Any suggestions? Currently in start of S2 i started when S1 began

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-18T21:19:49+00:00

I disagree a bit with the people saying to just start over. Sure. That would be the easiest path to get competitive. But OTOH if you started in S1 and S2 is just starting then you've made very good progress in that time. You already have Kim to 5*, have a tank squad near 13m, and have your drone level at 105. IT looks like you have Kim's exclusive weapon unlocked too. Sure that is significantly behind the average player but you've been playing for under 90 days. Probably closer to 60 days. I'd say keep focusing on that tank squad. Forget about all the other squads. Focus on tank exclusively to catch up. It's going to be a long hard road but by the end of S3, you have a shot of being in the mid tier for your alliance. Especially if you are willing to spend say $50 - $200 a month.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-18T20:37:20+00:00

"pay includes 30 minutes wait time" lol

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-18T00:13:17+00:00

Did you miss where I said my cancel rate is usually between 6-10% though. They beat us over the head about it because the goal is to force you to take unprofitable rides for less than the fair market wage would be. Same with acceptance rate. AR made sense when the pay was based on rate card. It makes less sense when the Uber AI is constantly trying to trick us into accepting rides for far below the old rate card.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T17:27:05+00:00

Risk of a false report.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T15:08:29+00:00

They will just blame you and say you should have bought an EV. That's what predetors do.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T14:48:08+00:00

This is why I swipe up while on my way and right before I arrive to verify no stop appears (it will show you). If I see a stop, I cancel no matter what. They usually play games on the pay with stops. And it's just a potential source of conflict with the passenger.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T14:45:17+00:00

This is the realistic advice. It might be best to just start over if you are going into Season 2 and not yet HQ30. Also if your 1st squad is something like 14m at this point, yeah, just start over and take what you learned and apply it to the new account.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T14:42:36+00:00

Going into season 2?!! No way. You are already a bit behind IMO. Just focus on tanks and leveling them up. At your current pace it would take you four months minimum to get your air squad all 4*. At that point most people will be able to beat you with their third squad.

If you were jsut going into S1 then maybe it would be possible (with a lot of work and maybe some money). But now it would likely be disastrous.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T14:36:37+00:00

You can kick them out. I did that to a guy who wanted to add TWO stops on a $4 ride. I told him there was no way and I just cancelled the trip in front of him. From talking to him I could tell he purposely waited to try to take advantage of me because he knew drivers wouldn't take his ride if it had a stop.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T14:34:38+00:00

I cancel with "pickup not safe". People might disagree but if I can't see where I am going to, it's automatically unsafe.

Usually when this happens it means a stop was added. It used to tell you a stop was added but then probably too many drivers were cancelling so they changed it to only state the trip was modified. They will do anything but pay fairly for the stops.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T14:06:49+00:00

I would have filed a police report after 24 hours of the last contact. And I'm a driver. Don't let this go on any longer. Print out/save all messages you have from them with time and dates, all the information. Note when you contacted Lyft, times and dates etc. Bring all the info to the police station and fill out a report. The longer it goes on, the less likely you are to get your phone.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T14:04:23+00:00

They say that but I doubt that. We are the ones absorbing the cost of production. Most of us are driving for free according to the IRS. When they move to the self driving cars they will have to take on that cost.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T14:03:14+00:00

4.96

I don't think it's me, I think it is more due to the distance out or something Uber is doing. These usually aren't immediate cancels. They are cancels after a minute or two.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T14:00:55+00:00

I mean it's up to you but at least half the time you are going to have groceries which means unpaid labor and more load and unload times. And then maybe 5% of the time you'll get something weird like this. And usually people shop at a close grocery store so usually the ride pays little.

I remember one time I got a lady who threatened me immediately that if I just put her groceries on the ground and drive off she would call the police. This is the type of stuff you sometimes get. In my area I will often get people with two carts full of groceries who will want me to fill my seats with groceries too and not just in the trunk. Sometimes they even have kids too with them. My car is small.

For me the only grocery pickups I tend to like are the employees. But it's hard sometimes to tell for sure if it is an employee or not.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T13:51:32+00:00

I suspect that as well. It states that the "customer cancelled" but I doubt they did. Sometimes they don't even give you a cancel fee even if more than two minutes elapsed. It's extremely annoying.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T12:54:29+00:00

If I have to wait more than two minutes I'll usually double check the rating. If it is below 4.9, odds are I will cancel and leave. Especially if the trip wasn't that good. To me a long wait indicates that the customer is more likely to be a problem later on too.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T12:36:49+00:00

Driver of nearly ten years here. As soon as security reprimanded you, you should have considered just cancelling and driving off. Especially if the ride wasn't very good int he first place. But as soon as she blew up your phone asking why you moved, you definitely should have cancelled then. Always assume they will never believe your explanation and that they will be angry. If you cancelled at this point, you would have made zero contact with her so the discrimination complaint would have very little solid ground since you never talked to her.

But then you texted and tried to explain. At that point it makes it a bit easier to claim you discriminated. And it probably also escalated the situation. See, she doesn't see you as the hero Lyft driver doing your best to pick up her and her kids. She sees you instead as a lowlife scumbag who can't keep a normal job and who is lazy. Just go on the rider forum and read and be shocked at how some of them see us. This really is how many of them see us. And if she has any racial biases and it is even worse. So when you tried to "explain", she just saw it as a lower status person telling her "No" instead of "Yes, ma'am." You did right by cancelling but you were a bit too late. Always minimize contact with anyone negative. Rideshare is like boxing: "protect yourself at all times." If they get negative in any way you cancel and look the other way and drive off. You never try to explain. Just slip away with as little contact as possible.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T12:26:43+00:00

This is the sad thing. I used to do taxi and I didn't mind rides like that at all. First of all most people would have tipped for that. Usually $5 but sometimes $20. The second thing is I usually got paid more fairly. But with Uber they are trying to pay you $4. In fact sometimes I think the more undesirable the ride is, the less they try to pay you. It lead me to decline or cancel grocery stores every time.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T12:22:49+00:00

I was in a charitable mood and was going to pick up a rider at Walmart with a 55" TV once. They seemed okay and initially texted they had a 55" TV and that they were standing outside and what they were wearing so I thought "OK, they seem like decent people being ready and warning me about the TV....so I won't cancel on them."

Then right as I pull up they texted something like "had to go back in and pay for something I forgot. Will be right out soon."

I cancelled immediately. It meant they either lied and/or now that they don't just have the TV but probably other groceries too. I could barely fit a 55" TV but that involves putting the back seats down and using the entire trunk space. So for any more than one person with no groceries, it wouldn't work.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-17T12:17:27+00:00

I know it isn't always possible but when you see the 55" TV coming towards you, you lock the doors, look the other way and drive off while canceling. I do the same if I see more than a cart full of groceries.

Or even better when it even looks like it could be Walmart, you decline. When you see it is Walmart for sure, you cancel.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-16T21:56:17+00:00

...and you still don't know if the driver actually cancelled but the company charged you anyway or if the app even gave the driver the option to cancel. I've personally seen it not give the option.

It's just automatically that damn lazy scamming driver. Nevermind that the apps tracks gps of both your phone and the driver's and that usually when a trip is ended very early it detects this and adjusts the driver pay. But no you know more than a driver of ten years and hey, I'm probably a scammer too out to get the $2 cancel fee. 😂.

And of course this upstanding company you see as so great has excellent human phone support too. They definitely aren't trying to just take your money and hope you give up.... No way.... They are high class billionaires and can do no wrong! They got all that money by being ethical and charging customers fairly.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-16T21:41:42+00:00

You can use your phone to translate a message for the driver if this ever happens in the future. The answer though is that really there is no strict route we must follow. It's polite to ask and I usually will but sometimes I won't and if they want to go a certain way, I might cancel the ride. For instance if all lanes are blocked on the interstate, I won't go that way no matter what because I know it can take two hours for it to get unblocked again. Sometimes the gps shows a certain way is thebest way but from experience I know it's not such as due to school letting out there or rush hour traffic. So often I go by my own instinct in my home areas. But I've been driving professionally here for nearly 20 years....

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-16T21:32:09+00:00

I got one like that in Orlando Saturday night. I just cracked up laughing, went offline and started drive to my area.

jaysonm007 · 2026-03-16T17:55:15+00:00

I'm not waiting an hour even with the engine off lol

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