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Do you have another job besides uber/lyft? Part/full time?

  • No. I am looking for another job.

  • No. Working Rideshare (Uber/Lyft) Full time

  • Nope. Going to school / Collecting Unemployment

  • Yes. I have another Full time job. NOT DRIVING 35+hrs a week

  • Yes. I have another part time job, NOT DRIVING less than 35 hrs/wk

  • Yes, I also drive for my other job(s)

  • NO, I am driving for Uber&Lyft part time and it's enough for me.

  • My situation is not listed. I will explain?

UberX and Lyft (standard 4 seat) can't ALONE support a NJ resident.. Anyone else struggling like me?

11K views 91 replies 54 participants last post by  Michael1230nj 
#1 ·
I'm i m NJ and have degrees. I graduated with a 4.98. I can not find a job. I had a few contract jobs after college, and I bartended while in college, but my body is really screwed up from all the heavy lifting and being on concrete floors for 10 to 15 hrs a day. I have 2 herniated disks, bone spurs in my ankles, and in my spine. But I knew I couldn't bartend forever, so that's why I spent 10 years and I got my B.S. in Marketing while working 2 or 3 jobs. I used to do well, but now I can't pay off my debt. I owe money to everyone.

. 7 years after graduation, I am barley making $300 a week full time driving with uber. Before expenses. There are so many drivers, almost zero promotions, surge is almost never around. I just bust my hump driving and then i also spend 20 to 30 hours a week looking for a new job. That includes reaching out to contacts, writing cover letters, and doing reserach on jobs, companies, and just trying to keep up with the new marketing trends and new technology.
It sucks. One year since a contract job. About 3000 applications later, and all i have is making $6 hr, after expenses, with uber. I don't sleep Fri to sun, cause those are the "busy days.

Too many drivers. And too much traffic. Sitting in traffic only pays 12 cents a min. Sometimes, actually in areas you actually do get requests, always during evening rush hour, it takes 45 minutes to do 3 miles. That's for $3.71.
 
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#77 ·
Just some comments and questions...
I'm a girl who is too tired to play games...
Where do u think I could get the money to upgrade to an XL vehicle if I can't pay the bills I have now? Or money for a publisher? Or when I invent something.. who is going to fund that? The marketing for it? What about licences and/or patent?
I did vote for someone else.
And I HATE poo. Even gag when picking up my dogs. Lol.

Just sayin...

Home Depot and wallmart hire every day
AND Amazon is hiring 10s of thousands of employees this year. And I HAVE sent in applications.

I just have bad luck!! Yes, companies are hiring. Companies are interviewing. Millions of people. I'm just not one of those millions. Yet.
 
#3 ·
Start here: https://thecollegeinvestor.com/11856/secret-student-loan-forgiveness/ (edit) or just do a Google search for "student loan forgiveness" if that site looks too much like a send-us-money-and-we'll-fix-it-later-scam.

Then go here: https://jobs.dominos.com/dominos-careers/
here: http://www.papajohns.com/careers/
and here: https://jobs.pizzahut.com/

I've heard Pizza Hut drivers don't do anything but drive while the other two will require some side-work but are willing to work around the herniated disc thing.

Keep grinding the applications, but at least with delivery you should make (at worst) over $12 an hour after expenses and that can help get things back to normal for now.

I've had 3 significantly rough spots in my life and all three times have worked my way back from the brink with delivery. :D

Good luck.
 
#21 ·
Start here: https://thecollegeinvestor.com/11856/secret-student-loan-forgiveness/ (edit) or just do a Google search for "student loan forgiveness" if that site looks too much like a send-us-money-and-we'll-fix-it-later-scam.

Then go here: https://jobs.dominos.com/dominos-careers/
here: http://www.papajohns.com/careers/
and here: https://jobs.pizzahut.com/

I've heard Pizza Hut drivers don't do anything but drive while the other two will require some side-work but are willing to work around the herniated disc thing.
.
Sorry, PH does make the drivers do prep work and dishes on the inside time clock. It is fine if it as a busy shift and you spend your whole time on the road, but if you get punished with a day shift or a quiet shift, you will do kitchen work. That work, however is paid at full minimum pay scale where road work is under $5 per hour in NJ, and they audit your tips to make damn sure you have cleared the NJ state minimum per hour (I know, I got royally reamed for under reporting my tips and PH had to make up the difference. I claimed a $1 bill on every delivery, the gm did not find any humor in that. I hate giving away my hard earned money)
 
#13 ·
Well...
1-). Keep grinding,
2-). Use other resource like indeed.com, career builder, build profiles in several companies enabling their job alerts for something that matches your skills, and keep knocking on doors,
3-). If leaning towards this profession, I'd suggest to get your TLC license and come east.
4-). Apply to one of these bases that let you keep the car, grind hard and get your own vehicle.
5-). But do keep looking into your craft. Don't give up! NBC Universal's hiring, so are many-many firms here in NYC. Ever heard of Saatchi & Saatchi?!?! Exactly!

Steady income, in the meantime?! Get your license, black car, catch up, save but keep knocking doors.
 
#19 ·
I understand you put great time and effort into earning your degree(s). Starting over may seem awful, but it may be wise in the long run.
Have you ever considered the healthcare field? Two years full time and you can earn your LPN. Jobs are plentiful and you make over $20 an hour right out of school. Also, X-Ray Tech, Ultrasound Tech, Respiratory Therapy...
There is physical labor in these fields, but less than some other careers. I'm not sure how physically limited you are since you mentioned you mentioned the spurs and herniated discs, but it could be something to at least look into. Coding, Insurance Specialist or Medical Billing are options too.
No matter what you do, no one is taking away your other degrees. It's just the more options you have the better.
In the short term, I'd switch up the areas you drive in. $300 a week full time after expenses is well below what you could make in different parts of the area.
 
#23 ·
amazon and costco pay 15 an hour plus to.. amazon also gives tuition rem. and insurance.. ur looking in the wrong places. you have a degree? monster.com, indeed.com, lied.com, career builder.com users a part time gig.. just like mcdonalds..
 
#26 ·
I feel as though there ought to be a permanent thread out there for this exact issue on every city board. With most of us struggling to break even or earn a living, something like these suggestions really add to the discussion.
 
#29 ·
I concur. Delivered for one in Marlboro back in the day. The tips and "extra anchovies" orders from housewives in Manalapan were icing on the cake and something I'll never forget.
No one under the age of 35 is going to get the extra anchovy reference. lol.

I'm i m NJ and have degrees. I graduated with a 4.98. I can not find a job. I had a few contract jobs after college, and I bartended while in college, but my body is really screwed up from all the heavy lifting and being on concrete floors for 10 to 15 hrs a day. I have 2 herniated disks, bone spurs in my ankles, and in my spine. But I knew I couldn't bartend forever, so that's why I spent 10 years and I got my B.S. in Marketing while working 2 or 3 jobs. I used to do well, but now I can't pay off my debt. I owe money to everyone.

. 7 years after graduation, I am barley making $300 a week full time driving with uber. Before expenses. There are so many drivers, almost zero promotions, surge is almost never around. I just bust my hump driving and then i also spend 20 to 30 hours a week looking for a new job. That includes reaching out to contacts, writing cover letters, and doing reserach on jobs, companies, and just trying to keep up with the new marketing trends and new technology.
It sucks. One year since a contract job. About 3000 applications later, and all i have is making $6 hr, after expenses, with uber. I don't sleep Fri to sun, cause those are the "busy days.

Too many drivers. And too much traffic. Sitting in traffic only pays 12 cents a min. Sometimes, actually in areas you actually do get requests, always during evening rush hour, it takes 45 minutes to do 3 miles. That's for $3.71.
Do you have a 2 year or 4 year degree in Marketing? Where do you live? Can you PM me your resume?
 
#33 · (Edited)
This is a sad story but not unique. I think the OP has more issues then not making money driving for UBER. I hate to say this but I sense a defeatist mentality.

If someone can't clear a minimum of $500 per week doing this full-time they are driving in the wrong areas and/or the wrong times of day/night.

I've been waiting to see if the OP would respond to any of the posts but she seems to have disappeared.

Although I can't help you with your career I would like to extend an invitation to PM me so I can offer some assistance in dialing in a driving program that should increase your earnings substantially. No I'm not going to tell you where to drive.... Anyone that I've ever helped in the past in this manner has always seen improvement.

Just need an open mind and the willingness to drive anytime or day of the week....

Hopefully I can help you earn more $$$$ to keep you keep going while you search for work in your field. I look forward to hearing from you.
 
#40 · (Edited)
Excellent topic. This is the kind of thread we can expect to see more of as this line of work starts reaching its dead end in the coming months and years. We can learn a lot from each other and hopefully move forward towards a better livelihood.

There were many good recommendations by a good number of your concerned colleagues in this forum. My suggestion is first not to give up. Your persistence and accomplishments are commendable. Many people might have thrown the towel after 4 or 5 years of school and the first couple of hundred resumes. But you didn't.

As you have a marketing degree, have you considered providing online or offline marketing services to small businesses? There is a ton of information on YouTube and elsewhere about managing social media marketing for local establishments. You don't need to pay for it if you don't want to. It shouldn't take you long to learn what you need on your own to get started.

You can simply look for local businesses that don't have a website and offer to make one for them. Most hosting companies, such as godaddy, have multiple templates for different types of businesses that you can edit easily to include the company name, contact information, and other parameters within a couple of hours. You can also offer to set them up with facebook, instagram, linkedin, Yelp, a YouTube channel, etc. For a business owner who doesn't have the knowhow or time, this is worth a good couple of hundred bucks.

You can provide a continued hands free experience for a monthly fee where you manage all these accounts, add occasional content that you can do yourself with client input or outsource through fiverr, upworks, or craigslist.

For offline marketing, you can design and print business cards, stationary, and flyers on your own or through the above websites and others. You can help the business with relevant tradeshows, the local chamber of commerce, flyer distribution services, valpak, etc. all at a reasonable commission.

Once you have enough experience with this, write an ebook and put it on kindle or sell through clickbank, jvzoo, or your own YouTube channel, among others.

This costs almost nothing to start. About $12 for the domain name annually for the website, and $12 monthly for hosting. The social media accounts are typically free. Any printed material or other services can be paid for at least partly in advance by the client.

All the best to you.
 
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