The GIG Economy Podcast
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The GIG Economy Podcast
Uber's Advantage Mode, Exclusive Confusion & Renting Your Backyard to Dogs?! Shift Hustle Ep 6
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In this episode of The Shift Hustle Show, we dive headfirst into Uber's confusing "Advantage" and "Exclusive" modes—what they actually mean (or don’t), and whether they’re worth chasing. Spoiler: cherry pickers, you might already be winning.
Plus, we explore Sniffspot, the “Airbnb for dogs,” where you can turn your backyard into a money-making dog park. Is it a genius side hustle or a recipe for poop-filled chaos?
Also featuring shout-outs to Bubba Sue, Traveler, thoughts on the grind of solo content creation, fruit flies, and why gig apps just love to keep us guessing.
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Hello, hello, welcome to the Shift Hustle Show, episode six. I think I'm only going to do this for the summer. I've enjoyed doing it but it gets busy when school starts. So it's been interesting to do it by yourself and try to like dig into some other stuff. You know, I give, you know steve, I give steve and you know any uh creator that really dives into the really like nitty gritty stuff, because it's a lot of work, it's it's a freaking lot of work and, uh, you know, honestly, with the news and stuff you don't have to do a ton of big research and so you know it's easy to you know, get a bunch of stories together and and just go with it and just give our opinion on that. So I appreciate y'all. Bubba Sue Traveler on YouTube.
Speaker 1:Appreciate you guys chiming in, not sure on the length of this one, but one of the things I wanted to talk about is and this is just for my research because I feel like Uber Eats sorry, we're going to talk about advantage mode and exclusive mode on Uber and Uber Pro a little bit um, kind of dive into that, but I don't see a lot of the advantage and or exclusive mode for uber eats and you know, as you guys know, I currently am not doing rides, not for any particular reason other than the money's not great. Um, you know, a couple years ago, maybe even last year, we were still getting quests to the point of where it was worth going out, banging out 50 rides on a week or a weekend. But at this point they're offering terrible bonuses and if I'm going to make a little bit of money, I'd rather do something that I want to do, like food delivery, over dealing with people. So diving in a little bit on the advantage mode. So the difference between advantage mode and exclusive mode and this is just for my research. So if I am wrong, by any means, I would always appreciate a hey, this is maybe not what you think it is, or so on and so forth, because you know I'm not perfect with this stuff. But uh, the difference is, uh, for uber sorry, the difference between advantage mode and exclusive mode for uber drivers lies in how the trip requests are prioritized, whether or not drivers can receive requests from other apps during that time, which that's kind of weird, because it doesn't really matter if you're multi-apping. Um, so the advantage mode who gets it?
Speaker 1:Drivers with a high acceptance rate, good ratings, usually gold, platinum status and uber pro, which I I've seen advantage mode even when I do have done a few rides. You know this has been around for a little bit while, so I don't understand why it says high acceptance rates, gold, platinum status, uh, in uber pro, because I'm not any of those things by any means. Um, so the advantage mode and that's not even the best, like the exclusive mode is better than the advantage mode, I think. But, uh, the advantage mode gives you priority access to trip requests over other drivers. You'll still see requests from other rideshare apps, obviously if you're running lyft and uh, the trips are off or uber trip offers are prioritized but not exclusively sent to you.
Speaker 1:The exclusive mode is people that are typically like super high acceptance rate. Um, you receive trip requests exclusively from uber, not from it you, because they think you're fancy I guess You're usually platinum or not platinum. What's the highest one, diamond. So I don't see this doesn't really explain it to me as much as I wish it would. They say that advantage mode is good if you multi-app using Uber and Lyft. An exclusive mode is better for drivers who want to maximize Uber trip volume, especially in high-demand areas. So to qualify for advantage mode you have to have Uber Gold status or higher Gold Platinum Diamond.
Speaker 1:So maybe I haven't seen advantage, maybe I've seen exclusive, but I'm not any of these either, so I don't know. I've definitely seen these before pop up. Uh, oh, shoot, I did have a, I did have a picture. Shit, where did it go? I think it's in, I think it's on my phone, which is I'm on tiktok. So that's gonna do it. But it it does, you know, pop up and say advantage or exclusive. So sorry, uh, requirements, uh, for advantage mode, uber pro gold stats are higher acceptance rate, around 50 to 70. Higher drive rating, usually 4.85, which 4.85 seems low to me.
Speaker 1:Exclusive mode is uber pro platinum or diamond status, higher acceptance rate over 85, and then obviously not canceling those kind of things. So let me check the comments here. Yeah, I think advantage mode, I think it is too. Yeah, you get a five percent bonus extra. But, like when I read this, what I've looked up, it says that the exclusive mode is better. But maybe that's, I don't know. I mean, that's not it, but that's the picture I was going to show you. So, thank you. It says a five percent bonus on this ride, um. So I guess I would have to do a little bit more investigating and go and do some rides. Actually, what I should need, what I need to do, is get um larry to do that, but I don't know.
Speaker 1:All these things are just kind of like to bump up your ego, I guess, to make you feel exclusive or advantage. But doesn't it sound like the exclusive mode is better? But I don't really. If you get 5% more on advantage, you get 10% more on exclusive. You get ten percent more on exclusive. Um, so yeah, that's just kind of what I was looking at.
Speaker 1:I'm still, honestly, a little confused from what I've seen. I haven't watched a ton of videos on it, but that's what they want, right, they want you to make sure that you're a little confused when you're trying to talk about this stuff, so you don't quite figure out. Um, you know what is the advantage I swear about? So you said rise, I swear. I've seen. I want to say exclusive, but I mean, according to this I, there's no way I would get it because I'm not platinum or diamond status, so unless it's just showing up, but you're not getting the perks of it. And again, it doesn't even tell me what the perks are. So I'm basically saying that after I read through this I thought I knew exactly what it was.
Speaker 1:But, um, let's jump into uber pro and this. And then, obviously, for you know, when some people that are listening to this you may know all this, but I honestly like being just kind of like a new show, some of this stuff I kind of don't really pay attention to. So I wanted to, you know, like I said, talk about it a little bit. So I definitely know a little bit more about the Uber pro rewards by tier. It's blue, which I am um, all the time, um, I don't ever go above gold. So you have blue, gold, platinum and diamond. This is what the rewards say by tier. Excuse me, I love the tier, the blue tier. Access to uber support wow, thank you, uh.
Speaker 1:And then it just says trip requests and basic features Okay, gold, priority support, discounts on vehicle maintenance, basic advantage mode eligibility. So at the gold status it says eligibility. So it's almost saying like you don't get it, but you might be eligible, we might decide to give it to you. Oh see, it doesn't say that. On the research, baba Su says exclusive in East just means it was sent only to you? Okay, it does not say that from what I looked up, but I know, I swear to God, I had seen exclusive. Why don't they make it like I know I guess that's what the definition of an exclusive is. But why don't they make it like I know I guess that's what the definition of an exclusive is. But why don't they make it like what does Spark do For you? You know this trip is for you. Okay.
Speaker 1:So Goldie, get priority support, basic advantage mode eligibility oh yeah, we've talked about that. Then platinum all gold rewards, obviously, plus higher trip priority, especially at airports, some scheduling or destination preferences and higher likelihood of advantage mode access. So again, you don't necessarily get it, but you have a higher likelihood, like they're vague about that. And then diamond you get highest priority trip request access to exclusive mode. So only in diamond that you get that exclusive mode. Um, premium customer support, enhanced app features like c trip destination, before accepting, which we already know that. I don't understand why that would be diamond. I guess in areas that were um that don't, that still have the. I don't understand why that would be Diamond, I guess in areas that still don't have upfront pricing and then more consistent airport rematch.
Speaker 1:So what I've basically come from all this is that it's very confusing and I probably should have dug into it a little more because obviously, yeah, bubba sue is to confuse the hell out of drivers. Yeah, that's exactly it. Um, I mean, I read through this and I'm like, oh, that kind of makes sense. But now that I'm like talking it out loud, I'm like wait a minute, that seems, you know, a little shady, like likelihood of advantage mode and basic advantage mode eligibility, but doesn't really tell you what exactly that you're going to get. So something to think about. Um, I honestly, you know I'm cherry pick for life, so I'm, you know, really not going to even care about any of this stuff. Um, but it is good to know.
Speaker 1:You know the way bubba sue brings it is, it's like exclusive. So what you're saying is, when I see it on eats, it's just the word exclusive. I'm not in exclusive mode, right? Um, although it does say you receive trip requests exclusively from uber. Um, but again, this, I think this is more rideshare-esque, so I didn't get like excited on that. But yeah, I guess I mean, if advantage mode gives you five percent more but the exclusive mode doesn't get you that five percent. I mean, wouldn't you want to be in advantage mode unless the exclusive mode is? Like I said, you get the trips from u. It doesn't go round, robin, which would. It is what is kind of nice.
Speaker 1:I do like that on spark, when I'm able to, um, you know, I like it gets sent to me. So I'm not like, oh gosh, I got to make a decision, what do I need to do? And uh, yeah, and I'm able to take my time. I mean, some of them are trash. Of course, they're not all great. Just because it says is for you or exclusive doesn't mean it's good. But but yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1:There's uh, kind of a kind of a rundown of advantage and exclusive mode. I feel like I need to go back in there. I'm going to put larry on it, uh, for him to kind of maybe get some screenshots and stuff like that, um, just to see exactly what it means. But he's a kind of a cherry picker too. I mean he probably has a better acceptance rate and um, you know all the, all the numbers than me, because you know he's kind of exclusively doing ride share. So I mean, even when I'm doing ride share, I you know he's kind of exclusively doing ride share. So I mean, even when I'm doing ride share, I you know I probably don't work as much as I should because I cherry pick the hell out of shit. But, uh, all right, all I have left is, uh, the app that I want to touch base with and actually, as I started digging through the FAQ today, uh, this is one I've signed up for.
Speaker 1:I was kind of bummed out. I hadn't, like, um, totally gone all in on it. It's called sniff spot. So we're a big dog family, as you've heard the dogs on the podcast many times and they bark and they're annoying, but we love them, even though they're annoying sometimes I mean, people are annoying sometimes right, we still love them.
Speaker 1:Um, so you go to SniffSpotcom and basically you, as a customer, can find a space that maybe is fenced in or it's a couple acres or just a space where you can run your dog and have it get exercise. It's like the Airbnb for dogs, but only it's outside. So, fully fenced dog parks, dog beaches, agility parks, swimming pools, small dog parks, dog fields. Dogs love to run. Especially if you've got a hunting dog or stuff like that, they need to run. I often wonder people that live in an apartment that get these big-ass dogs Now, just because they're big doesn't mean they need to run. And I often wonder people that live in an apartment that get these big ass dogs. Now, just because they're big doesn't mean they need to run. I've had a great day in the past and those things are lazy buggers. Even though they're big, they don't like to run.
Speaker 1:So, um, so yeah, you can put your own spot or your own area up here, like airbnb it, and so I did that, even though I have three dogs. I thought I'll try it, and I hadn't uploaded any pictures, because they keep saying oh you know, upload pictures and you'll be able to. You know, you'll be more attractive, you know, to people that want to use your space. And I haven't really done it yet. It was just kind of a whim, I thought it'd be kind of fun. I did everything, you know, I did everything other than pictures. Um, so then I'm today.
Speaker 1:I was like researching, looking over the faq, and you know the basic stuff, and then they're like would my land already a problem? Right, because I have a fenced in backyard, but it's like I don't know. Four thousand square feet, the fenced in backyard, but it's like I don't know 4,000 square feet. The fenced in part the yard is about 10,000 square feet, but the fenced in is about four. So would my land be good for sniff spot? Almost any kind of land are good for sniff spot. That's hard to say. The most popular tends to be larger. Being a fully fenced in private spot also increases your earning potential. Okay, like all. Being a fully fenced and private spot also increases your earning potential. Okay, like all right, fully fenced and private Because guests enjoy using sniff spot for off-leash exercise.
Speaker 1:And then it says unfenced yards less than a half acre tend not to work. Oh, okay, I read that wrong, shocker. I was pissed off because all I read was what is it with us as humans when we read? Or maybe it's just me I read so damn fast, like, not fast. I'm just skimming, right, I'm just looking for keywords. And all I read was less than a half acre tend not to work well for sniff spot unless they have a special feature for people, like water access. So it meant unfenced yards less than a half acre tend not to work for a sniff spot. So I do have hope A lot of people talk about, though they kind of shit on, no pun intended. This because you know what, if the dog is sick, they do require that anyone that rents your spot had all the dogs have to be vaccinated, I assume they have to upload them. I did not investigate the customer side on the sniff spot because I would have no use for it, but well, that makes me excited that it the uh the thing.
Speaker 1:Unfenced yards less than a half acre tend not to work well, probably because the dogs can get out. I don't know. Usually, if it's bigger than an acre, you typically don't. I mean you should fence it in. So what do you guys think of Sniff Spot? Are you a dog? Do you have a yard? Would that work out for you? It's, it's a cool, it's a cool idea. I I don't think that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you rent, yeah, bubble, so you rent your backyard to dogs, but it's like it's not like random, like they do. They, uh, they still need to like schedule it and stuff like that. It's not like they just show up out of the blue and, um, you know, can just run rampant back there. There is a fruit fly, like we've been. I know this is a squirrel moment because I have a beer open I've been really good with fruit flies this year. We bought a bunch. Instead of like putting like liquid out to grab them, we got these lights and then, as long as the all the lights are off, like at night, doesn't really work during the day but and they're little sticky pads, so then they like go to the light and get stuck. But I have one buzzing around me. I know, totally random.
Speaker 1:Um, so, yeah, you rent it out. Um, I don't know what I was talking about before. I uh jumped into bug talk, but um, yeah, people are worried about the dogs being sick and stuff like that. And then you know, your dogs go out there and then they end up, you know, rolling in the poop or eating the poop. Yes, they are animals, they do do shit.
Speaker 1:But let's see, what do you like? What, what, what are, what are your favorite? What are your favorite apps? Yeah, this one is different. It's not really an app. Well, it is an app, but but what is your favorite app that you work out in Jersey?
Speaker 1:But, yeah, go to SniffSpotcom if you want to be a customer and or a– what do they call? Do they call you a sniffer? I don't know what they call, like probably your sniff spot, but they do talk about sniff spots. Save, okay, we have a designated sniff spot to be. We have designed sniff spot to be very safe. We provide 1 million host protection, insurance and damage protection. We require guest dogs to be vaccinated on flea parasite preventative. We also require guests to clean up after their dogs so kind of a cool thing. Yeah, it's. I mean, it's not for everyone. Um, delivered, I don't both. So every time, every time I bring up an app, she's like nah, this is bullshit, fuck this. No, she doesn't actually say that. Delivered in spark.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I mean it's kind of late in the season for me to like really kind of work on it, because who's going to come in the winter? Right, and there's so many. I mean I live in suburbia, like if, if you have a dog, typically you have a fenced in backyard. But more and more apartments are going up and I think it would be more, it would be more profitable and better if it was in the downtown area where there are a lot of apartments and stuff like that. So so this week, wednesday, larry and gabe are going to do the show. I have a feeling I mean they they said I had to work while I'm doing a day-long trip for the old people and they said nine to nine. I can't imagine it's going to be nine to nine, but I just want to make sure that, if it is, I have somebody available to do the show on wednesday.
Speaker 1:So all right, well, I appreciate you guys so much for tuning in. I know I didn't have a lot tonight, but check out Sniff Spot Research yourself on advantage mode, exclusive mode. I say fucking both, because you might as well just cherry pick and make the most out of your day, and then I wouldn't even bother with the Uber Pro tiers. It just doesn't seem really worth it to me. But they want you to make you feel fancy so they can convince you to take every single ride. All right, guys. Thank you so much for tuning into the Shift Hustle show. I appreciate everybody and I will not be back Wednesday. But the show will be back Wednesday at 7 pm Eastern for the Gig Economy News. Okay, peace out.
