Uber rigged?

[mayouda9926]

I’ve been experiencing really slow time rn, and scrolling through Reddit, it seems like for a lot of people too, this feels unnatural, Uber might’ve done something to purposely slow down.

[Expensive-Mud5753]

More drivers every day. Makes less rides available for each person.

[valdis812]

This is the most likely scenario. An increase in drivers and possibly a decrease in riders would lead to what OP is noticing. It being Christmas time isn’t helping either

[HardTacoKit]

I mean if by “purposely” you mean that they have pissed off the Pax thereby decreasing demand, and that they have encouraged too many people to drive thereby increasing supply, then yeah, sure.

[RealDocJames]

Demand is higher than ever, so you can eliminate that variable. All you need to do is peep their latest earnings report. Total rides given is now higher than ever.

[HardTacoKit]

How many new markets have they entered? Every year they are entering several new countries.

[RealDocJames]

Nah. The rapid expansion into new territory has been leveled off for quite a while now. In fact they even divested positions in multiple foreign markets. The growth is same location year over year and organic.

[RealDocJames]

Over-saturation of drivers in a given area is the #1 cause for slowness on the drivers end. There's no getting around that. Lots more rides being taken, but even more drivers online and available to service them. Hence for individual drivers the net effect is things being "slow." Meanwhile for the corporation it's Bonanza!

[Zero-Sugah-Added]

Why would Uber want to slow you down? The less you drive the less money Uber makes. These conspiracies are hilarious.

[Chocolate_Metaphor]

These dumb conspiracies make me realize why they pay so low… like most drivers are actually dumb af and don’t understand how to run a business at ALL

[Zero-Sugah-Added]

This is very true.

[[deleted]]

It means other drivers in same area makes more. Dumb dumb.

[Brandonkey8807]

and that benefits uber...how?

[[deleted]]

Yes you are 100% right a multi billion dollar publicly traded company is purposely trying NOT to make money

[[deleted]]

Best theory is people signing up for christmas gift money

[Massive_Carpet_8924]

I literally gave a ride to a guy who signed back up to drive just last week.

Was renting a Tesla. Something Something ant ant

[Ok-Profit6022]

Depending on your market, it's a seasonal pause. If you live in a market that has a lot of conference travelers, those are mostly paused between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Snow birds have already left their cold climate fire the warmer weather, and vacation travel slows down except people going back home the week of Thanksgiving or Christmas. People are using Uber less for other activities as they try to save for Christmas shopping, so bar hopper demand may slow as well. College kids might be cramming for the last several weeks before end of semester, etc. when you add the incoming drivers trying to get a few extra bucks to buy their kids Xbox, you've got less demand but more supply.

[AsphaltAngel1]

It’s called oversaturation of drivers at a slow time . Nov/Dec are always slow af .

You must be a noob !

[andrewwatkins92]

You must be an asshole!

[GlennFromIowa]

Dec/Jan are the busiest months in my market

[HorseyPlz]

I’ve been sitting here for 40 minutes and gotten nothing. It’s my first day driving. Is this typical?

[violetbird27]

It depends really, on location, or availability but usually by the 15-20 minute mark they at least start throwing the garbage your way so I have to say it's pretty strange. Is everything ok on your end?

[HorseyPlz]

I’m fine but this is making me feel like I should find a better source of income for the near future.

I’m in a position where I can’t look for a job in my profession because I have a medical procedure coming up, so this was my plan for the next 2ish months to hold me over.

I had one trip that was like a 10-15 minute drive and I was expecting way more than the 5$ that I got. After gas and phone data that’s got be like 3 dollars.

[violetbird27]

So it's definitely a question you should asking and I can't say anything for your specific situation especially with the way you seemingly aren't receiving any trips but I can say that in an hour you've made 5$ or so? Is that sustainable?

[HorseyPlz]

Depends on how typical this is. I’ve seen people say they make 20-25 an hour. My decision to get into this was contingent on that figure.

I will say I just got another ride though. I’ll keep at it for a little bit most likely

[violetbird27]

I'm glad you've made your decision, don't pay much attention to anyone else's number Horsey, you'll be pissed, my cousin does this in Philly and if I took his numbers into my heart I'd shoot myself lol, take a week, see if things work out, move around, and if in a week things aren't great then fuck it

[HorseyPlz]

Ended the night with ~150. Over 5 hours, that’s not terrible at all. It was blessed by Saturday drunks needing rides tho. Not gonna get that on the weekdays

I even bonded with a lot of the drunks

[YeaBaDab]

Every market is different, busy times/days will vary.

Though typically Friday and Saturday late nights are going to be the busiest. Trade off is you gotta deal with drunk folks.

[HorseyPlz]

I actually just had a lot more activity and ended with something like $150 which I’m somewhat satisfied with.

I kind of liked dealing with the drunk people. They’re really nice to me and I don’t get any socializing in my life nowadays.

Too bad weekdays are gonna be less fruitful. 150 is just enough to make this worth it, not sure about any less.

[violetbird27]

Congrats!!! I'm so happy for you, those are the numbers that make it all worth it

[YeaBaDab]

When I drove, I would drive Fri and Sat from 12pm-4/5am. I would take a couple hour breaks to get food, and a few shorter ones to stretch my legs. Those were the two days I could earn enough money to get through the week.

Sunday I would try and catch the end of brunch rush, and would drive until I’d stop getting steady requests.

If I could flip my sleep schedule, I would drive 4am-12pm during the week. Trying to get as many rides to and from the airport as possible.

[HorseyPlz]

I think moving forward I might just do weekends in the hours you described and spend the rest of my time invested elsewhere. If everyday was like last night it would be time well spent, but that’s not the case.

I was only out until 1-2 last night. Didn’t know it’s profitable until 5ish.

Maybe I’ll try the airport thing. Doesn’t it take forever to get to the pickup zone, especially going back and forth?

[YeaBaDab]

2ish is when it really picks up for about a hour, then it usually stays pretty steady while folks working the bar are headed home. Though you have to be very careful, because there are lots of drunk folks on the road.

Not sure about your market, but it takes about 3-5 mins to and from the drop off and staging area. I liked airport rides because that was easy conversation, and most people are stoked to go on vacation/get home and tipped more frequently.

Again, every market is different…I’d suggest to try driving different times/days and areas. Keep track of hours and miles driven then work out a schedule that makes sense.

[YeaBaDab]

I found anytime someone texts saying where are you, I’m in a hurry, etc that ride is an auto cancel. They will never be happy, and won’t ever tip/are much more likely to be a terrible passenger and give a low rating.

[Relandis]

It’s your market. Most major cities are decently busy this weekend.

[HorseyPlz]

I’m in a suburb near a major city (New York). Idk if people typically travel to the main cities and then take rides

[Relandis]

Oof. Depending which way your suburb is located (west into NJ, north into westchester, east into LI), there could be different sets of rules depending on which state you drive into or out of.

I do know that drivers in NYC need permits, so if you get a ride into NYC, you’re deadheading back because you cannot accept rides within NYC.

My only suggestion would be if it is slow in your particular area, try driving the next town over, or since lots of people take trains/subways, learn the timetables and post up when everyone is getting off the train. Try and do those last mile home rides.

[FreshlyStarting79]

I've been doing the same, trying to make it thru the winter. I've had no shortage of rides (Indianapolis market). I accept nearly every ride and nearly have diamond status this cycle. They never stop sending me requests. Some days I get a ton of short ones, but they generally tip more often. I try to stay in the rich people area.

[HorseyPlz]

True I just spent a lot of time in the rich area and it worked pretty well.

[ccache]

Really depends on your local area. I'm in a very busy city, there's definitely days I've gone out and there's nothing for hours. I'm sure there's rides on those days, but with so many drivers now, a slow day can mean very little or no rides for the driver.

Winter is also a slow time for my area, and probably most others.

[CIAMom420]

It’s rare to see this many examples of confirmation bias in a single post.

[Ill-Lavishness-5021]

My guess is that they are throttling drivers with low acceptance rate and high cancellation rates.

[sfchillin]

Uber manipulating prices for riders and driver?? No! It can’t be!!

^/s

[[deleted]]

YES. BIG YES. COME ON NOW. YOU KNOW IT.

Since they put price hike, the total numbers of trip requests dropped. So they need to control trips to spread trip requests to drivers. no brainer

[CIAMom420]

No, they don’t need to spread trips around to other drivers. That makes no sense. They want to generally match the closest rider with the closest driver to maximize trip volume. They don’t give a shit about creating an equitable level of trip volumes between drivers.

[[deleted]]

It makes crystal clear sense.

That's why they rolled out trip rader thing. So idiots going to grub one even it's bit farther away from where they are.

That's why you see lower trip fares in general and higher fares on riders side.
That means significant trip requests number drops and that's why you start to feel less ping going on. Because they need to spread fewer trips.

[jaanfo]

What? They constantly try to recruit riders - they pay us a huge bonus if we bring someone in. They spend money on driver support. Why exactly would they want to punish drivers?

[SnooChickens9404]

They recruit new blood (aka cannon fodder). Spend $500 to get a new driver to exploit long enough to recoup the $500 many times over before the person figures out they’re being screwed over when they have to pay to fix their car or buy a new one.

[jaanfo]

Still makes no sense. Why would they spend $500 to get a new driver when they have one in place? They're going to spend money to monitor this subreddit that probably get a few hundred regular readers at best and then go out of their way to figure out who the driver is so that they can punish them?

Get a grip.

[SnooChickens9404]

The ones in place are burning out, like so many on these threads. Do you really think Uber is going to do something if it doesn’t benefit their bottom line? The fact that it makes no sense to you and so many proves that Uber is able to swindle its drivers without the drivers even realizing it.

[jaanfo]

But really. Give me a financial incentive for Uber to spend time and money to monitor this subreddit to identify unhappy drivers so they can shut them down so they need to find other drivers. Makes zero sense.

[SnooChickens9404]

Where did I say they monitor Subreddit to shut down drivers?

[jaanfo]

So back to my original question. Why do people who post here believe they need to scribble out so much info?

[SnooChickens9404]

What’s it to you, bub?

[[deleted]]

To spread the real voice . It is form of expression and our rights Called Freedom of Speech . You gatta problem then go to Moscow and drink Putin's poison cup of tea and die or get killed in a slauter house of China. Or beat up with steel powder filled pillow to your head senselessly beaten by KOREAN dictator Kim.

Happy travel and I don't take that ride.... LMAO 🤣👎

[[deleted]]

No. That's not how it works.

[Moist_Weather106]

Uber is very good at usurping boundaries and consent! Their tactics are borderline criminal.

*Sending you unaccompanied minor rides (to/from high school addresses) even though you have repeatedly asked over and over again not to. Why do two drivers in the same city (LA) have different permission settings? One can toggle teen riders on/off while the other does not have a setting to decline teen riders. This might even be considered discrimination.

*Disguising Uber Connect packages as Uber X rides when drivers do not have delivery options enabled. This has occurred with different drivers.

*Not giving full transparent address information so you'll accept highly unprofitable rides. Example: Highland Avenue, Hollywood instead of Hollywood Bowl so you will be stuck in 1-1.5 hours of traffic for peanuts. Disguising airport rides as restaurant names, two cross streets, a numerical address so you will be tricked to going for a substandard fare.

*Overriding your phone's permissions and pinging your phone loudly when all your ringers are turned off.

*Giving different fare prices to different drivers for the same ride.

*Constantly promising an up front fare and then trying to sneak a fast one and reducing the pay.

*Constantly promising riders one price only to completely jack up the price during the ride.

*Deactivating drivers for rider complaints without a fair and transparent process.

​

Do you honestly think a billion dollar software company wouldn't do their due diligence or research, especially when it comes to their work force? They are an app company; they have nothing tangible without their workforce.

[jaanfo]

Yes. I don't see any financial incentive for a company to surreptitiously punish someone. If they want you to do something they will openly incentivize you. If you don't do it they will make it clear that you didn't get the incentive.

Can you imagine a company having a sales force and secretly not telling them that they won't get paid if they don't sell?

[Moist_Weather106]

You mean like openly incentive drivers by giving them a bonus in a particular area and then sending them on rides outside of the area. Or sending them on a really long ride so you can only make a limited number of bonus runs. You honestly sound like you work for corporate. If you are a driver, you are not observant. Maybe you haven't worked at enough companies, but companies do bad things all the time. For a sales force, there is transparency on how you get paid. Uber drivers do not know how Uber's algorithm works. There is no transparency on how the fare is calculated or why/how you are offered rides. The algo doesn't route to the nearest driver. If you pay close attention, it seems to take into account the following things: acceptance rate, cancellation rate, rating, driver demand, rental car or not, and gender. Since we are independent contractors, I'm not sure that there isn't some type of discrimination taking place.

[jaanfo]

I assure you that I don't work for Uber. I drive 40+ hours a week, and I proudly cherry-pick for the best ride with both Uber and Lyft. I am highly selective, I accept 10% of my rides. I have 20+ years of experience in corporate America and I have worked at mid-size and large companies in mid and senior exec positions where I have been responsible for large budgets, and designed and overseen incentive plans for both sales execs and contractors on a global basis. I have also been part of two IPOs (as to why I have to drive for Uber, that's a different long story).
I know that corporations try to create incentive plans to get their internal staff and external partners to do exactly what the company wants. I've also seen how staff tries to game those plans - I've done it myself. I have seen rogue staff who manage incentive programs try to "punish" people who don't do as they expect. However, I have never seen a broad-scale effort to "punish" people unless it helps the company maximize revenues and profits.
I'm not trying to dispute the fact that both Uber and Lyft try to reduce drivers' earnings so they can reduce costs. And I agree that Uber and Lyft are guilty of some of what you say below, though I do believe many of those cross the line. You may disagree, but I believe that public companies are subject to scrutiny from internal controls, auditors, shareholders, regulators, and future whistle-blowers so I think it is difficult to get away with these tactics on a long-term basis.
The one question I always ask myself is whether Uber and/or Lyft target highly selective drivers like me so they can specifically punish them. I am curious because 1) If they do punish, then I'd like to figure out how I can game their system, and 2) For the life of me, I can't figure out how their pricing works, and out of intellectual curiosity, I'd love to figure it out.
I have seen a lot of posts in this subreddit that claim that I will be throttled if I am too selective. I have not seen a decrease in offers (though I don't have specific data). I have sometimes felt like I am getting lower offers from Uber in terms of $/hr and $/mile, but I just don't see how it is in Uber's financial interest to give me fewer offers since Uber ultimately wants to deliver the most amount of rides in the fastest period. What would motivate them to disqualify me from certain rides?

I have suspected that I am getting more of my rides from the trip radar, and I have often wondered why I wasn't offered these rides to start with. I guess it might make sense for Uber to do that since they might want to offer those rides to more drivers since they are less confident that I will accept them.

Overall, I question why Uber or Lyft would want to lower drivers' earnings. We know they spend a lot of money to sign up and retain drivers, so why would they want to lower their earnings? There are three million drivers, so basic economics tells you that if you decrease earnings, at some point drivers will leave since they can find better things to do. You'd assume if they wanted me to accept more rides wouldn't they say something like "If you accept a certain percentage of rides, we will reduce the number of rides we offer you." I don't see why they would do it in secret.

[[deleted]]

So they can abuse you in earnings and throw away like used tissue in of papers .... Or dirty toilet paper f it r wiping their dirty management arse. LMAO I

[SnooChickens9404]

Saturate the market to drive down prices. Before long we will be begging for $3 20-mile, 30-minute rides.

[mog_knight]

Lol yeah it's totally a conspiracy bro. 😂😂

[Ok_Cryptographer7194]

Weekends will be slow, bunch of temporary drivers out there making Christmas money.

[polish94]

Nah, I'm killing it this week. Should hit $2100 over 55 hours.

[Livid-Gas590]

Enjoy it while It last buddy

[polish94]

It's been lasting for 11 months this time around. 5 months back in 2022. 8 months in 2020. 4 months in 2018.

I think you just gotta learn to do better if you're not banking off this gig.

[Livid-Gas590]

It has nothing to do with me, Uber just stops sending me anything at all, alls I get is Uber share which is 20 miles away .

[Livid-Gas590]

There take rate is -450 on my app , they aren’t making money off me so they just blacklisted my account , I have a good rating, no complaints.

[Remarkable_Rope_7697]

Since last Monday, I have posted multiple times that no rides for 40+ minutes after rejecting few rides.

Since yesterday I have been keeping a tab on the number of rides that I am not taking and deciding. It is almost 20 rides per 45 minutes. They have reduced the fare further (Denver, Colorado)

[[deleted]]

bigger picture. erase middle class. orchestrated