That was the question I was facing. During my quest to turn unemployment to self-employment, the first idea I came across was the wonderful opportunity of Uber.

Be your own boss?! Make your own hours?! Make up to $20 an hour?!

Hell yeah! Sign me up!

So I took pictures of everything they asked for and I got quarters from the bank so I could wash my car over the weekend and be ready to start my new business on Monday! I was so excited!

But I came across an interesting article called “How to Calculate Costs as an Uber Driver” and that excitement quickly wore off.

Turns out Uber isn’t as lucrative as they want you to think they are. They are very sneaky as to how much money you can actually make during a certain time frame. They use the term “make money” very loosely because they’re the ones making all the money and you’re the one with all the risk.

After the $1 flat rate fee, all the expenses that the article talks about, and taxes, you are probably making right around minimum wage. That sucks…

All what Uber does is connect you with fares and in exchange, you’re the one with a car that’s basically worthless and needs tons of repairs if you do it long enough.

Uber does a great job telling you how much money you can potentially make but they make sure to not say anything about how much you’ll spend on expenses. They also don’t talk about all the time and gas wasted in between fares as well as all the wear and tear on your vehicle.

They don’t talk about how fares can change drastically once they get too much supply of drivers compared to the demand of fares. You’re at their mercy.

Some of their tips to be a “successful” driver talk about how you must go all out to pamper your guests…that you should provide them with water, coffee, etc. But why? So their supply of highly rated drivers is still there to meet demand. Tips are frowned upon so doing those things doesn’t provide real financial again; they’re just bribes so your guests give you high ratings so you can keep on driving.

Uber has a monopoly on the technology and the service. They can do what they want with it and you as the driver only have 2 choices: Be their bitch and deal with what they throw at you or quit.

The only way that I could see this being worthwhile is as a part-time gig as fares can increase at times that demand is high and the supply of drivers is low. That’s when prices surge during huge events. Then and only then, would I consider driving for Uber.

Check out that article above and do other research to decide for yourself if you’d like to drive for Uber. It could be an option to make some extra money on the side but it doesn’t have great potential if you’re looking for a full-time gig.

Have you driven for Uber? Are you considering driving for Uber? Your thoughts and ideas are appreciated!