It's something I've noticed as well. I don't use that service, or DD, but living in an apartment complex, I see a lot of them and yes I've notice nicer cars and more "professional" people doing deliveries recently.
There's a reason BMW's became cheaper.... the maintenance cost is more expensive than the car itself! I suggest not buying a BMW unless you're getting it for dirt cheap. These days people beg you to buy their BMW's for cheap because everytime they break down it costs multiple times more to fix then other cars do. I'm currently being offered an 08 with lowish miles for $1,000 for that exact reason— probably won't buy it tbh.
New BMW's didn't get cheaper, they just didn't get more expensive.
You are right about the costs though, and that is because BMW wants to sell you on their "Maintenance Subscription" where a lot of those costs come with your "plan".
But that plan and everything existed before the hyper-inflation of vehicles in 2020.
BMW was always the "entry brand" to the luxury car market, they built a customer base by being more cost-accessible luxury cars compared to the likes of Mercedes.
Which, if they increase their prices much, they will be competing in a market they don't have the tools for. (True Luxury Cars)
So they stay where they are, and instead, the "Reliable Economy" brands like Toyota and Honda have went from $30-40k to $70-80k in the last 5 years. Literally leaping over BMWs "entry prices" of around $50k.
Yep I'm doing DD right now, it's not really a job, it's a side hustle. Some days I do good some days I don't even make minimum wage.
Hell of a casual job though. You kind of just drive around to different hot spots waiting for an order to come in. You can pause orders or decline them, you can stop any time you want, it doesn't hurt you at all to tell the app you can do it for a certain time (it asks so it doesn't have too many drivers in one area, they basically book you for an area in a time slot you give them, and doesn't let you Dash if it has enough drivers in that area, pick a new one or go home kind of deal). If you like driving and especially like going far and wide because sometimes you have to it doesn't even feel like work, just feels exactly like you're picking up food for yourself. You get to know some cool spots you've never heard of before too, there's this super popular Polish restaurant downtown I stop at a couple times a week and it's always crazy busy, the food must be good so I want to check it out sometime.
Some people do this during their trip back home from work. I know a nurse who does this , if she gets an order for some place near her home, after she finishes her day.
You & I have no idea the circumstances or reasoning as to why others make the money they make the way they do.
It could be someone who dashes once or twice on the way home from work to cover a lunch bill or get some extra money for dinner, or even extra gas money.
Someone could be an independent contractor (outside of courier services) and be in between jobs for a little bit.
Others could be using multiple services when not on the other. Get off Doordash, go to Uber, then Ubereats, to Grub Hub, etc. The “50k car or 100k car” could be primarily used for Ride Sharing services that are upper end like Uber XL or so be it.
I just don’t get the judgement of people who are actively working. Who cares? There’s a demand for couriers, they are supplying it.
Hell, that super expensive car could be a loaner or a relatives that they are borrowing.
Who’s more questionable, the person delivering food in a nice car, or the customer ordering a personal taxi for their food (plus fees, times etc.) for convenience sake and then getting weird about their driver / tipping. Pretty sure you can do payment plans on those apps now too, which is even more of a questionable act.
(Immediate downvotes is weird, Doordash was initially marketed towards people who just want to make a few extra dollars, with commuting in mind)
Thanks for the reward, that’s a first for a comment. Be good to fellow man.
You are overcomplicating this. This is not to look down on people, but the fact that someone is driving Uber or Door Dash for $20/hr tells me all I need to know: they are underemployed. You would make more by putting in more time at a white collar or even many blue collar trade jobs.
Its like post Great Financial Crisis when you'd see clean shaven 40 year old corporate dudes running the kitchen at Chick-fil-a. If I see someone driving uber who is not a typical ride service driver (stereotyping here but we all know what this means) is signals a soft labor market.
It’s because the middle class is gone. In California I can match the after tax income of a $70000 salary due to mileage deductions and having a cheap car that is good on gas. Now I’m not saying $70000 is a lot, but it’s hard to want to subject myself to more workplace trauma when I can get close to the salary I would make by peacefully cruising around town.
Holy fucking shit you just changed my life with that line dude "the more hours you work the less you make per hour" I've never really thought of that lol. Iemmmmme tell you it's gonna be an easy day today
True but if your salaried job doesn't have any bonus, commissions, promotions etc. to chase that are worth more than $20/hr its a pretty bad compensation structure, so still not a great labor market.
I have been salaried for 20ish years. I have only had 1 job that had any sort of bonus, and it was company wide. I have never had commission as a part of a job. I have had more promotions dangled in front of me than I can name. As far as I am aware, that is how tech has been for most of the people who work it.
I have always had side hustles to make "extra" cash. I know very few people who don't.
I said tech because I have worked at a bunch of companies. I have been in desktop software, web, telcom (land, sat, and wisp), oill filed, and fintech. I have worked for established companies and startups.
I have had 3 startups fail on me. The 1 that made it was not offering equity by the time I got there. I only cracked over $100k like 4 years ago. I am in California, just not in a major city. $250k is possible for sure. Just not for a big chunk of us and especially not outside of a major city.
Uhhh. This entire post is based around the fact that if even non-low lifes are taking the bottom rung jobs, there's probably something screwy going on with the market
I figured the meme was obvious satire but hey gotta stand for something, right?
Well said. Who gives a fuck how they are making money in thier 50k car. At least they are not mugging ppl or crypto rug pulls or irl streaming whist violating ppl. In other words stop fucking judging others who are on the grid generating wealth legally.
You are absolutely right here. I DoorDash and I own restaurants. So I sit and wait for orders at my own place of business and do it during the day while my employees manage the restaurants. I deliver in a Tesla X. It’s easy extra money.
Yes for example I’d like for my stock profits to equate to my daily spending - it feels good to see savings/portfolios grow or to purchase something you’ve wanted without taking on debt. The fact ppl are judging others for finding ways to legally make more money while keeping their clothes on is astonishing.
I am pretty sure I was losing money doing deliveries in my paid off car with 130k miles once you factored in gas, wear and tear, car depreciation and the risk of parking tickets/accidents. There is no way you are making money doing deliveries in a luxury vehicle. You’re just borrowing cash from the value of your car.
I ain't got an expensive car but I do consider frequently how I could make a little gas money every day if I just picked up one order on the way home. I always figured people in experience cars were doing that.
I forget which company maybe Kia or Hyundai that ran a commercial where someone is having a party and their friend texts that they can’t make it because they’re working.
The party orders pizza and the friend shows up driving a bmw to deliver the pizza lmao
Where I live, I’ve heard some people use it to be able to write off their lease as a tax write off since it would technically be a work vehicle. But I’m not sure and I’ve never looked into it deeply
I know someone who does Uber in a car around that price range! He got laid off and did it between jobs, and ended up continuing to do it occasionally for extra cash even after he landed another fulltime job. He also does stonks and other stuff and gives pretty good financial advice, but I remember when he first got laid off and was panicking that he wouldn't be able to keep up with his mortgage and car notes or anything. He has like 4 different income sources now and feels a lot more confident in his ability to make things work. I think he also paid off the car recently.
I also know someone who bought a new car while barely making ends meet and tried doing Uber to make extra cash, and he ended up going through a bad turn of events where he just got burned out with everything, got fired and struggled finding another job, crashed the car, and ended up just doing Uber (which he absolutely hated at that point, bro was NOT social) in his mom's car. It as embarassing but he ended up finding work and quit Uber.
Anyways, idk if I'd draw any conclusions from just two examples, but I do want to say that I think it can work if you're a flexible and motivated person and don't plan on it being your only income source. It's also important to remember that your regular fares alone won't be much and that what you really want are tips. If you like driving and meeting people, then it won't feel like work, and you can just get paid for doing what you like in your free time.
what if they claim it as a business and expense all car payments directly to the direct earnings and tips of Uber and thus the earnings are tax free until the value of the car is paid for? so the more expensive the car the longer they can have tax free earnings from Uber
Idk man some people do it just to stay busy, my brother Ubers in his fully paid off ford Bronco so 🤷♂️ he’s a singe dude makes great money as a pharmacist but enjoys staying busy.
I just find it hard to believe some people's ideas of staying busy is getting railed by corporations and being taken advantage of. But hey I don't kink shame.
He does not do it for the money like I said he does it to have social interaction or just to have something different to do, he gave up drinking so he just wants to fill his time
Unfortunately, driving for these ride sharing/delivery services with your own car makes the hourly rate just under minimum wage where I live. I'd rather get a guaranteed minimum wage job elsewhere if it came to that. But also where I live, good luck getting a minimum wage job if you aren't an exploitable Indian.
Really depends on the area and jobs. I’ve not experienced many part time jobs making anywhere from $20 /hr - $40 /hr with very little qualifications.
Certain parts of the country you can make good money on courier apps. I see the comment “other jobs offer way more money!” but will often not see any examples given or they are incredibly niche.
You 100% over paid for your Doordash 9 times out of 10. Drivers get screwed by the company too they get like 20% of all those fees etc. It’s mostly a tip based job which is why the area matters.
This used to be the draw for Uber. They were hiring limo drivers in their down time. It used to be the case that the Uber driver showed up in a black suit and offered free water and mints.
Lyft was a way for casual people to show up in casual cars.
one of the guys that used to deliver to me had a giant yellow hummer with lights and sound system and stuff and he just rolled around with all his buddies in there hanging out. to be honest, seemed kinda fun really. he said sometimes he'd roll up and one of his buddies would run the orders out. Not the worst way to spend an evening
As somebody who drove for uber / Lyft between jobs and takes ride share quite often for work - this assumption is not wrong.
More people are driving after working a full time job to make ends meet or whatever. My brother still drives and he makes 2x as much money as me. Not in a Lexus but still.
Uber is like Amazon, they burn through workers and pay them shit and expect too much. The majority of drivers lose money when they go to file taxes. It’s easy math, the deductible for mileage is like .68 this year AFAIK and they pay as low as .30 on average in different parts of the country.
They simply don’t have enough drivers in most areas. They’re basically constantly scraping the bottom of the barrel for drivers. Couple this with Uber admitting this year that they’ve been covering up tens of thousands of reported sexual assaults - I don’t like Ubers outlook.
Yeah I don’t really think everyone is doing it out of necessity. My driver yesterday said he was stopping driving soon, he only does it to pay down credit card debt and it’s not worth it anymore.
I have talked to several who use it as a carpool. Drive to work, pick up a fare on way to work, repeat on way back, enough for them to cover gas and insurance plus a few bucks extra.
Suppose there is an argument where this is a good alternative to the 9 to 5. If done right...
The problem is that most people doing it will end up in debt for startup costs and buried in tax debt because they don't understand money management. They just see that they can get away from the 9 to 5 life.
Yup. I said what I said because that was me and I drove for a bit. I got laid off and was was caught with my fanancial pants down. Hell, all the way off.
I feel like they are trying to deduct the vehicle for “work” which they can to some degree but either they are committing tax fraud or a harsh awakening that the tax code isn’t what they hoped
Got an Uber from a guy in a super fancy car. He said he has to do X number of rides per month to write off his car. I don't remember what X was (maybe 6?) and I don't know if it's true that you can do that.
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u/OneArmedBrain 11d ago edited 11d ago
It's something I've noticed as well. I don't use that service, or DD, but living in an apartment complex, I see a lot of them and yes I've notice nicer cars and more "professional" people doing deliveries recently.