4 ms·

I drove a cab for a summer after college, just before uber blew up. The lease for the cab was high enough ($600+/wk) that I had to drive ~30 hours to break eve

I drove a cab for a summer after college, just before uber blew up. The lease for the cab was high enough ($600+/wk) that I had to drive ~30 hours to break even, and the rest was profit, usually another 20 hours over the weekend. Unless you were sharing a lease with another driver, it would've been impossible to work it as part time. So I would see a benefit to uber over that arrangement except for uber if your car breaks you're out of luck. With a cab, i'd take it to the shop and get another one. Granted they were all pretty beat up crown vics. The real winners were the owners of the cab company. Like you said, they held the medallions and thus most of the leverage.

edmundsauto 6y ago
It wasn’t really profit - it was the money to pay your own wage. Now, if you took say $10 an hour out, it might be fair to say the rest is profit.
- dwaltrip 6y ago
  Profit is revenue minus expenses. Employees don't do this calculation, as the employer normally pays for all work expenses. Their paycheck is pure profit -- no expenses to account for. As such, people don't really think of paychecks in these terms, so it sounds strange. It makes sense in the comment above, as the cab driver actually has work expenses that they pay for out of pocket and are not reimbursed for.
  - wolco2 6y ago
    It starts as a gross value and after taxes, ei/old age is taken out it becomes a much smaller net value.
solidasparagus 6y ago
> So I would see a benefit to uber over that arrangement except for uber if your car breaks you're out of luck. With a cab, i'd take it to the shop and get another one Uber drivers can rent their car by the week.