Editor’s Be aware: This story initially appeared on The Penny Hoarder.
With the excessive price of gasoline and the skyrocketing price of automobiles, earning profits as an Uber driver isn’t essentially easy. You should assume strategically.
Your earnings are based mostly on how a lot you’ll be able to work and the way you handle your time. It’s additionally simpler to make financial institution in a giant metropolis than within the suburbs or a small city.
We wrote about one driver who made a quarter-million {dollars} one 12 months, largely by promoting jewellery to his passengers.
However the truth is that the common wage for Uber drivers within the U.S. is about $63,913 a 12 months as of Oct. 22, 2023, which is 15% above the nationwide common, based on Certainly. (Needless to say Uber is only a facet gig for some drivers.)
How To Maximize Driving for Uber
What’s it actually prefer to drive with Uber, and how are you going to take advantage of cash attainable?
Journalist Emily Guendelsberger delved deep into the lifetime of a ride-share driver when she went undercover as an Uber driver in Philadelphia. She wrote about her experiences in Philadelphia’s (now defunct) Metropolis Paper.
In Guendelsberger’s month on the job, she picked up a number of suggestions and methods that may assist you to earn more money as an Uber driver-partner.
What the Firm Tells You About Being a Profitable Uber Driver
Guendelsberger’s coaching for UberX consisted of a 13-minute video that went over the best way to supply good service and obtain five-star scores from passengers.
The information included opening the rear door for individuals, offering chilly bottled water and having additional telephone chargers available for passengers to make use of.
The video additionally emphasised the significance of wanting skilled and even confirmed the star of the video deciding on costly ties to put on whereas driving individuals round city.
Nevertheless, Guendelsberger discovered much more methods to money in on the app. Listed below are the methods she recommends from her time on the job. We additionally added a few suggestions of our personal on the finish.
1. Maintain Snacks and Water Useful
If you’re going to be on the highway for hours, it’s necessary to ensure you have the whole lot it’s essential be snug.
Guendelsberger advises ensuring you will have snacks and water in your automobile — however not for passengers.
She suggests maintaining your self nicely fed and hydrated whilst you’re working, so that you don’t must waste money and time on takeout.
2. Know the Native Bogs
Scope out out there restroom services within the areas the place you normally drive. Guendelsberger emphasizes the necessity to discover public loos with free parking, which may be tough to search out in downtown areas.
She discovered Complete Meals and suburban Starbucks to be a few of her finest bets round Philly, with free parking and unlocked restrooms.
After all, each space could have completely different choices, however ensure you know what’s round earlier than you desperately want to make use of a restroom.
3. Don’t Observe the Herd
Guendelsberger discovered she made extra money by ignoring the really helpful instances and areas the place demand for rides was more likely to be excessive — like widespread morning commute routes, busy Saturday evening bars and the native area when an expert hockey sport had simply completed.
She discovered she truly made extra money by ignoring these sizzling spots.
When drivers flocked to a really helpful space, Uber’s surge pricing — premium costs based mostly on a scarcity of drivers in an space — would lower, that means these drivers would earn much less for every trip.
4. Drive Up the Surge Fares
To take full benefit of surge fares, Guendelsberger recommends gaming the system a bit.
She suggests logging out of the motive force app earlier than instances you’ll be able to anticipate surge fares, equivalent to when the bars shut.
In Philly, she discovered 2 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. was an enormous time for surge pricing as drinkers discovered their approach residence for the evening.
She recommends logging out of the motive force app round 1:50 a.m. or so, ready quarter-hour and logging again in to reap the benefits of surge fares.
Logging out reduces the variety of drivers within the space and drives up the fares. It additionally prevents you from getting a fare at, say, 1:55 a.m. and lacking out on surge pricing.
5. Don’t Drive Round Endlessly
Driving round in circles in an try and get to an space the place Uber will ping you to select up a fare isn’t going to do far more than add put on and tear to your automobile, Guendelsberger discovered.
She recommends sticking to a central space and avoiding the suburbs if attainable.
If you happen to’re driving miles and miles to succeed in somebody, there’s likelihood you’ll drive a lot farther to satisfy them than you’ll wind up taking them.
You may’t inform the place a rider desires to go till you choose them up. This normally means drivers find yourself shedding cash on a faraway fare.
She additionally discovered that in case you’re driving an extended strategy to choose somebody up, they could get bored and cancel the trip or discover one other strategy to get to their vacation spot.
6. Don’t Chase Surge Fares (but when You Do, Attempt This Hack)
Each article about being an Uber driver tells you to reap the benefits of surge pricing, however Guendelsberger discovered that racing to a surge fare space by no means panned out for her.
Different drivers would additionally head to that space, and the surge pricing interval could be over by the point she reached it.
However she has a tip for these seeking to capitalize on surge pricing: Log off of the motive force app and log into the passenger app till you attain the surge space, then log off of the passenger app and again into the motive force one.
Why does it work? Uber calculates surge fares based mostly on the ratio of individuals with the passenger app open to the motive force app in an space at any given time.
This hack sways the system a bit, letting the app assume you’re a passenger in search of a trip as a substitute of a driver prepared to supply one.
7. Use the Uber Passenger App
The passenger app helps you reap the benefits of some options not out there on the motive force app. For one, you’ll be able to see the place different drivers are, which helps you choose areas with out a variety of competitors.
For instance, Guendelsberger was as soon as at a stadium after a sport and had a tough time getting any trip requests from the app.
She logged into the passenger app and located herself surrounded by different drivers. So she merely drove to the opposite facet of the stadium and rapidly obtained a notification for a trip.
She additionally discovered the passenger app had extra up-to-date info on surge fares than the motive force app, which appeared to have a delay of some minutes.
8. Maintain Your Rankings Up
Passengers price Uber drivers on a scale of 1 to five. Drivers who regularly rating too low run the chance of being deactivated.
Take the apparent steps: Be pleasant {and professional}, drive safely, and maintain your automobile clear.
9. Observe Your Mileage for Tax Functions
If you happen to’re an Uber or Lyft driver, it is best to monitor your mileage for tax functions. Whereas we’re on the topic, listed here are our favourite mileage tracker apps.
You may take a tax deduction referred to as the usual mileage price. To do this correctly, it’s essential maintain monitor of what number of miles you drive for Uber all 12 months lengthy.
For the 2023 tax 12 months, the usual mileage price for enterprise use is 65.5 cents per mile. You may deduct that out of your earnings if you file your taxes.
Able to get began with Uber? Right here’s the hyperlink to enroll.