First two weeks of the new year have been absolutely awful. I'm curious if it's a demand problem or maybe my apps/carrier aren't working properly. I'm averaging under $20/hr the last two weeks. I've been having down time between rides of 30 minutes to an hour at some points. I've been on support with Lyft, Uber & T-Mobile trying to figure out the issue but figured I'd see if anyone else is having similar problems.
I remember that first shock when winter hit my first year doing this.
Basically, the only thing that will help is a culling of the summer/new driver pool. It takes some time for people to realize that summer demand is long gone, holiday demand is long gone, and it won’t even start to come back (as a trickle) till spring. A few will stay on, most will quit. There is business, but this time of year can’t handle the same amount of drivers. It was very irresponsible for U/L to onboard a shit ton of new drivers right before the slow season hit. They knew demand was about to drop, just like it does every year, but they lied so that they could have a large driver pool with several nearby everywhere in-case someone orders a ride. They don’t care if it means you can’t make a living. It’s think-on-your-feet-or-die season. Even us drivers that have been around for several years struggle, but what we learn every year helps a little (that information will never be divulged… must be learned and experimented with). Just know… there will be another summer filled with easy money…. but aint gonna happen right now. Hope and pray for at least half the driver pool right now to give up and go away, and then it might get a little less painful.
