Uber gets on its Q3 call yesterday crying about a driver shortage.. There is no driver shortage. There's a driver pay problem, and they know it.
Uber sends out lowball ride offers, half of them sit there unpicked, and instead of saying maybe we aren't paying enough for the trip, they run right back to their greater fool theory: we just don't have enough bodies online to swallow the garbage. Every single one of those rides gets picked up if the pay makes sense. Every one. That's not a shortage. That's an algorithm pricing rides into the dirt and refusing to pay what the trip actually costs. Back when upfront pricing tanked acceptance rates, Dara himself talked about low acceptance being a pricing problem, and I bet he regrets ever letting that slip, because it was the truth.
Go look at Seattle. Same app, same algorithm. I bet Seattle doesn't have a driver shortage, and I bet their acceptance rate is sky high, because Seattle forces real pay on every ride. Funny how "supply" magically fixes itself the second you pay people.
Listen to what Uber isn't saying versus what they said. They said driver incentives. What that really means in my book is anything on earth except raising base pay per ride. Bribe brand new drivers who don't know any better yet. Throw cash at stale drivers who already quit because they weren't making squat. Dangle quests daring full-time drivers to eat fifty garbage offers in a row for a bone, while the guys out here every single day busting their hump get loyalty theater and a coupon off an oil change. Even those invisible elevated fares before a heatmap turns red disappear with one switch flip. Nothing is permanent without a rate card.
And get a load of how Dara says they're paying for it. On the call he brags they're "taking down rider incentives" and "using those dollars to fund driver incentives," and admits right out loud that "does mean sometimes higher prices for riders." So riders pay more, daily drivers still get lowballed on base pay, and Uber pockets both ends while hunting for the next greater fool.
Churn costs real money. Recruiting replacements costs real money. You're not short on drivers, Uber. You're short on pay. Pay what the damn ride costs and watch your fake shortage vanish overnight.@sergioaved @vinnykuzz @earlwithana @RideshareRodeo @boston_drives @LeviSpires
Uber Q3 is out. Headlines say "take rate fell." Drivers, read this before you believe it.
The "drop" is mostly accounting. Uber says business-model changes, mostly in the UK, knocked 8 points off its revenue growth. On paper. Nobody got a raise.
Meanwhile Uber's Mobility profit keeps climbing, now about 8% of bookings. That's not what it looks like when drivers get a bigger slice.
Now the big one. Uber told Wall Street it's "investing in drivers." How? Incentives. Not base pay. Incentives.
Here's what drivers need to understand. Uber has no fixed base pay you can count on. They set the per-ride rate and can change it whenever they want. So when they flash "$10 extra if you take one more ride" at you, nothing stops them from shaving that $10 off somewhere else. You'd never know.
Dara said it on the call today. These are "flexible dollars that we target times, like Halloween, make sure drivers show up." My read: that's not a raise. That's a machine figuring out the least it can pay to get you on the road at the exact moment they need you.
To me, driver incentives = driver manipulation. Flash big numbers, make you feel like you're winning, then quietly adjust everything else.
And don't be fooled, guys. This is NOT "Show Me the Money."(@sergioaved The best driver podcast) This is Uber "incentivizing." They never said how much of this "supply investment" is actual cash. For all we know it's a bigger Slurpee discount or one more free language on Rosetta Stone through Pro Rewards. Perks aren't pay.
Where's the money coming from? Dara again: they're cutting rider discounts to fund it. So riders pay more, Uber's margin holds, and drivers get bonus games instead of better pay per ride.
Oh, and insurance. Uber and Lyft promised for years that lower insurance means better driver pay. Today the CFO bragged that "insurance tailwinds continue to build" in the US. Where's our share?
Want to actually invest in drivers? Pay more on every single ride. Guaranteed, transparent, no games. Until then it's smoke and mirrors.
The 10-Q is coming. I'll be reading it.@boston_drives
@earlwithana @vinnykuzz @RideshareRodeo @ConsumerWD @ConsumerReports @MorePerfectUS @lenshermanCBS @LeviSpires @TheRideshareGuy
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Uber kept $67.90. That's two thirds of the fare. Its service fee alone was $41.44, 22% more than the driver made for actually driving the ride. "Insurance and other fees" took another $26.46, almost as much as the driver pay.
The more Uber gets scrutinized and criticized for its take rate, the more it takes. Now it's brazen. They aren't hiding it anymore. They print it right on the receipt and throw it in the driver's face.
Meanwhile drivers are bent over like Kevin Bacon in Animal House: "Thank you sir, may I have another? @boston_drives @earlwithana @vinnykuzz @AsmeBCanada @lenshermanCBS @ConsumerWD @ConsumerReports @MorePerfectUS @sergioaved
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This is why take rate matters. When passengers are being fleeced, they're less likely to tip, for two reasons. They don't have the extra money, and they assume the driver is already paid fairly.
In a service industry, workers rely on tips for part of their income. Charge more and discourage tipping, and you lower drivers' overall pay.
In most businesses, take rate shouldn't matter. Most people on X typing on an iPhone don't know Apple's margin is around 27%. But when you control both the price the customer pays and 100% of what labor earns, raising prices and cutting wages becomes an ethical and moral question.
In business you're generally rewarded for good practices and punished for bad ones. Tesla and robotaxis are an existential threat to Uber Mobility. If you're Uber, you have to ask yourself whether these are the business practices you want to be judged on when that day comes.
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INFORM FRIDAYS: Why Passengers See Fake Pick-up Times. @sergioaved @boston_drives @vinnykuzz @earlwithana @lenshermanCBS @LeviSpires @chrispza716 @TheRideshareGuy
#uber
youtu.be/rhd8PAVerDw?is=hITC…
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Driver X retweeted
@BusinessInsider’s article out today shows @Uber’s net driver pay/work hr ranges from $3.18! (Orlando)-$21.87 (Boston). @Uber claims my analysis is “riddled with flaws”, but their own data filed by law in CO shows actual driver pay/active mi is even lower than figures I used businessinsider.com/uber-pay…
INFORM FRIDAYS: How to make more money using a 2 phone system @sergioaved @LeviSpires @lenshermanCBS @vinnykuzz @ConsumerWD @ConsumerReports @MorePerfectUS @chrispza716 @TheRideshareGuy Check out more videos at DriverXgo on Youtube
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Driver X retweeted
Merriam-Webster defines "Enshittification" as a process by which a digital platform gradually maximizes shareholder profits while degrading the experience of users. Uber is a poster child, as described in my article. len-sherman.medium.com/the-e… @Uber @ericries @sergioaved
Here is my take on the rate card. Elon says "make all requirements less dumb". All pay plans for drivers suck. We just need to make it suck less @sergioaved @chrispza716 @TheRideshareGuy @lenshermanCBS @ConsumerWD @ConsumerReports @MorePerfectUS @boston_drives @vinnykuzz
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INFORM FRIDAYS: Uber's DNA is rooted in deception @sergioaved @chrispza716 @TheRideshareGuy @vinnykuzz @boston_drives @lenshermanCBS @LeviSpires @ConsumerWD @ConsumerReports @MorePerfectUS
Normally I wait until Friday to post. But i had to expose this new scam. Active Hour surges will kill driver pay @sergioaved @ConsumerWD @ConsumerReports @MorePerfectUS @vinnykuzz @boston_drives @chrispza716 @TheRideshareGuy
If you like this content, check out my YouTube channel where I have more content just like this
youtube.com/channel/UCd94DzT…
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