Guaranteed Pay

by Harry Campbell on September 19, 2016 87 Comments

Is Uber Ditching Sign-Up Bonuses in Favor of “Guaranteed” Earnings?

Last month Uber made some big changes to their driver referral program, but the only problem is they forgot to tell everyone. Sign-up bonuses have always been one of the bright spots for new drivers, since who wouldn’t want an extra $500 for signing up, right? While the process wasn’t perfect and had its flaws, at the end of the day, a lot of people got paid. In fact, it’s one of the main sources of revenue for this blog, so in a way we depend on referrals too.

But over the past few weeks, I have been getting an avalanche of e-mails from new drivers who were not getting paid their sign-up bonus. This in itself isn’t out of the ordinary but after investigating, I found that at the end of July, Uber started testing new driver guaranteed earnings instead of sign-up bonuses in several of its top markets. So what exactly does that mean?

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by Christian Perea on September 9, 2016 72 Comments

How Does Uber Earnings Boost Work?

Harry here. It seems like every few months Uber is offering some new type of promotion or incentive but some of them can be quite lucrative. Today, Senior RSG contributor Christian Perea, takes a look at Uber’s latest promotion for drivers called Uber Earnings Boost.

Over the past year, Uber has been offering all sorts of promotions, driver incentives and guaranteed pay. But today we’re going to talk about one of the newest incentive structures called Earnings Boost. The gist of this program is that it offers drivers guaranteed surge pricing on fares that originate from a certain area at a certain time while charging the passenger regular prices.

Uber has been spending a ton of money to subsidize rides for passengers and pay for drivers in order to create the largest, densest, most expensive transportation network in the world. These promotions tend to be offered in bigger markets where Lyft is most competitive, but we’ve also seen them rolling out in other places too. These promos won’t last forever, though, so get yours before they are forced to pull back and try to make an actual profit.

Uber Uber Earnings Boost

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by John Ince on August 31, 2016 36 Comments

What To Do When Uber Stiffs You

Harry here. I think every driver has had their frustrations with Uber’s customer support, but when it comes to issues over your pay, that’s when things can get contentious.

I’ve experienced this myself numerous times with guaranteed pay and referral bonuses but today, RSG senior contributor John Ince recounts his recent experience dealing with customer support over his hard earned guaranteed pay that never showed up.

If you work on Uber hourly guarantees, Power Driver Bonuses (PDBs) or try to collect referral bonuses, chances are sooner or later you’re going to have some form of dispute with Uber over payments. When this happens, here’s what I’ve learned from dealing with it first-hand.

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by Christian Perea on July 6, 2016 20 Comments

The RSG Power Driver Plus Strategy Guide

Harry here. Uber and Lyft have been rolling out all sorts of different incentive programs, bonuses and guarantees this summer so we asked Senior RSG Contributor Christian Perea to take a look at them and explain how to leverage them to your advantage.

Uber has been rolling out various power driver programs over the last few months and savvy drivers have been able to cash in on thousands of dollars in extra incentive pay. One of the more popular programs is called Power Driver Plus, and it offers a cash payment from Uber upon completing a certain number of rides (among other requirements). If you’re in a city where Lyft is competitive with Uber like SF, LA or NYC, you may have seen this program, but it’s not the only incentive program out there.

Uber has also been offering the Metals program (Silver/Gold/Platinum), ‘Fare Boost’ and hourly guarantees in many cities, so even if you don’t have Power Driver Plus in your city, it’s likely that many or all of the strategies below will help you earn more money.

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by Harry Campbell on March 23, 2016 38 Comments

Why Is Uber Giving Away So Much Money Right Now?

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve received a bunch of promotions, bonuses and incentives from Uber offering a LOT of cash. And I’m not the only one. The promotions have varied wildly from city to city, but no matter where you’re driving, it’s a good bet you’ve seen something like this or you will be seeing something like this very soon.

It’s almost like Uber discovered a whole new bank account and has to spend all the money in it by the end of the month.

My Gmail Inbox: Why Does Uber keep offering me so much money?

Either way, there’s a lot of money at stake for drivers right now, but there are definitely some caveats (as usual) that you’ll need to watch out for. Today we’re going to explore a couple of the offers Uber has been sending out so that if you get something similar, you’ll know what to do. [Read more…]