Well, she is off the mark. If she wants to know how much drivers make, the best way is to go and talk to the drivers, not do some internet math.
The first time I took an Uber ride I was shocked that it costs 1/3 of taxi and the driver was most polite and his car near new toyota. I asked him what he thought of Uber and he could not be happier. I have since asked the same question from every Uber driver and I have yet to find any that are not just happy but super happy about their Uber job.
Where is she going wrong? For starters, she thinks someone has bought a car just to be an Uber driver. That is not at all that model. The driver already owns that car. So it is going to depreciate whether he drivers for Uber or not. Yes he puts more miles on it but that would be the only cost, not fully depreciated because of ownership.
Second she says the person would be better off taking a minimum wage job. Really? Has she taken one of those jobs, standing by a cashier at McDonald? Instead you get to ride in your own car, listen to your own music, chat with customers and you make money.
The number 1 benefit I hear from uber drivers is picking up people on the way home or during a break at the job. They are so thankful that they can have that auxiliary income yet be their own boss. If they want to do the driving they do. If they don't, they won't.
There is also another model that I ran into with an Uber. I commented on his car being new and he said it was not his! That Uber had arranged through a car rental company (Enterprise?) to lease him the car and Uber paid for everything! So the car expense was zero. He said he had to driver four days to break even and after that he would make money. Again, he loved it that he could drive a new car for personal use and make this type of money.
That said, I think what Uber is charging is too low. I know I would pay easily more money to have this level of service. But when I mentioned this to every driver I talked to, none of them said, "yeh we need to do that." They were all super happy.
So yeh, if I were looking at the situation without talking to anyone, I too would have their opinion but the reality is not that. Folks are getting part-time jobs while being their own boss. People start their own businesses, work twice as hard and make less than what they do if they took a salary job. That freedom to set your own hours and level of work has a lot of value.
Anyway that is what I know as a happy Uber customer . They have relieved us from the horrors that was waiting to get a taxi, and riding in stupid dirty, falling apart cars. If their drivers are also happy, then I would be SOB to try to campaign to screw this up.
And oh, when I was at CES due to crowds, my fair was 3X the normal so her averages are not what folks get paid all the time.
The consumer asked for 3 simple things:
1. A clean cab
2. An app
3. The ability to use credit cards
Absolutely, that's the future. But Uber....
Is there no end to the irony that they're displacing full time, living wage, jobs with low paying part time work... that supposedly helping those looking for more work but shortly there will be zero drivers?
I have to give them credit that it's pretty ingenious to use the model to fund driverless service development. Imagine if Taxi services just went modern, instead an industry is meeting its death.
Don't see it that way at all nor do I get why you're so down on them, it's giving families additional source of income in these tough times. Uber opened up the market and took it away from the monopolies who had cornered for decades. In cities like NY the medallions are controlled by mafia types dictating price and number of cabs allowed, Uber broke that yolk! Anyway the threat in the future is from autonomous cars not Uber drivers.
david
Don't see it that way at all nor do I get why you're so down on them, it's giving families additional source of income in these tough times. Uber opened up the market and took it away from the monopolies who had cornered for decades. In cities like NY the medallions are controlled by mafia types dictating price and number of cabs allowed, Uber broke that yolk! Anyway the threat in the future is from autonomous cars not Uber drivers.
david
Do you feel sorry for Nokia workers that lost their jobs because of Apple and its iPhone?I agree they broke the yolk, and it was needed.
But what you're missing is one of the biggest proponents and investors of driverless transport services is Uber & their holders. They'll replace every family trying to get additional income with a driverless car ASAP. And even though the yolk needed to break, you have to recall that Taxi drivers whom are losing their jobs have families too; and it's not their second job. Few are Uber drivers as their only job because they requirement for your car to be relatively new, which prevents a lot of people from participating, and it doesn't really pay enough to afford the cars required. It's the new mafia, you might say.
It's not like I expect nothing to evolve and change, the opposite really, but I hate when it's so negative.
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