How and When Do Uber Drivers Get Paid?

Drivers Advice, Experiences
#1

Uber drivers are independent contractors, which means you don't get paid a wage, you get paid for your services and must provide a receipt for accounting and tax purposes. The amount you get paid is also derived from a number of elements that make up your ride. In this guide I will cover all the various aspects of payment, how you get paid, what you get paid and the system that pay's you.

Starting Off

After you have finished your first week driving for Uber, you will receive an e-mail that tells you all about your total ride fares for that week and a link to see your income statement. An Uber's driving week is Monday to Monday, which means the end of the Uber week is Monday at 3:59am (don't ask me why that's the way it is.)

Every Monday at 4:00am your new Uber week starts, and that is how they count your driving schedules for income statements. You don't need to wait for the link in the e-mail, you can view your ongoing weekly statement in your app. Tap the "Pay Statements" tab, and you can view your up-to-date income statement as well as view your previous statements.

Uber Debit Card

If you don't have a credit card, or you want to contain your Uber income on one card, you can sign up for an Uber debit card. You sign up to get this card through Uber, and it is issued by GoBank. It usually arrives within a week. The Uber debit card allows you to receive your income without any transfer fees, and you don't pay for overdraft, monthly or NSF fees either. The card does not require a minimum balance nor a signing up income amount. This card is especially suited to Uber's instant pay method since it receives the transfer immediately (within the day of the transfer.)

Payout Options

Uber provides its drivers with a number of payout options, and you can view all of them from the app. Here are the options you can choose from:

1. Instant Pay

This is Uber's option for immediate payouts. A lot of drivers need immediate and constant cash flow. This option provides the solution to immediate cash, however, take into account bank processing time as well. Don't expect to see the money immediately.

Here is the list of banks and financial establishments that sometimes delay the process for cash through Uber's instant pay option:

  • H&R Block
  • First Citizens
  • UBOC
  • Amegy
  • California Bank and Trust
  • First National Bank of Omaha
  • Webster Bank
  • Bank of New York Mellon
  • BOKF
  • Silicon Valley Bank
  • Northern Trust

Uber takes a fee of $0.50 for every time you request payment through this option.

How To use Instant Pay

  1. Sign into partners.uber.com
  2. Go to the "Earnings" tab
  3. Tap "Instant Pay."
  4. Add your preferred debit card. (You can choose your personal one or the one issued from Uber.)
  5. Select how much money you want to be transferred from your current status.
  6. Click "Transfer Now"

Once you have initiated the transfer, you will receive the money as soon as your card issuer processes the payment. If you have an Uber card, it will be immediate. Some cards do not work with this option, but as a general rule, all Mastercard and Visa cards work with instant pay.

2. Direct Deposit

If you prefer that your income go directly to your bank account, or if you set up a separate account for business purposes, then the direct deposit is the preferred method of payment.

Before you do use this option, you must input your bank details in vault.uber.com

How to use Direct Deposit:

  1. Sign into your account in partners.uber.com
  2. Tap on the "Banking" tab
  3. Tap "Bank Account Details"
  4. Tap "Edit"
  5. Enter your name, tax information, account and routing numbers, and all requested banking information
  6. Check the identity confirmation box
  7. Tap "Submit"

All payments are transferred on a Thursday.

Uber Payment Issues

Preventative risk management is the best way to assure that you will not encounter any delays, for instance; after you input your bank details in vault.uber.com double check to see they are correct.

As a rule of thumb:

  • The Uber week starts Monday and ends Monday. This means that on Tuesday morning you receive your statement for the previous week.
  • Direct transfers are prepared on Wednesdays and processed on Thursdays.
  • Always check your statement for the promos and referral codes you managed to use during the week. Sometimes you might notice some are missing, this is not an oversight, these funds can be processed in the following week, so wait until Monday and check the new week's statement.
  • Missing trip fares can occur, contact Uber immediately if you don't receive a payment for a ride you made and that you have proof in the system, such as screen shots. Use the help.uber.com or help section in the app and go to the appropriate help screen, fill out the form and add any additional files you will need as proof. Uber tends to solve these issues within a few days.

Uber Earnings Calculation

You will notice that there are three periods, the first two do not pay anything, your income is generated from the third period, which is the period you reach your location, so long as you don't wait over two minutes the fare starts wen your passenger enters the car, and you start driving and is calculated according to time and mileage, until you drop them off at their destination.

The exact variables to calculate the total fare are:

Base Fare + Time + Distance + Surge + Extra's + Tip

  • The base fare is the booking fee which goes to Uber and is used to pay for insurance.
  • The time is calculated in minutes that starts from two minutes after you reach your location. This is due to late arrivals that cost drivers, so Uber instated the late arrival fee and fine too.
  • Distance is the miles you drive and starts from the pickup location and ends at the drop off location.
  • Surge pricing is the multiplier that multiplies the cost per mile and minute and varies according to the surge.
  • Extra's include tolls' cleaning fees for vomiters (usually drunks)
  • Tips are usually added to the app after the rating screen.

You can view the payment for a completed ride in the app's Earnings tab

Take into account that this is the total fare income or gross income. Your income is calculated as the above minus Uber's percentage and the base fare.

The percentage that Uber takes is used for operational expenses and is their business model's income, which is what keep's Uber operational.

What is my expected income?

Your income is reliant on he hours you drive, how you drive and which service you drive for. A lot of articles have been written about driver income and how to increase it, you can link to a few here:

Basically, the factors for improving your driving income are related to your knowledge of the market you drive in, the map and locations, the customers and times for surges and the driving mix you add to increase your income with other categories such as UberPOOL, ExpressPOOL, UberEats and apps of other companies apart from Uber.

I always suggest that you drive for Uber and Lyft as well as add UberEats, GrubHub, DoorDash and Amazon Flex to your arsenal of income making apps.

Here are some links to rideshare apps that will increase your income:

GrubHub : https://test.ridesharingforum.com/t/what-is-grubhub-become-a-grubhub-driver-and-deliver-food/278

Amazon Flex : https://test.ridesharingforum.com/t/everything-a-rideshare-driver-needs-to-know-about-amazon-flex-service/241

DoorDash : https://test.ridesharingforum.com/t/the-doordash-driver-dasher-comprehensive-handbook/247

#2

Yup, this just about covers it. I get paid, I just ordered the new GoBank card. I am waiting to see how good it really is.