4 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Returning to Rideshare Driving

Have you thought about going back to work? According to our survey, 60% of us have decided not to work as an Uber or Lyft driver during the pandemic, but now the economy is starting to warm up.

Have you thought about going back to work? I have. And I’ve got four questions I’ve been asking myself to help me determine if it makes sense. And I’m going to share those four questions with you during this video and stick around for the number one consideration that I have when I think about coming back to drive for Uber or Lyft.

 

My Old Routine

Not too long ago, I used to get up at 3:15 in the morning. I’d be in my car by 3:45. I’d be picking up passengers at four o’clock taking dreary eyed, sleepy passengers to the airport until six or seven. I started drinking very caffeinated people to work downtown San Francisco. I’d drive till about 10, take a break.

Then I’d take lunch sometimes or work out, take a little break. Come back, hit the afternoon rush be done around seven. Did that five or six days a week and worked like 50, 60 hours. And I loved it. I was making money. Everything was good. Now I’m thinking so much has changed.

Do I want to go back to being a driver?

Is it Safe?

We do know that both Uber and Lyft are telling us that we’re going to have to wear masks. You may decide you want to wear these safety gloves, you know, keep your fingers away from your face, I don’t know how doctors do it. It’s not so easy. All the fingers lined up, especially when you’re wearing a mask and you’re feeling like hot.

So you got gloves and then you got your basic, your hand sanitizer. But are you still safe?  We know that people could have this virus for one to two days and they don’t have any symptoms, but they’re still contagious. So that means 10 to 15 to 20 people a day. Getting in out of your car.

Some of them can be these masks that are not a hundred percent effective. And there were in one we’re still in this exposed in this contained environment of a metal box. And then if you get it, you may not be so concerned about yourself, but then you breathe on somebody else. Family members could get sick. These are big questions that you got to ask yourself regarding the safety of driving, both for yourself and for the people in your life.

Will There Still Be Demand for Rideshare Driving the Way it Used to Be?

I don’t think so. Think about it. I saw this Washington post article and it said 38 million people have filed for unemployment. People have to spend money to use Uber and Lyft. So there’s 38, 40 million people without jobs. So that’s one factor. A lot of those people are going to be looking for work and becoming an Uber or Lyft driver is a way that someone can make money.

There’s a very low barrier to entry. Now there’s this lot more drivers who want those pings, that’s less pings per drivers.

The other thing to consider is it a lot of these companies are embracing the work at home model. So we’ve seen here this article, it says that Facebook, Apple, Twitter, and Microsoft are embracing work at home. That means less people are going to be needing rides to get to work.

So that’s going to reduce demand and all those unemployed people don’t have as much money to go out. You know, on the night on the town to go out to a bar to go out to events, all of these things are tamped down. So I think demand is going to be a way less than we used to see, which means you’re going to have to work a lot harder to make the same kind of money.

Is it Even Worth it to Work?

Are you getting enough money with unemployment? Then it doesn’t make sense. Last time I worked, I worked three days a Friday, Saturday, Sunday average, about 11 hours a day. I made about a thousand dollars, spent about a hundred and gas, a hundred for a place to stay.

You know, I risked my life for 30 hours of driving on the road. You can get into an accident, it’s stressful, there’s the impact on my body. And I cleared about $800. I can sit on my butt at home and make $1,050 until the end of July, $1,050 per week with unemployment.

Now the government, it seems like they’re going to have to extend that at least another three months, because this pandemic has really decimated the economy. So if you could make that kind of money just sitting at home, or you can go out and risk, you know, getting into an accident and all the expenses that come with it.

Has Your Plan B Become Your Plan A?

I talk a lot about having a plan B and hopefully during the last two to three months that you haven’t been working, you’ve been researching and figuring out what you could do to earn more money than you were making as a rideshare driver and doing something you would enjoy more.

Does it even make sense for you to drive if you have something else that you can do. The other thing to think about is if you got benefits, come, let’s say it does end in July to the end of July. You still got the rest of may, all of June and all of July to get your plan B strong so that you can have that become your plan A.

Key Takeaways

You gotta think about what’s really important to you. For me, my key consideration is can I travel? And as I get older, the more I want to travel, I can’t obviously drive and travel driving for Uber and Lyft in San Francisco is not a job where I can be traveling. I can’t do it from the road. So that’s my number one consideration.

And for that reason, plus the health reasons, I just don’t think it’s safe. I don’t think there’s going to be as much demand. I am making a, $1,050 in unemployment. It doesn’t make sense. It just doesn’t make any sense at all. And my plan B has become my plan A.

Are you going to go back and risk, risk it? I’m going back driving for Uber and Lyft, or are you going to find something else to do? Or maybe you’re just going to take taking this time off to just recharge your batteries. Until you run out of money, there’s just a lot of different scenarios.

But what I’ve tried to do in this video is share with you four major concerns that I have. When I look at am I going to return to the road? It’s going to be a lot different. People are going to be wearing masks. People can’t sit in the front seat. Demand is going to be low. Just the good old days, aren’t going to be come the good old days. What happened three years ago, four years ago, those days are over. So it was good while it lasted.

This is Jay Cradeur and I want to say thank you very much for watching the video. Go ahead and have a great day.