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.
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.
