Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I mentioned to you a couple of days ago that
I was going to go have lunch with a listener,
which I do from time to time, and David and
I went to have lunch over at DTC Slice.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
If you want some good pizza, I suggest you go
check out DTC Slice.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
And we were just talking about this, that and the
other day, and David mentioned to me that he drives
for Uber and or Lyft, and he sent me some
stuff about doing that job that I thought was really
interesting because I'm always fascinated by the nuts and bolts,
the nitty gritty of lots of different professions, things that
(00:35):
I don't know about, things that I wouldn't think of,
but that a lot of people have interest in. And
so I asked David to join me on the show
to talk about a couple things regarding driving for Uber
and Lyft. So, David, welcome to the show. It's good
to talk to you again.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Thanks Ross, glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
So one of the things you mentioned to me is
that tips have gone down for Uber and Lyft.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So I have two questions for you.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
One is, on average, what percentage of an Uber or
Lyft driver's income comes from the tips?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And then why are tips going down?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I don't know that I have a complete answer to
the second question, but I can tell you the answer
or my answer to the first one. So I keep
some stats on I'm a stat guy, and I keep
some interesting stats on the percentage of tips, or the
percentage of rides with a tip. And back in twenty
twenty four, I was consistently averaging let's call it between
(01:36):
thirty five and forty five percent of rides that included
a tip, thirty five to forty five and what as
high as fifty percent. I guess I must have been
having a really good week that week. Today I am
lucky to be getting between twenty and thirty five. It
(01:58):
generally averages between twenty five than thirty five percent, So
that accounts for twenty five to thirty five percent of
the earnings that are not not quite twenty five to
thirty percent, probably more like ten to twelve percent of
what I make as a driver.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Okay, And.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Those stats clearly came down. You can see right at
the end of probably three quarters of the way through
last year, call it October one ish, September one ish,
those percentages started going from that upper range to the
lower range.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Okay, so why do you think tips are going down?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Well, it's going to be one of your favorite topics, Ross.
I believe that the percentage of tips are dropping because
the rates are going up for riders, and writers will
not tip if the ride costs too much. And I
don't know I don't take Uber frequently enough personally to
(03:09):
say how those rates increase. But our friends at the
legislature have decided to impose cees and taxes on those
rides that have caused the rates to go up air go,
the percentage of tips have gone down.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I would just want to ask listeners to jump in here,
text me at five sixty six nine zero, and I
would like to know from listeners whether when you take
one of these ride sharing services, Uber and Lyft being
the big ones, obviously, I don't know if even our others,
whether you're whether you are tipping less because the price
(03:49):
of the rides has gone up.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I would like to know.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I would like to know if if that's a dynamic
that you notice as a rider, text me at five
sixty six nine zero.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I would I would like to know. And I suspect
I suspect that's right.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I find the same thing by the way, David, I
find the same thing for me personally. I find the
same thing at restaurants. The percentage that I tip on
a bill at a restaurant is definitely declining, right. It
used to be twenty Now it's probably more like fifteen
or sixteen the tip amount. The tip amount is still
(04:28):
higher than it used to be, but because the meals
have gotten so much more expensive, you know, I, you know,
if I I feel sometimes like if I were to
keep tipping twenty percent, I would probably or at least
sometimes I just wouldn't go out to dinner and start
feeling like the whole thing is just too much, and
then that would probably be worse for everybody.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I don't know, makes sense, makes sense?
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So the other thing you said to me in email
is that you found some ways that you think are
pretty effective at increasing or optimizing your your income.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And you said to me an email, a.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Lot of drivers don't know how to maximize their earnings,
and that you've got some ideas about that. And I
asked you if you'd be willing to share your ideas
or if they were proprietary, and you said you'd be
happy to share them. So let's just take a minute
or two here, and why don't you talk to people
who do drive for Uber and Lyft and you know,
give any thoughts based on your experience.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Okay, sure, well, without impugning our friends over at Uber,
I will tell you for a fact that lift pays more.
I was on a ride this morning, for example, it
was an Uber ride. I asked the rider how much
they paid was a ride to the airport, and they
(05:49):
said about seventy five dollars for that same ride. I
was getting paid thirty one, so well, less than half
of of the total percentage of the ride. Contrast that.
Contrast that with a ride that I did probably about
a month ago. I picked up a young woman and
(06:10):
I drove her from Denver to Loveland, and that ride
for her costs that same seventy five dollars on Lyft,
and for me I made fifty.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Is that consistent or can that change on a ride
by ride basis?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah? I mean they change on a ride by ride
basis ross and they will for shorter rides they're going
to be it could be closer to fifty to fifty.
I rarely make more than fifty percent on any ride
that I that I do with Uber, and by the way,
those fees now have to be completely disclosed to Uber driver,
(06:53):
so there's no obfuscation.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
There, right, and I forget I use both Uber and
Lyft from time to time. Well, I have a wreck
collection that on at least on one of them that
the app actually says how much money the driver is making.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I think.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
If it discloses it to the driver, I'm assuming it
discloses it to the customers. Yeah, so you're probably right.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
So okay, so one of your pieces of advice is
you think Lift pays more, so people might be able
to make more money driving driving for Lyft.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
What else?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
The only drawback to that is that Lift has a
lower market share here.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, so I.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Tend to have to wait longer more Lift. Right to
qu in, So that's the only caveat I'd put to it.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
I'm guessing, Sorry to interrupt you, David, I'm guessing you
could have both of your driver side apps for both
of those rides share companies at the same time and
then take You.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Just take whichever one comes.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Along that fits your your your overall needs of income
and time best. Right.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Yes. Yeah, So when I first get in the car
in the morning, I turn on both apps, nine times
out of ten, I'll get a ride with Uber first
thing in the morning. They tend to have better coverage
there just tend to be more users. I used to
think that that market share for Uber was like ninety
(08:22):
ten here. But when I when in the middle of
the day, more like around rush hour, if I turn
on both apps, I will get rides with both, and
I will opt for Lift primarily first, because I know
they pay better and that means that they're if all
(08:47):
other things being equal here, Ross, their market share should
go up as a result of this discussion.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Okay, I'm just about out of time, David, I want
you to give me very fast answers to a few
listener questions.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
All right, as quick as you can.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
What types of fees is the state adding to these rides?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
You know?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
I wish I knew the answer to that, Ross, I
have not done any investigation, so okay, sure, there definitely
are fees, though to the listener who asked that question,
I don't know the details either, but there definitely are,
and there's also fees for delivery.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Okay, here's another question. If you get as a driver,
you pick up someone and the route in the map
says to take the toll road, but the driver doesn't
take the toll road.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Does the driver still.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Somehow collect what might have been an anticipated toll for
the road from the passenger and then just keep it? No, okay,
good enough? And what's the other thing? The percentage of
the ride that the pa anyway? All right, now, this
(09:53):
next one is too confusing, David, I appreciate the insight,
and I actually have quite a lot of listener men
some questions I got. I got half of people saying
I just keep tipping regardless, and I've got other and
I've got half of people saying the driver has to
be exceptional to get much of a tip because the
cost of the rides has gone up so much. So
all of that makes sense, you know, different strokes for
(10:13):
different folks, I guess, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So David is a show listener.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
He and I had lunch at DTC Slice the other
day and he drives for Uber and left and mentioned
this stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
I thought it would be fun to talk about.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
It on the show, and it was so Thanks for
doing this, David, appreciate it, you bet.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Thanks for inviting me.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Ross
I mentioned to you a couple of days ago that
I was going to go have lunch with a listener,
which I do from time to time, and David and
I went to have lunch over at DTC Slice.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
If you want some good pizza, I suggest you go
check out DTC Slice.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
And we were just talking about this, that and the
other day, and David mentioned to me that he drives
for Uber and or Lyft, and he sent me some
stuff about doing that job that I thought was really
interesting because I'm always fascinated by the nuts and bolts,
the nitty gritty of lots of different professions, things that
(00:35):
I don't know about, things that I wouldn't think of,
but that a lot of people have interest in. And
so I asked David to join me on the show
to talk about a couple things regarding driving for Uber
and Lyft. So, David, welcome to the show. It's good
to talk to you again.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Thanks Ross, glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
So one of the things you mentioned to me is
that tips have gone down for Uber and Lyft.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So I have two questions for you.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
One is, on average, what percentage of an Uber or
Lyft driver's income comes from the tips?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And then why are tips going down?
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I don't know that I have a complete answer to
the second question, but I can tell you the answer
or my answer to the first one. So I keep
some stats on I'm a stat guy, and I keep
some interesting stats on the percentage of tips, or the
percentage of rides with a tip. And back in twenty
twenty four, I was consistently averaging let's call it between
(01:36):
thirty five and forty five percent of rides that included
a tip, thirty five to forty five and what as
high as fifty percent. I guess I must have been
having a really good week that week. Today I am
lucky to be getting between twenty and thirty five. It
(01:58):
generally averages between twenty five than thirty five percent, So
that accounts for twenty five to thirty five percent of
the earnings that are not not quite twenty five to
thirty percent, probably more like ten to twelve percent of
what I make as a driver.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Okay, And.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Those stats clearly came down. You can see right at
the end of probably three quarters of the way through
last year, call it October one ish, September one ish,
those percentages started going from that upper range to the
lower range.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Okay, so why do you think tips are going down?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Well, it's going to be one of your favorite topics, Ross.
I believe that the percentage of tips are dropping because
the rates are going up for riders, and writers will
not tip if the ride costs too much. And I
don't know I don't take Uber frequently enough personally to
(03:09):
say how those rates increase. But our friends at the
legislature have decided to impose cees and taxes on those
rides that have caused the rates to go up air go,
the percentage of tips have gone down.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I would just want to ask listeners to jump in here,
text me at five sixty six nine zero, and I
would like to know from listeners whether when you take
one of these ride sharing services, Uber and Lyft being
the big ones, obviously, I don't know if even our others,
whether you're whether you are tipping less because the price
(03:49):
of the rides has gone up.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I would like to know.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I would like to know if if that's a dynamic
that you notice as a rider, text me at five
sixty six nine zero.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I would I would like to know. And I suspect
I suspect that's right.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I find the same thing by the way, David, I
find the same thing for me personally. I find the
same thing at restaurants. The percentage that I tip on
a bill at a restaurant is definitely declining, right. It
used to be twenty Now it's probably more like fifteen
or sixteen the tip amount. The tip amount is still
(04:28):
higher than it used to be, but because the meals
have gotten so much more expensive, you know, I, you know,
if I I feel sometimes like if I were to
keep tipping twenty percent, I would probably or at least
sometimes I just wouldn't go out to dinner and start
feeling like the whole thing is just too much, and
then that would probably be worse for everybody.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I don't know, makes sense, makes sense?
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So the other thing you said to me in email
is that you found some ways that you think are
pretty effective at increasing or optimizing your your income.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
And you said to me an email, a.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Lot of drivers don't know how to maximize their earnings,
and that you've got some ideas about that. And I
asked you if you'd be willing to share your ideas
or if they were proprietary, and you said you'd be
happy to share them. So let's just take a minute
or two here, and why don't you talk to people
who do drive for Uber and Lyft and you know,
give any thoughts based on your experience.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Okay, sure, well, without impugning our friends over at Uber,
I will tell you for a fact that lift pays more.
I was on a ride this morning, for example, it
was an Uber ride. I asked the rider how much
they paid was a ride to the airport, and they
(05:49):
said about seventy five dollars for that same ride. I
was getting paid thirty one, so well, less than half
of of the total percentage of the ride. Contrast that.
Contrast that with a ride that I did probably about
a month ago. I picked up a young woman and
(06:10):
I drove her from Denver to Loveland, and that ride
for her costs that same seventy five dollars on Lyft,
and for me I made fifty.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Is that consistent or can that change on a ride
by ride basis?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah? I mean they change on a ride by ride
basis ross and they will for shorter rides they're going
to be it could be closer to fifty to fifty.
I rarely make more than fifty percent on any ride
that I that I do with Uber, and by the way,
those fees now have to be completely disclosed to Uber driver,
(06:53):
so there's no obfuscation.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
There, right, and I forget I use both Uber and
Lyft from time to time. Well, I have a wreck
collection that on at least on one of them that
the app actually says how much money the driver is making.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I think.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
If it discloses it to the driver, I'm assuming it
discloses it to the customers. Yeah, so you're probably right.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
So okay, so one of your pieces of advice is
you think Lift pays more, so people might be able
to make more money driving driving for Lyft.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
What else?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
The only drawback to that is that Lift has a
lower market share here.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, so I.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Tend to have to wait longer more Lift. Right to
qu in, So that's the only caveat I'd put to it.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
I'm guessing, Sorry to interrupt you, David, I'm guessing you
could have both of your driver side apps for both
of those rides share companies at the same time and
then take You.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Just take whichever one comes.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Along that fits your your your overall needs of income
and time best. Right.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Yes. Yeah, So when I first get in the car
in the morning, I turn on both apps, nine times
out of ten, I'll get a ride with Uber first
thing in the morning. They tend to have better coverage
there just tend to be more users. I used to
think that that market share for Uber was like ninety
(08:22):
ten here. But when I when in the middle of
the day, more like around rush hour, if I turn
on both apps, I will get rides with both, and
I will opt for Lift primarily first, because I know
they pay better and that means that they're if all
(08:47):
other things being equal here, Ross, their market share should
go up as a result of this discussion.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Okay, I'm just about out of time, David, I want
you to give me very fast answers to a few
listener questions.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
All right, as quick as you can.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
What types of fees is the state adding to these rides?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
You know?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
I wish I knew the answer to that, Ross, I
have not done any investigation, so okay, sure, there definitely
are fees, though to the listener who asked that question,
I don't know the details either, but there definitely are,
and there's also fees for delivery.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Okay, here's another question. If you get as a driver,
you pick up someone and the route in the map
says to take the toll road, but the driver doesn't
take the toll road.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Does the driver still.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Somehow collect what might have been an anticipated toll for
the road from the passenger and then just keep it? No, okay,
good enough? And what's the other thing? The percentage of
the ride that the pa anyway? All right, now, this
(09:53):
next one is too confusing, David, I appreciate the insight,
and I actually have quite a lot of listener men
some questions I got. I got half of people saying
I just keep tipping regardless, and I've got other and
I've got half of people saying the driver has to
be exceptional to get much of a tip because the
cost of the rides has gone up so much. So
all of that makes sense, you know, different strokes for
(10:13):
different folks, I guess, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So David is a show listener.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
He and I had lunch at DTC Slice the other
day and he drives for Uber and left and mentioned
this stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
I thought it would be fun to talk about.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
It on the show, and it was so Thanks for
doing this, David, appreciate it, you bet.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Thanks for inviting me.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Ross
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
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