It’s practically easy to maneuver your life from the job – may it be a corporate job or a small business – you’re finding yourself lately, to becoming a driver for the world’s biggest ridesharing apps.
Register for an account like how you’d do on Facebook, and voila, you can start earning. Not to forget that you’ve got to invest in your own car ‘coz Lyft or Uber isn’t going to provide you with this. And, you must know how to drive, of course.
This is precisely what this Lyft driver in St. Louis, Missouri did, but he admits that it’s not meadows and rainbows being a driver for Lyft. Here’s his story.
From magazine editor to Lyft driver
This driver wrote a story for the Missouri publication, St. Louis Magazine, narrating how he quit his job as a magazine editor, but admitting that this wasn’t “the smartest move financially” that he did.
According to ZipRecruiter, magazine editors in the United States are getting paid around $22 each hour.
Not bad, but this driver believes being a rideshare driver can make him earn more.
“In case my name doesn’t give it away, I’m white. Last fall, I quit my job as a magazine editor – I took a stand regarding free speech that I’m proud of, but it was not the smartest move financially. After my wife and I took a hard look at our budget, I signed up immediately with the major ridesharing apps. Although they conduct electronic background checks, I was out driving that same night,” he chatted with Ridesharing Forum. “The job is all about flexibility.”
He also noted how the app notifies drivers with “high earnings potential,” but they are not required to work eight-to-six everyday. In other words, they can choose the time. And, they don’t need to shave, which is an attractive feature that can make a passenger write you nice reviews. He specified he’s earning about $25 an hour. Really more than his salary as magazine editor, if statistics were to be followed.
Terrance, his favorite passenger
A passenger named Terrance hit him like a truck. Terrance is an example of a passenger that got no other option, but to take ridesharing as a mode of transport.
The driver’s report stated Terrance spends a whopping $10,000 a year on Lyft and Uber rides. It’s not that he uses the app to go to clubs, or visit restaurants, or tour around, but it’s become a necessity for him.
“Terrance works as a janitor at Children’s Hospital in the Central West End, but he lives about 10 miles north in Bellefontaine Neighbors. That’s about a half-hour ride when [there’s no traffic – or about $30 each way using a rideshare app],” he narrated.
It’s a job that bus drivers used to doing, he says
Then again, it’s not rainbows and butterflies for him as the Lyft driver he wanted to be. Even his wife would warn him, as she has heard stories of drivers being subjected to untoward acts by passengers.
Which is why this wife always tells him to practice extreme care, and watch himself because people’s minds on the road are all over the place.
“The two times in my life when men have drawn weapons on me, however, I’ve been on foot in supposedly safe, certainly white neighborhoods,” he told Ridesharing Forum.
The realities of being a rideshare driver, exposed. Do you agree, or do you disagree? Let’s take it as game on! Go share your thoughts by signing up for that account here today.