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The problem isn't the profit, but that there are a number of people using this as one of their primary income sources. I'm not sure how Uber et. al was origina

The problem isn't the profit, but that there are a number of people using this as one of their primary income sources. I'm not sure how Uber et. al was originally promoted to drivers, but I've originally seen it as something like "I'm heading home from work, let me turn on my uber app and see if anyone around me needs a ride going in that direction". Or, "I feel like riding around tonight, no particular place to go, may as well see if I can make a couple bucks by giving others a lift". I know that back when I was around 18 - 22 or so, I would often spend a saturday night just cruising with the radio playing, windows down, and enjoying the ride.

willnewman 9y ago
That could have been the original intent, and they may still use that argument, but if so it needs to be squared up with the fact that they relentlessly try and entice drivers to keep driving longer and farther. See: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/02/technology/uber-drivers-psychological-tricks.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/02/technology/ub...
ProAm 9y ago
No they wanted full time people, that is why they were giving bonuses if you did 30 rides or something your first week (I dont remember the exact number) but they wanted people on the road a lot.
chrisseaton 9y ago
> I'm not sure how Uber et. al was originally promoted to drivers, but I've originally seen it as something like "I'm heading home from work, let me turn on my uber app and see if anyone around me needs a ride going in that direction". That's not how Uber was originally promoted to drivers at all. Uber was originally promoted to high-end professional car drivers.
- klenwell 9y ago
  I'm pretty sure I heard ads from Uber or Lyft on local popular music radio stations while driving advertising $15 - $20/hr wages. Some discussion on this site: https://uberpeople.net/threads/uber-radio-commercial.27343/ https://uberpeople.net/threads/uber-radio-commercial.27343/ Not sure if these are the same commercials I heard.
  - tomjakubowski 9y ago
    They eventually pivoted to make UberX their primary offering, but for over a year their _only_ offering, at least here in LA, was black car rides through established, professional car service drivers. I remember thinking of calling an Uber rather than hailing a cab as a luxury / splurge.
kbenson 9y ago
> see if anyone around me needs a ride going in that direction Do they allow you to set a destination area so that your fares are limited to this, or do you just get to review and accept fares so you can choose ones in the right direction? I wasn't aware it could be used to just pick up someone going the same direction. I can see something like that doing very well, but I can also see how Uber might want to brand it slightly differently, as those drivers may be slightly less invested in driving for Uber and might be more likely to flake or not be as accommodating to passengers.
- chimeracoder 9y ago
  > Do they allow you to set a destination area so that your fares are limited to this, or do you just get to review and accept fares so you can choose ones in the right direction? Uber didn't last I checked, but Lyft does.
  - aianus 9y ago
    Uber has had this feature since I started driving with them in December 2016. You can only use it twice a day, however.
    - CodeWriter23 9y ago
      Ostensibly this is for use at the beginning & end of your shift to help with the “commute”. But you’ll probably be find yourself out in the sticks with a choice of waiting long periods for each local ride request (~$2-$3 keep per ride), or using the destination geofence in the middle of the shift to avoid double-digits is deadheading.
      - aianus 9y ago
        It's also great for literally carpooling on your real-job commute. You'll be online at peak times and with the destination set in the most popular directions.
- ErikVandeWater 9y ago
beager 9y ago
> I know that back when I was around 18 - 22 or so, I would often spend a saturday night just cruising with the radio playing, windows down, and enjoying the ride. Fairly sure that the parameters of driving for Uber/Lyft preclude every single aspect of what makes that activity enjoyable for an 18-22 year old.
- jtuente 9y ago
  https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/167/Stereotyping-the-fallacy https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFalla...
Brakenshire 9y ago
Is that realistic given the extra insurance costs associated with using your vehicle as a private hire car? You'd have to do a lot of this just to recoup that cost.
s73v3r_ 9y ago
I've never heard it be offered as that, and I've never heard anyone use it like that. For one, Uber doesn't know where you're going, so how would they know that the person who just hailed an Uber is going in that direction?
echevil 9y ago
With heavy investments in self-driving cars, I doubt if Uber would really want to improve drivers' income. It'll all become irrelevant when self-driving taxis become available. It may not happen soon, but it's quite worrisome if people are using as one of their primary income sources.
saas_co_de 9y ago
That is why this study is so misleading. They say more than 80% of Uber drivers work less than 40 hours per week so that "median profit of $3/hr" is probably for someone working 10 hours per week.

willnewman 9y ago

That could have been the original intent, and they may still use that argument, but if so it needs to be squared up with the fact that they relentlessly try and entice drivers to keep driving longer and farther. See: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/02/technology/uber-drivers-psychological-tricks.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/04/02/technology/ub...

ProAm 9y ago

No they wanted full time people, that is why they were giving bonuses if you did 30 rides or something your first week (I dont remember the exact number) but they wanted people on the road a lot.

chrisseaton 9y ago

> I'm not sure how Uber et. al was originally promoted to drivers, but I've originally seen it as something like "I'm heading home from work, let me turn on my uber app and see if anyone around me needs a ride going in that direction". That's not how Uber was originally promoted to drivers at all. Uber was originally promoted to high-end professional car drivers.

klenwell 9y ago
I'm pretty sure I heard ads from Uber or Lyft on local popular music radio stations while driving advertising $15 - $20/hr wages. Some discussion on this site: https://uberpeople.net/threads/uber-radio-commercial.27343/ https://uberpeople.net/threads/uber-radio-commercial.27343/ Not sure if these are the same commercials I heard.
- tomjakubowski 9y ago
  They eventually pivoted to make UberX their primary offering, but for over a year their _only_ offering, at least here in LA, was black car rides through established, professional car service drivers. I remember thinking of calling an Uber rather than hailing a cab as a luxury / splurge.

kbenson 9y ago

> see if anyone around me needs a ride going in that direction Do they allow you to set a destination area so that your fares are limited to this, or do you just get to review and accept fares so you can choose ones in the right direction? I wasn't aware it could be used to just pick up someone going the same direction. I can see something like that doing very well, but I can also see how Uber might want to brand it slightly differently, as those drivers may be slightly less invested in driving for Uber and might be more likely to flake or not be as accommodating to passengers.

chimeracoder 9y ago
> Do they allow you to set a destination area so that your fares are limited to this, or do you just get to review and accept fares so you can choose ones in the right direction? Uber didn't last I checked, but Lyft does.
- aianus 9y ago
  Uber has had this feature since I started driving with them in December 2016. You can only use it twice a day, however.
  - CodeWriter23 9y ago
    Ostensibly this is for use at the beginning & end of your shift to help with the “commute”. But you’ll probably be find yourself out in the sticks with a choice of waiting long periods for each local ride request (~$2-$3 keep per ride), or using the destination geofence in the middle of the shift to avoid double-digits is deadheading.
    - aianus 9y ago
      It's also great for literally carpooling on your real-job commute. You'll be online at peak times and with the destination set in the most popular directions.
ErikVandeWater 9y ago

beager 9y ago

> I know that back when I was around 18 - 22 or so, I would often spend a saturday night just cruising with the radio playing, windows down, and enjoying the ride. Fairly sure that the parameters of driving for Uber/Lyft preclude every single aspect of what makes that activity enjoyable for an 18-22 year old.

jtuente 9y ago
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/167/Stereotyping-the-fallacy https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFalla...

Brakenshire 9y ago

Is that realistic given the extra insurance costs associated with using your vehicle as a private hire car? You'd have to do a lot of this just to recoup that cost.

s73v3r_ 9y ago

I've never heard it be offered as that, and I've never heard anyone use it like that. For one, Uber doesn't know where you're going, so how would they know that the person who just hailed an Uber is going in that direction?

echevil 9y ago

With heavy investments in self-driving cars, I doubt if Uber would really want to improve drivers' income. It'll all become irrelevant when self-driving taxis become available. It may not happen soon, but it's quite worrisome if people are using as one of their primary income sources.

saas_co_de 9y ago

That is why this study is so misleading. They say more than 80% of Uber drivers work less than 40 hours per week so that "median profit of $3/hr" is probably for someone working 10 hours per week.