleading because although they're a minority they do a vastly disproportionate percentage of the rides. They're the bedrock of this business. Uber would be out of buying less than 24 hours without them.
Multiple studies back this up.
In NYC most drivers are full-timers.
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You guys can't have it both ways. You can't on one hand claim that "any moron can do it" while simultaneously complaining that ants found your secret honey holes and ruined them. You're contradicting yourself.
The bottom line is that your situation is typical of what's been going on in this extremely corrupt business which is that vast majority of gig workers make shit money and quit while a select few prosper.
Gig work is a massive failure as an employment model.
I forgot your the professional loser troll on here. Go stir stuff up somewhere else that’s atleast a little more interesting. It’s toxic and you bring nothing of value here
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I'll let the readers decide for themselves how much value my comments brings them.
Instead of name-calling let's see you refute my points with facts. Obviously you can't.
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