Last Updated on April 20, 2026 by stlplace
(02-17-2026) During my lunch hour. I thought about doing it last week. And this noon I did it. My 1st order is to pick up food at Chick Fil A in U City (by Costco), and deliver it to wustl. The second order is in Clayton area, Jimmy Johns sandwich to an office building (a block a way or so). My total earning is about $13. The wustl girl gave me $1 tip.
(02-19-2026) I did two Uber driving trips in the evening as I didn’t get much Uber Eats order. First trip is from WUSTL Knight center to the Budget Avis car rental place near airport. The second trip is short one, near the apartment off Cypress road (again near airport) – a lady wanted to buy something from the plaza not too far from her apartment. I did notice a large group of teenagers (likely high schoolers) gathering outside the apartment complex.
(03-07-2026) I did two more deliveries this morning: Chick fil a CC (Ladue), Starbuck New Ballas/Clayton (across street)
Also noticed a bit meaningful surge (+$10 or more) in the evening at about 7:30 pm, Saturday 03/07/2026. A friend was going to airport, and noticed the normal fair of about +$30 went up to +$70. In other words, Uber is still pocketing most of the cost increase from the surge.
Observation so far: most Uber Eats deliveries are not worth it (time vs income). For me this is mostly to get outside of house, because I work from home for about 6 years now.
(03-08-2026) Today I drove this route when I drove for Uber. I had to admit I was scared during some portion of the trip – and I documented some of my feelings here in YT Shorts. Now I recall almost 30 years ago, when I was fairly new to the USA, and new to St. Louis, a few times I drove by some of the similar places in St. Louis (accidentally), and I was scared. And now I think it’s best for me to stay out of those areas, for that matter, stay out of Uber driving too.
(03–09-2026) Between 6 pm and 6:30 pm: delivered an Uber Eats order from Sides of Soul to Kirkwood apartment. Tip $11.98 + $2 delivery fee.
(03-10-1016) Did 4 Uber trips in the pm. One: from Panera Old Olive to house off Lackland near Costco Business Center; Two: from the International Paper manufacturing plant to McDonald off St. Charles Rock Road; Three, this one takes a bit time to drive, in hind sight I should not accept, from U city near Overland to the U city Chicken Fil A (not a lucrative trip, also the pickup location is not the best spot either.)
Uber offered total $7.50 incentive for the trips above. No tips today.
One thing I like to understand more is how Uber was trying both AI (offers trip to drivers), and promotions (loyalty, rewards and offers*, and driver reference) to get drivers to drive for the trip.
*Today is the first time I received offers money from Uber. It’s $4 for 2 trips, and another $3.50 for another trip (the last one). In my old Mastercard job, as I was working in the loyalty and rewards area, this is called “qualification” (meaning the cardholders need to perform certain action to qualify for the award). Promotion is different in the sense, it’s proportional to the card spend.
One main difference between Uber and Uber Eats: tip is upfront for Uber Eats and could be meaningful. Uber not that much: many factors came into play for tips; in general should not expect much tips.
Ultimately: safety first. After safety, when looking at a trip whether it’s profitable or not, I should look at the earning per minute or per hour. Do a quick math and see if it’s 50 cents per minute, or $30 per hour. At the end of the day though, I should pay more attention to the stock market because that’s potentially more lucrative. Thinking Uber should be a hobby or a way to get out, and feel the real world. So maybe just once or twice a week. There is another factor: the acceptance rate, I probably need to balance the empty miles driven vs acceptance rate.
(03-12-2026) I just signed up the “plus card” and “Shop and Deliver orders”. I think I am going to try that instead of accepting passengers for Uber (in addition to safety, sometimes I don’t like the body smell or perfume from my passengers, sometimes it took long time to dissipate – similar for the cannabis or marijuana).
In the evening, after getting home from “teaching my old daughter pratice on highway aka 141”, I did two Uber passenger trips, first one is from Maplewood to Chesterfield (Twin Peaks to Red Lobster, it appears two ladies or mom/daughter duo are working at two places sequentially?), and the second trip is at Chesterfield itself (from Bunge office off 64 to the Hyatt Place at Chesterfield Mall, traveller to the Bunge North America HQ office). No tips for the two trips.
After that I bought some groceries from the Chesterfield Schnucks and went home.
(03-14-2026) This morning I did 3 Uber Eats deliveries. The first two are normal ones, the 3rd one had a major hiccup. Two issues: it’s for Starbucks and I forgot about the morning rush at Starbucks when I accepted the order. I had to wait for probably 30 to 40 minutes for the order being prepared. Then as I reviewed the order I found out I cannot mark the order as picked up in the Uber driver app – it says delayed. I still delivered the order and tried to contact the customer service agents. And they didn’t solve my issue, and the two agents said complete opposite things. I think I will stop driving for Uber for now. My main complaints are their app didn’t work for me, and their agents are not consistent. It’s more and more like a #ratRace
(04-20-2026) Came across this article. He says he accepted the ride that was supposed to take 30 minutes roundtrip. Then he got ensnared in rush hour traffic. “It’s 5:01pm so there’s a lot of traffic in Charlotte. And I’m driving to the passenger. I hit traffic, it takes me instead of 18 minutes, it takes me 35 minutes to pick up the passenger,” he says. (I know this one btw)