What's your side-hustle?

I was feeling like I had the Uber thing pretty dialed in.  $1800 in March, $1800 in April.   I didn't drive much in May, but I made +$600 driving over memorial day weekend earning north of $60/hour (pre-expense/tax).  

Ride share groups I follow all say Florida goes Dead after the winter.  I actually figured I'd do better in the summer because I'm at the beach & there are lots of beach tourists.  Well, I was at least partially wrong. There may be a decent amount of PAX (passengers), but there are 10x more drivers.  I'm not sure if it's just teachers trying to make a few extra bucks, or just generally more people trying to do what I'm doing...but in the last few weeks pay per mile/minute seems at least 30% lower...when you actually can get a ride.  As a PAX Uber is offering me a 30% discount promotion. 

The last few times I've tried to drive has been mostly a bust.  Lots of waiting.  I've been trying to adjust my strategy.  Even if the map shows it's busy, I always look to see how many XL drivers are out and where they are.  A random weeknight can be more productive than a Friday night just due to the competition.  If I do decide to drive on a weeknight I bring my laptop.  I mostly limit my rides to XL only because X rides that are more than 5 minutes long don't pay.  The people that tip either order an XL for extra room or Comfort.  Many X passengers are just looking for the cheapest A to B.   Last night I drove from 10:30 till midnight and turned on X rides because I got tired of waiting around & there were TONS of drivers out.  

In one aspect, It's an efficient display of how a free market should work.  Customers are more likely to take an Uber when it's cheap.  If there are tons of drivers willing to spend their time, gas $ and lend their vehicle to Uber for <$20/hour...then that's what the job is worth.  There's another dynamic that's going to cause issues.  Uber is now turning a profit.  They get more profitable by gouging customers and pushing down driver pay/benefits.  They've consistently done both.  As a regular passenger, I've had a few frustrating experiences where I requested a premium/comfort ride & the app couldn't connect me with a driver (RE: no driver would take the ride for what Uber was willing to pay them).  Clearly, of the $50 they were charging me, they couldn't find a driver to do the ride for $20 and their algorythm wouldn't bump up the pay enough to get me a ride.   

This works for me becasue my 2008 mininvan has 191k miles and as long as it's driving cannot depreciate.  I cherry-pick shorter rides so gas isn't much of a factor.  My van will age-out of Uber eligibility in 6 months.  I'm hoping we can change some things so I can either quit driving or limit my driving to when I'm bored or it's really busy/lucrative.  Frankly, the money has made a big impact.  I'm pretty sure in the next month or so we won't have to rely on the Uber earnings.

Go to the wealthy area of town the night before trash pickup or, even better, the night before the large item/cleanup trash day.   I don't purposefully do it but I've happened upon some good finds on those days in those neighborhoods.  

some of my finds:

a lawnmower (needed a $1 jet, 20 mins of work, sold for $60), baby stroller (5 mins and sold for $40), a set of new factory Toyota Tacoma wheels (5 mins, $400)

Hoondavan said:

In reply to prodarwin :

My earnings were $1,728 in March.  Uber tracks miles while online, my calculation is probably a bit more detailed...but I need to update my spreadsheet. 1300 miles, my fuel costs are about $225 (18 mpg x $3.50/gallon) .  IRS mileage Mileage expense at $0.67. mile = $880 of deductible mileage expense.  Self employment taxes (40% of net earnings) would be roughly $350.  After tax & expenses, I've netted ~$1,200.  I'll also be changing the oil a bit quicker than usual, so that'll cost me $40.  Finally, I did buy some colored LED lights for the interior for another ~$20.

Do those earnings include tips?

Twice in the past month I've take a 41 mile Lyft ride.  The cost was $35.98 today.  Lyft guarantees 70% to driver, so $25.  I'm shocked at how low this number is.  If you subtracted mileage expense from that, the driver would be paying to drive.  

Whats a realistic mileage value?

In reply to TravisTheHuman :

Yes, that mostly includes tips. Most tips are paid through the app.  Occasionally, someone will hand me a few singles or a $20...but it's pretty rare.  I took at $35 Uber yesterday & the driver was getting paid $15 for the trip, which was +30 minutes +30 miles away. I tipped him $10 because I had some bulky luggage & he was accommodating.  He actually asked me what i paid & complained about driving for free...I thought he was going to ask to cancel & pay him cash. I'm glad he didn't...because rides outside of the app won't be insured (FYI).

When Lyft/uber says 70% of the pay goes to drivers there's an asterix.  That 70% is after they purchase commercial insurance.  Drivers tend to get 40% or sometimes less of the total amount. The perception is that uber will let pretty much anyone drive, so their insurance costs are going up & costing everyone money.  They've also gotten more lax w/vehicle requirements in some markets.  I'm surprised they will allow a 2008 vehicle to be used for-hire.  I think a vehicle inspection should be done w/less emphasis on age.

Sometimes the driver may get more if it's very busy...Uber/Lift will (very) occasionally sell rides at a loss...but it's uncommon.  Usually that happens when a driver cancels a reservation & they need someone to pick up a fare ASAP.  The rideshare companies have ramped-up their efforts to keep more of the fare.  I've been meaning to publish an update here, I'll share more details now that I'm prepping for income tax season.  I pretty much stopped driving from June through December.  I went out a few times, but it was too slow & didn't pay enough to be worthwhile.  I drove a bit over the christmas holiday & made good money while i was driving, but I mostly drove after 10 PM because of the tourist traffic.  I also would turn the app on while running errands...if I decent fare came across I'd drive (locally) until the good offers stopped.

I went out twice on the weekend in January & wound up going home after a few rides.  There were more drivers than passengers & pay was low.  I'll share a few screenshots of some of the laughable requests I've received.  Uber's algorythm doesn't factor the drivers time nearly enough.  When traffic is heavy they don't really compensate fairly.  I've had rides that doubled in time & they paid nothing extra...citing their algorythm calcualted the fare correctly w/out further explanation.

My acceptance rate is in the high 30% to low 40% range, depending if I have XL or both XL and X turned on. On New Years eave it dropped to 10% because I said "no" to a constant barrarge of garbage fares that would waste too much time.  I only accept XL fares unless it's slow.  I have an advantage because I don't have to worry about depreciation expense on my 200k Odyssey.  Gas costs more, but I genearally avoid rides longer than 10 or 15 miles.  

I was at the airport on Sunday night trying to get a ride 5 minutes down the road to a hotel.  Marriott properties use lyft instead of an free airport shuttle (ugh) in Jacksonville. Lyft wasn't paying drivers enough, so after +40 minutes of Lyft drivers not accepting my fare I ordered my own uber & spent $30 out of pocket.  At one point thatDrivers often won't accept a fare if it's ordered by someone else (ordred by Marriott) because people rarely tip on those rides.  I was ready to tip w/cash, but the drivers didn't know that.

If the algorythm shows a shortage of drivers in an area, the rideshare companies will show a surge  or turbo signal so drivers will head to that area for extra pay.  Usually PAX (passengers) will pay more for that surge.  Unfortunately, that extra pay isn't getting filtered down to the drivers.  The 5 minute ride I needed was showing $50 at one point.  The driver map was showing average fares...no surge.  I've seen this a few times at home as well...low pay, but gouging the customers for "busy" travel times.  

If you're thinking about doing rideshare  you have to clearly understand your goals & boundaries.  Many regular Uber X rides are paying less than the IRS deductible rate per mile.  For Uber X, Uber is mostly trying aiming to pay drivers under $15 to $20/hour before expenses.  Frankly...most Uber X rides (outside of peak times) are minimum wage gigs before tips.  If I'm driving on the weekends I usually do much better.  

There are times where I kind of enjoy driving.  Most of my PAX are tourists who are interested in chatting about life in a beach town or places they should go.  Even the locals I drive are usually pretty fun to be in a car with.  There are sometimes rude & unruly people...but it's exceedingly rare where I drive.  

I'm not sure I answered TravisTheHuman's question in my last response. Most drivers are aiming for $1/mile or $1/minute.   $1/minutes allows you to average $30/hr if you take a ride & don't find another nearby, which happens often.  During peak hours on the weekend $50 to $60/hr is still possible...but there are lulls in between rushes where there are less rides and lower fares.  The X fares I've seen when I did turn on the app just to see how the market was looking looked like the rides they were offering were paying closer to $20 before expenses.  Rides & fares fell way off after Spring break last year.   I was actually out with friends Saturday night & it was nice to be requesting a ride rather than grinding it out to make a few extra bucks. 

Uber updated the vehicle list in March & my van is no longer eligible for X and XL rides.  What's weird is that they created a new class in FL called XXL (minivans/suburbans w/room for 6 + luggage).  For some reason I'm still eligible. The only time anyone uses it is when there's a massive surge & people are willing to pay more just to get ANY ride to pick them up.  I've done pickup at a few concerts nearby where I made $60 to $80 for two rides and maybe an hour or 90 minutes of total time.  It's very inefficient...because the rides are so scarce you can't bank on getting a ride home from wherever you go.  I'm relegated to concerts pickup (only).  On the plus side, it really limits the amount of time I spend trying to drive...not necessarily a bad thing.   Driving can be exhausting, so recovering from late night bar runs was impacting the quality of my weekends.  I recently added a 2011 BMW  528i to my fleet (my son's daily driver).  I may give it a shot, but I don't think driving X is worth the time/miles.  It was a cheap car, so depreciation isn't  a concern.

My son is very interested in starting a mobile detailing business.  Last summer he worked with a friend who did pressure washing (houses & driveways). They would drive around & knock on the door of houses that looked like they needed the service.  He got a good understanding of what's invovled in starting a business, marketing,  face-to-face sales, & hustle..  He figures the mobile detailing doubles the chances he can get a "yes" while he's out  knockign doors...and he can keep all the earnings from the detailing, rather than being paid hourly for being a helper.  

He's not looking to do paint correction or anything too intensive.  He knows to do a visual inspection w/photos before quoting a job.   Last weekend he watched a bunch of videos and bought equipment/products to get started.  He's going ot start by cleaning our cars & his friends cars for learning/experience.  He's made up a digital business card & created different pricing packages.  A bunch of people we know already asked to be his first paying customer. 

He has an electric power washer & would like a smaller/more compact one.  He bought a foam cannon & a better hose for it.

He bought a detailing shop-vac, brushes, cleaning materials, soap, detailing spray, drying towels, etc

He has an electric air compressor & attachments for cleaning.

No plans for a buffing wheel at the  moment.

Anyhow, please share any advice you might have.  If you've done this professionally in the past, I'd love to arrange a phone call so you aren't putting all of your best how-to info out on the internet.  

In reply to Hoondavan :

This is a case where becoming an LLC I think is important. No matter how small a chance there is of something going wrong with out it with him living under your roof your house is on the line.  

I did glass painting for a while during COVID. I first did it for close friends as gifts then they wanted to give them as custom gifts for others so they paid me for it. I still do it occasionally but rarely because of how long it can take. My largest piece was a mural item and it took me two weeks.

I did a night/weekend gig working at the big orange home improvement store for a while and actually loved it. I worked in the lawn/garden section so there was a good mix of being outside helping with things vs being inside stocking shelves with regular products (at my store, the garden department also handled the cleaning products for some reason). I sold a lot of older ladies electric leaf blowers, sold several lawnmowers, and got to pet some dogs from time to time also. I started at $16.50/hr, which is way better than everything else here in TN where we only have a federal min wage.

But honestly, my favorite part was getting to drive the equipment. Outside we used a regular sit-down forklift for moving pallets of mulch/soil/hardscaping products, and inside we used a "reach truck" which is a standup forklift that can also move the forks in/out and those were so much fun to use.

I have instructed for Stick Shift Driving Academy off and on the last two years.  You can set your own schedule and I have not had any students that wouldn't listen to me and the money isn't bad.  

I did have one issue with the company stemming from a lesson that ended early.  The class that most people buy is for 3 hours just to learn the basics, and due to the companies insurance you are not allowed to take the students on ant road with a name.  I use the parking lot of a Community College close to my house, its mostly empty on the weekends and its long.  Anyway, most of the students pick up what they need in about 90 minutes, get bored running around the parking lot and ask if they can end the lesson early.  The company does not give partial refunds so I explain we can end the lesson but they will not get any money back if we do that.  Everyone has been good with that and we both go on our merry way.  When the lesson is over the instructor is supposed to text the company saying the lesson is complete and one time I texted as soon as the guy got out of my car, about an hour early.  That was on a Saturday, on Monday I get a text with a link to the students rating of the class, he was very positive and thankful but the person from the company asked why the lesson ended early.  I explained what happened, to include the part about not getting any money back, and the company person lit me up about the lesson ending early.

I texted back saying I was confused as to why I was being scolded, especially in light of the good review, and that this was a thing I was doing to help keep manual driving around and if I was going to get yelled at for essentially no real reason I didn't need to keep working with them.  I took a few months break but they called me asking if I would take a lesson that was scheduled for another instructor but their car was down for some reason.  I did the lesson and I will probably start doing them again now that the weather is nice again but man did they piss me off for no good reason.

On the plus side, at least last year, you get paid $125 per 3 hour lesson which is not bad for a couple hours "work".

I am still doing the 'stream thing'.

Money isn't life changing, but it exists. I made $169 USD last year. While not lots, I have been working on making a community, and this year not having to work weddings I can put more effort into ideas for growing. 

If nothing else, I made some money and got better at Minecraft building?

Up until about 10-12 years ago I would have said photography, but haven't chased that for some time now.  Still get the occasional gig.  Now it's a small amount of vinyl cutting, which I did more for selfish reasons but also to have a resource for my car and Star Wars friends.  I charge like a couple bucks, enough to cover the vinyl really, but sometimes a bit extra cash.