This test as told is based on a conversation with Justin St. JamesFormer food delivery and a driving concert worker.
The interview was published for duration and clarity.
During Covid, it was the first time that I heard about a family member doing concert work.
They won $ 500 for a week of work, and it was easy to get on the application. I started to deliver in 2022.
After starting to work for food delivery applications like Uber Eats, I realized that there was no feeling. I have never earned so much money so fast.
You work for this, not the game. But when you worked on a Tuesday and a Wednesday and you get average orders, Friday and Saturday looks like cash capture.
So many people would order food on weekends, and Uber needed more drivers, so remuneration was going to increase. You will hear that the “ping” sounds a lot when you have offered an order. It's like being a casino, you hear it all the time.
In 2023, however, my income began to drop, and demand was not what it was in 2022. One day, I went around Lyft as a passenger, and the driver just offered that he had just won $ 500 in two days – on Monday and Tuesday, no less, who were some of my slow days as a delivery worker. So I signed up with Uber and Lyft as a carpooling driver.
Justin St. James Justin St. James
Uber and other technological companies use very sophisticated algorithms. There are parts of these applications that hold us hung, which is in the interest of managing a business. I love Netflix, but what are they trying to do by showing you another episode a few seconds after the last one?
For me, working for Uber was similar.
It was addictive. You have obtained a dopamine when the application offered you an order. It also encouraged you to continue working with pricing and heat cards that show where Uber says the most demand.
At the same time, as drivers and deliverers, we do not always get Uber information that allows us to make critical decisions as to whether work is worth it. I have not always been able to see exactly where you pick up someone or place it before accepting a journey, which seems incredible.
One night, I picked up a guy as the last round of the night. I didn't like the salary, but he was heading for the place where I lived.
When he got into my car, he asked, “How much did you offer you for this walk?” I told him it was about $ 7.50. It turns out that he paid about $ 28 for the trip. He offered me $ 20 outside the application to recover it later, but I refused.
I felt like someone struck me in the chest.
It was a big change for me. I was upset, because not only did I get less than half of the price, but I was not happy to do it.
In January, I decided to leave concert work. I left because I continued to have conversations like the one with the guy who paid $ 28 for his ride.
I had also just moved to California in New York State. Where I am, there are many more drivers. Once, I took a look with Lyft and my driver showed me the card in the application. There were more drivers in an area than usual to see. It also seems more competitive and more difficult to earn decent money.
Now I build a website to talk about my experience. The best part of the carpooling has been to talk to people, but it is really difficult to do this job well if you are not well paid.
A Uber spokesperson told Business Insider that the company regularly was looking for means “to make driver and messaging experiences easier, safer and fairer”.
The spokesperson added that tools like the thermal card are intended to help the workers in the Uber concert to do their job and to call any other description of “inaccurate”.
The spokesperson also referred past calculations Uber showing that Uber takes less than 20% of each rate after taking into account the commercial insurance costs that the company pays.
Do you have a story to share on concerts work? Contact this journalist at abitter@businessinsider.com or 808-854-4501.
