The title says it all! All of the information I am about to disclose is 100% true and actually JUST happened to me.
Today, a Sunday evening I drove from about 7pm to about 12:30am and took 1 bathroom break that lasted about 30 minutes (from driving to the place and doing my business). I also stopped for gas once, which didn't take too long.
I wanted to see which rideshare app would pay me more money... Uber or Lyft. I was also curious if I'd totally make bank because you can tip within the Lyft app on your credit card vs having to tip in cash only with Uber.
Unfortunately, I feel like this was probably the lowest grossing day of rideshare driving I've ever had or at least very close!
Sunday nights at anytime are generally pretty steady. There isn't much surge going on, but getting rides usually isn't a problem... except for today. I also feel like Uber has a higher chance of landing surge prices than Lyft, as well as Uber's fares are higher. Rides are also more frequent with Uber, but seem less likely to get canceled with Lyft at least from my experience.
I have noticed the quality of Lyft passengers are higher and I don't get rides under 10 minutes with Lyft (with Uber I do quite frequently). At 7pm when I turned my Lyft app on, it took me about 5-10 minutes to land my first ride. Until about 10pm, rides were pretty steady. Then, duty called and it was bathroom o'clock. I didn't want a slight feeling of having to pee to turn into a "peemergency"; I decided to take care of it right away. Since most places are closed at 10pm on Sundays, I needed to find a 24 hour Jewel. Thankfully, I only had to drive 5 minutes to get to it. I also walked around, stretched, checked my phone, etc. Once I was done in bathroom land, it took me FOURTY minutes to land my next ride. I really needed to do an instant pay because rent is due soon. With Lyft, you need $50 dollars to cash out right away and with Uber, you can cash out with any amount greater than 0. It was also almost midnight and I didn't want the new week to start and be unable to cash out. I was so desperate for a ride I even drove into the areas I purposely avoid driving in just for someone to call me. I drove a couple laps around the area and ended up parking in a gas station to chill out and wait a bit. As I was about to text my friend how upset I was, I landed a Lyft Plus ride (same as Uber XL). Thank goodness because Lyft Plus has a higher fare rate. It was about a 5 mile, 15 minute ride. I finish the ride. Lalalala, I continue to drive some more. Another 10-15 minutes had elapsed and I was rideless. I end up receiving another Lyft Plus ride. It was about a 12 minute ride, $10 dollar fare. Ok, I'll take it. At this time, it was about 11:45pm. I was finally able to cash out and took care of it. At that point, I turned my Uber app on simultaneously with my Lyft app (11:45pm). Since I'm desperate for money right now, I was going to keep driving; I also have an interview tomorrow and need to get some rest to be on my best game. I cashed out at 11:59pm and was still waiting for a ride once again.
For Chicago people, I was on Ridge Street and Damen. I took Ridge all the way to Broadway Street, passed the Green Mill, passed the Target, passed the Jewel, passed the Holiday Club and turned right on Irving Park Road at Sheridan (I was close to Lake Shore Drive) to head back towards my apartment, as I was fed up with not getting rides. I told myself, "if I can drive all the way home down Irving Park Road and not get a ride with either app, I'm calling it quits." Driving from Sheridan/Irving Park to Elston/Irving Park is about a 15 minute drive without traffic. At 12:20pm, without a ride, I parked my car. Fuck that noise. I don't need to drive around, spending my gas, not making any money due to not getting any rides. I went home to post some items on Craigslist and hope my friends who don't have the Lyft app installed would download it and use my referral code in order for me to attain $20 dollars a pop. I need it! Bad!
Now that story time is over, despite all my riders being cool and talkative, here is how the moneys break down. Again, I am being fully honest, but people need to be aware of what a "bad" day in rideshare driving land looks like. It is a reality!
I was out for approximately 5 hours in the driving lands. I will consider myself "at work" during this time period. I had 1 40 minute period and 1 30 minute period where I was rideless (2 total). During the second bout of no rides, both apps were turned on simultaneously. During the first bout, only Lyft was on.
*Before deductions and overhead expenses (gas/caffeine to stay awake), I made about $73 dollars (rounded to the nearest dollar) in total fares. Only THREE of those dollars were from tips, thus, even with a tip option, I still don't get tipped extra. In addition, on a Friday/Saturday night of driving, I only made $7 in tips on a very long day/night of driving. LAME!!! I guess people still don't like tipping, though when I do receive tips, I am very thankful. On another note, the most I have received in 1 night of driving in tips was 2 people giving me $20 dollar tips for doing far drives. No matter the app, tips are still rare!
*Legal minimum wage in Chicago for a worker is $10.50
*Lyft takes out 25% of your fares for their commission fee (Uber does the same percent). It also costs 50 cents on both apps to use the instant pay function!
*After the commission deduction, I took home about $57 dollars (rounded to the nearest dollar). That's a bit more than 11 dollars an hour, just barely over minimum wage. Do you think a single independent person putting wear and tear on their car (and body) can LIVE off of that? But WAIT!
*I also had to stop for gas during this trip. I feel like on average of my gas expenses of hitting the least expensive gas station I can find, especially having an SUV, I spend about $60 or so dollars (up to about $80) on average on gas per $200 dollars I make. Sometimes, I spend less, but it depends on the rides. That's about 30 percent of my take home fares being spent on gas...
*Out of the 57 dollars I made today, I spent 20 on gas and 2 dollars on caffeine (22 dollars). So after my daily overhead, I took home a whopping 35 dollars! Don't even get me started on needing to set aside 1/3 of your pay for end of the year taxes...
*All in all after overhead, removed commission, etc, after being at "work" for 5 hours, I made about 7 dollars an hour. I live on my own too and pay for everything myself and do this mainly full time. Can anyone live off of that?
*I am also injuring my knee and hurting my poor 2004 car with 180,000 miles, driving on weekends because they are the most lucrative times to drive, and I drive 40-55 hours a week, which feels endless, especially because I am also looking for jobs and playing the hustle game on top of driving for my main source of money. Since my car is older, I am also throwing myself in the hole with lots and lots of repair bills! Before overhead on a normal week, I average $500-$650 a week before overhead (after commission deduction) and on my best week I made about $800. However people make greater than $1000 dollars a week, unless it was when the "guaranteed fare rates" existed, I have zero idea how it's possible to do that anymore... :(
*This is a more lucrative "extra money" side job, but a decent placeholder job on most days. Today was just el sucko and I want to show people what a bad day in rideshare driving land looks like. I am also super stressed out because my bills are mainly at the first half of the month and I am surely surviving while riding the super struggle bus! The head honchos don't care if you make shit money, because they get money while you're driving anyway!
***In the meantime, I will always post updates on rebsuberdriver.blogspot.com and www.facebook.com/rebsuberdriver to share my quirkiness, mischief, and mayhem. Please like and follow my pages :) ***
************If you don't have the LYFT app installed and you use the code REBECCA569169 you can get 20 bucks in free ride credit.***** You will also help a Rebs get 20 dollars who imperatively needs the money. Using this code for the driver side will also get you a bonus if you complete the allotted number of rides. Please share around. Much love <3 It will only take you a minute or two to do this and it would mean the world to me, especially because I feel like rideshare companies are finding ways to screw over drivers and I barely made rent this month (I also have a relatively low rent in general and for Chicago)************
************Also, Uber is having a promotion where if you sign up as a driver (even if you never do it again), it's 75 rides for $750 dollars. That's a lotta money and the only time I've seen the promotion that high!!!!! :D ************
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