One of the hundreds of letters we receive every week form unhappy Uber drivers

One of the hundreds of letters we receive from unhappy Uber drivers every week from all around the country. I thought i should publish it here. Uber drivers from Sydney please feel free to respond.


----------- start letter ---------
Thank you for adding me to your group.

I tool up driving for Uber in Sydney as I lost my job last year and thought that driving with Uber would give me a good return while I keep looking at getting back into my original occupation.

I have been doing it for a few months now and I am so dissalusioned as to the earnings that can be made.

I have been putting in ten to eleven hour days Monday - Friday and after paying back my weekly rental on my car, collecting the gst, paying petrol I don't even have enough left to pay for all my weekly tolls that I am mounting up. In other words I'm going backwards fast.

I would like to know if other drivers are finding the same thing as I am.

Kind Regards,
SL
---------------end letter------

 

Not from Sydney, from WA, but when I was driving full time it was a massive struggle to make ends meet requiring excessive hours driving, frustration, sleep deprivation and stress. Whatever went into my bank account would gradually evaporate during the week/month on Petrol, servicing and all the other costs, never leaving me with any savings, in fact without my credit card I couldn't have managed. I never did manage to put aside any of the depreciation costs for buying a replacement car like you're supposed to do in theory, that was all used up too to for the day to day expenses bills and taxes. The biggest cost was to my health, sitting in a car seat for hours on end , being away from my home lfe/family, not sleeping enough, and eating shit food on the run. You are not alone mate.

 

Sounds too familiar. I drive in Melbourne.

 

You have to pay Uber to drive for Uber.

 

You are not too far off. I feel sorry for the drivers renting vehicles and having to pay $300-$350 per week on top of all other expenses. They fit what you describe perfectly.

What a scam...

 

yeah an

and having to pay 25% commisson too !

 

I am kinda thinking if doing 90 hours a week it may actually be a better way to go
Especially if doing base and keeping acceptance high

Always thought that goobers would secretly prioritise those folks

Still shit though

 

90 hours ? i"m doing 70 hours now and bugger after that

 

I agree, Currently doing 40 hours per week and must scrape myself out of the driver seat every time i get home. Any more hours and i'll explode.

Dont know how pepole are able to drive 60-70 hours, its unhealty, its unsastainable.

 

dont worry more than one driver on same account

 

Actually the tolls are paid back to you by Uber. It's included in the fare.

 

must be everything else that is NOT paid back that could be the problem!

don't worry about the living wage part

good on all those who have the ATO wincing at the gst credits mounting up... using the filthy poobears to pay for half their new car

 

Hi,
I have driven 6 month full time, 3 months as Uber X and 3 months Uber X/XL. Purchased Mitsubishi Outlander 7 seat in June 2017 so I could drive Uber XL.

Uber is profitable for me if I work peak times and/or high demand areas.
I set the odometer at the start of each day and keep myself aware of:
1. Dollars earn't per hour (aim for $25 plus ph)
2. Dollars earn't for every Km driven. (aim for $1.5 plus per Km)

If you are doing a lot of Km's with no rider and 1. and/or 2. are low, then you know that it's not worth while devaluing your car and your time. Aim to take these periods/ days off next week. Try to anticipate surge and aim to be in and around known surge areas before they happen. Don't chase surges because they seem to disappear as you drive into them. Uber will determine shortest time cost for pickup which may include a toll. Avoid paying a toll to reach a rider on time. Either cancel or drive to pickup via untolled roads.

In Sydney Uber XL is proving very popular and I don't mind the 15-20 minute drives in for pickup since the 50% premium tends to compensate. Uber XL lends itself to many possible situations:
1. Takes up to 6 riders. (popular in evenings Friday and Saturday)
2. At the airport if you have X and XL enabled, you are actually in 2 queues, many times when in Uber X Queue, 10 to 30, I will be allocated an XL job. I estimate it can save me 10 to 20 minutes wait time when it happens.
3. It appears that riders who book XL , default to XL when they make their next booking. Hence the driver benefits from Uber XL mistake bookings.
4. Large people may want/need a larger vehicle.
5. Bulky goods pickups from Ikea and other furniture retailers. Ikea charge $85 bulky goods delivery fee so Uber XL represents great value.
6. I've lost count of people I have helped move appartments. No furniture but lots of stuff in boxes. Just lay the seats down and load up but make sure you start the trip before you start loading and stop after unloading.

If you are at a decision point for buying another vehicle then I recommend 7 seat vehicle to qualify for Uber XL. The Outlander is proving to be a good vehicle.

Regards, RV

 

Welcome RV

Thank you for the great information!

In Sydney Uber's base rates are almost 50% higher then any other city in the country. So yes, it must be more rewarding driving there Black, X and/or XL.

 

It may be that driving Uber is not sustainable in some regional areas or cities at the rates Uber offer. Even in Sydney a bad starting location could put many Km's on the clock before you start picking up reliable work and more Kms home again at the end. Potentially, unsustainable, unprofitable work.
Uber riders like the low prices and the quality of services. I believe that there is room for price increases based on the beneficial service attributes. Travis K seemed more intent on screwing over the taxi industry than making a profit. How is the new guy Dara Khosrowshahi doing? Anyone heard anything?

 

It's a given, Uber has a business model that depends on exploiting drivers. They are not profitable now, how can they ever be profitable if they increase the fares, lose market share and pay drivers better?

A ponzi scheme whichever way we may want look at it. Check this article:
http://www.businessinsider.com/australian-fund-manager-calls-uber-a-ponzi-scheme-2017-5?IR=T

 

Hi Unfun,
The article you cited does talk about Uber losing money and "Ponzi scheme" in relation to capital raising. "It's constantly losing money, and its capital-raising strategy is a ponzi scheme," the cofounder, Hamish Douglass. Nothing there about driver exploitation.

Apologies in advance to Victorian Uber drivers because I am not aware of your circumstances and making comments in your forum. I only came here because there was an unanswered post from a taxi driver that I felt raised a few questions.

Regards,
RV

 

You are most welcome RV.

Here's a good website for city by city base fare prices:
http://uberestimate.com/prices/

 

Thanks. A bit surprised. will spend a bit of time considering this info. What do they base pricing on?

 

The prices quoted over the above mentioned website are the official Uber base fares for a particular city.