Good morning everyone, happy Friday. Last weekend, I took 3 Lyft rides to/from various airports and have some data points on the recent JetBlue & Lyft promotion and Delta & Lyft promotion. Here are the 3 different rides:
Buenos dias everyone. I was looking at my Membership Rewards account recently and noticed that although I have used Uber many times in Mexico City over the past couple of months, I only had a couple of credits for bonus Membership rewards points. After some further digging, I realized that I was actually missing a lot of the Membership Rewards points I expected: over the past year or so, I’ve put $869 in Uber charges on my Membership Rewards-earning cards (American Express Business Platinum and my American Express Everyday), but only received 346 bonus points over that time period.
I was hoping to see a lot more of these on my Membership Rewards activity history…
I had an idea of why these were missing, but I reached out to American Express via web chat anyway. The agent said they would file a ticket for me and someone from the Membership Rewards department would call me in a few days. In the meantime, I decided to do some research. Continue reading
Good afternoon everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend. I was making changes to my Uber and Lyft account this weekend by setting my US Bank Cash Plus Credit Card as the default payment method since that credit card now offers 5% cash back for public transportation (including Uber and Lyft for Q2). While I was doing that, I noticed that the Uber app had Commuter Benefits as a payment method. I have a Commuter Check Prepaid Debit MasterCard through my work that allows me to use pre-tax dollars to pay for public transportation to and from work. If you have a similar commuter benefit card, you can add that card to your Uber app by clicking the payment tab, selecting Commuter Benefits and entering your card information.
Good afternoon everyone, I have another short post to share before you start your weekend. If you have the US Bank Cash Plus (Cash+) Credit Card, you can now select your Q2 bonus categories. I did this yesterday and noticed the new 5% ground transportation category. This is great timing because both the Chase Freedom Credit Card and Discover It Credit Card offer 5% cash back for public transportation (including Uber & Lyft) for Q1, but not for Q2. By the way, the Citi Dividend Credit Card is offering 5% cash back at drugstores and fitness clubs in Q2. Time to stock up on “cold medicine.”
Part 1: Interview with a Professional Uber/Lyft Driver – Tipping, Surge Pricing & More
Part 2: Interview with a Professional Uber/Lyft Driver – How Much Money do Drivers Earn?
I first met Harry Campbell back in August 2014, long before he was the ride-sharing guy. His first web presence was at www.yourpfpro.com, a financial website for young professionals. And as it turned out, Harry is also a miles and points guy, so we’ve stayed in touch ever since.
Then a few years ago, he turned his time and attention to his new brand, TheRideShareGuy.com. Maybe you’ve heard of him or seen his blog/podcast/Youtube channel. He’s my go-to resource when I have ride-share questions, so I wanted to sit down with him and get his view as both an insider, because he still drives for both Uber and Lyft, and also as a mentor and resource for drivers.
I asked Harry some tough questions, because as a consumer, there’s a lot about the ride-sharing world I’d like to understand. I want, as I’m sure you do, to have the best possible ride-sharing experience, and understanding this from both a passenger as well as a driver perspective helps! Harry’s got a unique window into the sharing economy, so let’s see what he has to say.
Shelli: Is there an over-saturation of drivers (in certain places of course)? Is this why Uber/Lyft can keep cutting back on how much drivers earn?
Harry: Both Uber and Lyft cut rates almost annually on drivers, but they don’t really give very convincing reasons why. They say lower rates will bring drivers more money, but we have not seen evidence for that. Over-saturation of drivers is definitely an issue, but so is Uber’s burn rate of drivers. In 2015, Uber announced nearly half of its drivers quit after one year, but so far it doesn’t look like as though the pool of drivers will let up. Flexibility and the ability to earn money on your own time is tempting for a lot of people, even though Uber and Lyft cut rates. Continue reading