Depressed

If there is one time of the year when a cabbie gets depressed it’s winter, in particular Sunday nights in July. These are about as bad as it gets when a certain driver can’t be bothered starting work before 7pm, four hours into the shift. Thus I dragged myself off to work last night expecting only to make costs. Anything more would be a bonus.

When I produced a partial CabMap last Sunday week, a reader commented how it would be interesting to see a full-shift map. At the time I chuckled as no cabbie would be game to do so, unless it’s the worst shift of the year and certain to generate sympathy.

So, one week later I’m only too happy to map a whole shift, if only to indulge in some ‘poor-bugger-me’. For added interest here's the shift details and costs...

• Hours worked - 8
• Total klms - 169
• Paid klms - 55
• Hires - 10
• Gross take - $180
• GST - $18
• Pay-in - $90
• Tolls - $9.50
• Fuel - $17.57
• Wash - $10
• Gross wage - $36
• Net wage - $30 (roughly)

Of course I didn’t drive smart, making three trips to the Airport to score only two jobs, plus a wasted 30 minutes at Star City, plus dinner and coffee breaks. But thirty bucks is a bonus. Oh, wait, minus dinner ($10) and three coffees ($8) leaves...twelve bucks !

Still, I honoured my shift commitment and covered costs, which is what I set out to do. That's life in the cab game; heaven and hell. And if anyone thinks I'll ever produce a detailed account of a decent shift, forget it, we never have them, okay ?

Comments

[Coldfoot]

The first thing I learned driving a cab was to never, never, ever believe a driver concerning his earnings.

[Goldstein]

You reckon you've got it tough? Try Adelaide on a winter Sun/Mon/Tues/Wed night... Bleak, windswept ranks, no fares, no hails except from drunks with no money, or roaming mental patients... And if the job is booked, as often as not it is a total wierdo going from one shitty suburb to another, I don't know how owners get anybody to do nights in winter... Friday and Saturday nights are OK though. Great blog, by the way.

[Paul Pluta]

Why bother driving when the return is so hopeless?

Who gives a toss about filling a shift commitment?

I thought the beauty of driving was that there was no shift commitments????

TAXI driving is terrible for this..... and then the public tells you that you are trying to rip them off.....

[Yoffi]

Wow, $30 for 8 hours of work! And I thought I was under paid~!

[Dom]

Wow, you actually did it! I was the reader that wanted to see how a whole shift looked and now I feel somewhat responsible for your lousy shift, because it would have taken a lot of time to stop and write all the details down after every fare! I found it very interesting because as a casual driver, I can totally relate to those types of shifts. Getting waved through at the domestic terminal, doh! Hate that. You know it's one of those shifts when you don't even cross the bridge once! I like the shift details too, you have my sympathy!

[tax man]

you cabbies always lie about what you take but we are onto you.

[adrian]

Paul, drivers working from a large base of managed cabs can come and go as they chose. However a smaller percentage of drivers, myself included, drive for private owners of small fleets. They have a set number of drivers whom they rely upon, and vice versa. Hence the obligation of not cancelling without at least a few days notice.
Goldstein, sounds familiar, we take the good with the bad, like many self-employed businesses.
Thanks Dom though technically it's a reduced shift. With only ten jobs they weren't hard to identify at end of night.
Tax man, the cheques in the mail.

[Yobbo]

So tell your owner you pay less on slow nights or you don't drive.

Why should he be able to charge you the same fee to drive on unprofitable nights as he does on the profitable ones?

It sounds to me like it would be best for all concerned to simply leave the cab in the garage on the slow nights, and charge you a higher lease on weekends. Less wear and tear on the car, less wasted time for you.

Then you could be doing something more worthwhile with your time on those nights, and driving the cab when it is profitable to do so.

[adrian]

Yobbo, we take the good nights with the bad ones, that's the way it works. Though it must be said this particular shift wasn't helped by my lazy attitude. Thus drivers rely on every buck, no matter how lousy, which wouldn't be recovered by purely working the good nights.

Just working when it's profitable is a luxury only owner/drivers can afford, those with no repayment obligations.

[Yobbo]

Adrian, if you are making less than $10 an hour on the unprofitable nights, you would be better off working at McDonalds.

[Yobbo]

Or washing windows at traffic lights.

[Francis Xavier Holden]

thats $172 + gst of $18 passed on to customers.

payin? I'm guesing thats $90 hire of car?

washing the car surely isn't amortised over one lousy shift?

you saying this is average shift? or lousey shift or best shift?

I can't help it- I sill resent every $1 I pay for cabs.

If it was deregulated I reckon I'd pay about half as much.

On the above figures someone gets $90 for your $35 and ex fuel and cleaning.

Who is that someone?

Even then $90 for 8 hours car hire doesn't compute for me.

Unless thats 24 hours = $270 X 7 = $1890 for lend of a car. = $98,280 pa to lend a car. Now that looks good.

deregulate. cabbies get more. Owners get more. cabbies become owners even.

[MANLY CABBIE]

dereulate cabs and it fu$ks it for every one just ask someone from where this has happened,cabbies pay drops and any drop kick with a car can become a cabbie.i just had a dublin cabbie(cousin of my aunty)and he lost his investment in his cab no compensation and gave the game away because his pay droped by 45% so francis x holden you are a goose.