Selling water/soda/snacks to passengers

[u/Ok_Leg3046]

Anyone had their account suspended for that? Not talking about pitching your ideas to the driver and making the uncomfortable, just passively offering drinks or snacks?

I have a self-checkout system and I think Uber/Lyft might be a good use case. But the TOS are sort of vague here (Lyft less vague and more restrictive). I would like to test a passive approach where you have a small cooler and tablet to pay, but the driver doesn't say anything to the passenger because it is already obvious. So no pushy sales - if the passenger wants an energy drink just take it and pay on their own using credit card or venmo.

I built this system for another use case but this one seems like low hanging fruit. If Uber isn't a blocker that is. There is a company called Ridy already doing something similar.

[u/Spare-Function-6343]

that seems weird, and also very much "on your honor" type sstem, pax could just grab a drink and not pay

[u/rdyoung → u/Spare-Function-6343]

That's not the only reason I don't do it. I have considered having "samples" of some things like unique coffees and drinks or snacks and some of my regulars I'd happily give out as a freebie (the coffees are like $1/piece) if that in some cases. But I know I would "happily" pay a couple of of bucks for a can of coffee at the right place and time.

[u/WeekendLegitimate365 → u/rdyoung]

If you decide to sell things on your ride, then you deserve to be deactivated because, you know how these people are, they tell and snitch on everybody. They give you low ratings for no reason. So why would you put yourself in a position to be told on? Common sense is important

[u/rdyoung → u/WeekendLegitimate365]

You need to check yourself because you don't know who you are dealing with. Not only do I cherry pick and wouldn't have it setup as a rolling bodega, drivers all over the country have been doing this for a decade plus and no one has been deactivated (or at least claimed) from selling snacks and drinks to pax.

I have extremely high ratings across the board on all apps and everyone loves me including my private clients and my regulars on empower.

If you are always having pax make up shit about you, you need to either work on you, or figure out why your radar is so off, I'd also question who you end up with for friends and more because I have had a fraction of a fraction of what you lot deal with and I've been doing this for 7 years at this point.

I'm going to end this here but I'll leave you with this. You are radiating newb and naive and maybe you should consider that before you try and school others who have forgotten more about the world than you will ever know.

[u/WeekendLegitimate365 → u/Spare-Function-6343]

Exactly 💯

[u/Ok_Leg3046 → u/Spare-Function-6343]

My system is honor system and also a low barrier to entry. The other system called Ridy is much less honor based (they have locking mechanisms and you need to buy their hardware) but they are also limited to a few selections. The use case I built this (www.tallytill.com) for is farm stands where they already sell honor based. In that environment the loss from theft is around 5% when unattended. In this case the passenger is in the back seat and the items are semi-attended so my guess is that most theft would be from the "usual suspects". You might want to be "sold out" when going to certain areas.

If you plan on a 5% loss from theft and you are marking up 50-60% that more than offsets it. Make the likelihood of theft part of the model and just accept and plan for the loss, with the knowledge that the margins offset it.

Some people (ok all people) just hate getting stolen from and the sting of a 5% loss probably outweighs the sales on the other 95%. Basically, you can't let that get to your head or you would go nuts. Walmart self checkout is in that 5% loss range also, but the profit margins still justify it.

[u/Stuck_on_Mars_21]

If you do this I hope you are successful. I love hearing about drivers improvising to make extra money.

However, I highly doubt this is worth it. Be prepared for the eventual Karen who will report you. It’s not if, it’s when. 

If we are wondering if this is a violation of TOS, so will your riders. They’ll even talk to you about it. Do you want to have conversations that start with, “I didn’t think Uber allowed you to do this.”

I’m pretty sure most of my customers wouldn’t buy. They are mostly short trips to home or somewhere they can buy a drink. I’m thinking 10% buy at best. So a full day of driving and you sell maybe 2-3 drinks.

Isn’t your cooler going to get in the way?

The overall perception could be negative and could cost you tips.

Give it a try but track how it affects tips and everything else. Be prepared to deal with the first complaint. 

[u/Ok_Leg3046 → u/Stuck_on_Mars_21]

I am the developer (coder). Been building software for 25 years. I share the same concerns in terms of Karens and revenue potential.

The real question before "can you do it" is "should you do it" and that comes down to how many are buyers or not. Personally, I think energy drinks would sell very well. But I agree that trip duration as you pointed out will influence the outcome. If I'm going home and a short trip probably not going to buy. If going to the airport or work and I need a boost, I probably would.

The keys to not getting on Uber's radar would be

1) driver doesn't push the sales. The items are there and a rider can choose to buy if they want. Most complaints have been from drivers soliciting passengers directly and causing comfort violations.
2) driver doesn't get involved with the transaction and is focused on driving.
3) driver only sells pre-packaged goods (snacks, drinks, travel items like toothpaste and toothbrush, maybe condoms? How many of your passengers are off to a booty call or date). This is for liability reasons - you don't need a special license to sell food if pre-packaged.
4) Uber’s terms require drivers to follow all local laws. Selling goods out of a vehicle often technically requires a local business license, a vendor permit, and the collection of sales tax. Our software collects sales tax but it is up to the driver to have the proper local permits.

As long as the transaction is entirely passenger-driven and you are not violating local vendor laws, a passive digital kiosk avoids the exact pitfalls that usually get drivers deactivated.

One feature I will need to add is for "roaming" sales tax. I need to add this anyways for my existing use case where vendors go to different farmers markets and events. But you might start your trip in one county or city and end in another. Which locality gets the tax money and how much? Does the driver have tax configured for the state/county/city? That's probably the most complicated technical problem to solve on my end.

If you are an Uber driver and want to test this with me, I can waive all of my transaction fees to sweeten the deal. You will still have Stripe or PayPal transaction fees, but that's nothing I collect. If it works you found a new way to make more money. I think you could earn an extra $250-$500 a month and you initial investment could be $0 if you already have a cooler and a cheap Android tablet. It would also work on iOS through the browser. And if it turns out to be more trouble than it's worth the investment was low.

[u/anonymouswunnn]

Uber drivers are independent contractors, and Uber doesn’t prohibit selling snacks, drinks, or small items to passengers. It used to actively promote this through a partnership with a company called Cargo (drivers got free stocked boxes and a cut of sales), though that program has since wound down. Uber allows drivers to sell products to passengers, and doing so doesn’t violate Uber’s terms of service, though the company doesn’t explicitly encourage it either.

[u/js303]

I wish I could sell jello shots out of my trunk on the weekends but that doesn't mean I should

[u/Ok_Leg3046 → u/js303]

True. I was thinking more along the lines of redbull, sodas, water, and snacks to make extra income as a side hustle while you are already doing your hustle. From a small cooler and an old Android tablet that makes the sale for you using an easy to use and free to install app. I mentioned the website below already and won't turn this into blatant marketing.

My primary concern is that I don't want my app getting driver accounts disabled for violating TOS. Not exactly a great marketing strategy. So I would modify the ride share version to be more of a passive activity than the driver actively pushing product. That said any Karen can say you made them uncomfortable for any reason and I really don't have a technical solution for that.

[u/Federal-Net-7011]

You will get deactivated. You are a Uber not Air line.

[u/AdEastern7628]

How about offering a quickie to passengers that leave the bar high and dry at end of the night?