Suber Stories: My Rideshare Journey

By S. E. Pacheco

"Suber Stories" shares the remarkable journey of one woman's experience leaving her career as an educator to become an Uber driver. This ultimately leads to her becoming a compassionate caregiver to one of her Uber riders, which prepares her for life's next unexpected turn. "Suber Stories" begins by providing readers with some basic Uber education for both drivers and riders alike. It goes on to share the top ten Suber stories as well as accomplishments earned along the way. Finally, the book shares Susan Pacheco's personal journey of Uber driver to caregiver and how that prepared her for what came next in life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 20, 2024
• ISBN: 9798350956276

S. E. Pacheco

Susan worked as an educator and administrator in her New England hometown for over fifteen years. After leaving her career in education behind, she began her journey into the unknown world of the transportation industry, which led her to become a compassionate caregiver for one of her Uber riders. Her journey inspired her to become an independent author.

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Copyright © 2024 by S. E. Pacheco

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

Printed in the United States

ISBN (Printed): 979-8-35095-626-9

ISBN (eBook): 979-8-35095-627-6

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher.

Dedication

To my father, John

Thank you for your selfless, unconditional love and support throughout my life.

You were truly my hero and inspiration.

Thank you for being a great teacher, role model, and father, Dad.

Thanks for being there through it all!

I am and will forever be proud to be my father’s daughter.

Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Uber Partner Driver Experience

Partner Driver Experience

Uber Driver Documents and Requirements to Drive

Independent Contractor

Be Creative to Build Your Business

Driver Referrals

Be Careful of Colluding

Safety, Safety, Safety

Surge vs. Boost

Premium Pickups

Wait Time

Round-Trip Feature

Uber Rider Choice

PART 2: Suber Stories

Story 1: Shopping Plaza Pickup

Story 2: The DJ Dude

Story 3: The Nip Celebration

Story 4: The Naive Drug Run

Story 5: The Near Miss

Story 6: The Aussie Crew

Suber Story 7: The Out-of-Towners

Story 8: The Bar Owner’s Wife

Story 9: The Wet Spot

Story 10: The Macedonia Boys

PART 3: Suber Snippets

PART 4: The Family Chronicles of Logan and Robert

Part 5: Uber Driver to Caregiver: Robert’s Journey

PART 6: What Came Next

Part 7: Reflections

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Many people decide what they want to do with their adult lives from a young age and are blessed to achieve the goals they set for themselves. While others may attempt to do the same, their paths sometimes turn out differently than they had hoped. No matter where your life’s journey may take you, it’s important to accept what life brings your way and have the faith, perseverance, and strength to accept and overcome it, no matter the odds. This book was written to show that life can still be quite a ride even when it doesn’t go as planned!

I was born and raised in a small New England city and have lived here my entire life. In my early years, I explored various jobs before settling into my career as a middle school science teacher in the school district I graduated from as a teen. My father had been a popular high school history and business teacher and a baseball and basketball coach. Throughout my childhood, he emphasized the importance of education, school activities, and sports, which made it inevitable that I would eventually find my way into a career in education.

I married and divorced at a young age, then decided to go it alone and raise my children as a single parent. There was no revolving door of boyfriends in and out of their lives. I worked hard to be a good role model to my three sons, instill good values, and teach them the importance of living by a moral code. Although it wasn’t always easy, I worked hard and continued my academic education until I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in humanities and social science.

I began my teaching career in 2001, and it was then that I became a lifelong learner. By 2008, I had persevered through completing a master’s degree in education administration while working full-time as a middle school science teacher during the day and teaching the high school alternative program at night. All was going great, and school administrators chose me to participate in the National Institute for School Leadership, which meant sacrificing Saturdays for two years to complete the program, which I successfully did. As time passed, though, things changed; administrators came and went, and so did my opportunity for a leadership role within the district.

In 2016, after fifteen years of teaching, I found myself unemployed due to a reduction in the workforce. I believed that, with my education and work experience, finding a new teaching or administration position would not be too difficult. But when you work in education as a teacher or administrator, there are few windows of opportunity to secure a position for the upcoming school year. If unsuccessful, you generally must wait until the following spring when open positions are posted again.

I quickly realized it was going to be more difficult than I first anticipated, especially because I was not willing to travel too far from home to secure a position. School districts had limited openings, and many were now only hiring recent college graduates to fill vacant classroom positions. So, during that following spring, after countless résumé submissions and several job interviews at various school districts, I discovered that my age, teaching experience, and level of education now overqualified me for any classroom teaching positions.

After twenty-six weeks of unemployment, my benefits were depleted. With no potential teaching or administration positions available, I decided that I had to take action to create a steady income stream. After all, I still had to pay the mortgage and utility bills and put food on the table. In late August of 2016, I decided to become an Uber partner driver, at least for the time being. Becoming an Uber partner driver simply earns me the title of being an independent contractor for the company rather than becoming an employee of Uber.

I decided to explore the benefits of becoming an Uber partner. I conducted some online research before making the decision to sign up. After reading through what little information I could find, I concluded there were pros and cons to becoming a driver. Still, it was my best option for immediate income at the time. Although working as an independent contractor was not the most ideal situation, I figured it would be whatever I decided to make of it anyway, so why not give it a shot? I have never been one to shy away from a challenge and this seemed easy enough for the short term.

This book was written to provide readers with my personal Uber partner driver experiences, reveal the strategies that allowed me to build repeat clientele, and share my top ten most memorable rider moments, which I call Suber stories. I share my experiences in the rideshare transportation industry and tell the story of the extraordinary old man I would never have met had I not decided to become an Uber driver. This relationship altered my journey, changed my life, and prepared me for what came next. At the beginning of this journey, I could never have imagined how this by-chance ride fare would change my life forever!

I hope you enjoy the ride! Suber on!

Part 1

Uber Partner Driver Experience

Partner Driver Experience

In this part of the book, I provide some basic Uber education for new drivers and riders alike. I also share my experiences of becoming an independent contractor and some obstacles I faced during my journey. As this information is specific to my personal experiences within the transportation industry, I do not provide statistics by state; if you’re interested, you can find much of that information online.

Because I have my own vehicle for personal use, I didn’t realize Uber technology went live for rideshare in Massachusetts in 2011 until I decided to explore the opportunity of becoming an Uber partner. That’s when I learned how far technology has come since I was young. When I was a kid, before technology existed to the level it has reached today, people who needed transportation walked along the side of the road and held out their thumbs to let passing drivers know they needed a ride. Today, rideshare companies have found creative ways to legalize hitchhiking for profit without individuals having to walk along the side of the road and they are very fortunate to make a ton of money in the process.

To familiarize myself with the technology, I began by downloading the rider app to my phone and linking my debit card to pay for future services. By exploring the rider app in detail, I learned that for riders needing transportation, this technology provides a convenient and inexpensive car-for-hire service using smartphone technology rather than the traditional taxi services previously available to individuals. Using your smartphone device, you can schedule a private driver to pick you up and drive you to your chosen destination. I chose to schedule a ride to understand what the rider experiences and whether this was something I wanted to do temporarily for work. Once I scheduled my first pick up using the rider app, I could see a small car representing my Uber driver on a map as he was driving toward my pickup location; the user-friendly app also informed me of his expected arrival time and provided my driver’s name, photo, and license plate number, which made me feel more comfortable. My driver was professional and friendly, and he even answered a few questions I had for him about possibly becoming a driver in the future. It wasn’t rocket science for sure. Uber drivers are similar to taxi drivers in that you pick up and drop off people wherever they want to go.

The technology easily allows riders to pay for their fare through the app using a credit card or debit card. It even allows you to add a tip for good service and leave a comment about the experience (i.e., vehicle cleanliness, great conversation, expert navigation). Unless you want to become a livery driver, no special licenses are required for drivers, and you use your personal vehicles to transport riders to their chosen destinations, my driver said. To be paid for their services, my driver said he linked his bank account to the driver app, and funds are delivered electronically. My driver informed me that he had the option to transfer his pay daily or wait for Uber to transfer the funds weekly. He said this payment flexibility allowed him to have full control over the financial aspect of his rideshare business. Once my trip was completed, I was confident based on our conversation that becoming a driver was easier than I first anticipated based on the feedback I received from my driver.

Uber Driver Documents and Requirements to Drive

When I began the process of becoming a driver in 2016, Uber required vehicles to be a 2002 model or newer. As it is now 2024, this requirement has changed. Uber requires driver vehicles to be fifteen years old or newer. The process to sign up was simple: I had to upload pictures of my license, vehicle registration, and coverage selection page from my personal automobile insurance policy into the partner-driver app. Within two to three days, my documentation was approved, my background check was complete, and Uber cleared me to drive. The last step in the process before hitting the road was to upload a picture of my face to the partner app, as this photo is what riders would see when I accepted a trip. It made them feel safe knowing they were getting into the right vehicle for their ride. As a rider, you should always verify the license plate and the make and model of the vehicle before getting into any automobile with a stranger.

Part of the Uber application process includes a full background check rather than just going back seven years because they found, in Massachusetts, some drivers had, among other things, DUI and other criminal convictions beyond