Reducing Your Payout to Uber
This article is written as a howto based on interviews with drivers and customers. This is what Uber drivers are actually doing in Nashville TN. First off, you need to treat this like a business. If you haven't already, go to squareup.com and start taking credit cards directly. Don't limit yourself to just Lyft or Uber - use both apps at the same time. Remember to logout of one when you get a trip in the other. Create your own brand. Print business cards. Hand them out to the riders that you like. Don't hand them to people that don't travel very far, no matter how much you like them. Short trips are not profitable, they waste your time and gas - don't make regulars out of them, you will regret it. You should decide on a cut off like $10 or $20. My cutoff is $20. Let Uber keep the short trips. Once you get 75 - 150 regulars calling you directly - your payout to Uber will be near zero. It will take some time to build up this much business but, it will be w