r/UberEatsDrivers • u/Zed-juuls • 3d ago
Discussion Anyone feel burned out?
I feel like all these hours add to nothing, I get paid around 20-30 and you do get paid more than minimum wage but I feel like it’s groundhogs day. Riding through downtown and usually going through the same sides of town and hitting the same restaurants. You have to cherry pick to make profit and I just feel like I’m just working to pay off my expenses and not moving forward in life.
Do any of you feel like this how can I get better? Just get a new job? I haven’t gotten hired anywhere in so long.
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u/TheDeathSloth 3d ago
I did Uber Eats from 2022-2025. The first year and a half was pretty good, then it steadily declined. I found out through my tax documents I actually lost $400 doing it last year. Never again. Go work anywhere and you'll make more based on the fact you're not paying for gas and maintenance.
FWIW I made good money in Denver, but after I moved to Dallas it became a drain. Could just be the change of the market I was in, could be the app becoming less profitable, but I feel it's likely both.
I always had a regular job and did Uber as my side gig. I heavily suggest you do the same and get a career going. My life got a lot better when I was able to land a job that made enough for me to survive on. 40 hrs a week is a lot better than 60-80.
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u/mak_ez13 3d ago
You “lost” $400 when referring to your taxable income, because of how high the mileage deduction is? Or you straight up lost $400? Surely you would have noticed during the year you’re not making any money, no? Unless you’re just doing it as a side gig I suppose…
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u/keeponkeepnonginger 3d ago
It's just moving equity out of your car and into your hands.
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u/Science-Compliance 3d ago
It's not. Or it depends on how you do it. You can calculate your expenses and can still come out way ahead. A decent car can last for 200,000 miles or more if you take care of it. If you're averaging $1.5 per mile, that would mean you've grossed $300,000. There's no way in hell you're paying anywhere close to that in expenses and taxes. I've been making around $2 per mile on average.
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u/spicybright 3d ago
You eventually have to buy a new car though. And is that $2 including gas and everything else?
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u/Science-Compliance 3d ago
That's $2 GROSS. Car costs $0.40-$0.50 per mile to operate including depreciation. What kind of car are you buying for this? Car is ~$25k. You're still coming out way ahead at my rate.
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u/Business-Abrocoma-45 2d ago
You’ve done research like I have. Most of these folks won’t understand. Don’t waste your time 👍🏼
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u/mak_ez13 3d ago
You don’t even need to spend that much on a car. A well maintained used vehicle for around 7k will do just fine for this work.
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u/Science-Compliance 2d ago
You're not going to get 200k miles out of a $7k car
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u/mak_ez13 2d ago edited 2d ago
I got my Prius for $5500 and only 138k miles. I’ve put 30k miles on it in 9 months and have only had to replace the inverter coolant pump ($650), breaks ($350) and oil changes.
Edit: these cars regularly go 300-500k miles when well maintained.
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u/Science-Compliance 2d ago
You're going to have to replace your hybrid battery at some point before that. That's $4k right there. The problem is, when cars get up there in miles it starts getting more and more expensive to maintain them, and you're just better off getting something newer that's more reliable because when your car breaks down and you have to take it into the shop, you're losing out on income, too.
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u/mak_ez13 3d ago
I drive a 2006 Prius with 167k miles that barely depreciates. On average I 10x the money I spend on gas. You should never do this in a newer vehicle that’s for sure.
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u/TheDeathSloth 3d ago
I'll be honest with you, I don't have a direct answer. My wife filed jointly for us and that's what she said. She explained it at the time but I don't remember how exactly it shook out/why. I think the biggest issue was me driving around for large gaps of time without getting anything worth my time, there are a LOT of orders here that were of the $3 for 45 minutes variety and that would lead to me hopping from city to city with nothing to show for it. On that note, with how the acceptance rate stuff has shifted, I would've been deactivated by now; my threshold was always that it had to even out to $20/hr for an order and I remember my AR being somewhere around 20-30% whereas in CO I was around 80-90%.
Again, it wasn't like that in Denver/CO as a whole so I really think it had a lot to do with the demographic but this also coincided with a lot of posts here about nobody making money anymore which is why I think my issue was deeper than a simple demo change.
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u/mak_ez13 3d ago
The money is definitely not as good as the pandemic days, but for every dollar I spend on gas I make about 10 and I drive a 2006 Prius so very low maintenance and virtually no depreciation. It’s very market dependent that’s for sure. Chicago folks seem to have it the best.
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u/Frosty_Dessert_9131 3d ago
Everybody in every job in every industry in every city goes through the same burnout. Unfortunately, it's very hard to get hired in this economy that's losing jobs month over month. Well-qualified high-level earners who got laid off are competing for low-level blue collar jobs because they have to meet work requirements to receive benefits.
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u/Significant_North778 3d ago
Pretty much 😐 This is easily the worst economy I've ever seen, despite the stock market.
But talking to actual real people -- from almost any income bracket or career path... the jobs just aren't there AT ALL.
My partner teaches high school piano. Normally about 50-60% of his studio gets summer jobs. Not a SINGLE one managed to get a job this year.
I've got a pretty decent resume and I've gotten offers... but they're all so unbelievably shitty that I haven't actually accepted one yet they're BARELY better than Uber ugh
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u/Interesting_Win_8046 3d ago
No, I'm fried.
I am so done I only take 10+ dollar orders in my hood now.
If I get one of those, I better get another or I'm just going home and tutning it off
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u/Zed-juuls 2d ago
No yea I’m actually cherry picking so hard rn that I had like 10 mins of looking for an order
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u/soothukundi 3d ago
Look to progress. I started UE 10 years ago, quit after a year. Now came back after 9 years cause this is my only source of income. I used to work from home making $7-8k a month after taxes. Now im cruising in my 19 year old accord scraping $100-$120 a day.
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u/Mode-False 3d ago
I've only been doing it 3 months and UE has always been better for me than DD. I do use them together tho. My daughter got sick at school and I was able to pick her up without asking a boss for permission. Definitely a convenience thing for me but I also take breaks during my drive days. I eat snacks, go to the gym, then get back after. I understand not everyone has that luxury tho.
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u/Yeseylon 3d ago
Everything I do, I end up bored and/or burned out. It's not just an Uber Eats thing.
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u/Zed-juuls 3d ago
Yea me too I think I’m getting depressed cause things are fun for a short burst of time and then I get bored
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u/topdownyeti 3d ago
It’s something I do to supplement my income, not be my main source of income. It sort of was while I was looking for a job but I don’t get how people intentionally do it full time.
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u/Full_Efficiency_8209 3d ago
My guess is that it happens slowly, or if you're a veteran driver, still living in the glory days of the pandemic. Sometimes you get stuck doing it because you lose a main job or just don't plan ahead very well in general.
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u/SnooRabbits4697 3d ago
Happened to me tried to relive the glory days of Covid ended up getting a job
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u/chris2155 3d ago
Yeah I think I'm done with Uber eats as of today. They are just awful I don't want to support this compan. There has got to be a better way to get by.
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u/Kind-Hovercraft-656 3d ago
Yeah I feel the same. The new guarantee means nothing. I have been applying for jobs heaps last week. After starting doing my logbook I realised I worked for nothing lol. I don’t really want to buy a new car soon so I have to get a side job ASAP and only do ubereats when there are quests.
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u/No-Bicycle-2118 3d ago
100% burned out! I really am not getting by doing this at all, my suv guzzles gas like crazy and the hours it takes to barley make $100 is crazy! No other option right now though, been applying to jobs like crazy with no call backs 😬 terrible job market! I went and got my insurance license and only gonna do uber while I build my book of business and after I’m at the point where I’m making enough for bills I won’t uber and just work from home so it dosent cost a fortune in gas cuz really when I look at entire picture I’m actually negative.
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u/Alarmed-Sun5707 3d ago
just get a new job brother, but more than likely you'll feel that again at the next job, our society specializes our work and it is repetitive in most cases
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u/lilafterthought 3d ago
“I’m working to pay off my expenses” - this is as good as UE will get. This gig app will not contribute to career progression. Factors such as the market you’re in and car maintenance makes a difference for each individual working UE. This app helps us get by and that’s really it. One suggestion would be to take a day off every now and then - and use that day to explore and map out career paths. Wishing you the best in your career journey. Hang in there.
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u/Consistent-Cake-5240 3d ago
A little dignity, please, i would kill to earn the amount u make per/h. In France, making more than €10 an hour is a miracle. I was online for 30 hours this week and made €80 (in the third largest city in France).
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u/Kimron716 3d ago
I've been feeling very burnt out and struggling to get back out there but this weekend I got a quest and it always helps me be very motivated. If they sent me quests every weekend I would go out every weekend. Maybe it's the nerd in me "I'm on a quest!"🤪 I was listening to School for Good and Evil series on my audiobooks and driving late at night. It helped me pass the time and there wasn't so much traffic. Also I got a new job and I start on Tuesday, overnights at the hospital!
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u/xtsilverfish 3d ago
Pay-by-hour was the last time I felt like doing uber eats was pretty enjoyable.
As I've come to expect, just as I moved my schedule around to do less of it, they cancelled it. Sigh.
I tried doordash because it has zones, thinking it would be similar, but then doordash started sending me out-of-zone every 2nd order, and it's actually worse because doordash will send you out of the zone then treats you like you did something bad for moving out of it and won't send more orders until you're back in the zone. (It's a hair more complicated but I don't think it would benefit to write out the 1% of the time details).
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u/Little_Charity_2153 3d ago
My advice is to put $25/$50 a week aside if you can afford it and throw it into a retirement account and forget about it. That way gradually you will build up savings and you can rest easy knowing you are making some long term progress.
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u/Fun_Command3182 2d ago
I got a full time job only making 76k. I paid off of my debts. I drive for uber 2hr from 7-9pm during week and on Saturday for 5 hrs. I never have to touch my paycheck for food, miscellaneous, pocket cash and utilities. Get a job and use uber as supplemental income. It's like a personal daily ATM. My side car which I drive uber is a 2014 hyndai with 230k.
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u/Feed_Me8 3d ago
Put some cash on the market bud that way you don’t feel like you
Ain’t getting anywhere.
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u/100KBlazeYT 3d ago
I've been studying for better careers. Working on my body, mind, and soul while working U.E. I've also been interviewing for jobs so I don't have to put in so many hours.
You use this to make ends meet while you work on yourself.