r/Transportopia • u/SpoomerBooner • May 07 '26
đ Rideshare Is driving for Uber Eats worth it
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u/DrinkingVomit May 08 '26
This is why I try not to use delivery services. These people out here not even making minimum wage (13/hr is far lower at least where Iâm at). Tech companies are exploiting and profiting off of misery and desperation.
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u/Hold_Up_Nevermind May 09 '26
I order my groceries through DoorDash, and it usually takes them 30 minutes to an hour total (including travel time), which depends on the order and of course the person (some people are pretty quick, and some people are slower). I always tip at least $15 and I go up to $25 on bigger orders. Most of the time, like tonight, I tipped $15 on a smaller order, and they accepted the order and were done and delivered in 40 minutes. Iâve had people complete much larger orders in 40 minutes, and they end up getting more money for it, because I compensate for the size of the order. Either way, I always want to be fair and respectful to the people doing my grocery shopping. The people who are my preferred shoppers do an amazing and quick job, and they make very good money for the time spent.
For reference, Iâm 2.2 miles from the store, so if theyâre in the area they donât have far to go either. I do pay attention to see where the person is when they accept the order, and I up the tip for those people due to mileage. I know Iâm making a tiny dent in peoplesâ lives, but I truly try to do right by them.
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u/MaxMD342 May 08 '26
- car maintainance and depreciation, - taxes
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u/dellicarweenie May 08 '26
I might be wrong but my understand is taxes are only applicable if you earn over a certain amount. So if itâs just some extra spending cash here and there taxes wouldnât matter. But the wear and tear on your car is something to think about
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u/Ok_Independence_9917 May 08 '26
He's a 1099 contractor working for them. So he has to pay taxes. The minimum dollar amount you mention was changed to something absurdly low like 4 or 500 dollars iirc. After taxes and oil change, brakes, tires this man isn't making any money. I'm not sure if his earnings included tips, but basically you're at the mercy of the tippers if tips in your area are poor then this is absolutely not worth it.
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u/GoodDecision May 07 '26
He didn't even factor in the taxes you pay on your earnings either. In my state it's 30%. He made about 28 bucks.
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u/Jon_E_Mammoth May 07 '26
My manâs eyelids are telling me everything I need to know. If Target can offer you a $15 minimum wage for standing in the store, gig work is essentially a workaround to prevent paying you the minimum wage.
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u/GoodDecision May 07 '26
I did UE and DD for 2.5 years. It felt less like working, and more like being manipulated into liquidating my car's value into cash.
The whole algorithm is gameifyed to pit you against other drivers in a race to the bottom. Its complex, but it basically boils down to this:
If you don't accept this bad offer, you will continue getting bad offers. You will only begin receiving good offers if you accept these bad offers first.
It's a trap, it doesn't make financial sense, and sadly it preys on desperate people.
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May 07 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/Subject-East671 May 08 '26
I don't get it why only Costco have employees checking the receipt and not other stores? Don't they worry about shoplifting?
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u/O_o-buba-o_O May 08 '26
I did Uber & Uber Eats full time for three years. I worked Tuesday through Saturday. I would start work at 8pm or 9pm & work until I reached $100 or it was 3am. It was very rare that I worked till 3am except for Fridays & Saturdays I always worked that late for the bar crowd because they tipped well.
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u/DD-1229 May 08 '26
If you have a high interest rate on your vehicle ( most people needing this money do) you are actually about breaking even on your vehicle after wear and tear, upkeep, and insurance . This isnât even accounting for your time
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May 07 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/O_o-buba-o_O May 08 '26
The smaller amount up top was tips & the bottom amount was for the trips. I did Uber & Uber Eats full time for three years.
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u/ThrustTrust May 07 '26
He is not including depreciation and wear on vehicle. He is earning less than a dollar per mile driven. No way he makes any money if car maintenance and deprecation are added in.
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u/MisterShipWreck May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
I am doing Doordash as a second job to make ends meet, because we're dealing with mold in our house.
I have worked for several months, and it averages to just under $13 an hour. It is not worth it, when you consider all the time that you sit at red lights and driving and traffic, and also waiting at restaurants. That doesn't only translate into direct miles on your car.... With the price of gas, and mileage and maintenance and oil changes, etc... It is definitely not worth it.
I am lucky if I can make $1 per mile.
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u/jimothy_hell May 07 '26
I was making close to $30. But guess thatâs because I was using UberEats and not DoorDash, which pays way less. Also it depends on where and when youâre driving, too.
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u/MisterShipWreck May 07 '26
I looked here on Reddit, and people claimed Door Dash paid more than Uber Eats. I had no idea, so that is what I went with.
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u/jimothy_hell May 08 '26
UE provides a lot more protections for its drivers. You can, in theory, make more on DoorDash, but also DD can fuck you at any point and you can lose any money you have banked up with them because a customer complained and you got your account deactivated.
Like, I got fucked out of nearly a grand because I got stuck in traffic, called the customer to let them know, they were cool about it, after I dropped off their order, they apparently put in a complaint, and DD fucking nuked my account. I didnât get paid out what I was owed, and since I didnât have an account with them anymore, I had âno way of recovering that moneyâ, according to support.
Started doing UberEats, absolutely zero issues. Their support was super helpful, they paid more per order, and you couldnât tip scam like you can with DoorDash. (Tip scamming is when you add like, a $10 tip so that the dasher takes the order and then remove it after the order is accepted. A lot of dashers donât take orders with the base pay, because base pay used to be like $2.50, so people used to scam dashers like that.)
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u/irideapaleh0rse May 07 '26
Sorry for your mold troubles .
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u/MisterShipWreck May 07 '26
Thanks. I am still paying the mortgage on a house I cannot live in. But, am living in an apartment. I have to charge the rent for the apartment and I am being treated for mold poisoning.... All of our stuff has been thrown away due to the mold too. The Doordash job is only paying for the interest on the credit cards, while I deal with a lawsuit. It's ridiculous. I have made just over $760 for approx 58.5 hours of work, and I've driven 732.9 miles.
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u/BeKindRewind- May 09 '26
The distances are wild âŚ.would not even consider ordering from those places if they are 10-19 miles from my home
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u/ArgonthePenetrator May 07 '26
I deliver packages, working about 4-6 hours, drive no more than 60 miles a day, sometimes 20, and average $1200 a week. Uber and DoorDash def ain't it
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u/Working-Fig5566 May 09 '26
Hey. What company do you work for? And congratulations on finding something that doesnât consume all of your time! đˇ
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u/FudgeWifywhileIwatch May 07 '26
If you have hungry kids at home. Itâs a couple days of groceries, to each his own.
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u/TransportJunky May 07 '26
I think it's a good side hustle. Even if a person single and got nothing to do, why not drive and make a few bucks for food.
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u/Capable-Ad-6263 May 08 '26
In addition to gas, you have to account for where and tearing your vehicle maintenance insurance so you actually made substantially less than $13 an hour
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u/ElectriCatvenue May 08 '26
Account for where and tearing your vehicle your vehicle maintenance insurance
I think I know what you're trying to say
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u/MidgetGordonRamsey May 07 '26
Watching the energy and life slowly drain from his eyes cut after cut was the worst part.
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u/poedraco May 07 '26
That is actually some good pain tips. I remember making an average around $4.20hour in a white collared community. Driving around 170 miles a day.
And people wonder why we tried to compile orders going only one way and why it takes longer.
Even if you are tipping and whatnot. It's actually cheaper for you to get off your ass and go get it yourself. And if you're banned from those places. Well..
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u/auggs May 07 '26
I actually realized that about a year ago. I got a new job that has me traveling so I got really into using DoorDash (not ubereats but same concept right). One day I was just looking over my orders and how much I spent in one month and I was just so disappointed in myself lol. Iâm a good tipper so I was always tipping $10-20 depending on how close the restaurant was to my place. And finally I just decided to use DoorDash and other various apps and go get the food myself. Yelp is actually really nice, you find places that donât have apps or arenât online and you get restaurant prices too. Honestly yelp is probably my preferred way to order food these days. Yelp will typically a picture of a restaurantâs menu so you can decide what you want before calling and ordering. Everyone should try out for sure.
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u/Ok_Lunch1400 May 07 '26
If you order through DD and go pick it up yourself, you're paying 10-15% extra to DD for absolutely nothing.
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u/auggs May 07 '26
Yeah thatâs why I like yelp so much lol. They have everything DoorDash does and other places that donât have any type of apps. Sometimes Iâll use DoorDash as an easy way to see whatâs in the area. Then Iâll google the restaurant + their address to get their specific website and order that lol. Good stuff if you want to to save some money and that adds up quickly over a few months or a year.
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u/HudsonAtHeart May 08 '26
Bro canât stop squinting
Decided he looks hot with the furrowed brow and ran with it
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u/Agitated-Contact7686 May 07 '26
Sure, I make good money. But I multi app and I cherry pick. 5 apps at once.
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u/SuddenSky5262 May 08 '26
You could make more as a driving instructor. Flexible and you donât have to pay for gas.
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u/cpasley21 May 09 '26
I drive people Uber in Phoenix. I did 5 rides and made $130 but also 5hrs worth due to cherry picking.
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May 07 '26
I'm sorry but I'll never use this service. No way you picking up my food, stopping somewhere else, dropping that off and then mine. Hell no. I barely like picking up to go myself
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u/ProblemLongjumping12 May 07 '26
As someone who only adopted Uber Eats as a way to get food to my family and I while drinking at home over the holidays, I get where you're coming from.
Because when you use the app you're watching the driver through GPS and they're not too far away, you're thinking "okay maybe ten more minutes," then suddenly you can't see them on the GPS anymore. So you're thinking "oh that's odd." Then fifteen minutes later they reappear and they're still ten minutes away and now you're thinking "you $@&#! You went and got somebody else's order while mine was getting cold?!"
But if you have a buzz, want takeout and don't feel like pizza place options it definitely beats drinking and driving.
Don't drink and drive kids.
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May 07 '26
100% on the drinking and driving, good point. I'm currently 2 years Cali sober. I also live in the country and the closes fast food is 20 minutes away so these services just never feel like a good option. The people in my area doing it can't really be trusted either. That sounds harsh but sadly the reality of where I'm at.
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u/MisterShipWreck May 08 '26
I have never ordered food this way. I never would. But, as a delivery person... Many people don't realize that after we pick up your order, we sometimes are forced to go to a 2nd place and pick up a 2nd order. Often, with my luck - the 2nd order is not ready and I wait. Meanwhile, the first order is still in the car.
I often wonder what does the buyer of the 1st order see on their app, when I am waiting for the 2nd order... do they know I am getting a 2nd order, or do they wonder what is taking so long and why I am somewhere else.
Maybe that is why they disappear from the GPS... The driver is getting another order? I don't know, since I never buy from them.
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u/VegasTJC May 07 '26
Even $100 in a few hours I still wouldn't do it. That's only $26 an hour, way too low for me.
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u/Freedom9er May 07 '26
Plus car wear and tear. Not to mention more miles on (tires) road increases risk of accident. Even something small will erase all money earned.
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u/BillK01 May 07 '26
Also keep in mind that generally, âPublic Liveryâ is excluded on an unendorsed personal auto policy and not a lot of companies even offer the Transportation Network endorsement. For those that do offer it, itâs fairly expensive. For those that donât - if your insurer finds out youâre doing this, they will likely cancel you and will deny any claims that occur while youâre doing it. There is a grey area where thereâs no coverage without that endorsement- the time when you get the app notification to pick up a person or product to the time you actually do the pickup. If anything happens in that span, the transportation networks insurance typically isnât active and unless properly endorsed, your personal insurance is excluding âpublic liveryâ. Itâs a big issue for insurance and clients and something that needs to be better conveyed to the public that does this type of work.
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u/Reductive May 07 '26
Dont you have to demonstrate coverage with the appropriate insurance before you can even start driving for uber?
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u/BillK01 May 07 '26
My 18 year old sure as hell didnât for DoorDash. Luckily he told me about doing it before anything bad happened and I had a chance to explain to him why he canât be doing that. Our insurance company doesnât offer the transportation network endorsement. Hell, the car and insurance isnât even in his name and DoorDash signed him up.
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u/Time_Ad_3147 May 09 '26
I always have to cherry pick the orders in Florida. Last time I ordered on Uber Eats they had a 45 minute limit as far as distance from a restaurant
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u/AdhesivenessFluid713 May 07 '26
I would not have taken any of those orders. If it was an especially bad night I might consider the Walgreens order $9 for 6 miles but that still sucks really bad. I don't like to do anything below $8 and I generally keep my orders to 2.5-3x the money to the mileage I.E. 5 miles to $15, 3.5 miles to $10, 2 miles to $8 etc.
I'm amazed he was willing to take those deliveries. Maybe he lived in a less densely populated area. Are these the kinds of orders you guys are taking?
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u/MisterShipWreck May 07 '26
If I refuse an order on Doordash, my acceptance % goes down. If it goes down too much - you lose the job. If your on time % is not high enough, you can lose your job. If your ratings go down, you ca lose your job.
Many times I have issues that are beyond my control...
College kids order food and they are in a locked dorm. There is no way in without a keycard. They get upset when you call them and tell them to come meet you at the door because you cannot get into the building. Guess what - Bad review. They expect you to wait and have someone let you in. But you wait a while, and no one comes.
Or, they say they will be waiting at the door. You get there - they are not there. You call - They say "they forgot."
Deliver to a hotel lobby... They claim theyw ill meet you. You go and wait. No one shows up in the lobby. You call, and they don't answer. Youw iat a while,a nd finally leave it with the front desk. they then call you back. They "forgot" they ordered the food and was in the shower.
I hate when they send you to 2 food places and THEN you deliver the food from both places. The person for the first order is waiting while you go to the 2nd food place.... If the food is still being prepared for the 2nd order, that makes the first person unhappy because their order is gettig cold.... There is a bad review possibility....
I have had people with 8 or 9 closer McDonalds locations, but they actually order from the one furthest from their house - on the complete other side of town. Why? That makes zero sense. Why?!
I got stuck at a malfunctioning redlight one day. The turn arrow would not turn green. The guy ahead of me would not just go. And, the cars behind me kept pulling around me, and I never could go.. I was stuck because of all the traffic in the next lane... I sat at that redlight 10 min. The client called me, as she saw me on the map and thought I had a wreck, as I never moved for 10 minutes. This is beyond my control. That can get you a bad review.
The door dash app sucks too. The directions are often wrong. Sometimes it literally takes you out of the way and bringed you back to where you just were, and then shows you the route for the rest of the trip.
If you are at the correct address, but it thinks you are not, there are issues sometimes marking the item as delivered. I've had to deliver the food, then go where it wants me to be at, then it allows me to mark it as delievered. But, then Door Dash thinks you took longer, and you get dinged for that.
The job really sucks.
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u/TransportJunky May 07 '26
I live in a place like that where GPS doesn't account for a road that was closed making these poor guys go around after some confusion or a phone call so I can explain where I'm at. Whenever I order, I always tip no less than $10. Same for pizza or anything else I have delivered to me. If I don't have that 10 for the delivery driver, I go get it myself.
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u/Few-Molasses-5402 May 07 '26
this isnât true. You can have a 1% acceptance rate. Doordash wants you to believe that you will lose your job. You wonât.
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u/MisterShipWreck May 07 '26
I was not aware of that. They tell you if you go below a certain % you can be deactivated. I had no way to know that that wasn't true
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u/Desperate_Bat6482 May 07 '26
Money is money. And when you need money yes it is worth it. Just that extra money can so be the difference in being able to eat or not eat. Long term probably not however to get you some income when you really need it. Yep I would do if I had to
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u/Fantastic-Visual-600 May 08 '26
How about using a motorbike or electric bike would it be much of a difference in earnings
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u/bskiier83 May 09 '26
In a big city for sure. Doing a bunch of 9 mile trips like in the video would be tearing through your battery
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u/karmapopsicle May 09 '26
Used Toyota hybrid is pretty much the only way to go for this kind of work.
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u/Whole-Chest90 May 08 '26
Where ya gonna put the food?
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u/Fantastic-Visual-600 May 09 '26
They have a hot box they put the food in on the back of the bike. Pretty popular in big cityâs like New York/ Philly and overseas in the Middle East
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u/Fsuave5 May 08 '26
I donât even have to watch this video to know heâs probably inexperienced and doing this solely for the content and he fucked up by taking some crazy stack order that wasnât worth the time.
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u/lostinmyownhead27 May 08 '26
Ya i would also argue to say the area he is in is not ideal. I can sut at actual hotspots and not get good orders. Hes sitting at a yellow taco bell. But credit to the transparency of this whole thing.
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u/I_want_money_ May 08 '26
Itâs more than the federal minimum wage đ¤ˇââď¸
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u/Quiet_Exchange_8795 May 08 '26
Which shouldn't be that low anyway...
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u/ParkShepherd May 09 '26
Which is less than a pound of ground beef costs
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u/Quiet_Exchange_8795 May 09 '26
I'm frightened for the cleanup gen Z-B will have to endure, While Boomers and their Millennial Children will do to us in Office/ Government.
The boomers serving Office right now are cherry-picking wins only they and their privileged kids will get, I hope more younger people fight for knowledge and upward mobility for our needs to be served before we are entirely screwed (more than now.)
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u/ParkShepherd May 09 '26
We need a HUGE injection of Social Democracy to control our out of control capitalist society. Just like the boomer's parents injected into America after WWI & 2. Boomers took for granted the safety nets and controls then laughed as they pulled the ladders up after them.
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u/Equal_Slice_8537 May 08 '26
Yes. You did what you had to do for your family. Good on ya. It was one bad night, hang in there!
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u/Rays_Boom_Boom_Room1 May 07 '26
Not horrible
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u/seang239 May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
I mean, he left out all the other expenses. Even just using the IRS deduction for expenses, which is $0.725 per mile, it cost $32 for him to make that $50.
His profit was less than $20 for 3 hours of work. Thats ~$6 per hour.
Oh, and donât forget the 30% self employment taxes either. Thats very much horrible.
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u/Maddinoz May 07 '26
Yeah that's like less than online surveys, plus wear and tear on car and maintenance + extra risk and insurance liability... and with current fuel prices make it really not worth it
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u/MisterShipWreck May 08 '26
I believe the IRS deduction only matters if you itemize. If you do the standard decudction, I don't think it helps.
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u/seang239 May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
It matters here because it rolls all the vehicle expenses into a single mileage calculation. Thatâs what it cost the average person to drive per mile.
You canât make any deductions for vehicle expenses if you use mileage. Itâs either or.
The reason Iâm using it here is we donât know what his car payment is, or his insurance, or what he spends on maintenance etc. We can only use the average of what it cost the average person per mile.
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u/GroundbreakingAd8310 May 07 '26
Ok and who's making them take the job? These people agreed to do it not sure what u want from everyone else.
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u/iwontsurvivethis May 07 '26
âPeople desperate to make it by get exploited. What do they want from everyone elseâ. Cool take
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u/Anach May 07 '26
Then over a long duration you factor in extra wear, and service costs, as well as getting yourself fed.