Chip consolidation continues as Broadcom wants to bu Qualcomm, Intel teams up with AMD for a packaged chip with a discrete Radeon GPU, and we discuss whether tech companies should be shut down or encouraged to rule the world.
With Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Roger Chang and Veronica Belmont.

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Broadcom wants to buy Qualcomm, Intel and AMD mash up a full graphics card on a chip, and T-Mobile and Sprint call off merger talks.

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This column provides tips, insights, and observations on TNCs like Uber and Lyft from a driver that’s worked with them for several years.

“How much money do Uber drivers make?”

It’s by far the most common question asked regarding Uber. I hear it from curious passengers. I read it on online forums and social media spaces from people looking to make some extra cash. I see it asked by those who have recently found themselves either unemployed or under-employed hoping that they can still find a way to keep the lights on and food on the table. Everyone has their own financial goals in mind, and want to know if Lyft or Uber or a similar service can help them achieve them. Unfortunately, it’s also the hardest question to give a simple answer to.

How much money you make driving for one or multiple TNCs will vary wildly depending on several factors. How busy is your market? How saturated is your market? What hours will you be driving? What promotions are available? Do you have a car that qualifies for a higher tier of service, like a minivan or luxury SUV? Even dumb luck plays a big role; one day you’ll make $200 on a unicorn fare, the next you won’t make half that amount after driving around all day.

Even taking those variations into account, the amount of money most drivers can make will likely fall far short of whatever they see advertised on Craigslist.

Money in

Driver promotions, which were once blamed as the source of Uber’s financial troubles, can account for a very significant portion of a driver’s income. These are various bonuses that give extra money for providing trips in a certain area, during a certain time, or for completing a certain number of trips in a week. These bonuses have declined in quality now that driver ranks have swelled; in my home market of Los Angeles, the decreasing generosity of driver promotions was the primary factor in why my average income (after commission) declined from $1000 in a 40-hour week in April 2016 to $800 in a 60-hour week by January 2017. If you compare it hourly, that’s a “wage” of $25 cut in less than a year to around $13.33.

There’s also driver saturation, which is what happens when you get an increase in drivers without an increase in demand. More drivers are competing for fewer rides, and you spend more time idle and making nothing.

Still, if you drive during the busiest hours (typically morning and evening rush hour as well as weekend nights) and can avoid hot spots that become clogged with six empty TNC vehicles cruising down every block, you have the best chance of coming out ahead.

Even better, if you have a vehicle that qualifies for a premium tier of service, like UberSelect or Lyft Premier/ Lux, your earnings potential goes up significantly. These fares are popular with business clients and celebrities, and tend to be longer rides than your average one-mile Prius trip. Even without promotions, some Select and Premier drivers in Los Angeles are still clearing $1500-2000 a week after commissions, and that’s with only working 35-45 hours a week.

Money out

What gets a lot of new drivers in trouble is that they fail to properly account for their expenses. That pay statement you’ll get in your mailbox every Tuesday doesn’t take into account how much gas you spent, nor the cost of rideshare insurance, or the cost of car washes and cleaning supplies, or the cost of the cell phone data you’re using if you don’t have an unlimited plan, or the cost of the more frequent maintenance that comes with driving a hundred miles or more a day. Don’t forget that you’ll need to set aside something for taxes too, especially if you’re a full-time driver; part-timers will most likely have their tax burden offset by whatever’s being withheld from their main job’s paycheck.

My expenses averaged out to  around $300 a week. Some weeks they’d be lower, other weeks higher… like the weeks when I needed to get new tires or a synthetic oil change. As a full-time driver I would also go through a full tank of gas per day and a car wash every other day. More importantly, my expenses didn’t go down when my income did in 2016; they actually increased slightly because of the additional time I was putting in!

If you subtract my average expenses from my average income, noted earlier, and figure the hourly wages again, you get a modest $17.50 per hour in April 2016, and a miserable $8.33 per hour in January 2017.

The numbers get even worse if you’re taking part in one of the many TNC-approved car rental programs available to drivers. While Uber recently ended it’s Xchange Leasing program, which was the most reasonably priced of the bunch, services like Hyrecar, Lyft’s Express Drive, and Hertz’s own TNC rental programs can cost well over $200 per week. These programs include maintenance and some also include insurance (otherwise it’s an extra charge), but you still have to pay for gas, as well as your other non-vehicle expenses like a phone mount and charger. Your total expenses can easily exceed $400 in a week.

After doing the math it’s not hard to see that finding a way to reduce your expenses is going to make a pretty big difference in how much money you’re able to make as an TNC driver. Unfortunately, the best way to do this is likely to be prohibitively expensive, and that’s moving closer to a busy area. It’s not surprising that with their meager earnings many Uber drivers can’t afford to live in the areas that they service, so they have to commute from outlying regions. This commute can take up a lot of time and gas, so some drivers opt to save more money by sleeping in their cars for days or even weeks at a time.

The side hustle

Where TNC driving makes the most sense is as supplemental income. There are several advantages to being a part-time driver compared to being full time. First, your expenses will be lower, since they’re likely to be offset by personal use of your vehicle. Secondly, the flexible schedule makes up for the low average hourly rate. Third, if your schedule is flexible enough for you to cherry-pick the best times to drive, like during special events, you’ll make a lot more money in less time. Some veteran drivers won’t even turn their apps on unless they see a plethora of Uber Surge or Lyft Prime Time.

But the best advantage of being a part-time driver may be a psychological one; there’s less pressure to make as much money as possible. Take the good days, let the bad ones slide, and go with the flow. Not having to rely on Uber or Lyft as a primary source of income is, ironically, liberating. I say ironically because so many people sign up to be TNC drivers because they’re looking for financial freedom, and yet they end up in a low-wage hamster wheel.

The bottom line

With all that said, would I recommend becoming an Uber or Lyft driver? It depends on your goals. If you’re eventually planning on owning your own private car service, sure, it’s a good way to get your business started. If you just want some extra cash to save up for a vacation and you have some free time (and a late-model vehicle), it’s worth a try. Just make sure you use a referral code when you sign up, it’ll give you a boost to your earnings. (If you’re kind enough to use my referral codes, it’ll give me a little kickback as well, so use t2ccj for Uber and SEKANI4 for Lyft.)

I would strongly not recommend this gig for anyone that’s looking for a way to pay their bills full time. What you make for the hours you put in really just isn’t worth it in the vast majority of cases. Some people can make the numbers work, and more power to them, but most people will be very disappointed with their pay statements.

Sekani Wright is an experienced TNC driver working in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. If you have any questions you would like answered for this column, you can contact him at djsekani at gmail dot com, or on twitter and reddit at the username djsekani. Have a safe trip!

Another Bitcoin fork is coming on Tom’s Mom’s birthday. Should you worry? Also Amazon backs out of grocery delivery, and Twitter may need to lock down things when an employee is leaving.
With Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Justin Robert Young, and Len Peralta.

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The President’s Twitter account briefly disappears, YouTube Kids gets a redesign, Snapchat drops out of the top 10 apps.

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HTC unleashes new squeezable phones, a 3D real-world attack on machine vision, Justin breaks down the congressional appearance by Facebook, Twitter and Google, and a hands-on look at the iPhone X from Paul Spain.
With Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Roger Chang, Justin Robert Young, and Paul Spain.

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Real tech stories. Really shaky analysis.

As we all enjoy our eighth straight meal consisting exclusively of fun-sized Snickers Bars, how about some fun-sized October tech stories offering the same nutritional and informational value?

Democracy Is One Thing…
Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar’s Omidyar Group listed six aspects of social media that threaten democracy, including the spread of false information, political manipulation, and hate speech. In addition, while not technically affecting democracy, they do emphasize that it would be super cool if you’d knock off the Stranger Things spoilers.

Sometimes The Counter Is Juuuuust Too Far Away
Amazon’s new Kindle Oasis e-reader is waterproof in up to two meters of water. This is a long-awaited feature because there will be a time when you are awkwardly adjusting your clothing with the Oasis pinned between your chin and chest, and it will inevitably slip loose, but nobody’s toilet is two meters deep.

Is That A Nose?
PornHub is using facial recognition AI to identify the actors in its videos. This is a formidable undertaking, because not only are there ten thousand faces to identify, but they are so seldom where you expect a face to be.

Proving Once Again That Podcasting Is A Guaranteed Road To Riches
Google acquired podcast app 60dB. The app launched just one year ago and was known primarily for airing the hit business podcast Get Rich In One Year With A Podcast App!

Zigging When You Expect Them To Zag
You know how after a company gets hacked, people say, “this is the best time to deal with them because their security is going to be crazy high right now”? Well Equifax refuses to bend to your stereotype. Marching to the beat of a different drum, the credit reporting agency went ahead and got hacked for the second time in five months (their plan was to march to the beat of their usual drum, but it too was hacked and now sounds like a xylophone).

Let’s Pump Up The Volume! Of Insulin! But Only As Needed And In A Safe Manner!
A new insulin pump can determine how much of the drug to deliver by using an algorithm in a smart phone app that accounts for meals, sleep, and activity. The key to the algorithm’s accuracy is in automatically reducing reported activity levels by 75% because we’re all big fat liars and often attach activity monitors to our pets. As an added measure, it also delivers a severe electrical shock when we report a cherry Pop-Tart as “fruit.”

It’s Just A Harmless Buzz, Like That Venti Latte Macciato
A study shows people are more productive with 70 decibels of ambient noise in a coffee shop, though the same noise level at work does not achieve the same results. And some insist that coffee shop, office, or Kenny G concert, any noise is too much noise and silence is the perfect concentration environment.

I am with the coffee shop crowd—I find some degree of ambient noise critical to my blueberry scone focus. I write many of these pumpkin spice Tech Views in a coffee shop. Because I am latte disciplined enough to not actively decaf listen in on conversations, I find that the background noise serves as that barista is hot; I’m going to ask her out… Are you kidding? Why would she go out with you?… What do you mean? Why wouldn’t she go out with me?… You answered your own question—she’s hot… I’ve been out with hot girls before… Name one… Janice Wilson–she’s hot… Dude, you “dated” her in junior high. Once. And she only went out with you because your parents were friends and her mom made her do it to keep her from going to the dance with my productivity in a positive way.

Once Again—We Are No Longer Accepting Applications
The new iOS app Nude will scan your camera roll and use machine learning to identify nude photos and move them to a PIN-protected vault inside the app. The creators feel the artificial intelligence will provide much quicker identification than the previously utilized “network of jealous spouses,” allowing speed settings ranging from 1940’s School Librarian to Kardashian.

There’s Fast, And Then There’s Fast
Hyperloop One is now Virgin Hyperloop One after a significant investment from Richard Branson. The additional funding will certainly be helpful, but executives also think the Virgin name will help distinguish themselves from Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, “the slutty non-Virgin Hyperloop that will let anyone have a ride.”

Who Is The Real Winner Here?
Microsoft’s Surface Precision Mouse provides different functions depending on whether you use Windows, MacOS, or Android. While Linux users get no navigational functionality at all, you can rig it so left clicking dispenses a tiny Pez candy.

Don’t Mess With Cupcakes
Google Maps tested a feature that would estimate the calories you would burn if you walked your searched route, said calories indicated by the international standard of measurement known as “mini cupcakes.” So if your trek would burn 330 calories, that was three mini cupcakes. They removed the feature after overwhelmingly negative response, predominantly from exhausted users who finished their trek and waited in vain for Google to show up with the tiny treats.

 

For more empty literary calories, you can check out this selection of my recent short Medium posts (two of which appear in the Slackjaw humor publication) where I tackle the hard news, like…

1.  CBS turning their whole schedule into versions of Young Sheldon bit.ly/Sheldonized
2. Cookie-scented bathroom air fresheners bit.ly/CookieHell
3.  Missing Stranger Things by being forced to walk in the park bit.ly/BingeBlocked

 

And remember, a diet of all Snickers isn’t good for you. Mix in a KitKat.

 

Mike Range
@MovieLeagueMike

 

Monthly Tech Views by Mike Range is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

HTC has two new U11 phones, Facebook has good earnings but some fake accounts, and Google cuts off one of its travel services.

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Aibo’s back, layers threatened by AI, and we wonder whether we’ll use AR more at home or at work.
With Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang and Chris Ashley

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A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

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Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to Anthony Lemos of Ritual Misery for the expanded show notes!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, Jack_Shid, KAPT_Kipper, and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!