Tag Archives: Uber

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Part 4: Interview with a Professional Uber/Lyft Driver – Is Uber’s Upfront Pricing Good or Bad for Drivers?

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The controversy between Uber, its drivers, and its customers seems to be a never-ending story. You might recall the 3 part interview series with Harry Campbell, our go-to guy on everything Uber & Lyft, that we ran a few months ago. And now there’s another part of the Uber saga we want to make sure you’re aware of. I recently spoke with Harry and asked him if there was anything new that TWG reader’s ought to know. He sent me this article about Uber’s upfront pricing. Make sure to read it (it’s a long, very detailed post, but very enlightening).

Image source: https://qz.com/956139/uber-drivers-are-comparing-fares-with-riders-to-check-their-pay-from-the-company/

Uber rider paid $25.65 (left) while the Uber driver received $15.00 (right). Image source: https://qz.com/956139/uber-drivers-are-comparing-fares-with-riders-to-check-their-pay-from-the-company/

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Lesson Learned: International Uber Rides Do Not Earn 2x Membership Reward Points

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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.

Screenshot of an American Express Membership Rewards summary showing two line entries for "Uber Earn 2x MR Points"

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 →

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Use Pre-Tax Commuter Benefit Debit Cards to Pay for Uber Pool & Lyft Line Rides to/from Work

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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.

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US Bank Cash Plus Credit Card Adds Ground Transportation (Including Uber & Lyft) to Q2 5% Cash Back Categories

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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.”

US Bank Cash Plus Categories

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A Cheap Day in Bogota, Colombia (Monserrat, Funicular, Roasted Corn & Uber Rides)

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Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.  Before I go on, I wanted to give a quick shoutout to all the people who attended my SF Travel Hackers weekend meetup in SF on Saturday – it was great to talk to all of you.  This post is the second trip report from my recent South American trip (part 1: Aloft Bogota Colombia Airport Hotel Review (SPG Category 1 + Free Airport Shuttle)).  In this post, I will show you how cheap things are in Bogota, Colombia.  The current exchange rate as of February 13 is 1 US Dollar = 2,878 Colombian Pesos (You can round up to 3,000 to make the math simpler in your head).

1 USD to Colombian Peso

During our time in Bogota, we took 2 Uber rides.  The first ride was from the Aloft Bogota Hotel to Montserrat (one of the highest peaks in the city with a great view of the city) and the second from somewhere in town back to our hotel.  The first Uber ride was 12,300 Colombian Pesos (~$4.27 for a 35 minute Uber ride) and second Uber ride was 11,000 Colombian Pesos (~$3.82 for a 19 minute ride).

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