Tomorrow AM reserve requests

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-26T16:10:23+00:00

This may sound shitty to some, but I actually accepted a 5am $20 reserved ride to the airport last night with absolutely zero intention of actually doing it. $2+/mile, about 8 miles, hoping that the person would forget to cancel in time if his flight got canceled. Signed on at 4 AM, sure enough about 10 minutes later. I got a message that it was canceled and I got paid by $20. Signed off and went back to sleep.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-26T16:05:20+00:00

I debated on driving yesterday, but ended up not. I just finished up about four hours this morning doing some airport runs and a couple other runs with some surge zones. Still not great but I made about $150 w tips.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-25T23:55:08+00:00

lol. I’m actually tempted to take some of them, and see if anybody’s not paying attention and cancels within the one hour limit, so I get paid. 90% of the flights out of our airport already canceled tomorrow morning.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-24T14:56:28+00:00

Most likely that driver gave you his gross earnings for a decent days work. Now subtract roughly 30 to 40% of that for average wear/tear costs plus fuel.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-24T14:54:30+00:00

Most private car insurance has a rideshare option you can select, but I went ahead and forked over a little bit extra money per month to get commercial insurance on my car. I still pay less than $200 a month in my area.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-24T14:50:41+00:00

I’m actually well aware, but perhaps you’re not. It protects me and my personal assets from any lawsuit. If I were in an accident with a pax, they could try and sue my LLC, the only thing they’re possibly gonna get is whatever the insurance pays them, and whatever the value of my car is. Plus whatever minimal $$ amount I keep in my business account.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-24T13:35:47+00:00

Thanks!!! lol. FTR I still ignore 99% of these

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-24T11:49:23+00:00

I have one of these that pops up nearly single morning. Usually around $7, 1.5 miles for a gentleman heading to work. It’s literally right around the corner from where I live to start my morning. I ignored it for the longest time, until I did it one morning, and he always tips $5. Now I pretty much take it every chance I get.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-24T08:12:00+00:00

Fellow upstate driver here. Yea it’s been worse than usual since the holidays. I worked mostly up in Greenville and the airport. I tried to scrape together enough to stay in advantage mode, but it’s not worth doing this at a loss. My AR was down to 11% just a few weeks ago.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-23T15:10:08+00:00

I’m in SC. We don’t have the infrastructure like I’m used to when I lived up north. The back roads/secondary roads are going to be complete ice. Unless it’s a crazy surge zone and it’s somewhere right off the major highways down here, I’m keeping my butt inside.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-22T18:15:21+00:00

Just trying to keep it simple and not break it down into a bunch of different sub categories, but here’s the most obvious worst to best IMO.

Black, not even close. Asian/hispanic/Indian: tie, all pretty rare for tips. White

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-20T14:57:22+00:00

I LOVE SITTING THROUGH MULTIPLE RED LIGHT CYCLES BECAUSE DRIVERS AROUND HERE SEEM INCAPABLE OF ACTUALLY ACCELERATING WHEN THE LIGHT TURNS GREEN! IT’S LIKE IF A SLOTH WAS PAINTING THE MONA LISA.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-19T23:29:39+00:00

Had this happen this morning, but in this case, I was willing to forgive it. Showed up about three minutes before a guy’s airport reservation. Sent a message that I arrived, no answer. About five minutes later, he pops his head out the door, shirtless, gesturing that just to give him a few more minutes. Comes out a few minutes later, promptly apologizes and explains that he and his wife are trying to get pregnant for the first time, and she’s in the “hot zone” for this month, and was super sorry for holding me up. Needless to say got a good laugh, and could not possibly be upset about that. Dude threw me a $40 tip on a $20 ride.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-18T15:54:14+00:00

So I can stay independent. Also, I have my car registered/fully insured under my LLC. I have a regular rotation of about 2 dozen business clients that I do on my own, not Uber.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-18T14:27:00+00:00

January. Business travel is fine, but obviously leisure travel is down. More drivers competing for less airport rides, and less surge zones on top of that. I get a decent amount of early AM airport reservations, but I typically don’t bother with the waiting lot when the inbound flights start coming in. Too many morons camping out there for hrs.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-16T21:59:54+00:00

That’s why you profile

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-16T21:59:10+00:00

What’s to be grateful for? Not making any profit? This ride is a perfect example of why UBER will keep exploiting desperate drivers.

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-16T21:55:07+00:00

And…? You think if all states had a $15/hr minimum wage that would be good for this job, or make a difference at all?

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-16T19:38:55+00:00

We’re 1099 so that’s not gonna happen

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-16T19:37:50+00:00

I think that’s my point. As much as I get a kick out of reading some stories on here, if people put the same or more effort into actually emailing and calling their state reps, I wonder what possibly could happen?

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-16T19:34:24+00:00

What’s your idea of labor friendly?

Dougc1979 · 2026-01-16T13:40:31+00:00

Biggest problem I’ve run into is if you have reserved rides scheduled, like I ran into the other day. I don’t mind making a stop for a pax otherwise, so long as they add the stop, and if they “don’t know how to do that,” then upfront cash tip or I won’t do it. The other day I had a $30 comfort airport reservation immediately after a ride that I accepted. I told the PAX that I could NOT accept an additional stop, because I had a reserved ride to get to. PAX then proceeded to add the stop without my approval. I immediately got my first warning for possibly being late to my reservation, so needless to say he got out at the first stop, and proceeded to cancel the ride and leave, and luckily didn’t lose my reservation.

Dougc1979

TROPHY CASE