12 or 24 Hours? (originally printed Jan. 2005)
Choosing a shift setup that's right for you - and your bottom line.
By: Dan Van Hecke, Master Chauffeur
The primary choice of when and how you work requires a hard look at lifestyle, income needs and experience. No matter what you choose, the bottom line is still what do you take home for 50 or 60 hours' work; anything more than that is unproductive in your “edge,” health and personal life. Occasionally longer hours may help over a temporary money crisis, but that should cause you to review the whole picture.
24 hours/7 days a week:
You keep the cab all the time.
Advantages: Presumably you can pick the most productive times. You don't need a personal car. You can fix the car up any way you like.
Disadvantages: At $15 per hour, which most experienced drivers can make consistently, a $500-per-week lease plus $60 for gas means you work at least 37 hours a week just to break even. Bad weather and conventions end quickly and the riding public is fickle. Compared to a two-day/12-hour lease, you're paying $150 more per week for a personal car. And the worst part is, not only do you lose “nickel and dime time” on repairs, it's very difficult to stay disciplined and “with it” day after day.
Comment: Drivers often take this option because it's the easiest way to keep a “better” cab.
24 hours/5 days a week:
Advantages: You can recover on weekends.
Disadvantages: This brings up a word on having a partner any shift other than 24/7. If you don't want to be at the mercy of your garage's selection, the following items should be considered:
1. Do you and your partner live close enough together to have a pickup arrangement to minimize up and down time?
2. How will repairs be handled so they're fair to both?
3. Late payments or give more time?
4. How will you handle time off for either party?
5. Do you have common ideas on keeping the cab clean?
6. Who will top off the gas?
7. Do your personalities match?
12-hour shifts in partnership
Advantages: You really focus on your time period to make money because you have a deadline to return the cab to an actual person, not just the garage. If permitted, you don't have to go to the garage to make the switch. And you actually have something to look forward to - going home.
Disadvantages: If business is slow, your luck is bad or repairs eat away at your time, it can really hurt your income. You may not like traveling to or from work.
Comment: The best money I have made was with a 12-hour night cab - if I could get out early enough.
12 hours / 5 days:
A lighter version of the above, but you really have to know how you are going to make your money.
Three or four days in a row (with or without partner)
Advantages: You get your work week over in one intensive stretch, because normally you don't see the garage again.
Disadvantages: Long hours every day; risk of breakdown (you or the cab).
Every other day:
If you're doing this with a partner, this is a really good way to find repeat customers because all business patterns are shared equally. This pattern is best done with a partner. Overall it always gives you about three and a half days off per week.
Finally, no matter what you choose, the best mindset is to learn how to make money from all sources but not be wholly dependent on any one, whether that's the Loop, the lakefront, neighborhoods, airports, radio calls, TAP vouchers and credit cards, regular customers, conventions, sports events, shows, special events, customers with disabilities or people waiting for trolleys.
