So, how else can Uber take my money? Let’s see, hmmmm. Well, let’s make it so that users have to pay extra to have their food delivered directly to them. If they want to buy less food, let’s ding them with a small order fee. Oh, don’t forget to charge more when there’s weather conditions, like rain. Guilt the user base into feeling bad about drivers having to “dodge rain drops” so they tip the drivers more.
It’s a little frustrating at first, but then you realize how good the psychologists at Uber have built this thing in order to take money for every little thing. They’ve done a great job at finding revenue sources for their company, there is no question in that. As the consumer though, I have to make mention that I’m really ANGRY!!! at times with Uber. I find it absoloutely ridiculous that the company now asks for an extra fee simply to deliver your food directly to you, without stopping. If that really makes you mad like it does for me, I suggest you don’t use Uber. Use another app like Skip or Doordash.
The problem is with me saying this is, Uber really has a lot of the market share with their Uber eats app. It also seems like it’s generally the fastest delivery option much of the time. So I probably sound like a hypocrite, telling people to use another app when I likely have no intention to use a different one myself. I’ve contacted support so many times on Skip that they banned me from using the support option. However, I can still order food. So once or twice when I have used skip since that’s happened, if there’s a problem with the order I just wind up calling the restaurant. And there’s been a few.
One of the things I’ve personally experienced is potentially a lack of drivers with other apps. I swear I’ve seen one driver get assigned to my order, sit there, not pickup the order and eventually 20 minutes later the job goes to another driver. This isn’t with Uber; I believe this happened with door dash once. Uber is a far more reliable application, but they do tend to over charge for being so. It’s almost as if they know they’re the best option on the market when you’re hungry, they know they’re the most convenient and so they feel they can really rip you good.
“Your Driver is dodging Raindrops on their way”, or “Driver is delivering so you can stay dry”
This is one of the most annoying messages I find on the entire app. What this says to me is that Uber can’t afford to pay their drivers properly, so it’s on me to tip the driver more because he or she had to drive in the rain. This is total nonsense and I wish Uber would remove this from their app. What they should do is pay drivers more for having to deliver food during rain storms or etc. rather then passing the buck onto the consumer. However, I should watch what I say because it wouldn’t surprise me to see a “bad weather fee” on my receipt at some point. We know that Uber has found every other way possible to ring up the fees on a receipt. There are times where you can easily pay $10-$20 or more in service fees for a delivery. Now that’s frustrating.
The psychology of these statements that I reference feel like they can either guilt a Uber user into paying the driver more, or simply to make them angry (like me) to then provide drivers with less. I would say if anything, to remove this completely from the app. Uber users are going to pay more for a good delivery and good service, not because the app guilts them into it. I don’t pay extra money because it’s raining. When I had to drive hours for work, I was never paid extra for having to drive in the rain. I had to pay attention to my surroundings and make sure I arrived to work in a different city in one piece. That’s on the driver, to do their due diligence, just like any other job. We don’t get paid extra for driving in the rain, so why should the service industry?
I feel like with all of the fees and extra costs that Uber passes onto the consumer (for no reason other then to make their fat cat execs richer), they could afford to pay their drivers better.
Paying an extra dollar or two for Express, so your food shows up at least lukewarm
One of the most annoying things about Uber is that you wind up car sharing with another person who ordered. This is past just frustrating, this is stupidity to some degree. You see, Uber started as a ride share business, so when you hail a taxi (an Uber) you share the taxi ride with other people. Uber decided to incorporate this into their food delivery business, so most of the time when you order food, you have to wait for another order to get delivered.
When your order gets messed up all the time, or shows up inedible, or shows up inedible due to just being too cold, be sure to request a refund.
While this is happening, your food sits in the car, getting cold. It sucks. The food is cold often. It’s OK sometimes to get somewhat warm food, other times it can make you sick. Further still, at times the delivery time gets moved, and moved, and moved. Delivery time becomes unpredictable at times, especially at dinner time.
Does working for Uber pay well?
In a word, no. Uber Drivers have to pay for all their own maintenance, as well as gas. Although Uber says they provide a support system, it’s really not the case. It’s just PR talk. If you have a full time job already, and looking to make a few bucks on the side, then driving for Uber during peak times might be a good way to earn a little bit of extra money. However, be ready for a lot of the following issues when doing so:
- When driving passengers, they will often make you wait outside for them. You don’t get paid for this waiting / idling time.
- You can sometimes have multiple passengers in the car who don’t like each other, or don’t feel like they should have to share a ride with others.
- Passengers who are unwilling to co-operate with COVID19 regulations like wearing masks.
- Passengers that may ask you for special trips to places like McDonald’s. You have to take them or they’ll give you a bad star rating.
- Passengers that don’t speak the same language so aren’t able to answer any questions.
This is just a few things you’re going to have to deal with as an Uber driver (this is if you are delivering passengers). If you’re delivering food, expect to have to go into many apartment buildings, looking for apartment doors, trying to find your way around; people not coming to meet you in lobbies, then complaining their food delivery was slow, etc. All of that, and more. We live in an entitled society, it is what it is.