37 cents? This Uber driver lost money for sure if you factor in maintenance cost

[theking]

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Uber Eats driver says he only made a profit of 37 cents during a 4-hour shift because filling up his gas tank cost about the same as his earnings

An Uber Eats driver said he made a profit of only 37 cents during a four-hour shift once he accounted for the cost of filling up his gas tank.

The driver, who requested to be identified using only his Reddit username "aaskhic," posted details on Monday about the money he made from his shift.

The driver told Insider he usually works in a tutoring center, but decided to pick up some Uber Eats shifts in east Texas while he was off work for a couple of weeks. The shift he wrote about in the Reddit post was his second shift,  which he carried out on Saturday evening, according to the driver.

He made $30.97 from eight deliveries during four hours of driving, according to documentation seen by Insider. Three out of eight of the customers gave him tips, he wrote in the post. Tip money came to $7.89, per the documentation.


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When the driver filled up his tank at the end of his shift, it cost him $30.60, according to a receipt from the gas station, which was viewed by Insider. Per the documentation, that meant he only earned 37 cents from the work that evening.

"The second shift was my final one," the driver told Insider. "I won't be doing any more."

Uber told Insider in a statement: "While earnings can vary based on demand and other factors, the experience described here is not typical. Thousands of people choose to partner with Uber Eats to earn extra money flexibly."

The driver told Insider that in his first Uber Eats shift he earned a similar amount to his second shift, but was tipped $16 on his last delivery which "gave [him] hope to try it again the next day."


"I hope maybe some other people can save their time and money not falling for Uber Eats," he added.

Since Monday, the Reddit post that he published on r/antiwork has received more than 19,000 upvotes and more than 1,500 comments.

Uber says on its website that drivers' earnings are calculated by the pick-up fee, drop-off fee, and the total distance in between the restaurant and customer.

When gas prices began to soar in March, Uber said it would charge customers between 35 to 55 cents for deliveries or rides to help out drivers with costs. However, six Uber drivers told Insider the fee isn't enough to cover rising gasoline prices.


Over the past week, average US gas prices have dropped below $4 a gallon for the first time since March, GasBuddy said. The average national gas price on Tuesday was $3.95 a gallon, according to the AAA.

[DuMa]

I can shared with you a similar story.  While I was young and dumb, I took a courier job that was based out in Oakland and I could work remotely like an uber driver because they gave me a pager that is linked to their satellite system.  So from my place, I can start there and pick up orders there and drive it to the bay and from the bay, picking up other orders to drive it elsewhere and finally and hopefully that there is a route that can take me back home.  Working 8 hours a day from mon to friday, driving my own vehicle, paying my own gas, the pay for the week was only $300.  When you are young, you don't calculate anything at all.  I see $300 and I'm thinking I'm winning.   

I finally quit when I realized that there are other drivers who are doing what I did but they had their own daily route so guaranteed $300 for example and along their route, they can pick up side jobs like the ones that I'm doing.  So $300 plus side route is another $300 = not too shabby.  This was when gas was cheaper like $2.30 a gallon.  Still, I was working for peanuts so I can relate to this article's uber driver.  The company just wants a body to make their money for them.  You are a dime a dozen so they don't care about you.