Things that are important for efficiency

Are you working a busy section of the city for short trips? You will want to minimize downtime and traffic travel to pin. A transit station? And knowledge of their typical destinations. A suburban area (typically longer wait between trips w/ longer trip length) how do the rates factor? what is your commute?
If you are actually earning $18/hr, you are doing well, and at least getting a fair market rate for your labor. Keep that going.

Surge and driving is an organic animal 30% common sense, 20% experience and 50% gut feel. Get to know what surges when. And what places take you where.

First comes work surge, then close in bar surge, then dinner surge, then event (theater, movies) surge, then club surge. Learn the flow. Also, city folk like hip and trendy areas, hipster like gentrifying areas, hip and trendy like city. Rich peeps like the theaters and dance and they will flow back and forth.

If your area is offering a “guarantee” then you can make $18 per hour (or whatever the guarantee is) by riding and hiding. In my market they offer $18 per hour Friday and Saturday from 6pm-3am, provided you accept 9 out of 10 requests and average 2 rides per hour.

Once I’ve hit enough rides I go home and leave the app on. Let’s say I do 12 rides. Now I can stay online for 6 hours total and still be at 2 rides average per hour and make $18 per hour. The only problem is if you happen to get a ping while your hiding you have to accept and complete it in order to make the guarantee, so this only works if you live in a slow area away from downtown.

Some people have ok luck with this strat, but it creates a fixed income scenario where you must ensure you are logged in the correct amount of time, take damned near every request you get so acceptance rate stays on par.

Uber created the tricksy nature of its requirements to keep people from trying to scam the system, and they do use a law of averages that bookies would be proud of, to ensure you may or may not make the goal.

When you read about people using the opposite strategy of cherry picking rides, they are attempting to ensure they only take higher paying surge fares, are not logged in or in crap rate times, and do not drive to pick ups very far away to reduce unpaid deadhead miles.

Must be nice. In Houston, there is no $5 cancellation fee for pax. If you drive 15 minutes away from a busy, trendy area to a slum area and they no-show, you just wasted your time and gas. And now your in the ghetto and get to drive 15 minutes back out or pick up someone from the hood who is probably going deeper into the hood…

If no, then you are not “averaging $25-$29 per hour.” You are grossing $25-$29/hour, and even then I’d want to see the screenshots and a list of total miles driven (from leaving your house to returning) and total time spent in search of that hourly rate before I’d believe it. Time on app and mileage shown during rides is usually less than half the story.

Why would you drive 15 minutes to a slum area? You are an independent contractor. When Uber is paying your car expenses, they can insist you go there. Until then, they cannot.

Yes, we have the right to choose. And Uber has the right to terminate our contract with 7 days notice for no reason. At least, that’s what mine says. So, if we want to keep driving for more than the next 7 days, Uber gets to call the shots.

Of course, Uber needs to replace any of us they terminate (plus those of us who quit or back off) with new suckers taking the drive-with-Uber bait. So, it’s a balancing act, not only for us but for Uber, too.

LOL. A noob condescending while showing how little he knows about this business. You can’t make this shit up. Anybody who believes this guy absent proof is being unwise.

You don’t say? Uber can actually fire us for no reason? I had no idea! So even if we do not cherry-pick our rides, they can still fire us? Damn! I’m gonna stop cherry-picking my rides to ensure they don’t fire me! Shirley if I let them call the shots they won’t fire me, even though they could!

Well, when you’re spouting stuff like “It’s your RIGHT” and “That’s abuse,” some folks might get the idea that the poor, oppressed Uber drivers have some recourse or a leg to stand on. No sense giving them false hope.

Uber claims we are independent contractors. If we are, we have the right to refuse to take unprofitable rides. If we are in fact employees, we do not have that right. Uber is playing a very dangerous game, here, and I believe they know it. The only reason they continue to play it is that most drivers meekly acquiesce.