Drivers must understand basic business math to run a successful rideshare driving business.
[Income] minus [Expenses] = [Profits]
Rideshare Driver Earnings – Do The Math
The Psychology Today article referenced in this blog is a representative example how some of the online rideshare content attempting to define Uber driver income is only helpful to a point… then falls off a cliff to become less than helpful.
FYI – When I give my take on the articles I recommend in my blog… I never want to sound mean or sound like I’m “dissin” the author… it is my intend to help my readers “learn how to fish” on their own.
On the topic of rideshare driving income… there is a ton of information available online, and in my estimation putting “Uber” or “Lyft” in the headline of an article seems to insure the article will make a splash in the current news cycle.
After reading the referenced article and following the embedded hyperlinks and reading those articles… I’ll say this: some of the best information I’ve found online about calculating vehicle expenses however I also get lost in some of the math and I’m a math geek!
You’ll remember from third grade how to cross-check your answer to an equation, as example, if you are subtracting… add the answer you calculated, to the number to be subtracted, and it should equal the starting number?
Uber Driver Pay Cross-Check
In one of the hyperlinked articles, the author says multiple times most rideshare drivers in medium to large cities are making around $20 an hour… then later says in a 30-hour week he makes about $900… ok cross-check the math and $900 divided by 30 hours equals $30 an hour… what happened to “about $20 an hour?”
In the main article the author attempts to answer the “how much do rideshare drivers make in an hour” in part by breaking down passenger fares.
Fair enough, however it’s this kind of broad-stroke discovery summations and a little “funky” math that helped me take the plunge into being an internet blogger… add to that the team at RideshareGuide got tired of me going on and on after I read an article: “Can you believe this?!!!”
Essentially the RideshareGuide team said: “We get it Wylee, please tell the world what you think? Please commit to writing a rideshare driver’s blog?”
I’ve integrated everything I’ve learned (over 12,000 lifetime trips as a driver) about running a rideshare driving business into my books.
As example, I know my 2006 Toyota Prius costs me around $0.14 cents a mile including planning for future maintenance costs and recovering the depreciating resale value of the car.
The “helpful to a point…” online information like I’ve referenced in this post is exactly why I decided to write my books.
Calculating rideshare driving “Take Home Pay” is a complicated topic, however, attempting to make complicated technical topics simple is what I do… ever since I can remember I’ve been trying to figure out… well pretty much everything.
One of my best friends recognized this about me which was why he started calling me “Y.”
This friend of over 30 years said: “In my experience of you, you’re always trying to define the whys in life, so it’s appropriate your nickname should be Y.”
~ Y