E-hailing is saturated, where do middle-aged people go to re-employment

"E-hailing used to be a "guaranteed occupation" for middle-aged people to re-employ, but now, it seems that this industry cannot fit too many people. ”

Author | Ari

Edit | Lu Yiming

Title map | Visual China

Many people have imagined where they will go after losing their jobs at the age of 35, "you can drive an online car, it is a big deal to deliver food and express delivery."

Indeed, the Internet has given middle-aged re-employed people an outlet. In February 2023, the 9th National Workforce Survey showed that 84 million new forms of employment, mainly truck drivers, ride-hailing drivers, couriers, and takeaway delivery workers, reached 84 million.

However, as more and more people enter these industries, the choices that were originally seen as "retreats" begin to "roll in". This year, people first saw the news that some of the delivery riders' stations were full, and now, there is also a saturation trend for ride-hailing.

There is a saturation trend in ride-hailing. (Photo/Unsplash)

According to data released by the Ministry of Transport, as of April 2023, a total of 5.406 million ride-hailing driver licenses had been issued in various places, an increase of 3.4% month-on-month, and 1.014 million new registered ride-hailing drivers and 538,000 ride-hailing vehicles were added in the past year.

In May this year, Dongguan, Wenzhou, Jinan and other places successively issued a saturation warning for ride-hailing, reminding them that the average daily order volume of local ride-hailing vehicles was less than 10, and Sanya and Changsha suspended the acceptance of new business of online ride-hailing transport permits.

The myth of ride-hailing drivers "earning more than 10,000 a month" is coming to an end?

"Ten hours out of the car to earn money"

Chen Yu of Guangzhou has been driving online ride-hailing since 2016, and recently feels that the market has indeed deteriorated.

"In February this year, it was quite good, but many foreigners came to Guangzhou to see that the online car hailing industry was good, so they rented a car to run, and now the list is not easy to accept."

Chen Yu's monthly income last year could reach about 13,000 yuan, excluding the cost of renting a car, leaving 89,000 yuan. But in recent months, the daily turnover has dropped significantly, "in the past, it could reach more than 500 yuan per day, but now it is only three or four hundred yuan."

Recently, many ride-hailing drivers have seen their incomes decline. (Photo/Unsplash)

The decline in turnover comes from the decline in order prices caused by multi-platform competition on the one hand, and the decline in the number of orders on the other hand.

According to Tsinghua University's 2021 Survey Report on Travel Platforms in China's First-tier Cities, 75% of ride-hailing drivers travel 7 days a week, 49% work 8-12 hours a day, and even 31% work more than 12 hours a day. This year, many drivers have had to continue to travel longer hours each day in order to maintain a similar flow.

The order amount of ride-hailing is not equal to net income, at least excluding fuel or electricity, platform commissions, car rental or car loans, Chen Yu said: "If you don't get more than 10 hours a day, you don't make money." ”

Ride-hailing drivers, there is no saying of "leaving work on time". (Photo/"I, get off work at the point")

He has a very regular schedule, usually waking up at 7 a.m. and skipping breakfast if the order does not pass by the breakfast shop. By noon, when there are few orders, he will go home to cook and leave again at 1 p.m.

Among drivers, Chen Yu should be regarded as the one who pays more attention to physical health. He would give himself a 20-40 minute break in the afternoon, and no matter how much water flowed that day, he would try to leave work at eight or nine o'clock in the evening. Even so, like most ride-hailing drivers, he goes out 7 days a week with no days off.

A colleague Chen Yu knows "started work at 5 a.m., the first order was received to go to Guangzhou East Railway Station, and by the time I got up, he had already earned 90 yuan." And the reason why this ride-hailing driver is so hard is also related to the monthly car loan of up to 5,000 yuan. "He told me that he still had to earn money renting a car last year, but this year he didn't feel like he could make money buying a car."

The ride-hailing industry is gradually saturated. (Photo/"Exchange of Life")

Chen Yu's rented car expired in October last year, and he wanted to discuss with the lessor whether he could renew the lease at a discount, but he could not negotiate. "At that time, there was no business, renting a car was so expensive, I simply bought a car by myself, with a down payment of 35,000 yuan, a monthly payment of 4,400 yuan, at least paid money, the car was my own." If you don't do it in the future, you can rent this car to others. ”

Li Jun in Hangzhou feels the same way. His income can basically cover the car rental and living costs of 3550 yuan, but there is almost no money left.

"The situation of receiving orders is different every day, when it is bad, I ran the starting price all day, yesterday I ran for 12 hours and the turnover was only 387 yuan, if you want to get 500 yuan, you have to run for more than 15 hours."

Sometimes after the morning and evening rush hours, he basically can't receive the order, and when there is no order, Li Jun has nothing else to do, but to find a place to park and swipe his mobile phone while waiting.

From 2020 to the present, the number of ride-hailing drivers and the trend of receiving orders. (Figure/Pythagorean Big Data)

According to the analysis of Pythagorean Big Data, from December 2020 to April 2023, the number of ride-hailing drivers in China doubled, but their average daily order intake plummeted from 23.3 to 10.2.

According to the "2022 China Mobile Travel Market Data Report", in 2022, the size of the domestic ride-hailing market will be about 314.6 billion yuan, down 1.38% year-on-year, and the number of users will be 437 million, down 3.32% year-on-year. The number of passengers has not increased significantly, but the number of drivers has increased, and the number of online ride-hailing orders has plummeted.

are all persuading to quit, why are there still people in the industry?

In many people's impression, compared to the delivery staff, couriers, or employees on the factory assembly line, a ride-hailing driver is a good job - only need to have driving skills, free time schedule, even if you are temporarily unable to buy a car, you can rent one immediately.

But in fact, compared with delivering takeaway and express delivery, the investment in online car hailing is much higher. Therefore, on various social platforms, there is no shortage of ride-hailing drivers who share their experiences, and they often dissuade those who want to enter the industry.

A ride-hailing driver posted his own running water. (Photo/Screenshot of Little Red Book)

E-hailing platforms will give drivers some additional care and rewards during the novice period, but once the novice period passes, many people will find it difficult to accept orders and reduce the unit price. A part-time driver said: "Now passengers default to a special price, if the driver does not open a special offer, you will not receive an order for a day." ”

Experienced drivers will also figure out some tricks to make more money, such as deliberately squatting in places where orders are easy to issue, and continuing to maintain numbers to increase the possibility of good orders on the platform. But at the end of the day, it's all hard money.

Wuhan's @ boundary calculated an account: about 10,000 yuan a year of operating vehicle insurance, an average monthly car maintenance cost of 300 yuan, a monthly charging fee of 1,200 yuan, and then estimated the vehicle loss caused by running hundreds of thousands of kilometers a year, his monthly net income is about 8,000 yuan, not including living costs and social security expenses. Moreover, driving for more than ten hours a day and only resting one day a month, in case of an accident, it may be a missed job, and the worst will harm life and health.

Ride-hailing drivers work intensively. (Photo/Figureworm Creative)

"Many full-time drivers run 16 hours a day, without rest days, to basically achieve a monthly income of more than 10,000. But people are not machines, how long can they last with such work intensity? ”

And if you rent a car, although you can avoid the trouble of applying for a vehicle operation license, there are also many "pits". For example, some car rental companies will require drivers to only take orders on designated platforms, while others will find ways to deduct deposits, ranging from hundreds to thousands of yuan even for a slight bump.

Xiao Yi, a graduating college student, tried to go to a small company in April this year and ran a ride online. Initially, the company promised that there were no other fees, he only needed to pay a deposit of 2,000 yuan and a training fee of 500 yuan, and if the daily turnover reached 260 yuan, he could get a basic salary of 4,500 yuan, and all the extra order income belonged to him.

But after running, Xiao Yi found that the company would deduct an additional 110 yuan of "vehicle cost fees" every day, and if he could not run the target amount, he would have to replenish the rest of the money to the company. After the short-term contract ended, the car inspection link made him call out to be fooled: "Normally, the mileage of an online car must be six or seven thousand kilometers a month, and it is normal for the tires to be worn, but they have to say that this is man-made damage, and the deposit is all deducted." In the end, he didn't earn a penny and posted 2,500 yuan.

Some drivers said that all the income from online car hailing went to the rental car company. (Photo/Screenshot of Little Red Book)

A casual search on the Internet can see many posts or videos of ride-hailing drivers "persuading" to quit, but there are still a large number of drivers pouring into the industry. In the past year, 1.014 million new registered ride-hailing drivers have been registered in China, and some drivers have not yet obtained relevant certificates.

More and more people are driving ride-hailing, perhaps because the job is extremely inclusive, but at the same time, the originally inclusive industry is gradually rolling up.

E-hailing, a "besieged city"

How "volumed" ride-hailing is, as can be seen from the data released by local transportation departments.

In the first quarter of this year, the average daily online time of Dongguan ride-hailing bicycles increased by 1.45% to 8.39 hours, but the average daily order intake decreased by 19.45% compared with the end of 2022, and nearly eighty percent of online ride-hailing vehicles received less than 10 orders per day. A total of 1,665 ride-hailing vehicles were withdrawn from operation during the quarter, while the number of those who qualified for ride-hailing increased by 2,974.

Wenzhou's transportation department also said that capacity is becoming saturated, and more than 9,000 new licensed drivers have not been employed, and they "took the qualification examination without a deep understanding of the industry, and then withdrew from the ride-hailing industry for various reasons such as lower than expected income and inability to adapt to work."

In the ride-hailing industry, there are always people leaving, and there are always people entering. (Photo/Unsplash)

Under the involution of the industry, some cities have also begun to intervene. In May this year, Changsha and Sanya suspended the acceptance of new services for online ride-hailing transport permits.

At the same time, Guangdong has accelerated the process of online ride-hailing compliance, requiring platforms to stop dispatching orders to drivers without "double licenses" after May 31. Prior to this, some people who have not yet obtained the qualification of online ride-hailing can also take orders on the platform. A person in charge of a ride-hailing driver recruitment company told New Weekly: "Recently, the double license has been strictly checked. ”

One driver said: "For those private cars, it is only a matter of time before the number is blocked. Those newbies who have just rented a car are miserable, and the certificate has not yet arrived, which is equivalent to losing rent. ”

But beyond the "siege", there are still many people who want to enter. A reporter from New Weekly searched on social platforms and found that some companies are still publishing recruitment advertisements for ride-hailing drivers, claiming that "daily working hours are freely arranged, easy to make money, legal operation, no worries" and "monthly income you have the final say, monthly income of more than 10,000 is very simple".

Is it really that easy to open an online ride-hailing? (Photo/"Charlotte Troubles")

When the reporter consulted as a candidate, the other party said that many people came to consult every day. "There are two modes, one is to drive for the company, the basic salary is 5,000 yuan, and the company pays you social security for two months; The other is to rent a car, the rent is 2000-3000 yuan, and how much you run is your own. With a monthly income of more than 10,000, you only need to run about 18 orders a day. ”

And within the siege, Li Jun also thought that it was so easy to open an online car. He used to work in the education and training industry, but after losing his job last year, "I had no experience in other industries and I didn't know what to do, so I thought of opening an online car because the threshold is low."

After the rental car contract expires, Li Jun does not plan to continue to drive online car-hailing. "It's still very tired if you don't earn money, and you have to stay up for more than ten hours a day to get an income, and your body can't eat it in the long run." But he also didn't think about what job he could find after he was nearly 30 years old.

For most people, the ride-hailing industry may just be a temporary place to stay. As people explore how many ride-hailing cars are needed in a city, they should also pay attention to where the ride-hailing cars that have exited should go.

Proofreader: Yang Chao

Operation: Lu Zirui

Typesetting: Wen Wenqing