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Me making it out to the gym for New Years Resolutions. It was nice not to fail day 1. I gave the big thumbs up to the new gym renovations.

Happy New Year’s Eve to all! Also to my Pokemon Go friends, and my family I got new napkins for today for the family party. I will be driving for Uber tonight so I can not party hardy today. Yet I will stop by some party nights for five minutes to wave hi to friends for the New Year.

Alexandria my daughter, my mom Anne, and myself on the way to Christmas mass at Saint Edward’s Church. Alexandria is laughing because she does not want her photo taken. Ha ha! I did take the photo.

 

Top 10 Tips of the Month Driver

Things to Know Day One for Uber and Lyft Drivers.

There are some smart things, and dumb things to do as an Uber or Lyft rideshare driver. After my first 3 months these are the things I noticed. One smart thing to do is to place your Uber and Lyft referral codes in a video for new drivers to use. For example my Uber referral code is  ANDREAM34227UE and Lyft is MENZIES20443

My Uber and Lyft Codes are now posted on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRvmNZslrVo

1. Don’t be afraid to drive other people around in your car. At first I was like “Oh no strangers in my car!” but strangers are also at the Mall, the Library, and even the Post Office. Basically being around strangers is part of modern life no matter what job you do, and you will get used to it pretty fast.

 

 

2. Here is a tip on how to drive the smart way. Always make Tourist Brochures for your car with a business card included. Uber and Lyft drivers don’t just drive students to bars they drive around business workers and tourists to airports and buses. Write down a top 10 list of Popular Tourist Destinations in your area in brochure format.

 

 

Show the hours and addresses of these tourist areas saving people the work of looking them up. First of all this saves you from needing to say popular tourist information a thousand times a day while you are busy driving. In the second place chances are you play in a band, are a DJ, a writer, or sell some other items on the web. No one says “I want to drive a cab as my dream job!” as a little kid in 1^st grade, but you can make a mundane day job work for you.

 

 

You can recommend popular tourist spots. Tell people what things you like in the city, and even give people maps to local famous houses. Tourist places like when you do this, and some places will give you free coupons if you send tourists their way.

 

 

3. Rideshare is like any customer service. I used be an assistant manager at 7-11, and many of the things you will say daily are just like any other customer service at the register. Your phone as you drive is your register. Say “hello” and “how are you tonight” to your customers, always confirm their name as they get in the car.

 

 

Also ask if the air is okay for A/C, and ask “Do you need to be dropped on the right or left side?” and “Will this be all for today?” and “Have a great night!” as they get out. Most all rideshare customers are nice University students without cars, job travelers, or people on vacation who did not want to rent a car. Some are musicians who do not want to walk a long way with expensive equipment, and you are now a roadie.

 

 

4. You can cancel trips at any time. If someone tries to put a huge and an actively vomiting person in your car, or someone who cannot talk because they are on too many drugs do NOT drive them anywhere, and call the cops. You can drive away with the door open if you have to do it. They may have been roofied with Rohypnol, and cops may hold you partially responsible if something bad happens. You are not obligated to drive people anywhere just because they pressed an app button. You have a cancel trip button. People who do not speak English well are okay as long as they nod approval to the address.

 

 

5. You can cash out after every ride. You do not have to wait until you reach a high dollar amount. Five dollars is an okay cash-out amount. Avoid doing a dumb thing and always make sure you have the correct credit card attached to your account when you cash out. I forgot to do this once, but it is a mistake you can fix. If you accidentally cash out onto a credit card that gets lost or stolen you can press “contact customer service” and add an active card within 48 hours. It will revert onto the next payment cycle’s direct deposit if it does not deposit on a canceled card.

 

 

6. Don’t drive a long shift your first day. You will only make big mistakes if you work too long when you are confused. Learn slowly the first few days.

 

 

7. The Uber app uses turn-by-turn directions. Online maps are often wrong! Always double check that it is not sending you the wrong way down a one way street, and never follow the maps in a blind way. Take unfamiliar turns slowly.

 

 

 

8. There are no bathrooms in your Uber or Lyft car. No Harry Potter spell will make bathrooms teleport into your car as you are stuck in traffic. Find a good gas station chain like Wawa in the Richmond, VA area. When you need to go to the bathroom log off from Uber, and log into Google maps. You can do this as much as you want every shift. You can type the name of the gas station chain into Google maps instead of an address, and Google will give you a list of the nearest ones. Press one, and follow the map to the closest gas station as a way to go to the bathroom in strange areas. Boy do I wish I had known this my first day!

 

 

9. Have an express pass for toll roads installed in your car and working. The Google maps have an “avoid toll roads” feature, but Uber makes you take toll roads always. I am convinced the toll roads pay them to make drivers take the toll roads. You will need a toll road pass if you live near one if you drive Uber and Lyft. Uber and Lyft both will pay you back for every toll road you take in your driver fees.

 

 

10. Drive the surge areas! Some prime address areas charge people 0.50 cents per mile or even more when the traffic is high, and these are called surge areas. Find the closest high traffic area on Friday and Saturday night, and log in there. If a customer from the high traffic areas has you drive them to a very slow area far away from downtown log out of your driving app when you are done.

 

 

 

Put extra gas in your car, and drive back down to the prime addresses downtown using Google maps. I make more money on nights when I do this activity. You will make more in the surge areas every high-traffic night.

 

 

There are one million other things I could say, but these are the main “Top 10” issues you will face at first. Remember to be nice, and help the tourists with their luggage when you can. Give advice on fun places to go, and when to go there. Have a great night and welcome to the rideshare world!

 

Our gifts and tree are ready for Christmas! My daughter Alexandria is so excited!