Why Uber is the new ‘normal’

UBER is a ridesharing app that in the past few years has rear-ended the taxi industry like a hyper-aggressive kid in a dodgem car, writes Scott Pape.

(FILES) This file photo taken on March 25, 2015 shows an UBER application being shown as cars drive by in Washington, DC. Quebec taxi drivers went to court February 2, 2016 seeking a permanent injunction banning Uber in the Canadian province, in just the latest legal challenge against the ride-sharing app in several countries.The union representing 4,000 taxi drivers in Quebec says Uber is illegal and wants it shut down locally and is also considering launching a class-action lawsuit against the startup to recover lost revenue. / AFP / Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

LET’S kick off the year with an email I received from a reader who hates me:

Dear Barefoot Investor,

You really have no idea do you?

Not everyone can work two (or three!) jobs like you “advise”.

After you pay double taxes, it’s just not worth it.

You’re giving up your family and friends, so you can work for a company that will exploit you for a few bucks an hour.

You really need to get off your high horse and stop giving advice that is totally unrealistic for the average person to follow.

You have no idea how real (normal) people live.

Craig

I picture Craig as a little yappy Chihuahua type of bloke.

Just think, you’re competing with guys like him in the employment marketplace — hardly fair is it?

It’s like shooting tofu in a barrel.

Anyway, the truth is I’m not writing for people like Craig, who live in fear of hard work.

I’m writing for people like Andrea.

Andrea is a 46-year-old single mother who works full-time in office admin at a local TAFE.

She earns $44,000 a year.

Last year she got talking to the bloke who fixes the photocopiers at her office, and he told her about a good way of earning some money on the side: drug dealing.

(Just kidding). He said “Uber”.

Though he may as well have said drugs, because Andrea had never heard of Uber before.

“It all sounded pretty far-fetched to be honest,” said Andrea, when I spoke to her this week.

“You download an app on your phone ... and then earn money from driving people around?

“I was very sceptical.”

She needn’t have been.

Uber — which goes by the name UberX in Australia — is a ridesharing app that over the past few years has rear-ended the taxi industry like a hyper-aggressive kid in a dodgem car.

There have been 10 million UberX rides ordered through the app, which was launched in Australia in 2014, and amazingly for much of that time it’s operated illegally.

(UberX doesn’t have government approval in Victoria, but it has been legalised in the ACT and New South Wales, and will soon be in Western Australia). Yet despite the best efforts from the taxi lobby, it’s only a matter of time before UberX becomes legal, and continues to bump the taxi industry into oblivion.

So when the photocopy guy mentioned that Uber was offering a $500 referral fee for new drivers — and that he’d split it with her — Andrea thought she’d give it a go.

She washed her Honda (UberX requires cars to be less than nine years old), filled out the paperwork and background checks, and downloaded the app.

That was 500 trips ago.

Today, Andrea says she “Ubers” about 15 to 20 hours per week — mostly in the evenings when her teenage daughter has extracurricular activities at school, or is at her dad’s.

For that she brings in between $300 to $400 per week. (Uber takes 20 per cent of the fare, and Andrea pays all her expenses).

Yes, but isn’t it dangerous; a single woman driving strangers around the city in her little Honda?

“No, not really”, says Andrea.

“I don’t handle cash. Everything is tracked through the app, and synched up to each user’s credit card. I would never do it if I had to handle cash like taxi drivers do ... I’d feel too scared that I could be robbed by an ice addict or something.

“In fact meeting so many different people is what I love about the job.

“I picked up a lady one day who was an escort.

“She said she thought I would make a very nice looking working girl, and told me that I could make my weekly wage in an hour!”

Fun and games aside, the truth is that Andrea is one of the working poor: she ploughs away in a low-paid full-time job, but needs another job to pay her bills and mortgage, and to provide for her kid.

One day she dreams of going overseas, but that’s a long, long way off.

Right now, most days she gets up at 5:30am, and her head hits the pillow at 11:30pm.

That’s Eddie McGuire hours!

Still, the most interesting thing about Andrea’s story is just how unremarkable it actually is.

Right now there are 20,000 UberX drivers in Australia.

It’s strictly a side gig for nine in 10 of them, who have another job.

In fact UberX says that about half of its drivers are behind the wheel for less than 10 hours a week. Some only turn on the app and pick up a customer when they’re driving on their way into work — so in effect it pays for their petrol, parking, and lunch money.

Other drivers I’ve met tuck their kids into bed, and go out and work on a Saturday night to make an extra mortgage repayment.

How cool is that, Craig?

Then again, perhaps Andrea isn’t “normal” enough for you.

So this week I met another Uber driver, named Lorraine.

Like Andrea she’s a single mother and also works two jobs.

She spends 15 to 20 hours a week driving around in her Kia, and earns from UberX about $700 a week.

Worth it? Woof, Woof!

Tread Your Own Path!

Originally published as Why Uber is the new ‘normal’