As most companies resort to having employees work from home, there are some professions that this option would unequivocally appear on their list of alternatives. Surprisingly, some of these groups that can’t work from home are at the same time the most vulnerable in the current era. Take for example taxi drivers, they literally interact with a lot of strangers on a daily basis, whom by extension could be carrying an infectious disease such as the covid-19. Just like anyone else, taxi drivers such as Uber faces enormous amounts of distress during this period; from diminished earnings to increased risks of being infected.
As the saying goes, tough times calls for touch choices and uber drivers have devised a clever way to make those rides without the knowledge of Uber or in some cases vehicle owners. By using certain clever means on unsuspecting riders, they’re able to circumvent paying the mandatory twenty five percent fee they remit to uber on every trip they make.
And by extension the same tactics are used to withheld some earnings from car owners. Uber utilizes an app that connects riders to drivers. Riders have to input their pick up location and destination in the app where the app provides a estimate of the amount they’ll likely be required to pay. Under normal circumstances, Uber systems have become very efficient in a way that riders usually only pay the estimated amount except in rare cases such as traffic jams or road closures.
Faced with touch times that have led to meagre earnings, Uber drivers have found some loopholes in the online taxi hailing app that often allow them to make trips, collect cash without remitting the firms 25 percent share.
Ways uber drivers use to avoid paying the 25 percent uber fee
- Loyal customers that don’t request cabs via the app
Once you’ve taken a ride in an uber, there are some customers who might want to keep the driver on certain occasions. For example, there are many Kenyans who have partnered with some of uber drivers to drive them on specific days for various reasons. Whether its going to work or church or any occasion that require one to make regular trips at specific times.
- Cancelling a ride instead of starting it once the rider gets in
This is a peculiar method but still most of them do it all the time. this method works with the assumption that the rider already has an estimate of what the ride would cost. In some cases, drivers ask their customers if they’ve seen the amount they’ll need to pay just before cancelling. And after the trip is completed, uber drivers usually depend on their customer’s good will to pay even without receiving an official invoice.
- Requesting riders to cancel and pay the estimated amount.
This one is a bit straight forward and requires consent from the rider first just to make sure they’ll pay. Once you request a ride, the driver might request you to cancel the trip and just pay for the shown estimate amount.
- Submit a paid trip as unpaid
Lastly but not least, crooked drivers in some cases will say you dint pay cash for the trip even though you paid. This is more common to rides requested by someone else other than the rider. Uber requires riders to make an official complaint within three days. Therefore, these drivers base on the assumption that you won’t notice immediately especially if you rarely use the app.