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Hourly rate

2K views 50 replies 23 participants last post by  SamuelB 
#1 ·
i just had a quick question, when uber drivers are referring to hourly rate are they/ referring to an hour of their time or in app time/ the time Uber considers online time.

Thanks in advance
 
#9 ·
Hourly does not matter, how much you want to make, and go make it.
If you made 200 dollars in 1 hour and stop, and second guy makes 200 dollars in 10 hours, both same. What are you doing with the 9 hours??? Making more money ???sleeping???watching stupid tv??? Spending on liquor???
At the end of the year, how much money you saved Is the real question.
 
#17 ·
This is the mentality of someone who is their own boss, your success isn't measured by the hour, which those of us who've never been our own and have always lived life "paid by the hour", as a way to gauge our worth compared to other workers with a boss.
Does the contractor who's redoing your bathroom charge you by the hour? Or does he figure out his costs, his overall time he expects to spend on the project and he gives you the cost of his services.
The closest thing to "per hour" you'll ever get, as I'm learning this all myself, is if you set a per week goal, say 1,000.00. now as your own boss how do you reach that goal this week? And next week?
How much do you set as your goal for the year after all your expenses? 100k? 50k? 25k?
Once you know your own goals, the next step is to consider what sacrifice you're going to make to make that happen?
You going to spend 60 hours logged in, picking and cancelling, looking for a surge? Or are you setting a daily goal, 150? 200? And once you hit that number you call it a day?
Those are the risks and variables these people go through, and it seems like the ones who are looking to make the most of their time, cutting down the wasted time, are the ones that have these daily, weekly, monthly and then yearly goals laid out.

Hah even better metaphor, each one of us is a farmer. Some of us are looking to farm 100 acres, some are looking to farm only 20 acres of land, but both farmers have a goal. It's their end of season crop, and the time they spend for months tending to the farm, will sow the rewards come harvest. They factor in costs, putting money aside from the winter and slower times, and each factor will limit how much money they'll make for their season of work.

Rideshare drivers are farmers, not general contractors.
 
#15 ·
How does ride history and overall cost help buld a strategy and minimize dead miles when you don't know the pax destination? Does everyone call all rides to ask them?
Never call a pax at all. Learn where the good rides are more likely, learn to stay away from likely bad rides, learn patience when you can read surge is coming, etc, etc, etc.. Learning and strategy separate success vs failure. In this gig, using your brain will lead to more money than simply using your time. There is a reason only 4% last more than a year. Learn something every day!
 
#18 ·
This is the mentality of someone who is their own boss, your success isn't measured by the hour, which those of us who've never been our own and have always lived life "paid by the hour", as a way to gauge our worth compared to other workers with a boss.
Does the contractor who's redoing your bathroom charge you by the hour? Or does he figure out his costs, his overall time he expects to spend on the project and he gives you the cost of his services.
The closest thing to "per hour" you'll ever get, as I'm learning this all myself, is if you set a per week goal, say 1,000.00. now as your own boss how do you reach that goal this week? And next week?
How much do you set as your goal for the year after all your expenses? 100k? 50k? 25k?
Once you know your own goals, the next step is to consider what sacrifice you're going to make to make that happen?
You going to spend 60 hours logged in, picking and cancelling, looking for a surge? Or are you setting a daily goal, 150? 200? And once you hit that number you call it a day?
Those are the risks and variables these people go through, and it seems like the ones who are looking to make the most of their time, cutting down the wasted time, are the ones that have these daily, weekly, monthly and then yearly goals laid out.

Hah even better metaphor, each one of us is a farmer. Some of us are looking to farm 100 acres, some are looking to farm only 20 acres of land, but both farmers have a goal. It's their end of season crop, and the time they spend for months tending to the farm, will sow the rewards come harvest. They factor in costs, putting money aside from the winter and slower times, and each factor will limit how much money they'll make for their season of work.

Rideshare drivers are farmers, not general contractors.
This response is gold
 
#19 ·
Again , we don't get paid by the hour .
I'm pretty sure we all understand that. It's just a way to measure what we make.
If I average $25 gross, and i'm only going to drive 2 hours today, I can expect to make around $50.

Bank account at the end of the year..you can boast about making 100 dollar per hour, but at the end if you have the same balance as the guy making 1 dollar/hour, you have failed .
.
Not sure I would call it fail.

A guy making 15 dollars an hour and a guy making 40 an hour might both be broke by the time the next paycheck comes around.
But the guy making 40 drives a nicer car and gets to take his wife to a nice restaurant once in a while. The other guy not so much.
But again, both living paycheck to paycheck.
That's not a fail. I'd rather be the guy making 40.
 
#21 ·
I'm pretty sure we all understand that. It's just a way to measure what we make.
If I average $25 gross, and i'm only going to drive 2 hours today, I can expect to make around $50.
I agree. Looking at my gross tells me if it's worth getting behind the wheel.

For instance, if it's Monday, I don't bother, unless there's a special event like a concert or a sporting event.

On Tuesday this week, there was a quest, so I drove in spite of it being a day I otherwise wouldn't bother with. (3 trips in a 2 hour window, for $10 extra)

Christine
 
#22 ·
I disagree with those who say to ignore your earnings per hour. It is an easy metric to use and it is highly relevant, as it can be compared to other jobs. Your time matters.

That being said, your earnings per hour driving for Uber (after expenses and self-employment tax) will be very small, probably somewhere around $8 per hour in Albany.
 
#27 ·
That all depends on why you're doing this job instead of one of the hourly rate jobs. For me, it was about flexibility. Very few other jobs full give you this kind of flexibility. Also, I got to work as many hours as I wanted to. If I need more money, get behind the wheel one more day. Other jobs usually curtail any kind of overtime, whenever they are able to.

Quitting a halfway decent paying job to do this job because you think you're going to make a lot of money is not a good idea. If you need the freedom and flexibility, working a standard, hourly rate job is not a good idea.

We all have different needs. This particular job is not one that can be Quantified by hourly rate. It is your own business, and as such, it is about how much money you get to keep in your pocket after all of the expenses and taxes. Period.

Almost no people who own their own businesses Count Their income by the hour that they put in. They may charge their customers by the hour, but that is not how they count their pay.

If I get behind the wheel with the Uber app on for 12 hours, and at the end of the shift I have learned $200, that $200 is vastly different if I was constantly driving doing short, minimum rate trips at base rate, versus quite a few fewer trips at a higher rate 4 a longer trip each time that usually took me on a highway. Why? Because my expenses are lower in the latter case. Less wear and tear on my vehicle. You have to factor in the expenses, and it's the expenses that kill off your idea of hourly earnings.
 
#25 ·
as smart as me....but that isnt saying a whole lot

You SHOULD factor in
If you can Replace what you brought to the game.( YOUR CAR) while paying your bills.

If you can do this.
At the end of 3-4 years
You have BROKE EVEN !
( excluding the Loss of 4 years of your life)

If Uber destroys your car and you become Homeless because you can not pay bills. You have Lost.
how do you figure you broke even if you can buy another car and pay your bills?

I invested a $18000 car and Im taking out $36000 a year. If the car lasts 3 years Ive made $100,000. Shame on me if I didnt set aside enough to buy another car,and no doubt if I didnt, Im gonna have a problem next year but I certainly didnt lose any money
 
#24 ·
You SHOULD factor in
If you can Replace what you brought to the game.( YOUR CAR) while paying your bills.

If you can do this.
At the end of 3-4 years
You have BROKE EVEN !
( excluding the Loss of 4 years of your life)

If Uber destroys your car and you become Homeless because you can not pay bills. You have Lost.
 
#32 ·
Overly simplistic. Rich people have the money to buy the ingredients to make the pies. Poor people are trying to live long enough to put together the shopping list.

Being poor is not a crime, and doesn't mean someone is lazy. Most poor people I've known work twice as hard as most of the rich ones I've known.

They have to, just to keep the lights on.
 
#33 ·
Hourly earnings are very useful to determine if it’s worth doing, if you average out your hourly earnings and find you make an average of $2.00 an hour your better off doing something else.

Calculating hourly earnings is also very useful for Determining strategies like WHEN and where to work.
 
#36 ·
I absolutely use my net hourly rate to evaluate the work I do. It tells me how I am using my time. With Postmates I make more per mile but with Uber I make more per hour. I can make the same in a day with each of those but with Postmates I'm gonna have to put in more hours and work harder. With Amazon I have the highest hourly because I am paid by the block of time; 3 or 4 hour blocks. If I finish my 4 hour block in 2 hours it is a higher hourly rate but I am limited how much I can make because you can only sign up for so many blocks in a day and they can't overlap. So evaluating my earnings by the hour helps me decide what work I do each day and if what I am doing is worth it.
 
#37 ·
IMHO it's like this. How much someone grosses per mile (all miles included) decides the profitability of the work. Per hour then decides if it's worth that persons time.

As an example. If someone drives in a place where they can gross a high amount per mile, but rides are few and far between. It might not be worth it for them to spend hours doing the odd ride here and there, if they could be doing something more profitable with that time. However, if that same person is a retiree, it might be worth sitting around and taking the odd ride when it comes.
 
#40 ·
I think you hit the nail on the head. Hourly workers think differently than business owners
That's just something that business owners who are working 80 hours or more per week, but are earning what hourly or salaried employees make for putting in much less time, effort, or investment, tell themselves to feel better about it.

Calculating one's gross earnings per hour and per mile is an excellent way to determine how efficiently one is utilizing their time and vehicle.
Personally, I start my clock and trip odo when I leave my driveway, and stop when I return. Those dead miles/minutes count, as they are being used in the search for rides/income. That includes the ride home, as I use the DF, and have actually grabbed a few rides that way.

I use simple division to calculate $/hr and $/mile, which currently averages ~$1/mile and $25/hour. Not awful, but not great. I am trying to use my limited experience with previous trips - pickup areas, time, ride type, pax rating, etc - to goose it up to $1.09/mile (2x IRS value) and $30/hr, which would make me more comfortable about the time and mileage I spend doing this.

I suppose that if I didn't include dead time/miles in my calculations, I'd already have exceeded my short term goal numbers. But, dead time/miles are a valid part of our investment in our "businesses".
 
#44 ·
I count total hours worked in a week divided by the gross amount I made that week. I don’t count the time I wait for pings at home (sitting at home watching tv is not considered work for me), which at times can be quite a bit since I don’t do X or lyft classic. I count total hours spent outside working, door to door.
 
#48 ·
Almost no people who own their own businesses Count Their income by the hour that they put in. They may charge their customers by the hour, but that is not how they count their pay.
Everyone that runs a business evaluates its success (or failure) based on some form of time-based/income metric. It may not be hourly, but it is certainly quarterly or annual.

If you're happy working loads of hours making peanuts per hour because of the "freedom" or "flexibility", knock yourself out.
 
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