In October, I got a crazy idea to take my new car and make it work for me. So I signed up to be an Uber Driver. It is a fairly vetted process. I had to send in information, go through a background check, send in my insurance and registration, and have an in person car inspection. Right before Halloween, I was approved as a driver!
It wasn't even a full day before I started hearing reports in other cities of safety issues for both drivers and riders. And the reality of what it meant to let a stranger in the car became very real. So I didn't drive but I gave it lots of thought. My intent was to drive people like me. Business travelers who need a lift to the airport or from their business to the dinner restaurant. What I didn't want was large groups of partiers or drunk people. Clearly no creeps allowed!
And then time went on. They mainly communicate via text message so I would get messages how they need drivers or that so many days have past without me driving. My account was threatened to be cancelled.
Today I went into the office to work. I was dressed for business and was downtown. So after work, I decided to turn on my application and see if I could pick up a ride. It wasn't more than a few minutes before I was alerted that I had a rider. It was "Jason". He was a business man from California that comes to Salt Lake for business on a regular basis. He needed a ride to the airport. It was quick and it was easy. He was friendly and we talked about business travel and Uber. I didn't have the guts to tell him he was my first ride but I did tell him I was newer at it. I dropped him off at Terminal 2 and decided I would see if I could pick up a ride at the airport back to town. I circled the terminals again but didn't get a ride so I left and drove to Costco to do some shopping. In those 10 minutes I was a "Driver for Hire", It showed I made $15! Not too shabby.
As I drove to Costco, I was in some not so grand area so I turned off my availability. I got a message asking to confirm I wanted to turn it off because I was 20 minute shy of an hour. I didn't know what that meant so I shut off. What I learned later is Uber takes a cut of commission (30%) for new drivers. And part time drivers get even more of a cut. And if you don't do a minimum of 50 minutes out of 60, you get another cut. And you must average at least 1 drive per hour. Also, I am learning you might need to spend time driving to a location to get a ride and then you can drive around for awhile before you may or may not get a ride. While my first trip was an easy trip, not all will be that way and I don't know if it is worth it to get all those cuts and handle all those rules and restrictions.
I'm glad I tried it. My first ride was friendly and easy. Not sure if I will repeat. We will see.
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