My name is Takele, and I’ve been driving for Uber and Sidecar for one year and a half.
I started this job quitting my job from the airport where I made $9.47 an hour, and then Uber came out with advertising saying that you could make $35 to $45 an hour. So believing that, I quit that job.
And then I tried to buy a car at the dealership, but because I don’t have the credit, I couldn’t get a car from there. So then my next option was my friends. I borrowed money from my friends, and then I bought the car that Uber needs.
So I bought a car and I started driving. I started driving, and they reduced their price. So then I began making less than I did when I made minimum wage at the airport.
I put 45,000 miles on my car, and at end of the year, I need to make taxes. I keep all the gas I put into my car, I keep all the repair receipts on my car. At the end of the year, I hired a public accountant to do my tax return. And when he did the thing, because I get a lot of things like 55 cents for mileage, when I did it all it came out to be $2.64 per hour.
Now, I quit my job. I have an $8,500 loan for my car still, as of this time. I have nowhere to go back. What I’m making now is even worse—this year they reduced fare about 25 cents than the last year. I don’t know what I’m going to make at the end of the year.
There’s nowhere I can go.
But people who see from outside think we are making good money because Seattle’s minimum is $15, but what we make is not even close to that. Because of Uber. Because there is no legislation that told what we get paid.
They are free of any responsibility and we are treated like toilet paper.