Indirectly Paid Vaccine Outreach

For the most part, conversations with my passengers have dropped like a stone during the pandemic for obvious reasons. The windows are down, the masks are on, fewer people are intoxicated and loose with their tongues, and the majority of riders are solo. 

I take warehouse workers to long shifts, grocery shoppers home with their goods, and folks who are having transportation issues who need to rely on rideshare. It's been a hard time, both personally and professionally, and the nearly 3K passengers that I've given service to since the start of the pandemic have mostly kept quiet. 

I'm fine with that. I'm here to make money because I have to.

But as the days get longer and the snow melts and the new case count goes down while vaccines go into arms, there are green shoots. And, also, community outreach.

Here's an odd thing about being a (white? obviously educated? older? try hard?) rideshare driver in lower income areas and to lower income passengers... they want your opinion on things, and seem to regard you as a credible source. More so than traditional or social media, at least. Maybe I'm just one of the few people outside of their community that they get to talk to during the pandemic, or maybe I just present well... but in any event, I get to do Vaccine Outreach on a routine basis.

"Are you going to get it?"

And my answer is always the same: yes. As soon as humanly possible. With bells on. To protect my family and my passengers and to hasten the day where we all don't have to wear masks, because I guarantee you that I wear a mask *many* more hours a week then you do, and that my three-layer mask can cause my glasses to fog, my face to hurt, and is downright annoying when there's variable temperatures or I have to yawn or sneeze. 

Also, that I'm well and truly tired of buying masks to give away to people who aren't wearing one. I'm also well and truly tired of stealing glances at people in the rear view mirror to see if they keep the damned thing on for the duration of the ride. 

And yes, some truly wonderful people do that. They get a rating that makes sure I don't ever give them service again, which is kind of a problem for them given that fewer drivers are working in the pandemic in the first place, but when people show you who they are, believe them. Also, if all rideshare drivers did this, then no rideshare drivers would have to check, because the riders would have corrected their behavior or walked.

Tonight, I had a woman in the car who actually works in vaccine distribution. She was exhausted but enthusiastic, and I had her in the car for 20+ minutes to brainstorm ideas on how to get lower accepting populations to join in later.

I told her that I didn't envy her task. That we needed to make sure things were multi-lingual, that there needed to be church outreach, that there would likely never be a stick that would match the carrot, and that with media fracturing and the previous Administration's spectacularly fail and salting of the political earth, that even hitting so many market segments would likely still leave us in the 30% asshat resistance group, and how those people are going to hurt the world even more than usual, because people who aren't learning are just the worst.

So what's the solution?

Well, one of my later rides was a home health aide, an older African-American woman who was going to get the shot, but was scared and just going along because it was a condition of employment. By the time she got out of the car, she was much more enthused about getting the shot. Or she was just telling me what I wanted to hear. But I don't think she was lying, because I kind of doubt she ever lies about anything.

One at a time, folks. Each one, help two. 

Or, well, more.

My Ratings Are Heating Up

Six weeks ago while unwrapping presents under the Christmas tree, I discovered an extremely thoughtful gift from my spouse.

It's a plug in black car seat cover -- one for my driver seat, and another that covers all three spots in the back seat. 

Which means that my modest little hybrid... has a spot of luxury and comfort that you almost never find in a car, let alone a model whose primary benefit is fuel economy.

My tip percentage for this year is up 27% (note: relatively small data sample size). My driver rating currently stands at 4.95 in Uber, the highest they have ever been. 

Only one passenger (out of 655 since the change -- I've been busy) has asked me to turn it off. More passengers are also lowering their windows or leaving them cracked open, which also means that my protection from the damned virus are also hopefully on the rise.

The right gift is everything, really. (And if you do this hustle yourself, consider an investment. It seems to be paying off.)

Snow, Snow, Go Away

A moment inside the hustle. Rideshare drivers are mostly paid in three ways.

1) Time spent driving the passenger. Simple, not all that high. Why we want rides to end where the next ride would begin.

2) Distance traveled during that time. Faster is better. Why your driver is not a big fan of you making them wait, and why your driver is usually a little more aggressive than the average driver. (Not me, particularly. I'm older and more risk-adverse, and a traffic ticket would ruin the hustle for a long time.)

3) Promotions. Most often, for completed rides during a short frame of time, but sometimes also for "streaks" of accepted rides, or rides during a time or place of high demand. 

We are also paid in some cases when a passenger cancels, reimbursed for damages incurred, and tipping. But that's not what I want to cover here. Promotions are the biggest swing moment in any rideshare driver's week, and what we're all hoping to match.

The number of rides completed is where an unexpected amount of Drama comes in, because the driver has no real control over how many ride requests they get, or how long those ride rides will take. We can influence these by the rides we accept, where and when we drive and activate the app, and so on -- but that control is tenuous at best. We also only can drive so many hours in the day, either from the app or reality restricting us.

We also, of course, have no control over the weather. Or when a massive snowstorm will make travel unsafe and uncommon. Which leads me to discuss my weekend, and why I'm writing this on a Sunday afternoon, rather than engaging in the hustle.

Currently for me and in my area, Uber lets drivers set a target for the number of rides they expect to complete over a time period. These periods are for weekdays and weekends, and have a direct relation to similar programs for Lyft. The majority of rideshare drivers work for both platforms, because it's not like these companies are paying us for exclusivity, health care benefits, or a dime more than what will get us in the car to provide service. It's a remarkably efficient / cutthroat operation, and tends to inspire similar behavior from drivers.

Knowing that my marketing clients were quiet at the moment, I committed to a *high* amount of work this weekend. At the 70 ride count, this would translate to one bonus rate. If I got to 90, it would be 15% more. 

I completed the 70 ride requirement this morning, just before the snow started. Had the snow not arrived for, say, another 8-10 hours, the 90 mark would have likely fell as well. So the timing of the snow has cost me hundreds of dollars. (Not going to disclose the exact amount, because it's an estimate and there's no guarantee I'd have gotten all the rides before the clock ran out, but, still -- hundreds of dollars.)

Not to mention the enforced 2-3 days off that's going to occur until the storm passes and the roads clear. Which, hopefully, will also coincide with work from the consulting clients filling my days. Or an unlikely weakening of the storm.

And as for the corollary of why not just drive in the snow, especially when the surge prices for such activity might spike and desperate passengers will pay...

Tempting, but no. I'm here to grind, not gamble.

And grind my teeth at weather forecasts.

A Brief Note Of Appreciation To People I Don't Write About

Occasionally, you get passengers that want to hear whackadoodle rider stories. By the way, excellent rider move, especially if it's late at night -- a driver is not going to get drowsy or you while they are telling a story.

That's a big reason why this blog exists, really. I've found it fun and mildly profitable to get value out of unvalued experiences, using it for the Com Oh Dee and ad revenue. (Click on the ads! They are targeted for my pleasure.)

When I disclose this, sometimes people want to know if I'm going to write about them, too. The answer is, well, almost never.

Why? Well, happy stories are kind of dull, honestly. I had a great conversation with someone who shares an interest with me. A passenger thought I was funny or that the car was well taken care of or that I said something meaningful. I was able to provide comfort to someone having a bad day. 

Yeah, I'm bored writing that, so I can't imagine you're going to be into reading it.

Which usually leads a few folks (OK, the fun and drunken kinds) to take it as some sort of challenge to say or do something that will make the blog...

And, well, Life Is Not A Video Game, and we don't get to both press the reset button after our over the top attempt at humor falls flat.

So if you are disappointed by me not writing about you...

Well, read the rest of the blog, and ask yourself the following question.

Are you sure you want to be in the company of the whackadoodles?

You Shouldn't Be Doing This... In Princeton

The ping comes in Princeton. Not too far away, not too long of a drive. But the rider's rating is a little low. Worrisome. I take it anyway.

A word about Princeton, which is to say the wealthiest part of New Jersey. It's also a very high risk / high reward place to do rideshare, because 

(a) Very Wealthy people are often the Very Worst, and lots of people -- especially restaurant patrons who want to all drink -- are in that group

(b) the area is absolutely rife with deer, which are not a thing I want to drive around,

(c) the pandemic means no college students (they are usually more fun to talk to and easier to manage, because they are more dependent on rideshare to get around and hence care more about their ratings)

(d) the pandemic means a lot less tipsy high tipping pharma people on an expense account, and

(e) you often get preposterously long ride requests, which usually wipe me out, and take me to places I don't know. Not super safe.

On the other hand, the roads are smooth and you occasionally get a great conversation or tipping. All things being equal, I tend to avoid the area. Not as much as other areas, and not to the point of boycott, but enough.

A word about my car and service. It's currently a 2014 Honda Insight, as immaculate as I can manage with daily obsessive cleaning. It's a hybrid hatchback that gets 48 miles per gallon, and is more than comfortable enough for one to two passengers, or maybe three if one of them is a child. It's also got a heated back seat cover, hand sanitizer, and my rating has been over 4.9 for, like, ever. I've done this for over 17.5K rides, 7K+ hours in the app, and 4+ years. 

I'm good at this. I know what I'm doing. 

Data, not opinion. 

So I roll up to the pick up, and the passenger gets in. She is, um, not small, but it's not a problem. The problem is her two friends. Both guys, both bigger than her, and not folks who can all fit in my back seat.

During the pandemic, sitting in the front seat isn't allowed. I have taken this change to load up the seat with a box of masks for those who don't have one (all hail Costco, but honestly, I'm not real thrilled at handing these out), a dust buster for when I can't get to my car wash, the breath mints and cough drops that I use for comfort and alertness (a cough drop tends to help against yawning, which happens more when you wear a mask all day), and face shields. 

So, I'm using the space. You aren't allowed there. The hustle is not paying me enough to get the virus. I tell the passenger about the policy, and I get a puling little "The driver who brought us here was OK with it."

Well, why didn't you say so earlier? That's more than enough reason for me to disregard my own safety, put myself at risk in case you are a shill that's out to make sure the policy is followed (yes, that happens), and judging by the cumulative weight of what's about to enter my car, stress the shocks and tire pressure. 

Or, well, not. I confirm with the passenger that she needs to order a bigger car (i.e., not the cheapest available Uber, which is how you get a guy in a compact, honestly), and cancel the ride.

Which gets me a raft of sputtering nonsense from a male passenger that got into the car with some difficulty, and is having more of it trying to get out. 

After way more dialogue and sarcasm than necessary, he heaves himself out with a grunt, screams "You shouldn't be doing this" at me, then slams the door for all he's worth. Because that'll teach me the error of my ways for not providing him service!

Oh, and final fun point... since I canceled the ride, I got paid nothing, took the accepted ride rating hit, and was unable to give these charming folks the 3 stars or lower rating that means I'd get to avoid them for any future rides.

One more reason to avoid Princeton, honestly...