I Quit: Miseries of an Uber Driver
Uber just lost a really good driver.
As a mom who had stopped working to raise my child, I decided to try driving for Uber part-time, for flexibility and some extra cash. I am a native English speaker who grew up in my major metropolitan area (San Francisco Bay Area), and these are two big advantages for a driver. Having actually lived and worked from San Jose to Marin, I know how to get from point A to point B without maps or a GPS, and I do not have to use Uber’s incredibly bad and misleading GPS, which comes with its driver app. I also have a brand-new Prius and don’t mind keeping it clean.
It took Uber two months to complete my required background check and to “process” my driver’s license, proof of insurance and a $20 car inspection. It took many weeks for Uber to mail me its iPhone 4 (loaded with its app). I could not begin driving without it — or possibly, I could have used my own iPhone 5, but they didn’t mention that, because they wanted to charge me $10 per week for their iPhone 4. The minute I found out I could be using my own phone, I sent theirs back, but not before they had deducted $30 for “phone rental.”
