SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
A study conducted by the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research analysed revenue and costs for over 1100 Lyft and Uber drivers, with the conclusion that most earn below minimum wage for their state and about 30% actually lose money when all the costs of owning and operating their vehicles are taken into account.
"A Median driver generates $0.59 per mile of driving, and incurs costs of $0.30 per mile", "On an hourly basis, the median profit was $3.37 per hour".
Because actual vehicle operating costs are significantly lower than the IRS allowance of $0.54/mile, many drivers report incomes that are substantially lower that their actual incomes, leading to a large pool of untaxed income (although it is small for each driver).
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
MIT Study Shows How Much Driving for Uber or Lyft Sucks
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 67 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
belief, n:
Something you do not believe.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Thexalon on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:21PM (4 children)
I can think of lots of reasons why an Uber/Lyft driver will do it, even though the wages suck so much:
1. The $3.37 per hour in their calculations for an Uber/Lyft driver is higher than the "tipped minimum wage". A not totally uncommon occurrence is restaurant and hotel management stealing the tips from their own employees. But why don't the employees that are being robbed by their bosses quit? Very simply, because the only alternative they see is not working at all, and they can't afford that option.
2. They don't understand asset depreciation, so from their point of view the profits are simply "Pay + tips - gas", not "Pay + tips - gas - cost of car mileage". This makes the pay seem substantially higher than it is.
3. People can drive for Uber/Lyft with criminal records that will prevent them from getting other legitimate jobs, and also bars them from most government assistance. For example, I know somebody with a misdemeanor assault on her record, and that's enough that she can't get a regular job, so she drives for Lyft to earn money for rent, utilities, and groceries. When your alternative is starving, street hustling a la Eric Garner, or becoming a career criminal, driving for Lyft seems like a good idea.
4. People can also drive for Uber/Lyft without drug testing. Your driver may be a pothead who is either unable or unwilling to "study for their drug test".
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dry on Saturday March 03 2018, @07:17PM (2 children)
The land of the free, where doing one stupid thing or even using certain plants, is enough to never have a proper job again.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday March 03 2018, @07:29PM (1 child)
And the actual story of the friend with the misdemeanor assault is much worse than that: She was found guilty of an assault she never committed. Her ex-husband had, unbeknownst to her, hired her roommate and the roommate's boyfriend to frame her. Their initial scheme was to have the ex-husband send harassing text messages to the roommate and blame it on my friend. This failed, because the police were unable to connect the text messages in any way to my friend. 1 hour after the roommate and her accomplice learned this from the police, they switched to plan B: The boyfriend blocked my friend from leaving, pinned her up against the wall, gave her a black eye and a few other bruises, and when my friend scratched him to defend herself, the roommate called the cops and blamed my friend for starting it. 2 people's word against 1, and a bumbling lawyer in his first trial (he had not informed my friend of this) who somehow was unable to bring the substantial evidence that this is what had happened into the trial, was enough to convince a jury that a 110-pound woman had assaulted a 4-time felon twice her size for absolutely no reason.
Why did the ex do all this, you ask? Because he thought her criminal record would help him take full custody of their child.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday March 03 2018, @08:07PM
The miscarriage of justice is shitty too, along with all the people who are pretty much forced to plead guilty rather then take the lottery of being convicted for worse. Still seems like a minor crime to be banned from having a regular job again. Most people have screwed up at one time. Shit, I ended up in jail for a month when I was young and generally it doesn't affect my employment chances. I also often have a joint before bed, without worries because it is generally illegal here to do drug tests and I'm not using heavy machinery.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @02:17AM
double negatives don't always not sucks.