Day 11| Paid: $1150.36 | Remaining Debt: $61998.08
How much can I make per week with Uber?
That depends on so many factors:
- How many hours am I able to drive?
- How many rides can I get while I am driving? Determined by both rider demand, and driver saturation.
- How long do I have to drive to pickup rides? Longer drives mean more gas and wear and tear without getting paid for those miles.
- Are the trips I am receiving short or long? Long trips tend to be more profitable per trip, but often take you further away from requests. Short trips don’t pay as well but help achieve quests and bonuses quicker.
- What are the Weekday and Weekend Quests?
- Are there any Consecutive Trip bonuses or other Promotions that fit my schedule?
- Are there any Surges?
There are a lot of different factors that will determine how much I can earn each week. Because of that I am not sure if setting a specific monetary goal for each week is feasible. If I were Ubering full time and it was my only source of income I would definitely set a daily income goal and I wouldn’t stop driving each day until I hit that. But I work 40 hours a week at my primary job, and I still want to get quality sleep and spend time doing other things besides working and driving.
So if setting a weekly monetary goal isn’t practical for me what then?
I think what makes the most sense is to try to hit the smallest Weekday and Weekend Quest each week.
Almost every week, with very few exceptions, Uber has offered me a Quest ranging from 20/30 rides, up to 50/60 rides or even higher. They offer a weekday one fort that starts at 4am on Monday and ends at 4am on Friday, and a weekend one that starts 4am on Friday and ends at 4am on Monday. What that means, practically, is the weekday quest is from Monday – Thursday, and the weekend quest is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
I have learned through trial and error that I can realistically only hit the 20/30 ride quest. Most of the time I can only hit 20 rides, sometimes I can hit 30 rides. If I have a weekend where I plan on doing nothing else other than Uber I can hit 40 rides before I get completely burnt out.
Of course some weeks the quests just aren’t worth it. For example this upcoming weekend they are offering me $10 for 20 rides, and an additional $10 for another 10 rides. That means if I do 30 rides over the weekend I will get an extra $20. Obviously an extra 20 bucks is always nice, but it is not very motivating, especially when I used to get offered anywhere from $40 – $80 for 20 or 30 rides.
So the plan is to try to hit the 20 ride quest minimum each week and weekend. That means Monday – Thursday I will need to do 5 rides a day. And on weekends I will need to do somewhere between 6 and 10 rides a day. Since I like to spend at least one weekend day with my girlfriend it really means doing 10 rides on Friday and another 10 rides on either Saturday or Sunday. Of course I can do more rides one day and do less another day, but I find it easier to think about and accomplish when it is split up evenly. If I happen to do 6 rides on Monday, that means I have one less ride to worry about on Thursday.
In my experience I average 2.5 rides an hour. So after work on Monday – Thursday I will have to log in and drive until I hit at least 5 rides, which should take 2-3 hours. On Friday after work I will log in and drive until I hit 10 rides, which should take 4-5 hours.
Of course I will also try to time my shifts driving with any consecutive bonuses offered. If Uber offers a decent consecutive ride bonus from 9pm – 11pm, then after work I will go home, have dinner, recharge a little bit, and go out from 9pm – 11pm instead.
How much should I earn doing 40 rides a week? That is tough to say, for all the reasons listed above. At the low end each ride at a minimum pays $3.60, that is the minimum fare. So at a minimum I should earn $144. At the high end I could earn up to $500 in 40 rides. Based on my experience I think 40 rides should easily add up to $200, since I have to include any tips and promotions, and very few rides pay the minimum fare.
That is the goal: 20 rides on Monday – Thursday, 20 Rides on Friday – Sunday. Income anywhere from $144 to $500 with a reasonable minimum expectation of $200/week.