If your gross earnings haven’t changed much but your odometer is climbing faster than ever, you’re probably making less money than you think. I hear drivers brag about how much they made on a shift all the time. “I made $250 today.”
Okay. That’s great. But my next question is always the same: How many miles did you drive to make that $250? Because $250 earned over 180 miles is a very different business than $250 earned over 300 miles. The driver who drove 300 miles might feel pretty good looking at the earnings screen. But his car doesn’t care about the number on the screen. The odometer is telling a different story.
Drivers are becoming more efficient at generating revenue while becoming less efficient at using their vehicles.
Your Odometer Doesn’t Lie
Let’s say you used to drive 200 miles and make $200. That’s $1 per mile in gross revenue. Now you’re driving 250 miles and making $200. Your gross earnings haven’t changed. But your economics have. You’re putting 25% more mileage on your vehicle to generate the same revenue. That’s 25% more fuel, more tire wear, more maintenance and more depreciation.
And depreciation is the one most drivers completely ignore. Your car is one of the most expensive pieces of equipment in your rideshare business. Every mile you put on it has an economic cost, even if you don’t see that cost today. This is why I don’t get overly excited when a driver tells me they made $200.
I want to know what it cost them to make that $200.
The Long Pickup Is Eating Your Lunch
One of the easiest ways to rack up miles is accepting long pickups. Uber shows you a $15 ride. Looks good. But the passenger is seven miles away. Now you’ve already put seven unpaid miles on the car before you’ve earned a penny from the passenger. Then you drive the passenger another 10 miles. That’s 17 miles for $15.
And maybe the passenger drops you off somewhere with no demand. Now you’re driving another five miles looking for your next ride. Suddenly you’ve driven 22 miles to generate $15. The fare didn’t change. But unit economics did. This is why I tell drivers to stop looking at the passenger trip in isolation. The pickup is part of the ride. So is what happens after the drop-off.
Deadhead Miles Are Real Expenses
Drivers understand deadhead miles when they’re driving back from the airport without a passenger. But deadhead miles happen everywhere. You finish a ride in the suburbs and drive back toward downtown. You leave a slow neighborhood and reposition toward demand. You drive toward a surge. You move to another part of town because you’ve been sitting for 15 minutes. None of those miles show up as revenue.
But they absolutely show up on your odometer. And that’s the trap. Your app might tell you that you made $30 in the last hour. Your car might have traveled 35 miles during that same hour. Those are two completely different numbers.
Chasing Surge Can Make It Worse
I’ve written about chasing surge before, but there’s another side to the story. Surge can cause drivers to put miles on their vehicles without generating revenue. You see a $15 surge five miles away. You drive toward it. Ten minutes later, the surge disappears. You just drove five miles for absolutely nothing. Then you sit there waiting for a request.
Maybe you eventually get one. Maybe you don’t. The problem isn’t the surge itself. The problem is moving your vehicle toward a number on a map without understanding why the number is there. Sometimes the best place to be is where you already are.
Destination Filters Aren’t Free
Destination filters can also create additional mileage that drivers don’t think about. You might use one because you want to get closer to home. You accept a trip going in the right direction. Great. But what happens if you’re forced to drive several miles to pick up that passenger? Or you end up slightly off your intended route? Or you finish the ride and still have another 10 miles to go?
Again, the issue isn’t that destination filters are bad. The issue is that every mile has an economic consequence. You need to understand what you’re actually buying with that trip. Sometimes you’re buying money. Sometimes you’re buying positioning. And sometimes you’re simply buying a ride home. There’s nothing wrong with any of those. Just know which one you’re doing.
$250 Doesn’t Mean $250
Here’s where I want drivers to change their mindset.
Don’t tell me: “I made $250.”
Tell me: “I made $250 and drove 180 miles.”
Now we’re having a meaningful conversation. Then take it one step further. How many hours did you work? How much did you spend on fuel? What is your estimated vehicle cost per mile? How much of that mileage was with a passenger? How much was deadhead? Now you can begin to understand what your rideshare business is actually producing.
Because gross earnings are only one part of the equation.
My Final Take
I’m not telling you to obsess over mileage or refuse every long trip. Sometimes a 20-mile ride is exactly what you want. Sometimes a long pickup makes sense. Sometimes an airport trip is extremely profitable. The point is to understand the tradeoff.
If you’re going to put 300 miles on your car today, you better be getting paid appropriately for those 300 miles. And if you’re consistently driving 250–300 miles to make $200–$250, you need to ask yourself whether you’re actually running a profitable business or simply converting gasoline, vehicle depreciation and your time into gross revenue.
That’s a very different thing. I’ve always believed that your time is for sale to the highest bidder. But your car is part of that equation too. Every mile has a price. Every unpaid mile is still a mile. Every empty return trip costs you money. And every unnecessary repositioning trip accelerates the wear and tear on the asset that’s making your income possible.
So the next time you finish a shift and proudly say, “I made $200 today,” take another look at your dashboard. If the odometer says you drove 250 miles to get there, don’t just celebrate the $200.
Because the number Uber shows you is your revenue. Your odometer is helping tell you what it took to earn it.
Be safe out there!
Email me your comments to sergio@therideshareguy.com
Sergio@RSG
