[joeyoey]

So, I've come to the very unsettling realization this week that I have a few credit card bills that have gotten entirely out of control. My original plan to just "cut back & do better at budgeting" would work but I'd really like to try & get out of the mess I'm in sooner rather than later. So, I've been considering getting a part-time job but having a schedule, etc. (in addition to my regular ft job) was going to be a challenge. So, this evening I got the idea of looking into Uber....which led me to find their site & see how much money I could make (I can get these cards paid off way faster than I thought!) and maybe even take a vacation! I was so excited to sign up.

And then started to look around a little more online & become increasingly disappointed & then I found this site & I'm almost ready to quit before I even begin! Now I'm wondering if it's just a lost cause?

Unlike many people doing this, I really wouldn't be doing it to "pay the rent" or anything like that. I already have a ft job & my car is paid for. I'm a night owl and I usually stay up till 3-4am most nights anyway. I'm wondering if by logging in on nights after 9 or 10 and staying around the Fayetteville St & Glenwood South areas if I could make enough to make this worth while? I was hoping to be able to make around $200/week (after expenses) working Thurs-Sat nights.

Any advice?

 

[Laz Yoldlug]

Yes. I do have advice. Go for it.
What truly matters most, you have my permission.

 

[Shadow_chaser]

You can still make $200 a week part time in this working that schedule. However it'll be a lot of wear and tear on your car and a lot of miles you'll be putting on the car too.

 

[Dahkei]

joeyoey. You seem pretty rational so I'd say give it a shot if that's what you want to do. If your driving X, it won't take long to figure out that it's not worth it. If there was anything that made Uber X worthwhile before it was the surges but those are rare now with the exception of bar close on Saturday night. We used to say "only drive surge", today that translates to "just don't drive".
Like Shadow_chaser says, if you can reach that $200 mark it will cost you in the long run due to ware and tare.
Oh yeah. Before you make that decision, research insurance issues and understand the risk. That may be enough to put the nail in the coffin.

 

[grayspinner]

If you do end up doing it - for the love of all that's good and holy, GO OFFLINE at 1:30am and watch the passenger app for the surge. Go online once the surge is over 2.0.

Last night there were 50 million X drivers online taking regular fare rides well after 1:30. I was sitting offline over behind Cornerstone & heard a ping go off in the car next to me - I read him the riot act about being online without surge at 1:45am & told him he was helping to ruin it for everyone. He was all 'I never thought of that' He's been driving for 2 yrs! He got a ping at 2.something shortly after, so I hope he made good $ and spread the word.

Select didn't surge last night & X didn't get up over 2.6 because of all those X drivers online.

 

[r...uber]

Here is the truth:
$200 / .70c p/m. = 280 miles. (Assume that the per minute charge is ubers commission) that is a perfect scenario where you dont waste miles to pick up customer. That's a dream! Fact is, uber is not nearly as efficient. They send you pick ups thats 10 miles away and 15 minutes to nowhere....where not only are you not getting paid but are losing money.
Now, let's get real. 280 / 3.00. = 94 minimun fare

A minimun fare entitles a pax to aprox a 4 mile ride + 6 minute. But, to get that pax you are most likely gonna have to drive aprox 2 miles + 5 minutes...and probably have to wait on average 4 minutes for that pax to come out which means in reality you drove 6 miles & wasted 15 to get those $3. And that's uber's truth.

 

[Respect The Beard]

Honestly you can make money but is it worth it?Especially after Ubers Fees and the oversaturation of cars on the road?It used to be fruitful but with them killing the surge app and the upcoming thing where they kill the surge altogether I can day I'm done.Im curious to see what New Years Eve will look like this year.

 

[jesseberger]

I came to the realization yesterday that it probably isn't worth it for the long term. An occasional ride or two one evening just to get out of the house? Great. But don't make an evening/night out of it like it did. I drove from probably around 6-3 with maybe an hour break that I went home. Made around $40 with Uber and probably $40 with Lyft. So $80 in an entire evening.

PLUS, that doesn't include gas, ~$10, the $7 car wash that I hope I get reimbursed for, taxes, and general wear and tear on my vehicle. So, I literally wasted my Saturday even for a net profit of less than $60.

In the past I have served for a little bit, Red Lobster back home in Florida I would work from 4 to 10 on a Saturday night and would make $100. Less gas, taxes are negated for the most part so everything in tips goes in my pocket. I'm starting to realize that it would be better to be a server on a weekend than an Uber driver... Also, I wouldn't have gouged my tire Friday night if I was a sever... So with that said, I have a net weekend profit of $0.

 

[joeyoey]

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm wondering if maybe giving Lyft a try is a better option? Not as many passengers but from what I've seen they tend to be a little higher quality & the Lyft app allows them to tip. Does anyone in the Raleigh area have any experience with them?

 

[r...uber]

Lyft is not much different. Although, just to see uber fall I always advertise them for free to uber's clients. The only diference is the tip option, 'cause that power drive to me is stupid. And dont count on the tip much either...maybe 1 in 10 tip, which doesnt come up to be noteven 5% of total fares, But is something. Powerdrive i think now you need a 2011 car, but the worst is the 90% acceptance rate. If they send you 60% of request 15 minutes or longer away you can bet a rat @$$ I ain't taking them.

 

[uberparadise]

So, I've come to the very unsettling realization this week that I have a few credit card bills that have gotten entirely out of control. My original plan to just "cut back & do better at budgeting" would work but I'd really like to try & get out of the mess I'm in sooner rather than later. So, I've been considering getting a part-time job but having a schedule, etc. (in addition to my regular ft job) was going to be a challenge. So, this evening I got the idea of looking into Uber....which led me to find their site & see how much money I could make (I can get these cards paid off way faster than I thought!) and maybe even take a vacation! I was so excited to sign up.

And then started to look around a little more online & become increasingly disappointed & then I found this site & I'm almost ready to quit before I even begin! Now I'm wondering if it's just a lost cause?

Unlike many people doing this, I really wouldn't be doing it to "pay the rent" or anything like that. I already have a ft job & my car is paid for. I'm a night owl and I usually stay up till 3-4am most nights anyway. I'm wondering if by logging in on nights after 9 or 10 and staying around the Fayetteville St & Glenwood South areas if I could make enough to make this worth while? I was hoping to be able to make around $200/week (after expenses) working Thurs-Sat nights.

Any advice?

RUN from this career! It's a road to nowhere.

 

[uberparadise]

I came to the realization yesterday that it probably isn't worth it for the long term. An occasional ride or two one evening just to get out of the house? Great. But don't make an evening/night out of it like it did. I drove from probably around 6-3 with maybe an hour break that I went home. Made around $40 with Uber and probably $40 with Lyft. So $80 in an entire evening.

PLUS, that doesn't include gas, ~$10, the $7 car wash that I hope I get reimbursed for, taxes, and general wear and tear on my vehicle. So, I literally wasted my Saturday even for a net profit of less than $60.

In the past I have served for a little bit, Red Lobster back home in Florida I would work from 4 to 10 on a Saturday night and would make $100. Less gas, taxes are negated for the most part so everything in tips goes in my pocket. I'm starting to realize that it would be better to be a server on a weekend than an Uber driver... Also, I wouldn't have gouged my tire Friday night if I was a sever... So with that said, I have a net weekend profit of $0.

We used to make $150 to $200 easy on a busy Friday or Saturday. Now it's $75 to $125. It is just average no more no less. Worst part is getting 10 fares in a row all averaging $3 bucks or less. You look at your app and see 2 hours on line and u have made $25. That's pretty typical, unfortunately.

 

[jesseberger]

We used to make $150 to $200 easy on s busy Friday or Saturday. Now it's $75 to $125. It is just average no more no less.

I've been with Uber since the Thursday that they launched in Raleigh, I remember the $5 bonus for each ride, I somehow made $1,000 in my first week, mainly with incentives, talk about a good week for very little work. Today I was messing with the iPad that I use to set up for my passengers to play with, everyone loved it. Now it's not worth it. I stopped trying to make rides fun, you want to use my auxiliary? Too bad, it is in my trunk, I have bluetooth in my car so I don't have to listen to your crappy music.

Uber and Lyft launched on the same day, Lyft had a social get together at Boylan Bridge, the Charlotte drivers made it sound like a fun community, people actually did stuff for their passengers, in Raleigh drivers would give out goody bags for milestones like 100th ride. Now it's crap. I miss the $1.50 a mile days.

 

[Disgusted Driver]

If you do end up doing it - for the love of all that's good and holy, GO OFFLINE at 1:30am and watch the passenger app for the surge. Go online once the surge is over 2.0.

Last night there were 50 million X drivers online taking regular fare rides well after 1:30. I was sitting offline over behind Cornerstone & heard a ping go off in the car next to me - I read him the riot act about being online without surge at 1:45am & told him he was helping to ruin it for everyone. He was all 'I never thought of that' He's been driving for 2 yrs! He got a ping at 2.something shortly after, so I hope he made good $ and spread the word.

Select didn't surge last night & X didn't get up over 2.6 because of all those X drivers online.

Got to laugh, I saw people doing the same crap last night for the 4th. The idiots were online downtown right after the fireworks finished so they could take a 1X ride after fighting through traffic for 2o minutes to get the pick up. Not too bright.

Friday and Saturday night surges have become sparse and fleeting. I've noticed that the build up before the surge takes a lot longer than it used to. Now it has to be 10 minutes or no X available for 3-5 minutes before the surge starts.

 

[Disgusted Driver]

I've been with Uber since the Thursday that they launched in Raleigh, I remember the $5 bonus for each ride, I somehow made $1,000 in my first week, mainly with incentives, talk about a good week for very little work. Today I was messing with the iPad that I use to set up for my passengers to play with, everyone loved it. Now it's not worth it. I stopped trying to make rides fun, you want to use my auxiliary? Too bad, it is in my trunk, I have bluetooth in my car so I don't have to listen to your crappy music.

Uber and Lyft launched on the same day, Lyft had a social get together at Boylan Bridge, the Charlotte drivers made it sound like a fun community, people actually did stuff for their passengers, in Raleigh drivers would give out goody bags for milestones like 100th ride. Now it's crap. I miss the $1.50 a mile days.

Dude, you are talking about ancient mythology at this point. I started a month after you and remember the 1K weeks fondly but that's not going to happen any more. 200-300 for a hard charging Saturday night was doable, now I'd rather try my luck from 1:30 to 3AM to see if I can do 50-60.

 

[r...uber]

Ohhhh, the good old days!

 

[joeyoey]

Well, I just got the text from them that my account is active & I'm ready to drive. I'm sure I'll be wasting my time but maybe I'll give it a whirl, maybe just late nights. Hopefully nobody will puke in my car. haha

 

[Bill Wirth]

I remember when no uberX available was my friend! Now it's my uncle who tricked me into playing 52 pick up!

 

[SFR1966]

Does anyone do the airport runs? I live not far away, but am not sure about just hanging around the airport. I don't randomly drive around, my "hot spot" on my app seems to be pretty sporadic (this is Lyft, not Uber). I applied to Uber 2 weeks ago and they said my background check was on hold, I was perplexed as I have a CCP, never been arrested. Just moved to NC, so they said they couldn't tell if I'd had my license for a year?? For real? Your technology is that bad that you can't see I actually had that same number when I was 16, I also was licensed in Florida since 1988? Idiots.
Some days are pretty decent when people are tipping, but I'd have a hard time living off of this..

 

[grayspinner]

The airport is about the worst profit margin for x drivers. It doesn't surge ever, they don't tip & it'll produce the highest dead miles.

It's ok for select & maybe for xl, but xl does better elsewhere from ny understanding