My Uber Blog

Week 1 Statistics

Caleb — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 00:18:14 +0000

Since I’ll be in Chicago through the weekend, I won’t be doing any more rides this week. Here’s a look at my first week stats and some thoughts on them:

In wages and tips, I made $86.71 for being online 8 hours and 7 minutes. That comes out to $10.68 an hour. While that doesn’t seem very good, you have to consider that a lot of that online time was time that I would have been driving anyway. If I had focused more on just trying to get as many riders as possible vs. trying to pick up riders on the way to my own destination, I’m sure I could have made more. I’ll experiment with that at some point in the future.

While the hourly wage isn’t great, the tax deduction is. When that is included, I’m making $29.54 per hour. Keep in mind that the tax deduction is money I can pay myself from my IT consulting business without paying taxes on it. Without the deduction, that money would be treated as income. With the deduction, it’s a business expense. And a couple of days in, it is looking like it will be well worth it to continue being an Uber driver. If you want to get started as an Uber driver, click here.

Day 4 – No riders, lots of mileage deductions

Caleb — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 18:10:15 +0000

I had to drive to Chicago today after work, so I used the “Trips Toward a Destination” feature on the way to work and then from work to the Wisconsin border. You can only drive Uber in one state at a time (with some exceptions), so I had to go offline at the border. I stopped at a store so that my mileage tracking app would register a stop so I could classify it correctly. Today is a perfect illustration of how valuable the mileage deduction can be. I didn’t get any riders as I drove from work to back then to Wisconsin yet I earned $32.65 in deductions. This is for trips that I was going to take anyway, but because I was available to pick up riders, I can claim the mileage. Note that this only works if you have other income from another source to offset. Through my first 4 days, I’ve earned $86.71 in income from Uber and $153.07 in tax deductions. That means I can pay myself a tax-free mileage expense from my business of $66.36. I’ll go into more details on this in a later post. If you want to get started as an Uber driver, click here.

Day 3 Evening – Four riders and two tips

Caleb — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 19:00:47 +0000

After work, I decided to drive for a couple of hours. I hopped in the car and went online and received my first rider alert after driving around a couple of minutes. It was a young woman going to study. She put on her headphones and didn’t say anything the entire time. Here’s what earned:

Duration: 24 minutes 33 seconds

Distance: 12.14 miles

Earnings: $11.71

Almost immediately, I received another rider alert. It was a young man heading towards the airport. On the way there, a car up ahead of us lost control and I stopped with plenty of distance between my car and his. He must have appreciated that as he gave me an $8 tip. Not bad! Here’s what I earned:

Duration: 34 minutes 26 seconds

Distance: 15.78 miles

Earnings: $23.51 (including the $8 tip)

After dropping him off at the airport, I turned on the “Towards a destination” feature and picked up two more riders. The first was heading home from the train station and we chatted a while. He gave me a $1 tip. The other was uneventful. Here’s what earned:

Ride 1

Duration: 12 minutes 54 seconds

Distance: 2.68 miles

Earnings: $4.65 (including $1 tip)

Ride 2

Duration: 9 minutes 55 seconds

Distance 2.62 miles

Earnings: $4.18

Overall, I earned $62.49 today in 3 hours and 50 minutes online. That seems pretty good. I’ll break down more statistics in a later post.

If you want to get started as an Uber driver, click here.

Tips and back to back riders

Caleb — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 11:45:03 +0000

The home page of the Uber app displays useful information and today it instructed me to turn on tips. I assumed that was automatic, but followed the steps to turn on tips. There was another section that explained how to turn on back to back riders. This allows you to accept a new rider before dropping off your current one. Sounds useful! I turned that on, too. We’ll see how it goes when I head out after work. If you want to get started as an Uber driver, click here.

Day 3 – Two early morning riders

Caleb — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 06:00:51 +0000

I woke up early and decided to try my luck before work. I didn’t turn on the “towards a destination” feature today. The first two riders were over 15 minutes away, so I didn’t take them. Then I received one that was five minutes away. That will work. He took a while to come out of his house, so I earned some money for waiting. I drove him to his work. We chatted a little bit about his work as a trucker. His route was really convenient for me, so I asked if he usually needed a ride but he didn’t. Oh well. I dropped him off and thanked him. Here’s what I earned:

Duration: 22 minutes 6 seconds

Distance: 17.08 miles

My earnings: $15.20

After dropping him off, I received another rider alert. It was somebody completing his shift at Perkins and needing a ride home. Here’s what I earned:

Duration: 5 minutes 22 seconds

Distance: 2.07 miles

My earnings: $3.24

After that I drove home to prepare for a day of working from home for my day job. If you want to get started as an Uber driver, click here.

Day 2 – Trips Toward a Destination

Caleb — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 16:31:57 +0000

On Day 2, I had to work during the day and had plans at night, so my only Uber opportunities were on my way to and from the office. Today I decided to use the Trips Toward a Destination feature. Using this, you’ll only get alerted of riders going towards the same destination you are. In the morning I didn’t get a rider. However, because I drove 14 miles in, I still earned a $7.63 tax deduction for the mileage. On the way home I got my third rider. He was a college kid who just needed to go a couple of miles. He sat in the front seat and we chatted a while. He was my only rider today. Here’s what I earned:

Duration: 8 min 54 seconds

Distance: 1.85 miles

My earnings: $3.89

Not much in earnings, but between the trip to work and back I earned over $15 in mileage deductions. If you want to get started as an Uber driver, click here.

Complaints!

Caleb — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 09:24:27 +0000

Yesterday I did two rides and this morning I received emails about two rider complaints. Not a great start! The first rider complained that the color of my car wasn’t correct. Fair enough. I already fixed that. The second rider complained about my speed. But I got him there five minutes early! So ungrateful. In any case, I’ll watch that in the future and my dream of all five-star ratings is dead one day in. If you want to get started as an Uber driver, click here.

Customer support again

Caleb — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 20:20:52 +0000

On the way home, I called customer support to change the color of my car in the app. Once again, it was a simple experience and they were able to resolve my issue. If you want to get started as an Uber driver, click here.

Second Rider!

Caleb — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 18:40:42 +0000

As soon as I dropped off my first rider, I received an alert for my second rider. He was also nearby at a restaurant. I went and picked him up, started the ride in the app, and saw that he was going for a long ride: 31 minutes according to the app. The rider put on headphones and played on his cell the whole ride. I made pretty good time and got him there in 26 minutes. That was quick! Everyone loves getting to their destination quickly, right? Here’s what I made from this trip:

Duration: 26 minutes 6 seconds

Distance: 19.34 miles

Earnings: $17.09

I went offline and drove home after that one. Had I been known better, I would have used the “Fin trips toward a destination” feature. I’ll cover that in a future post. If you want to get started as an Uber driver, click here.

First rider!

Caleb — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 18:00:39 +0000

Having resolved the issue with the wrong car being listed, I drove to the mall and put myself in online status. Within seconds I had my first rider alert. The rider alert tells you how far away the rider is y what their rating is. It does not tell you where the rider is going. My first pick up was at a store in the mall. She was waiting outside for me. Once you pick up the rider, you use the app to start the trip and it tells you where you’re going. This rider was only going a couple of blocks away. She said it was too cold to walk and she was right. She also told me that the app listed my car as tan even though it’s black. Crap! I dropped her off, said thanks, and almost immediately got another rider alert. We’ll get to the second rider in a second. First, let’s break down the pay on the first rider. The app gives the details:

Duration: 1 min 38 seconds

Distance: 0.38 miles

My earnings: $3.24

Well, it’s a start! If you want to get started as an Uber driver, click here.