The widening gap felt by Uber drivers and the growing power of money
Hello, I’m Yutori, a salaryman who does FX automated trading while also delivering for Uber.
In this column, I’ll leave the fine-tuned FX techniques to others and write about how I face money and what I’ve learned about investing.
This time, while delivering for Uber, I feel the expansion of the power of money.
That’s because with money, I’ve become able to command even complete strangers.
How Uber delivery rewards work
Have you used Uber before?
I haven’t used it as a customer, because it’s expensive.
As a delivery driver for Uber, I sometimes receive money from cash-paying customers, but
they’re surprised, saying, “Wow, people pay this much for this meal!”
You might think, “You must be a bottom-tier poor person, LOL,” but
two thousand yen or so for tapioca or donuts. A proper lunch for a family can cost around 4,000 to 5,000 yen.
Product images on the ordering app look impressive, but as someone who has seen real stores, I’m surprised that a lunch from a back-alley shop that isn’t particularly clean costs this much.
Because the money customers pay consists of the restaurant’s food price, Uber’s profit, and the delivery driver’s reward.
Delivery drivers are in a position to receive money from customers, so you can’t underestimate them.
The money paid by customers becomes the delivery reward.
Delivery rewards vary by distance and delivery time, but typically start from around 300 yen per order, often around 500 yen.
In a city with many burger shops like a certain fast-food chain, delivery distances are shorter, so the rewards are often about 300 yen due to faster deliveries.
Having someone run errands for you
Before food delivery services spread, asking someone to go shopping was only possible with very close relations.
Housewife: “Hey, after work, could you go to Ito-Kado and buy some mayonnaise?”
Friend: “Okay, I’ve arrived at the station, I’ll head home! Hm, no drinks? If so, I’ll buy them for you. What would you like?”
There were always people we interacted with who would shop for us.
But no one would ever ask a complete stranger, “Here’s some money, go buy McDonald’s for me!”
That’s where food delivery services come in: they connect, on the one hand, those who want to save time and money by letting someone else do the shopping, with those who want to earn a little money by shopping for others.
Even the same 300 yen has different value to different people
Buying from some fast-food place is a hassle and takes time.
If it takes 15 minutes to go to that place and back, and you usually earn at least 1,200 yen per hour, it’s more profitable to save time rather than go shopping.
Customers have some money and think, “I don’t mind paying 300 yen.”
and
others think, “Just delivering for 300 yen is great! I can have a beef bowl!” and happily deliver. Because the value of money differs, matchmaking in food delivery makes the service work.
If one hundred million people were all equal and Japanese people valued 300 yen the same, paying 300 yen for delivery would seem wasteful, and who would deliver for that price? The service wouldn’t exist.
Food delivery is a service that only makes sense in a society with growing income disparity.
We should still strive to become wealthy
I do delivery partly as a hobby to stay active, and because I can earn money, but
I won’t become rich as a delivery driver.
There’s a limit to how much people can work, so earnings have their own ceiling.
If you’re simply doing manual labor, you’ll just end up on the poor side.
In a society where the gap is widening, the food delivery work will only be viable if you take actions to position yourself on the wealthy side and live more richly.
The widening gap increases moneypower, further separating the rich from the poor.
This trend will not change; it will likely accelerate further.
That’s why I’m doing FX to earn money.
I publish my FX methods and exactly how much I earn on my blog.
Yutori earns money with automated FX trading
