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There's a line in here about preying on people(drivers) too stupid to understand the unit economics of driving their car

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/11/ ... ustache%29

Yeah, I've been using Uber more and more lately, both on business, drinking with other dads, and after dropping off car for repairs (both ways). It's amazing how cheap these rides are... I feel bad though because of the initial no tipping culture, I still don't tip even after giving a good rating. I should probably start doing so...

Bay_area_Hokie wrote:There's a line in here about preying on people(drivers) too stupid to understand the unit economics of driving their car

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/11/ ... ustache%29

That's one of the worst analysis I have ever read. A half assed effort all the way around...

WestEndHokie39 wrote:

Bay_area_Hokie wrote:There's a line in here about preying on people(drivers) too stupid to understand the unit economics of driving their car

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/11/ ... ustache%29

That's one of the worst analysis I have ever read. A half assed effort all the way around...

In what way? Were you just triggered?

Bay_area_Hokie wrote:

WestEndHokie39 wrote:

Bay_area_Hokie wrote:There's a line in here about preying on people(drivers) too stupid to understand the unit economics of driving their car

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/11/ ... ustache%29

That's one of the worst analysis I have ever read. A half assed effort all the way around...

In what way? Were you just triggered?

Seriously? You don't see the obvious bias and the lack of rigor? He analyzed one day in a low density area (Longmont), and made no effort to target times when surge pricing would be in effect.

And, yeah, I am triggered by BS...

Sounds about right. Uber drivers are bad at math on multiple levels.

WestEndHokie39 wrote:
Seriously? You don't see the obvious bias and the lack of rigor? He analyzed one day in a low density area (Longmont), and made no effort to target times when surge pricing would be in effect.

And, yeah, I am triggered by BS...

I thought he said he did just that (and wound up sitting in traffic jams).

WestEndHokie39 wrote:

Bay_area_Hokie wrote:

WestEndHokie39 wrote:

Bay_area_Hokie wrote:There's a line in here about preying on people(drivers) too stupid to understand the unit economics of driving their car

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/11/ ... ustache%29

That's one of the worst analysis I have ever read. A half assed effort all the way around...

In what way? Were you just triggered?

Seriously? You don't see the obvious bias and the lack of rigor? He analyzed one day in a low density area (Longmont), and made no effort to target times when surge pricing would be in effect.

And, yeah, I am triggered by BS...

He said he drove for a couple of months. Lighten up.


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BG Hokie wrote:Yeah, I've been using Uber more and more lately, both on business, drinking with other dads, and after dropping off car for repairs (both ways). It's amazing how cheap these rides are... I feel bad though because of the initial no tipping culture, I still don't tip even after giving a good rating. I should probably start doing so...

My buddy was between jobs for a while and started driving in SoCal. He quickly came to the conclusion that he was just putting miles on his car. The only time he said he made any money were weekend nights driving drunks home from bars.


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ip_law-hokie wrote:

BG Hokie wrote:Yeah, I've been using Uber more and more lately, both on business, drinking with other dads, and after dropping off car for repairs (both ways). It's amazing how cheap these rides are... I feel bad though because of the initial no tipping culture, I still don't tip even after giving a good rating. I should probably start doing so...

My buddy was between jobs for a while and started driving in SoCal. He quickly came to the conclusion that he was just putting miles on his car. The only time he said he made any money were weekend nights driving drunks home from bars.


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As Coach Beamer said, "Those unit economics will get after ya"

ip_law-hokie wrote:The only time he said he made any money were weekend nights driving drunks home from bars.

I've read this several places. If you don't mind working at 2am on a Sunday and cleaning barf out of the back of your car, you can make some money.

BREAKING: being a cab (Uber/Lyft) driver doesn’t make you a lot of money.


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nolanvt wrote:BREAKING: being a cab (Uber/Lyft) driver doesn’t make you a lot of money.


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Poor Nolan, thinks they're talking about wages. "But he got $100!".

awesome guy wrote:

nolanvt wrote:BREAKING: being a cab (Uber/Lyft) driver doesn’t make you a lot of money.


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Poor Nolan, thinks they're talking about wages. "But he got $100!".

Whatever your post means.


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nolanvt wrote:

awesome guy wrote:

nolanvt wrote:BREAKING: being a cab (Uber/Lyft) driver doesn’t make you a lot of money.


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Poor Nolan, thinks they're talking about wages. "But he got $100!".

Whatever your post means.


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It's a giant mystery for those with sub 80 IQs.

Except that the IRS is letting them deduct 53.5 cents per mile from their taxes. And none of their cars are worth that. So in essence, our tax dollars are subsidizing Uber.

If I buy a car for $15K (probably more than these Uber cars are worth), and I put 100K miles on it, and have maintenance costs of $5000 over that lifetime, then it costs me 20 cents per mile. Add in gas - at 25 miles per gallon and $2.50/gallon, it's another 10 cents per mile. So my total costs of driving are 30 cents per mile.

So I'm deducting more than my total cost of driving off of my taxes.

In the stats for the day this one guy gave, he's figuring $18 in car costs, but he's doing it wrong if he has $18 in car costs to drive 35 miles. He should have $10.50 in car costs and get to deduct $18.75 of his $32 pay. So he's probably paying 25% total in taxes (remember that he has to pay the self-employment tax), so that's $3.31. So for his 1:51 of work, he actually got (or should have gotten) $18.19 net of all taxes, or, $9.83 per hour after tax.

Are you going to get rich off of that? No. But is that decent side work for someone who is completely unskilled and uneducated? Yes.

BigDave wrote:Except that the IRS is letting them deduct 53.5 cents per mile from their taxes. And none of their cars are worth that. So in essence, our tax dollars are subsidizing Uber.

If I buy a car for $15K (probably more than these Uber cars are worth), and I put 100K miles on it, and have maintenance costs of $5000 over that lifetime, then it costs me 20 cents per mile. Add in gas - at 25 miles per gallon and $2.50/gallon, it's another 10 cents per mile. So my total costs of driving are 30 cents per mile.

So I'm deducting more than my total cost of driving off of my taxes.

In the stats for the day this one guy gave, he's figuring $18 in car costs, but he's doing it wrong if he has $18 in car costs to drive 35 miles. He should have $10.50 in car costs and get to deduct $18.75 of his $32 pay. So he's probably paying 25% total in taxes (remember that he has to pay the self-employment tax), so that's $3.31. So for his 1:51 of work, he actually got (or should have gotten) $18.19 net of all taxes, or, $9.83 per hour after tax.

Are you going to get rich off of that? No. But is that decent side work for someone who is completely unskilled and uneducated? Yes.

You forgot the cost of auto insurance, which is high for drivers.
Also, as a business wouldn't you be taking the actual expenses (pro-rated portion of uber miles vs. total miles) on your taxes, not 53.5 cents per mile?

133743Hokie wrote:

BigDave wrote:Except that the IRS is letting them deduct 53.5 cents per mile from their taxes. And none of their cars are worth that. So in essence, our tax dollars are subsidizing Uber.

If I buy a car for $15K (probably more than these Uber cars are worth), and I put 100K miles on it, and have maintenance costs of $5000 over that lifetime, then it costs me 20 cents per mile. Add in gas - at 25 miles per gallon and $2.50/gallon, it's another 10 cents per mile. So my total costs of driving are 30 cents per mile.

So I'm deducting more than my total cost of driving off of my taxes.

In the stats for the day this one guy gave, he's figuring $18 in car costs, but he's doing it wrong if he has $18 in car costs to drive 35 miles. He should have $10.50 in car costs and get to deduct $18.75 of his $32 pay. So he's probably paying 25% total in taxes (remember that he has to pay the self-employment tax), so that's $3.31. So for his 1:51 of work, he actually got (or should have gotten) $18.19 net of all taxes, or, $9.83 per hour after tax.

Are you going to get rich off of that? No. But is that decent side work for someone who is completely unskilled and uneducated? Yes.

You forgot the cost of auto insurance, which is high for drivers.
Also, as a business wouldn't you be taking the actual expenses (pro-rated portion of uber miles vs. total miles) on your taxes, not 53.5 cents per mile?

You have to make the calculation, the actual costs may be more than the 53/mile but to keep up with all the costs and all and receipts or use the 53/mile most of these uber folks will do the easy calc.. I delivered pizza for a little while in my car at VT, figured out really quickly that I was losing money while working. But you can't pay me enough to deal with the drunks and the damage done to the car by the drunks

Big Dave, I take Uber a lot as the cab system in SF is terrible. At any time time there are only a few hundred cabs on the streets which is probably where the idea for Uber came from. I would say most of the cars are less than five years old small sedans, like Honda Civics. There are a lot of Priusus, Nissans, etc.


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Bay_area_Hokie wrote:Big Dave, I take Uber a lot as the cab system in SF is terrible. At any time time there are only a few hundred cabs on the streets which is probably where the idea for Uber came from. I would say most of the cars are less than five years old small sedans, like Honda Civics. There are a lot of Priusus, Nissans, etc.


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My completely non-scientific impression from the Uber/Lyft stickers I see around town is that there are a lot of people subsidizing the overpriced cars they bought. I see a late model BMW/Audi/Mercedes with a sticker on it almost every day. The other demo are the folks who do it for a living - they're basically indistinguishable from taxi cab drivers. Third demo is the younger industrious guy trying to make a few extra bucks in his commuter.