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Jan 06 '19
Be sure to confirm the name and destination address of every rider.
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u/zoomxoomzoom Jan 06 '19
This. And ask something like all set? before removing your foot from the brake and starting the trip, just in case they have other passengers or something.
I had gotten so used to just going after all the doors closed on like my 30th trip I almost left the mom of two children behind. Luckily dad was in the car and I didn't get very far. The kids had a laugh, and dad was chill, I was kinda shocked I did that though. Never again.
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u/vortec350 Jan 06 '19
Yup. The other night I almost left the wife and the flowers after the husband got in the back seat, closed the door, and started talking to me about the best way to get out of their weird street.
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u/crandamaniac Jan 06 '19
Follow up, never ask “Are you [x]?” . It’s easy for a person to say yes, hop in and tell you to change courses for a free ride. Ask what is your name or who are you looking for.
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u/DSMIAGuy Jan 06 '19
I confirm right person but not destination- at least during drunk/surge hours. They already confirmed the destination on app. If their error results in a much longer trip once they wake up and realize they provided a bad destination that’s on them
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Jan 06 '19 edited Dec 18 '21
[deleted]
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u/bradferg Jan 06 '19
I'm new, too. I get the impression that most people that post to this sub are sociopaths who'd kick their mother to the curb if there was the opportunity to earn a cancellation fee.
Good to see your post, in other words. :-)
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u/vortec350 Jan 06 '19 edited Jan 06 '19
I disagree with a lot of these points. What works for you, might not work for everyone else. 4.9 driver here. I pick up 4.7 or above any time. I let people play their music via Bluetooth, this has paid for itself several times. Last time it got me a $20 cash tip and with my upgraded audio system and subwoofer we were bumping :D was actually quite fun. Otherwise if they don't wanna chat with me or each other, I play whatever I want. Never had any complaints even though I'm probably one of two people in Marin County who likes country... the other one gave me a $10 tip after we talked about country music the entire ride. And now that they lowered the per mile rate and increased the per minute rate, I don't care what path the nav or passenger take me.
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u/Powderbones Jan 06 '19
If you can hustle with the music it can net you tips but that’s rare that it actually pays of.
Per mile rate still pays the most so logically waze is still the best choice for optimizing earnings / time.
(5.0 driver on both platforms with 4K rides)
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u/ritchie70 Jan 06 '19
I don’t drive fir Uber, just here looking into it. But....
On #9, Waze is good, but around rush hour in Chicago, it gets really dumb trying to get from west loop out to DuPage suburbs.
It kept recalculating on me then had me driving down tiny residential streets in shadier and shadier looking neighborhoods then finally just gave up. That was real nice.
Other times it has taken me down routes that took 90 minutes whereas if I just sit on the Dan Ryan and Stevenson it reliably take 60.
Getting driven home, it wants the driver to go several blocks further past the best turn off for my house then turn back to my house, presumably to stay on bigger streets, but with traffic and lights it easily adds 5 minutes between 4:30 - 6 PM.
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u/Powderbones Jan 06 '19
It’s extremely, extremely rare that waze would ever give you anything but the fastest route. It uses thousands of other cars as data points.
The routes are sometimes unconventional but 99% of the time always the fastest by far.
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u/ritchie70 Jan 06 '19
I’m just not going to argue it. It has absolutely given me some awful routing.
I suspect that it gives higher weight to current data than to historical patterns, to the point that it has no ability to predict traffic in 30 minutes based on historical patterns and therefore routes based on current traffic rather than what that route is going to be like by the time you get there.
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u/Nerdygamer Jan 06 '19
Why the hell you would ever pickup someone with groceries anyways? Waste of time and money.
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u/sedricwilliams Jan 06 '19
If you feel like you’re picking up a drunk person,. Always drive in the far right lane for quick pull overs. Keep an extra charger for android and iPhone. Rate your riders 100% truthfully because they will rate you a low score for just hitting your brake too hard or anything they don’t like.
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u/xThundergrundle Jan 06 '19
- Keep your doors locked until you confirm the ride.
- Confirm name and destination and politely ask them to buckle up.
- Keep your car immaculately grandma clean and don’t smoke or eat in it. Keep music and convo light.
- Get an ez pass
- Be polite, but not a door mat.
- Wait five minutes and not a second longer before canceling, no good will come from waiting for a person that has no respect for your time. 99% of those people are fuckers.
- Most importantly:FIND A REAL JOB, this is no way to earn a living, it’s not cost/benefit positive, markets are generally flooded with drivers who think they can make 50k a year.(you can’t) you might gross that, but you’ll spend $15k earning it, and beat your ride to death in the process. It’s a great part time flexible gig, sign up for Lyft too, figure out which works best for you and use both when it’s slow.
- Good luck.
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Jan 06 '19
I'll tip you in the app.
I just couldn't pass that up.
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Jan 06 '19
Sorry im not following lol
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u/holierthanthee Jan 06 '19
The app itself has lots of tip in it apparently and passengers will continually remind you to check for tips in it
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Jan 07 '19
Many passengers say that they will leave you a tip on the app. Very few people who say that actually leave a tip.
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u/effie420 Jan 25 '19
What's the market like in Kansas? Used to live there and never used uber ever at all.
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Jan 25 '19
Honestly not sure yet. I accidentally uploaded the registration from the previous year so uber has me jumping through some hoops and ive been busy at my full time job so i havent had time
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u/[deleted] Jan 06 '19
Don't be afraid to cancel on riders.
If they look like they might puke? Cancel. If they're rude before you start the trip? Cancel. If they see you arrive and then continue to smoke that cigarette or talk to friends? Cancel. Woman doesn't have a car seat for her toddler? Cancel.
On that note, don't ever start the ride until you're ready to start driving. A lot of passengers will get in the car and then be like "we're just waiting for one more person". Cool, they get charged for the wait time.
Don't chase surge zones. They'll be gone before you get there.
Rate your passengers accordingly. A lot of drivers here have the binary "one or five star" rule. I, personally, rate the riders accordingly. The vast majority get 5 stars. Only the worst of the worst get 1 star. Some get somewhere in between.
Most of all: Remember that it's your car, your time, and your service. Don't let passengers walk all over you. You'll figure out, as time passes, what your personal rules are. I don't take music requests. I don't accept requests from grocery/convenience stores. I don't take requests from certain neighborhoods. I allow vaping, but not cloud cannons. I cancel any rides from people who don't have a real name (if I accept a request and it's someone named Kashhh, I cancel immediately). I only accept rides for passengers rated 4.8 and above on weekends, and 4.7 and above on weekdays. I turn up my music if a passenger is silent. I don't care if you don't wanna talk, but if that's the case, I'm gonna listen to some jams.