[ThraddashTorch9517]

You seem to always be trying to fight the system or catch the companies in some kind of “ah ha” moment rather than taking advantage of the hottest rideshare market in 6 years.

I'm not doing anything like that, this time. I just can't handle the drunks the way you do, and as we know the bars are the biggest source of high surge but I choose to stay away. I wanted to find a reliable and consistent way to make $30/hour using the guarantee, because I don't believe the current driver shortage will last forever, or even past the next 2 months.

I did 11 trips last night (8pm-2am) and only got 1 drunk, but it was so bad I'm pretty sure she tried to false report me. I haven't had a 1-star like this since before covid. I had to fill out my report against her so fast to try to preempt her report. Seems to have worked.

On the strategy side, can I ask where you were working this weekend?

Friday: Surging in Oceanside at 4pm. Deadmiled there but the surge died down. Did a handful of Uber shorties then took a base Lyft down to airport. Tried to stay in DTSD area. Uber wasn't working for me at this point, $1-$3 surges and all pickups 10-15min away, so I did Lyft shorties only to get streaks. I canceled an airport trip to the border and this ended one of my streaks, so I had to start over. Deadmiled back to Carlsbad at 11pm to avoid drunks.

Saturday: 5pm, heavy surging in DT Encinitas but I did have to spend some time maneuvering into the epicenters (i.e., surge chasing) because the surrounding pockets have tiny ($1-$3) surges. A $40 epicenter turned into $19 as I closed in. Then of course the first trip I got went to Nordahl San Marcos, which wasn't surging. (I took your advice not to cherry pick.) Then a base trip to Escondido. No surges there either so I took a base Lyft to Marina del Rey (L.A.). Checked Lyft rider app and it was charging $300 for the same trip, but I was too tired to care. Things got interesting at this point. Still tiny Uber surges so I left it off. Lyft offers were showing $15+ bonus on every ride. I took a bunch of rides in Culver City with < 1 mile pickups and 2-3 mile dropoffs. Sat through a 15 minute Starbucks drivethru for a Lyft stop which I should've denied. Ended up in the Long Beach port area at midnight. All surges died down so I deadmiled home, couldn't find a decent destination trip.

Sunday: 6pm, no surge in north county, accepted a base Lyft ping going 30 minute south, but the asshat lived behind a gate and wouldn't answer my call, so I canceled and deadmiled to DTSD (in hindsight, big mistake). $5 surges there but every ride went towards the beach which was gridlocked traffic, 20 minutes a mile. Got stuck there for 4 hours before I got fed up and deadmiled home around 10pm. Yes, I know if I stuck around the surge would get better and the traffic would die down, but I was in a bad state of mind.

What is considered long pick up to you?

It depends on the type of area I'm in:
Inner metro area (eg DTSD): 0.5 mile+
Outer metro area (eg North Park): 1 mile+
Busy suburban area (eg Clairemont): 2 miles+
Open suburban area (eg Carlsbad): 3 miles+
Rural area (eg Fallbrook): 5 miles+
Decently long destination trip on freeway: 10 miles+

Why are you accepting any ping more than 7 minutes away right now?

To test the guarantee. I only do this in nontraffic conditions (after 8pm) and only if the long pickup is mostly on the freeway. Which isn't too hard given the current shortages. Too much nonfreeway driving and the guarantee reduces to $25/hour.

Why would you choose then to do a earnings guarantee experiment?

To prepare for the not-so-distant future when the market dies down. To reliably earn $30/hour instead of waiting for short pickups and/or screening trips all the time. I know I can make $50+/hour doing bar close instead, but it's a personal choice not to.

 

[ThraddashTorch9517]

Businesses look at future long-term earnings, then try to take actions to keep the income levels sustainable. Rideshare earnings on the driver's end doesn't look good after September.

Yep, I'm always looking for earnings that are consistent and sustainable. Early morning airport trips at 3x fit that criteria. Flat map surge does not. I suppose if you live within 5 miles of DTSD and you're awake 12am to 4am, you can make it work. Until September arrives.

 

[ThraddashTorch9517]

Solid tips, Professor!

The ONLY way you will ever use the guarantee is if you switch to Eats only.

Sure, as soon as Uber support figures out why Eats is locked out in my app. Been working on it for over a year. I'll have to visit hub when it reopens.

4am start in NC gets you a $40-45 ride to airport. Deadmiler it back to South Encinitas by 5:15 that will get you a $25-$30 ride to airport.

Yeah I've been doing these early morning airport runs for 4 years before covid hit. Then started again when FM came out, then stopped when FM was removed. Before covid, the pings would be nonstop south of Del Mar, but with no surge. Surge seems to be more consistent now (south of Del Mar), so I would consider staying down south 4am-7am. The only drag is i can't mix the 4am-7am shift with any shift in which I'm working the guarantee, since the surge will kill the guarantee.

IF you are strictly adhering to pickup rules this tight, it’s a big reason why you could be missing out on earnings.

I'm not that strict, just loose rules to show I don't have a one-size-fits-all approach to long pickups. Gotta make constant adjustments based on time, location, and traffic. I've relied on U/L's time estimates before but found them to be unreliable.