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from the Money-for-nothing,-chicks-for-free dept.
I'm a driver for Uber and Lyft — here's exactly how much I make in one week on the job
The final tally was about $257 for less than 14 hours of work — or about $19 an hour.
Read on for a detailed breakdown of how much I made driving for Uber and Lyft, including some of the most unusual passengers and some mishaps I had along the way....
I put 291.1 miles on my Prius, using about 5.75 gallons of gas, which is about $13.22 in gas expenses for my area...
I had to then find who was open on a Sunday to replace the flat tire. While I was on the phone calling places, I figured I might as well get four new tires altogether, and an oil change too, since my car was almost due for those. Safety first... It was $430.22 to fix my car.
One estimate of the Prius TCO for 5 years / 75,000 miles is $34,067 - or $0.454 per mile, beating the IRS mileage rate of $0.58. This guy doesn't come off as one who does his own work or otherwise keeps that TCO down...
Interesting that he even neglected his gas money in his hourly "income" quotation, factoring in $0.50/mile TCO instead. His net income is around $112 for a self (likely under) estimated 14 hours of work (isn't calling around town on a Sunday to get your car fixed also work?), or $8 per hour. I suppose it's good for the self-esteem if you don't think of yourself putting your life at risk for less than minimum wage.
Anyone here eager to get out and live that gig economy lifestyle?
(Score: 5, Informative) by TaxiCabJesus on Thursday October 10 2019, @06:56AM (10 children)
Driving for the "ride share" companies is sorta like taking a title loan out against your vehicle. On the one hand, the IRS deduction for mileage makes most of your income tax-free, especially if you pad your mileage log. On the other hand, cars are expensive, doubly so if you have no choice but to pay other people to work on them for you.
The taxi company I drove for had mechanics on staff. They expected cabs to last for 400,000 miles. Cabs went through a major overhaul at 200,000 miles. The shops had a boneyard of priuses to get parts out of. They had standardized on the Prius by 2013 or so. The taxi company started their own "use your own vehicle" program to transport their contracted passengers (health insurance companies, etc). They sold the Prius fleet off in 2016 or 2017.
I took a few people in my personal car, but thought about the numbers, depreciation, and worried about my transmission. I couldn't justify the wear and tear. A few years after I quit I met a fellow who bought his own prius, drove for all the companies, and liked the gig.
Taxi driving was an okay gig for me, until the vulture capitalists arrived. https://nakedcapitalism.com/ [nakedcapitalism.com] has a series about how the "ride share" companies' economics will never justify their valuations. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/05/hubert-horan-will-the-train-wreck-uber-lyft-ipos-finally-change-the-public-narrative-about-ridesharing.html [nakedcapitalism.com], for example.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 10 2019, @07:10PM (7 children)
"ride share"disruptive tech companies' economics will never justify their valuations - valuations are just perception, and ever since dot-com, crazy valuations have been the norm for tech companies, particularly those with a high profile to the small investor.🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday October 11 2019, @02:14PM (6 children)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday October 11 2019, @03:24PM (5 children)
Retail investor driven valuations have been with us for 20 years and counting, in a stock market that rose Phoenix-like from the ashes of total dysfunction a scant 85 years ago.
It's not a matter of right or wrong, as long as Joe sixpack has easy access to the markets with low trading fees, his perception is a part of the true market valuation - that Joe sixpack values stocks differently than a Wall Street analyst is neither right or wrong, but it is a significant factor in the ask price of stocks when you go to buy them.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday October 11 2019, @03:41PM (4 children)
What does that have to do with the valuation of Uber? I don't buy that it's Joe sixpack propping that up.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday October 11 2019, @04:38PM (3 children)
Joe sixpack, little old ladies in rural Wyoming, and every other non-professional investor out there are responsible for the valuation multiples of the "shiny new thing" stocks like Apple, Tesla, Chipotle, whatever turns them on. They drive up valuations to much higher multiples of earnings than Wall Street ever would have 25 years and longer ago. They may not individually invest much, but they are far more numerous than retirement fund managers and their kin.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday October 11 2019, @04:55PM (2 children)
And you know this how? I'll point out that a lot of institutional investors own this stuff too.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday October 11 2019, @05:08PM (1 child)
dot com was also driven by the institutional investors jumping on with the mass hysteria.
Some of the "forward thinking" institutional investors are investing in Bitcoin today - stick that in your Net Asset Value calculator and smoke it.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Friday October 11 2019, @05:13PM
Sounds like some pretty intense shit. I better not operate heavy machinery today.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday October 10 2019, @11:02PM (1 child)
My first car was a '66 Chevy Belair. Paid $150 for it. I could and did fix anything that went wrong on the vehicle, most things with just a couple screwdrivers and a combined 1/2"-9/16" box wrench. If cars were still like that one could possibly thrive as a driver (ignoring the 12-15 mpg those vehicles got), but now if you have the tools, space and knowledge to do that amount of repairs on your vehicle you would be far better off working as a mechanic.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday October 13 2019, @12:16AM
I often wonder how hard it would be to update a BelAir or similar with simple fuel injection, a decent transmission, etc. and if you might get close to modern standard fuel economy, say 25mpg highway, which isn't that far off of 35mpg, particularly if you have to spend $30K+ to get that last 10mpg.
Electronic engine controls aren't a bad thing:
https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/fuel_injection/sniper_efi/sniper_4bbl_tbi_kits/parts/550-511?gclid=Cj0KCQjw84XtBRDWARIsAAU1aM2PjFS4stbK1zN69LNYKCA1XDnrnNeivqxCTXr_cjofs-Z10mkusxQaApAiEALw_wcB [holley.com]
I only consider them evil when they get so integrated into the vehicle systems that you can't replace one bit without screwing up the rest of the car.
🌻🌻 [google.com]