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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).
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MIT Study Shows How Much Driving for Uber or Lyft Sucks
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... I want to perform cranial activities with Tuesday Weld!!
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday March 03 2018, @08:06PM
Well, according to the summary the net income after the standard $0.54/mile deduction is quite low, so self-employment taxes are equally low.
I do believe that a smartly purchased, efficient, used vehicle can be overall operated for $0.30 per mile, and the smarter Uber/Lyft drivers are doing that.
I also believe that there are Uber/Lyft drivers out there in new-purchased Lexus and similarly high depreciation, low efficiency vehicles who are actually spending net more than $0.54 per mile on their "premium" service, but it makes them feel good to be delivering a "premium" service for an extra buck or two and that feels like they are getting compensated for their higher expenses, even though they aren't even coming close.
Do these drivers all do their own maintenance, or are they paying a dealer 5x as much, or an independent mechanic 3x as much, to do it for them?
Uber/Lyft are exploiting weaknesses in the mass psychology of immediate reward vs. deferred expenses. Some Libtard can follow-up their "minimum wage jobs are just for training, or pocket money for kids who live with their parents" with something about Uber/Lyft being an "opportunity for people to extract some of the value tied up in their vehicle while they are between jobs." If we all had a UBI sufficient to pay for basic food, shelter and healthcare, I might tend to agree, I might even tend to agree to abolishing minimum wage - but only after everyone's basic needs are met.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end