Lyft’s partnership with Meals on Wheels has come to an end. So, Monday restarts life as a full time ride share driver without the safety net of 20 paid hours per week for delivering to MOW clients.
I’m nervous.
Napa has led the way reopening restaurants, and then winery tasting rooms, so Friday, Saturday, Sunday ride volume in that area has improved but not fully. Demand during rush hour periods is no where close to normal, so I expect to be hurt some this week.
All told, the Pandemic has left me $2365 poorer versus my normal earnings rate since March 2d … equivalent to the net loss of a month’s pay for 17 weeks SO FAR.
The government’s $1200 stimulus plus 13 weeks of $600 provided $9000 of support, but my earnings shortfall has totaled $11,365 versus normal run rate, so far. It’s been brutal … but now the support has expired and I face testing the economy straight up this week.
Both Lyft and Uber require both drivers and riders to be masked, have a window open, and have no one in the front seat next to me … but everyday someone gets in my car and asks “do you want me to wear a mask?” It’s really hard to believe that’s still a question. And we wonder why results are spiking again across the country.
It’s hard to expect any different result for the USA given the ridiculously inconsistent messaging and worse behavior modeling by the President and those around him. As a result, more people are getting hurt in our country, and our world traveling citizens are beginning to be blocked from traveling around the world.
Maybe, just maybe … as US citizens find themselves ‘persona non grata’ maybe we will wake up.
Driving the Daisy's 