Category: Alternate Careers

Why We say You Cannot Become Rich by Driving Uber Alone

Ever wondered whether you can get rich by driving Uber alone? From late 2013 until 2015, Uber campaigned about how you can make $90,000 an year as a driver with Uber in the New York area and $74,000 in San Francisco. This was a part of their recruitment campaign when they were trying to get more drivers on-board in order to expand their reach and stay ahead of their major competitor Lyft.

Uber also allegedly made claims about ‘Unlimited Mileage’, while as it turned out there were limits imposed on the actual leases on the cabs and the drivers ended up paying way more than Uber said. Ultimately Uber ended up in a law suit with the Federal Trade Commission for having misled drivers about their earnings on the platform and had to pay $20 million dollars in order to settle.

But when you think of it, there are so many drivers out there and when Uber starts dividing the $20 million between them, no one really knows how much ‘compensation’ a driver will receive. The bottom line is that nobody ever got rich by driving Uber alone. Although it is still a great platform that allows to make money part time, if you want to mint some bucks, you will need to know the tricks of the trade and do a little more smart work.

So, how do you go about making that $90k an year?

Let’s start by defining your targets. In order to make $90k a year, you need to make $7500 a month which means $1875 a week.

rich by driving uber

Let’s start from here.

The primary source of your income as a driver is obviously by picking up rides. That means you need to be in the right place at the right time and for that you need to know your city well. Events around the city like a sports event or a musical concert are a sure shot way of getting rides.

You can always find out about the upcoming events in your city by calling a local hotel. They will give you good information under the presumption that you are calling as a customer who is about to make a booking with them. Get the start times and the end times, so that you can position yourself in the area and pick up some good rides.

The Top Reasons You Cannot Get Rich by Driving Uber Alone

Since, Uber doesn’t keep tabs on these, you ideally don’t get the information from them and neither do the other drivers. So, you already have an edge over here. However, the fact is that in order to make those big bucks you need to put in some extra hours as well. And the crazy hours, sitting chained to your seat can take a toll on your health too.

Moreover, if you are an independent contractor with Uber, although you do enjoy the luxury of working at your own convenience, you are not covered by the benefits that regular employees get and you are responsible for the gas and the maintenance of your own car. So, you need to be a little careful unless you want to end up spending all the money you earn on gas. Hence, we spoke about being in the right place at the right time.

rich by driving uber

How to make money driving with Uber without actually Driving?

The good thing about Uber is there are ways to make money without driving and that is done by reaping the benefits of their referral scheme. Sometime last year, Uber invited all the top referrers of the Bay Area to their office in order to reward them. Well, there was pizza and a lot of brain picking on how these drivers were at the top of their referring game and how they could do even better so that it’s a win-win for both the driver and the company.

The underlying fact is that, we have been bred to think that we can only get rich doing a job. Well, if a job was to get you that much money, Bill Gates or Michael Dell wouldn’t have dropped out of school to run their own businesses. The same applies for us drivers as well.

We need to treat this as business. We need to be a little smart. You could start your own website and use Uber’s referral program to make money without actually having to drive. You could also start you own youtube channel to this end.

When you refer another driver and he completes 20 rides, both of you get $300 each. I also know of a 65 year old Filipino driver who posts ads in the English and Chinese newspapers to get referrals. He accompanies the interested drivers to the Uber inspection, teaches them ropes, and makes them comfortable by going on a test ride with them. And is he a magnet for referrals? He certainly is.

Make Money Driving with Uber While You Still Can

Nobody ever got rich by following the crowd, it the ones who thought differently that were able to do so. Moreover, us Uber Drivers aren’t going to be around for that long. Uber is afterall a technology company not a taxi company. They will soon launch unmanned automatic cars.

I’m not kidding. Those are already being tested in Dubai where driverless Maybachs are taking rounds, and the changes will happen sooner or later. And there won’t be any part time driving gigs left for you either to make that extra buck. So, as long as you’re here you need to up your game a notch, and think of better ways to make money while driving. And remember, driving isn’t the only way.  

The Amazing Perks of Being a Uber Driver

Rides-on-demand is popular the world over today, a reason teh perks of being a Uber driver can seem enticing. And it’s not just Uber that has a significant market share. There are local competitors as well, and new brands like Lyft and Ola (India and Australia) that are emerging in the space.

As a result, when you sign on as a Uber driver, one of the key decisions you make is to decide which company you want to work for – and we are here to explain why Uber is, objectively speaking, the best choice. We will take a look at the perks of being a Uber driver, and why it’s a great alternate career. 

At times, Uber’s net loss numbers are floated around and some believe that Uber isn’t doing well. However, without context, these numbers are hard to grasp. The kind of service that ride providing is, it requires the company to subsidize rides and can often show a loss for a few years, and it’s what any ride sharing company will like to do

Customer acquisition, popularity, network of Uber drivers, international expansion – these are just some of the other parameters that are equally, if not more, important in determining success in this industry.

Perks of being a Uber driver
Uber Driver

Uber is the Frontrunner: Perks of Being a Uber Driver

The truth is, Uber is a company which through its ideas and vision has inspired the other companies. Often, primary new exciting features come through to Uber first and are then applied by the other local companies. It always pays to be with the leader who is creating than followers who are merely getting inspired by the leader.

Perhaps the culture of excellence is inspired by the way things are done over at the company – as co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick has repeatedly demonstrated, the devil lies in the details.  A simple update or tweak in design is analyzed by the Uber team and then critically examined by Kalanick in every way it can affect the service – whether from the viewpoint of the Uber driver (faster pickups, easy ratings etc.), customers (a friendlier UI, faster downloads, load time) or competition (rates of other services, rates of retention).

Every statistic is duly analyzed – the tweak which the customer sees as a single line change on the App Store actually has many whatare referred to as ‘jam sessions’ in the company lingo. These are sessions where ideas are discussed, plan formed and solutions found.

Part of the success of Uber was in the attitude of former CEO Kalanick, who liked to view each situation as a problem, and on solving it, starts looking for the next one. The way Uber Pool has been handled is a good example of this philosophy. There have been various continuous tweaks to make the system as painless as possible. Different software has been tested to find the best permutation and combination that pleases the customer as well as does not make the life of the Uber driver difficult.

Uber has always kept in mind all its employees – including the drivers. One of the most appreciated features, for example, is that like Uber driver’s ratings, there is also an average rating for each customer, which the customer can transparently check with the help of their app.

Dealing with Challenges as a Uber Driver

Uber has concentrated single-mindedly on what it wants to do, and has achieved it. Expansion has been quick, with Uber venturing into a market that nobody else had dared pierce – China. Although a lot of people today look onto that expansion as a failure because eventually, Uber ended up folding into Didi Chuxing, the local competitor. But Uber was able to do something that no company had ever done before – it expanded to as many as sixty cities, and a third of Uber’s total trips were coming from China alone in just a couple of years. The perks of being a Uber driver are many, but you need to plan it right.

It was, however, impossible to ignore that China was draining too many resources of the company while the subsidy struggle with Didi was reaching new peaks, and a strategic decision was made to fold. It is therefore incorrect to see it as a failure, but rather as a success to chart new paths that everyone else deterred Uber from pursuing.

This is in fact what drives Uber towards innovation – the unabashedly hungry pursuit of what can be achieved.

Future Planning as a Uber Driver

The company is not merely a leader in the ride-on-demand sphere, but has an eye on the future as well. It would be justified to sit atop the throne of the most valuable startup, but Uber has been busy pulling ideas from the future. Self-driving cars are already being tested out in a few cities.

Uber is also smartly changing its image. Initially seen as a disruptor which did not completely fall within the country’s legal regulations and cut out business from traditional taxies which had been plying since years, today Uber is seen as part of an improvement mechanism in cities. Summit, New Jersey is an excellent example of this. Summit had the choice of following the traditional path – building new parking spaces at its train station, or the new choice – subsidizing Uber. It chose the latter, and this paid off as positive PR for Uber.

The company is increasingly being looked upon as saving the environment, contributing to less traffic, discouraging drunk driving and a host of other benefits. These are obviously also pushed by Uber in a careful way to build a positive reputation.

The way Uber is processing does not show it slowing down anytime soon – as a Uber driver, it is definitely your best bet to stick with Uber as the company will keep your best interest in mind; and if things continue to grow as they are, you will become a part of the transport revolution led by Uber around the world.