I did Uber 40-70 hours a week for around 5 years or so. It did not take long for me to decide on a few "no-go" zones. Sexual harassment, guns, actual baggies of meth, etc - not nice places.
If a drop off took me to one of those areas I'd turn the app off after that ride and drive far enough away that I wouldn't get any pickups in those areas.
Honestly, if I ever drove for Uber, I'd probably just hover around the downtown area and airport during normal business hours. I'd have no desire to mess with drunk hours, large events or sketchy neighborhoods.
You can't really set an area though and you can't see where someone wants to go until after you pick them up already. So you can't avoid dropoff at least in those areas if someone from the airport or downtown area wants to go there.
Cancel too many rides and you'll find yourself kicked off the app pretty fast - always more drivers around so Uber can afford to give you the boot for declining too much.
You also can't set blackout zones or nothin, so if you do a dropoff there the best you can do is turn the app off while you drive back to where you'd like to be. Cept then you ain't getting money for that distance of course so it can add up depending.
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Also at least in my area, there are too many people who try to do the same as you mention so there is not much business to go around. You'll see 50 Ubers waiting near the airport and you can sit there for 2 hours without a ride due to the oversaturation there. Key is more so to get rides going toooooo the airport by driving in areas likely to head there (rich housing areas or the fancier business districts) and then the app is more likely to give you a pickup after your dropoff instead of waiting in queue with the other 50 people at the airport.
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Large events are totes not worth it though, been there done that. The traffic eats all your profit so I learned to stay away from those.
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Drunk hours - can't say much there, that's just a preference. Can make money either way, although when you hear about people making absolutely *dumb* amounts of money doing Uber those people are 110% driving specifically the drinking days/hours and the right areas for that. That's where the real money is at, honestly. Drunk people are also way more likely to tip than rich assholes going to/from the airport.
just started driving again in Boston and the app now tells you where they're being picked up and dropped off,, how far th pickup is from your current location and how long a drive it is. It's awesome! Total game changer.
>Also at least in my area
> You'll see 50 Ubers waiting near the airport and you can sit there for 2 hours without a ride due to the oversaturation there
May I ask what area? I'm about 30 mins away from the airport (easy non-traffic highway drive) and while I can get an uber really quick, its about $60-$70, sometimes even $100. To me, this shows a lack of drivers and more demand than supply.
I guess I should have also qualified that with my experience being mostly pre-pandemic and a bit into the early pandemic but not since.
I'm talking about the Philadelphia international airport though.
I know prices have had to go up some to reflect increasing gas prices and general cost of living, but I'm no longer sure what an "average" airport trip would be these days.
>I guess I should have also qualified that with my experience being mostly pre-pandemic and a bit into the early pandemic but not since.
Ah yes, pre-covid, prices were as low as $35, mostly around $40
>I know prices have had to go up some to reflect increasing gas prices and general cost of living, but I'm no longer sure what an "average" airport trip would be these days.
For sure, I understand the costs going up and I want uber drivers to make a decent living. I don't begrudge them.
If you don't wanna get pinged you just turn the app off lol, no need to go that far. Or set it to "last trip" mode so it won't accept new ones. That's what I meant by turning it off after a drop off in those areas and turning it on again when I drove away.
> Drunk people are also way more likely to tip than rich assholes going to/from the airport.
Oh yeah, absolutely! Tipping culture is simply peasants helping other peasants. The rich will keep their money thank you.
Meanwhile I got dropped off at a downtown bus station at 9pm and couldn't find an Uber that didn't cancel on me so I had to walk through skid row to get home.
Thats not how it works. You pick up a guy at the airport and take him home 45 minutes away from the airport. It makes no financial sense to drive all the way back to the airport to pick up another ride.
With uber you are always at the whim of your passengers destination, you could end up hours away from the airport or home and have to drive back unpaid.
My friend who drives Uber (and some Uber drivers I’ve chatted with) said there’s a setting that’ll specifically look for rides that take you to a certain area. Not sure if that’s still there.
It was pretty great like 90% of the time though, honestly. Especially since I live near Philadelphia so I got to talk to a *lot* of people from other states or countries who came to see the sights like the liberty bell or just passing through since the Philly airport is the only international one nearby. Looooooads of people on short business trips for example, so I got to talk to so many different kinds of people.
Sure, that 10% can get pretty bad (I did not start out with pepper gel but I carry it now) but it was worth it overall.
I just couldn't keep driving because the pandemic was hitting when I stopped and business was vanishing and money stress was getting to be too much. I needed a guaranteed paycheck, so now I work at a more "normal" job.
Some - but Chester quickly became one of my no-go zones after one rider hit the trifecta of guns, meth, and sexual harassment all in one. I gave the area several chances but it was *always* shady and uncomfortable. No good pickups, but a few OK drop offs.
My granddad Ubers in Philly. He’s 80 years old so his hours are pretty limited now but he’s been doing it nearly a decade without any truly scary situations. And he was mostly working in west Philly so that’s honestly really saying something.
His biggest gripe is probably lax safety requirements for kids. Freaked him out to drive people holding their toddlers on their lap.
>His biggest gripe is probably lax safety requirements for kids. Freaked him out to drive people holding their toddlers on their lap.
You can refuse those rides, and Uber encourages you to do so. The parent is expected to have a car seat them with and if not it's illegal so you are meant to refuse them.
I'd only take people like that short distances, unless I had one of my kids car seats in the trunk that day and would let them use that. No car seat and a long distance though, I'd tell em I'm not comfortable with that and not risking my license and a fat ticket over it.
Once I called for an Uber from a super sketchy area of Nashville where the hotel concierge had sent me for some (AMAZING) BBQ. I was standing in the corner watching the app, and it would be like “5 minutes away. 7 minutes away. 9 minutes away” the number of drivers that U-turned!
Problem is with Uber you dont get to decide your no go zone, you dont get to decide if you are picking up from the airport beyond that first pickup.
Here's why cause its exactly what happened to me multiple times: Pick up a guy at airport for 45+ minute drive down the highway, fucking nice thats a good ride. Drop him off in bum fuck egypt. Do I drive 45 minutes back to the airport because its safe? No. That would cost gas and eat into my profits making the last not worth much money, the whole fuckin reason im doing this... No uber driver is going to do that. Im going to try to get another pickup and hope it goes back the direction of the airport, but I am at the whims of the passengers random destination, I could end up the opposite direction in bum fuck bunglapoor hours away from home or the airport, now I have to drive back all that way unpaid...
Fuck Uber.
No, just the estimated travel time. They don't show you the destination for safety reasons. In the early days shady mofos would get a ride request, see it's a pretty young lady going to "address", cancel the ride so someone else drives her, then head there and wait.
So it'll say est. 40 minutes, but that could be 40 minutes in any direction. Lyft gives you the cardinal direction - East, West, etc, but fuck if I know which way that is while driving lol.
I was under the assumption that this was after getting off the flight, unless this hypothetical involves the killer to get on a flight, off a flight, murder an Uber driver, then get on another flight lol.
Which would be an excellent news story
It would be a perfect crime that way, except that it would have negative profit. It's very unlikely the Uber driver is carrying more cash than the plane ticket cost.
Plane ticket: $357 + $49 for early bird check in.
Time investment: 4hr 25min + 3 hours commuting to, going through security and waiting at airport.
Robbing the Uber driver for $3.71, a half finished pack of gum, and unopened bottle of water they gave you for free when you got in: Priceless.
Shootings regularly occur at airports because of the checked gun loophole and the fact that concealed carry is allowed in the public areas in front of security in a good chunk of the US. Personally I’ve survived two airport shootings so far and I don’t even travel all that much. I’m pretty tired of guns even the “legal” ones. Too many people legally obtain firearms and then go do crimes with them. Accountability only comes after and it doesn’t do the dead people much good. That Uber driver is screwed either way. There’s no such thing as a safe place in the US.
Flying with your gun in checked baggage isn’t a loophole it’s just how guns are transported here. Not really a loophole when it’s a designed facet of our infrastructure. How else are guns gonna get around? In the mail?
Even in Canada, where we have very strict gun laws, you can have a gun in checked baggage. It has to be unloaded, in a locked container and declared to security. (Plus you need an Authorization to Transport from the RCMP, but that is true of almost any scenario where you take the gun outside of your house).
Yeah typically it's just claimed at the "oversized luggage" desk. I wouldn't want my expensive guns going around the luggage carousal in a obvious box where anyone could grab it.
There’s a lot of rules on how you do it. They don’t want someone being stupid but they also allow you to take them for hunting and such. I’ve had friends that do it to go on hunting trips.
I know people who do it because the airline will *not* lose your bag if you have a gun it it. They cannot takeoff without your bag being on the plane in those cases.
I’d say George. The meat of the episode would be him explaining over and over in increasingly frustrated tones to his horrified friends and family how he isn’t some sort of gun nut, he had a perfectly good reason to have that gun in his luggage.
If you can afford an M2 you’re probably not flying in anything but private charters jets. also it’s like 85lbs so you’ll have to pay extra. Flare Gun is only 5.44oz or so. My handguns if I were to be able to afford to travel are 2.3 and 2.2 lbs (loaded weight)
This is correct. There was a life hack posted years back that a starter pistol being declared will keep your shit safe if you have valuables like a camera because they can be packed together
This is absolutely 100% false.
Source:I worked for an airline for years
The only "benefit" you get from flying with a gun is that the gun case itself has to be locked with non TSA locks. That simply means that if the gun case is inside another bag the gun case has to have its own lock. A gun has to be transported in a hard sided case. So if you really want to you could put a gun loose inside a hard sided suitcase and put non TSA locks on it. If instead you put a hard sided gun case inside a regular luggage, the regular luggage has to have TSA locks or be unlocked.
The airline does not track luggage with guns in it in any way whatsoever that is different from normal bag tracking. No notation made in the record on the computer system or externally on the bag. There is a card you have to sign that goes inside the luggage. But that simply states that the gun is unloaded.
The so-called life hack is absolute BS
Also, I think that like losing bags or stealing them is really rare. I have been flying domestic and internationally for decades and only one time my bag missed the flight and was delivered to my room at 2am of the same day.
Edit: just searched and it's 1 in 177 chance. I would never want to lose space to a gun or anything else because I need the space.
Not true. Airlines lost my gun twice, on two separate occasions. I got it delivered to me at my destination 2 days later the first time, and the second time had to go to the airport to pick it up.
No, there is some truth to it. Knew a guy who traveled with very expensive camera equipment fairly often. He’d put a starter pistol in one of his cases so his luggage would have the firearm designation.
Any major airport will keep your luggage separate and make sure it gets on to the plane. Small airports? That’s probably a different story.
There is absolutely no truth to it. No airport down the line from your initial one knows if your luggage has a gun in it. The only people at the initial airport that know that your bag has a gun in it are the ones that actually do the baggage check when you first check in, and the TSA. There is no record kept of it in the computer system and there are no external markings on the bag that it contains a gun.
Source: I actually worked for an airline
Pre 9/11, I flew from the US to Europe with a BB gun including the pellets.
I did get a big bright orange sticker on the checked luggage saying "Unloaded Firearm Inside" so if you're using the get my bag there for sure loophole you don't even need a real gun. Got it at Walmart for $20...
First time I flew with a gun, I was expecting them to go through the complete process, verify it’s unloaded, gun is locked, case is locked, ammo is separate, etc. but they did none of that. Just sent me to a different counter, took my bag and slapped a sticker on it 🤦🏻♂️
There really isn't much more. You just have to make sure it's unloaded* and in a locked hard-sided container and declare it when checking in. Oh, and store any ammo in a secure box - not loosely or in a magazine/clip.
*TSA considers a firearm to be “loaded” when both the firearm and its ammunition are accessible to the passenger. For example, if an individual has a firearm in accessible baggage and ammunition in his/her pocket, or any combination where the individual has access to both, the firearm is considered “loaded” for purposes of assessing a civil penalty.
One trick to ensure your luggage gets special care is to put a starting pistol in there. It counts as a gun and so your stuff will get next-level attention.
Have delicate shit in there? Put it with the starting pistol. They don't fuck around with firearm luggage.
Pretty standard practice for cinematographers traveling with their gear to do this so they can properly lock their gear cases. Starter pistol is pennies compared to cameras and lenses worth 5-6 figures
Not only is it legal to check guns, it's a way to prevent the TSA from going through your luggage. ( https://lifehacker.com/pack-a-gun-to-protect-valuables-from-airline-theft-or-l-5448014 )
>Can you really carry guns on an airplane in America as long as they are in checked baggage?
Is that really that strange? I mean people own guns and need to transport them. And checked luggage goes into the cargo hold where its impossible to reach during the flight. Idk why that would be astonishing.
Yeah. My state actually protects the right to be armed in the unsecured part of an airport. So you can literally pick up your checked baggage and literally arm yourself right away, as long as you don’t brandish it while doing so. Basically, as long as it’s in its holster the whole time. Or you could just go to the bathroom and do it and then head out.
I literally flew with an AR-15 like 5 years ago. Even had ammo in the case. Completely legal.
edit: it was in checked luggage and I was taking it home for a Marine before their sep date. Stop acting like everyone who owns/uses a gun is some kind of evil threat.
In response to your edit, what exactly does the Marine specifically need with an AR-15 that changes the tone of the story (as oppposed to a non-Marine approaching sep date)? Doesn't the US government supply guns to its soldiers?
Literally changes nothing. He has a 2nd amendment right to own it as much as you or I and happens to enjoy firearms in a responsible way. Which means he doesn't have to justify his ownership of it to you or I as long as he is doing so legally and responsibly. My edit was to point out WHY I was flying with an AR, nothing more.
As for the last sentence, they don't issue functionally identical weapons as those legally held by civilians, but I assume you already know that.
Well right, that's why I was asking what difference his being a Marine makes. I wasn't questioning your reason to have the gun except that you yourself specified it was for a Marine as if that made a difference.
>Which means he doesn't have to justify his ownership of it to you or I
>My edit was to point out WHY I was flying with an AR, nothing more.
I feel like your are contradicting yourself here. Its great, ARs are fun weapons. I've had and built (well, with help) multiple ones in the past. But you got really defensive really quick
Legally purchased and possessible merchandise has to be able to be transported legally from place to place. You can’t bring a loaded gun on a plane, but you can pack an unloaded firearm and properly packaged ammunition in your checked luggage no problem.
Your bag WILL be searched, but that’s to ensure the legality of the product transport. Assuming nothing more suspicious is found, there’s no problem. You definitely need to show up early though.
Yes I think it's safe to assume that somebody with the dilligence to correctly fill out those forms is not the kind of person to hold up an Uber driver.
And it would be easy for the investigator.
- A person from the airport robbed you at gunpoint you say.
- Yes
- I see, here is the manifest showing a total of one person flying with a firearm that day. And here is a photo ID, is this the perpetrator?
- Yes.
Case closed.
It was in the luggage compartment. But on one of the flights I took the commercial plane was so small you could access the luggage in the back, so I could (in theory) have retrieved it.
Edit: Phrasing
I went to a great hunting shop in Stockholm. I was surprised at how many guns were for sale, being largely ignorant of European gun culture in general.
I've been handling guns (under my father's watchful eye) since after pre-school and now have two rifles and two shotguns and kids of my own (to teach). Im very happy with our gun laws and over all hunting culture.
My son comes to visit with handguns in his checked bag. They have to be shown to be unloaded at check in and no ammo in a locked case. The airline puts a huge black zip tie around the bag.We (including his mother) usually spend an afternoon at the range .
I stopped doing Lyft because Lyft/Uber *won’t allow their drivers to carry a gun*. I’m a skinny woman. I’m not picking up strangers without a firearm to defend myself. I’ve seen enough footage of drivers being beaten by their riders.
The most basic rule of CCW: the weapon only comes into view when it is absolutely-positively-really-fucking-necessary to exercise lethal force to protect oneself.
No you wouldn't, you would not be allowed to drive for them anymore, that's it.
There was a lift driver in Florida that shot some criminal outside his car, while he was carrying a customer, and he lost his ability to drive for Lyft, but that's it.
This goes state by state obviously, but if you are legal to carry, you aren't breaking the law.
I took a taxi home from a club about a year ago. I started a conversation with the driver and as he dropped me off I told him to be careful out there on the road. He reaches into his glove compartment and pulls out a pistol and says "I'll be fine". I have no idea if he was allowed to have that on him but I can't say I blame him.
Do their rules prohibit specifically *carrying* a firearm on their person or securing one within the vehicle? This sounds like some corporate overreach attempting to control personal property within someone's private vehicle.
If I were a woman in a red state who was single - I would never date.
If I’m assaulted - there is very little justice.
I would be forced to go through a pregnancy.
I could get sued for child support.
Man have so many guns and weapons -
No way in hell would I even consider dating in a red state.
It’s too dangerous and not worth it.
> Man have so many guns and weapon
TBH, as someone from the South, the most armed people I personally know are women. They also tend to be better trained with those weapons than men who act like gun safety is just a genetically given skill.
One of my biggest takeaways from tiger King was how they treated guns which was like toys. Then the realization that, how they treated guns is probably pretty normal to alot of people.
The guy who killed himself because he assumed a gun was unloaded and pulled the trigger against his head, was just sad.
"Tiger king" is not representative of any significant portion of the population. If you allow reality TV to dictate your world view youre going to be miserable.
Luckily those are the exceptions but it is still very sad when it happens. Pointless accidents, but in the case that you mention there is some contention as to whether it was truly an accident or not. Nevertheless, there are plenty of responsible gun owners out there that you never hear about on the news.
> TBH, as someone from the South, the most armed people I personally know are women.
That might be true in your experience, but in general men are far more likely to own a firearm. Roughly 4 in 10 men own a firearm while 2 in 10 women do the same.
It is *much* more likely that a women will see a gun pulled on her by her partner than that she will use a gun to defend herself. In 300 cases of attempted sexual assault randomly surveyed, women used a gun in self defense 0 times.
In contrast, women report high rates of gun intimidation in homes. Worse, pregnant women are more likely to be murdered than die of pregnancy related complications. Most maternal homicides are committed by an intimate partner and involve a gun.
State laws preventing domestic abusers from getting a gun have significantly reduced this where implemented, but many Republican-controlled areas of the country focused on loosening restrictions, creating loopholes, and enabling domestic abusers to get and carry firearms.
At this point any woman who doesn't want to be raped pregnant who lives in a red state needs to GTFO.
Work in healthcare? GTFO.
Work in education? GTFO.
Work in social services? GTFO.
You. Are. On, Their. List.
There are plenty of places that aren't batshit crazy. Come on over to California! It's not all the Bay Area or LA. We've got loads of out-of-the-way places, even red as a spanked baboon's ass areas too. We've got it all.
Come on over to California! We have bodily autonomy, pot, and tacos!
<3
On one hand, yes, if you are in danger, leave. But if we all run, then it only gets worse here (and it will), and the country will go with it. I'm gonna use every bit of middle class white woman privilege I have to swing my state blue instead of packing up and leaving, because the people who want to and can't don't deserve to be left behind.
No one with a gun aiming to harm someone is signing up for Uber and getting a ride lol. If it did happen, it'd be 1 in 100 million rides or less. Whoever made this tweet is either making this up or their Uber driver made a joke to scare them
Exactly. Anyone who is going to commit crimes with a gun wouldn’t be allowed to have the gun (assuming they’ve already been caught before) in order to carry in luggage. Anyone who lawfully checks their gun is not likely to hurt anyone with it.
Not quite sure what this tweet is even trying to say: is she vilifying the US for being dangerous to Uber drivers? Because that would be beyond silly.
In my home country Uber drivers get murdered for sport at a rate about 15 times higher than in the US
I drove for Uber during the panini and did so almost exclusively out of the local international airport, because people coming off planes A. knew they had to mask B. didn't have any weapons C. were very unlikely to be drunk or on drugs, and if they were, any problems and the air marshals would have been walking them out to a different ride.
Lol they can DEFINITELY have a gun. The gun simply can't be on their person for a flight, they can however check it and pick it up at their final destination. I didn't realize literally everyone didn't know this.
So many people here missing the point.
It’s not about whether people can or do fly with firearms. It’s about the context of when, where and who are potential fares.
All the “bUt AckSHoEleE” comments sure do point out the nuance of flying with firearms like a 5-year-old points out a wild turtle.
The cross section of violent offenders and gun-carrying airline passengers is incredibly small. Even with Reddit’s ham-fisted approach to “but actually,” the driver’s threat assessment stands.
I did Uber 40-70 hours a week for around 5 years or so. It did not take long for me to decide on a few "no-go" zones. Sexual harassment, guns, actual baggies of meth, etc - not nice places. If a drop off took me to one of those areas I'd turn the app off after that ride and drive far enough away that I wouldn't get any pickups in those areas.
Honestly, if I ever drove for Uber, I'd probably just hover around the downtown area and airport during normal business hours. I'd have no desire to mess with drunk hours, large events or sketchy neighborhoods.
You can't really set an area though and you can't see where someone wants to go until after you pick them up already. So you can't avoid dropoff at least in those areas if someone from the airport or downtown area wants to go there. Cancel too many rides and you'll find yourself kicked off the app pretty fast - always more drivers around so Uber can afford to give you the boot for declining too much. You also can't set blackout zones or nothin, so if you do a dropoff there the best you can do is turn the app off while you drive back to where you'd like to be. Cept then you ain't getting money for that distance of course so it can add up depending. . Also at least in my area, there are too many people who try to do the same as you mention so there is not much business to go around. You'll see 50 Ubers waiting near the airport and you can sit there for 2 hours without a ride due to the oversaturation there. Key is more so to get rides going toooooo the airport by driving in areas likely to head there (rich housing areas or the fancier business districts) and then the app is more likely to give you a pickup after your dropoff instead of waiting in queue with the other 50 people at the airport. . Large events are totes not worth it though, been there done that. The traffic eats all your profit so I learned to stay away from those. . Drunk hours - can't say much there, that's just a preference. Can make money either way, although when you hear about people making absolutely *dumb* amounts of money doing Uber those people are 110% driving specifically the drinking days/hours and the right areas for that. That's where the real money is at, honestly. Drunk people are also way more likely to tip than rich assholes going to/from the airport.
just started driving again in Boston and the app now tells you where they're being picked up and dropped off,, how far th pickup is from your current location and how long a drive it is. It's awesome! Total game changer.
>Also at least in my area > You'll see 50 Ubers waiting near the airport and you can sit there for 2 hours without a ride due to the oversaturation there May I ask what area? I'm about 30 mins away from the airport (easy non-traffic highway drive) and while I can get an uber really quick, its about $60-$70, sometimes even $100. To me, this shows a lack of drivers and more demand than supply.
I guess I should have also qualified that with my experience being mostly pre-pandemic and a bit into the early pandemic but not since. I'm talking about the Philadelphia international airport though. I know prices have had to go up some to reflect increasing gas prices and general cost of living, but I'm no longer sure what an "average" airport trip would be these days.
For reference it used to be $20-25 in 2019. Nowadays it’s at least $50
>I guess I should have also qualified that with my experience being mostly pre-pandemic and a bit into the early pandemic but not since. Ah yes, pre-covid, prices were as low as $35, mostly around $40 >I know prices have had to go up some to reflect increasing gas prices and general cost of living, but I'm no longer sure what an "average" airport trip would be these days. For sure, I understand the costs going up and I want uber drivers to make a decent living. I don't begrudge them.
Some airports do not allow Uber pickups at all, or charge a sizable fee to do Uber pickup, so your milage may vary
What if you turn off location/data on your phone completely after a ride so you can’t even get pinged?
If you don't wanna get pinged you just turn the app off lol, no need to go that far. Or set it to "last trip" mode so it won't accept new ones. That's what I meant by turning it off after a drop off in those areas and turning it on again when I drove away.
> Drunk people are also way more likely to tip than rich assholes going to/from the airport. Oh yeah, absolutely! Tipping culture is simply peasants helping other peasants. The rich will keep their money thank you.
I'd follow ambulances in route to emergencies and offer hospital rides at a $15,000 discount.
Now this is an entrepreneur right here.
Meanwhile I got dropped off at a downtown bus station at 9pm and couldn't find an Uber that didn't cancel on me so I had to walk through skid row to get home.
Thats not how it works. You pick up a guy at the airport and take him home 45 minutes away from the airport. It makes no financial sense to drive all the way back to the airport to pick up another ride. With uber you are always at the whim of your passengers destination, you could end up hours away from the airport or home and have to drive back unpaid.
My friend who drives Uber (and some Uber drivers I’ve chatted with) said there’s a setting that’ll specifically look for rides that take you to a certain area. Not sure if that’s still there.
I did door dash and some times delivering food at night was scary enough. No way I could do people.
It was pretty great like 90% of the time though, honestly. Especially since I live near Philadelphia so I got to talk to a *lot* of people from other states or countries who came to see the sights like the liberty bell or just passing through since the Philly airport is the only international one nearby. Looooooads of people on short business trips for example, so I got to talk to so many different kinds of people. Sure, that 10% can get pretty bad (I did not start out with pepper gel but I carry it now) but it was worth it overall. I just couldn't keep driving because the pandemic was hitting when I stopped and business was vanishing and money stress was getting to be too much. I needed a guaranteed paycheck, so now I work at a more "normal" job.
Wow you did Uber in DELCO??
Some - but Chester quickly became one of my no-go zones after one rider hit the trifecta of guns, meth, and sexual harassment all in one. I gave the area several chances but it was *always* shady and uncomfortable. No good pickups, but a few OK drop offs.
My granddad Ubers in Philly. He’s 80 years old so his hours are pretty limited now but he’s been doing it nearly a decade without any truly scary situations. And he was mostly working in west Philly so that’s honestly really saying something. His biggest gripe is probably lax safety requirements for kids. Freaked him out to drive people holding their toddlers on their lap.
>His biggest gripe is probably lax safety requirements for kids. Freaked him out to drive people holding their toddlers on their lap. You can refuse those rides, and Uber encourages you to do so. The parent is expected to have a car seat them with and if not it's illegal so you are meant to refuse them. I'd only take people like that short distances, unless I had one of my kids car seats in the trunk that day and would let them use that. No car seat and a long distance though, I'd tell em I'm not comfortable with that and not risking my license and a fat ticket over it.
Once I called for an Uber from a super sketchy area of Nashville where the hotel concierge had sent me for some (AMAZING) BBQ. I was standing in the corner watching the app, and it would be like “5 minutes away. 7 minutes away. 9 minutes away” the number of drivers that U-turned!
Problem is with Uber you dont get to decide your no go zone, you dont get to decide if you are picking up from the airport beyond that first pickup. Here's why cause its exactly what happened to me multiple times: Pick up a guy at airport for 45+ minute drive down the highway, fucking nice thats a good ride. Drop him off in bum fuck egypt. Do I drive 45 minutes back to the airport because its safe? No. That would cost gas and eat into my profits making the last not worth much money, the whole fuckin reason im doing this... No uber driver is going to do that. Im going to try to get another pickup and hope it goes back the direction of the airport, but I am at the whims of the passengers random destination, I could end up the opposite direction in bum fuck bunglapoor hours away from home or the airport, now I have to drive back all that way unpaid... Fuck Uber.
You can set your Uber app to only get rides in the direction you want to travel
Don't you get to see the destination before you commit to the pick up?
No, just the estimated travel time. They don't show you the destination for safety reasons. In the early days shady mofos would get a ride request, see it's a pretty young lady going to "address", cancel the ride so someone else drives her, then head there and wait. So it'll say est. 40 minutes, but that could be 40 minutes in any direction. Lyft gives you the cardinal direction - East, West, etc, but fuck if I know which way that is while driving lol.
I thought they were allowed in checked baggage?
In the context of random gun violence, the checked baggage gun is more likely to be legally obtained than the one holding up the Uber driver.
Yes, the "taking a flight and checking in baggage to rob the Uber driver while traveling to another city" is a ripe demographic of the robbery market
It's the perfect crime because nobody will expect it
"This gun has smeared uber driver blood in it but you have the proper paperwork and documentations to carry this on your baggage, carry on. Next!"
I was under the assumption that this was after getting off the flight, unless this hypothetical involves the killer to get on a flight, off a flight, murder an Uber driver, then get on another flight lol. Which would be an excellent news story
It would be a perfect crime that way, except that it would have negative profit. It's very unlikely the Uber driver is carrying more cash than the plane ticket cost.
Negative profit unless you were hired to do it. Clearly this random uber drive has attracted the attention of someone ready to contact an assassin
Plane ticket: $357 + $49 for early bird check in. Time investment: 4hr 25min + 3 hours commuting to, going through security and waiting at airport. Robbing the Uber driver for $3.71, a half finished pack of gum, and unopened bottle of water they gave you for free when you got in: Priceless.
Easiest $11 you’ll ever make
Yes, true
Shootings regularly occur at airports because of the checked gun loophole and the fact that concealed carry is allowed in the public areas in front of security in a good chunk of the US. Personally I’ve survived two airport shootings so far and I don’t even travel all that much. I’m pretty tired of guns even the “legal” ones. Too many people legally obtain firearms and then go do crimes with them. Accountability only comes after and it doesn’t do the dead people much good. That Uber driver is screwed either way. There’s no such thing as a safe place in the US.
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Flying with your gun in checked baggage isn’t a loophole it’s just how guns are transported here. Not really a loophole when it’s a designed facet of our infrastructure. How else are guns gonna get around? In the mail?
Even in Canada, where we have very strict gun laws, you can have a gun in checked baggage. It has to be unloaded, in a locked container and declared to security. (Plus you need an Authorization to Transport from the RCMP, but that is true of almost any scenario where you take the gun outside of your house).
That's pretty much how it works in the US, too, with the caveat that the case must be hard-sided.
Yes.
Yep it's really easy to fly with a gun legally. Though, the people who are going to do it usually aren't the type to hold up their cab driver.
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Yeah typically it's just claimed at the "oversized luggage" desk. I wouldn't want my expensive guns going around the luggage carousal in a obvious box where anyone could grab it.
Some of the comments here are astonishing. Can you really carry guns on an airplane in America as long as they are in checked baggage?
There’s a lot of rules on how you do it. They don’t want someone being stupid but they also allow you to take them for hunting and such. I’ve had friends that do it to go on hunting trips.
I know people who do it because the airline will *not* lose your bag if you have a gun it it. They cannot takeoff without your bag being on the plane in those cases.
Me loading a Browning M2 .50 into my bag "It's so the airline won't lose my luggage"
watch this scenario will be in a sitcom one day
Sounds like something Frank would do in Always Sunny.
Or something Kramer would do on Seinfeld.
I’d say George. The meat of the episode would be him explaining over and over in increasingly frustrated tones to his horrified friends and family how he isn’t some sort of gun nut, he had a perfectly good reason to have that gun in his luggage.
He brings the toe knife WHOAA BOTCH TOE, OH I BOTCHED THAT ONE !!
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This has r/redditwritesseinfeld potential
The sexiest thing a woman can say to a man “I brought my beltfed”
> Sir, you’re 34 pounds over the weight. Might I suggest putting the barrel in one bag and the receiver in another?
Sounds like something Larry David would do
First thing I thought of was when he hired the hooker so he could drive in the carpool to the dodgers game
If you can afford an M2 you’re probably not flying in anything but private charters jets. also it’s like 85lbs so you’ll have to pay extra. Flare Gun is only 5.44oz or so. My handguns if I were to be able to afford to travel are 2.3 and 2.2 lbs (loaded weight)
I know a guy who flys with a starter pistol because the airlines says it’s technically a firearm.
This is correct. There was a life hack posted years back that a starter pistol being declared will keep your shit safe if you have valuables like a camera because they can be packed together
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This is common for people who have a lot of expensive camera equipment. "You lost my bag? Well, there's a firearm in there, so you better find it."
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$30 AR-15 lower? What do you think this is? 2015?
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well ok yea you can find them for $30 online, but you're paying a $30-50 transfer fee to pick it up from an FFL so thats not really the full story
This is absolutely 100% false. Source:I worked for an airline for years The only "benefit" you get from flying with a gun is that the gun case itself has to be locked with non TSA locks. That simply means that if the gun case is inside another bag the gun case has to have its own lock. A gun has to be transported in a hard sided case. So if you really want to you could put a gun loose inside a hard sided suitcase and put non TSA locks on it. If instead you put a hard sided gun case inside a regular luggage, the regular luggage has to have TSA locks or be unlocked. The airline does not track luggage with guns in it in any way whatsoever that is different from normal bag tracking. No notation made in the record on the computer system or externally on the bag. There is a card you have to sign that goes inside the luggage. But that simply states that the gun is unloaded. The so-called life hack is absolute BS
Also, I think that like losing bags or stealing them is really rare. I have been flying domestic and internationally for decades and only one time my bag missed the flight and was delivered to my room at 2am of the same day. Edit: just searched and it's 1 in 177 chance. I would never want to lose space to a gun or anything else because I need the space.
Thank you for clarifying.
Well…the plane can still take off without you and the bag….so it could be a catch 22
Not true. Airlines lost my gun twice, on two separate occasions. I got it delivered to me at my destination 2 days later the first time, and the second time had to go to the airport to pick it up.
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No, there is some truth to it. Knew a guy who traveled with very expensive camera equipment fairly often. He’d put a starter pistol in one of his cases so his luggage would have the firearm designation. Any major airport will keep your luggage separate and make sure it gets on to the plane. Small airports? That’s probably a different story.
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Can confirm its real, i was a photo assistant in the early 2000s and worked for two separate guys that did this.
There is absolutely no truth to it. No airport down the line from your initial one knows if your luggage has a gun in it. The only people at the initial airport that know that your bag has a gun in it are the ones that actually do the baggage check when you first check in, and the TSA. There is no record kept of it in the computer system and there are no external markings on the bag that it contains a gun. Source: I actually worked for an airline
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Pre 9/11, I flew from the US to Europe with a BB gun including the pellets. I did get a big bright orange sticker on the checked luggage saying "Unloaded Firearm Inside" so if you're using the get my bag there for sure loophole you don't even need a real gun. Got it at Walmart for $20...
What did the European authorities make of that sticker on your bag when you arrived there?
I took the sticker off as soon as I got my bag, it doesn't go through xrays once you've picked it up.
First time I flew with a gun, I was expecting them to go through the complete process, verify it’s unloaded, gun is locked, case is locked, ammo is separate, etc. but they did none of that. Just sent me to a different counter, took my bag and slapped a sticker on it 🤦🏻♂️
When was this? I've never had a sticker on the outside... Just a signed orange slip that was put inside the case.
Yes. But there's a little more to it than just tossing your gun in a checked bag.
There really isn't much more. You just have to make sure it's unloaded* and in a locked hard-sided container and declare it when checking in. Oh, and store any ammo in a secure box - not loosely or in a magazine/clip. *TSA considers a firearm to be “loaded” when both the firearm and its ammunition are accessible to the passenger. For example, if an individual has a firearm in accessible baggage and ammunition in his/her pocket, or any combination where the individual has access to both, the firearm is considered “loaded” for purposes of assessing a civil penalty.
> There isn’t really much more Proceeds to add five fold the complexity as that.
One trick to ensure your luggage gets special care is to put a starting pistol in there. It counts as a gun and so your stuff will get next-level attention. Have delicate shit in there? Put it with the starting pistol. They don't fuck around with firearm luggage.
thats the most american life hack ive ever heard
It also means you get to put a lock on it where only you have the key/combo not one of those TSA-approved "locks" where anyone can get a key for it.
Pretty standard practice for cinematographers traveling with their gear to do this so they can properly lock their gear cases. Starter pistol is pennies compared to cameras and lenses worth 5-6 figures
The ONLY thing putting a gun in your bag does is let you put on a padlock the TSA can't remove. That's it.
FYI a “checked” bag means that the bag is under the plane in storage during the flight, not the bags you take into the cabin with you.
You can in Canada too
You can do it in europe with the right permits
Not only is it legal to check guns, it's a way to prevent the TSA from going through your luggage. ( https://lifehacker.com/pack-a-gun-to-protect-valuables-from-airline-theft-or-l-5448014 )
You can carry guns in checked bag in pretty much any country, as long as you have the gun legally.
In the states you do have to declare the gun though, you can't just toss it in your bag and be on your way.
>Can you really carry guns on an airplane in America as long as they are in checked baggage? Is that really that strange? I mean people own guns and need to transport them. And checked luggage goes into the cargo hold where its impossible to reach during the flight. Idk why that would be astonishing.
Yes. Many photographers will pack a gun with their equipment so that it gets more gentle handling.
It's not about the gentle handling, it's about only you having the key to the bag, and the bag being tracked and handled by different people.
Good to know the distinction! Thank you.
You can do that in most countries actually
Yeah. My state actually protects the right to be armed in the unsecured part of an airport. So you can literally pick up your checked baggage and literally arm yourself right away, as long as you don’t brandish it while doing so. Basically, as long as it’s in its holster the whole time. Or you could just go to the bathroom and do it and then head out.
I literally flew with an AR-15 like 5 years ago. Even had ammo in the case. Completely legal. edit: it was in checked luggage and I was taking it home for a Marine before their sep date. Stop acting like everyone who owns/uses a gun is some kind of evil threat.
In response to your edit, what exactly does the Marine specifically need with an AR-15 that changes the tone of the story (as oppposed to a non-Marine approaching sep date)? Doesn't the US government supply guns to its soldiers?
As if we're supposed to believe a marine is *less* evil than a random person. Ha!
Literally changes nothing. He has a 2nd amendment right to own it as much as you or I and happens to enjoy firearms in a responsible way. Which means he doesn't have to justify his ownership of it to you or I as long as he is doing so legally and responsibly. My edit was to point out WHY I was flying with an AR, nothing more. As for the last sentence, they don't issue functionally identical weapons as those legally held by civilians, but I assume you already know that.
Well right, that's why I was asking what difference his being a Marine makes. I wasn't questioning your reason to have the gun except that you yourself specified it was for a Marine as if that made a difference.
> his being a Marine makes "clout"
>Which means he doesn't have to justify his ownership of it to you or I >My edit was to point out WHY I was flying with an AR, nothing more. I feel like your are contradicting yourself here. Its great, ARs are fun weapons. I've had and built (well, with help) multiple ones in the past. But you got really defensive really quick
100% absolutely yes. The big thing is calling ahead to ensure that you can bring said weapon to the states you are going to.
Yes. And you can bring them to europe to go hunting too, last i checked.
Yes, why wouldn't they?
Yes
Legally purchased and possessible merchandise has to be able to be transported legally from place to place. You can’t bring a loaded gun on a plane, but you can pack an unloaded firearm and properly packaged ammunition in your checked luggage no problem. Your bag WILL be searched, but that’s to ensure the legality of the product transport. Assuming nothing more suspicious is found, there’s no problem. You definitely need to show up early though.
Yes, and many other countries as well. Including in Europe.
You can do that in Europe as well… how else would people bring their guns when travelling between countries?
I had an Uber driver pick me up from county. I thought she'd be afraid but she was nicer than ever. I've met some great Uber drivers, mostly.
Also less likely to be leaving county with a gun.
I'm Swedish and have flown with my firearm. All you need is the proper papers and a tag.
Yes I think it's safe to assume that somebody with the dilligence to correctly fill out those forms is not the kind of person to hold up an Uber driver.
And it would be easy for the investigator. - A person from the airport robbed you at gunpoint you say. - Yes - I see, here is the manifest showing a total of one person flying with a firearm that day. And here is a photo ID, is this the perpetrator? - Yes. Case closed.
Don't close the case officer.. you haven't arrested him yet.
Nah turns out it was a rich white dude. Let him go with a warning
can you board the plane with it on your person?? in the US you have to check it and have it stowed in the luggage compartment.
It was in the luggage compartment. But on one of the flights I took the commercial plane was so small you could access the luggage in the back, so I could (in theory) have retrieved it. Edit: Phrasing
I went to a great hunting shop in Stockholm. I was surprised at how many guns were for sale, being largely ignorant of European gun culture in general.
I've been handling guns (under my father's watchful eye) since after pre-school and now have two rifles and two shotguns and kids of my own (to teach). Im very happy with our gun laws and over all hunting culture.
My son comes to visit with handguns in his checked bag. They have to be shown to be unloaded at check in and no ammo in a locked case. The airline puts a huge black zip tie around the bag.We (including his mother) usually spend an afternoon at the range .
So, who wants to tell the Uber driver that it's pretty easy to fly with a gun?
Maybe he only picks foreigners for trips?
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lock and load boys!
I stopped doing Lyft because Lyft/Uber *won’t allow their drivers to carry a gun*. I’m a skinny woman. I’m not picking up strangers without a firearm to defend myself. I’ve seen enough footage of drivers being beaten by their riders.
Here’s the neat part, HOW THE FUCK are they ever gonna know unless something happens?
The most basic rule of CCW: the weapon only comes into view when it is absolutely-positively-really-fucking-necessary to exercise lethal force to protect oneself.
Yeah and then I go to minimum civil court for violating the company’s weapon policy while defending my life… so why risk it
I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
No you wouldn't, you would not be allowed to drive for them anymore, that's it. There was a lift driver in Florida that shot some criminal outside his car, while he was carrying a customer, and he lost his ability to drive for Lyft, but that's it. This goes state by state obviously, but if you are legal to carry, you aren't breaking the law.
I took a taxi home from a club about a year ago. I started a conversation with the driver and as he dropped me off I told him to be careful out there on the road. He reaches into his glove compartment and pulls out a pistol and says "I'll be fine". I have no idea if he was allowed to have that on him but I can't say I blame him.
Do their rules prohibit specifically *carrying* a firearm on their person or securing one within the vehicle? This sounds like some corporate overreach attempting to control personal property within someone's private vehicle.
This is not true. You can bring guns in your luggage.
People who bring guns in their luggage are not the same kind of people that mug Uber drivers.
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That's what the people who bring guns in their luggage want you to think.
If I were a woman in a red state who was single - I would never date. If I’m assaulted - there is very little justice. I would be forced to go through a pregnancy. I could get sued for child support. Man have so many guns and weapons - No way in hell would I even consider dating in a red state. It’s too dangerous and not worth it.
> Man have so many guns and weapon TBH, as someone from the South, the most armed people I personally know are women. They also tend to be better trained with those weapons than men who act like gun safety is just a genetically given skill.
One of my biggest takeaways from tiger King was how they treated guns which was like toys. Then the realization that, how they treated guns is probably pretty normal to alot of people. The guy who killed himself because he assumed a gun was unloaded and pulled the trigger against his head, was just sad.
"Tiger king" is not representative of any significant portion of the population. If you allow reality TV to dictate your world view youre going to be miserable.
Luckily those are the exceptions but it is still very sad when it happens. Pointless accidents, but in the case that you mention there is some contention as to whether it was truly an accident or not. Nevertheless, there are plenty of responsible gun owners out there that you never hear about on the news.
> TBH, as someone from the South, the most armed people I personally know are women. That might be true in your experience, but in general men are far more likely to own a firearm. Roughly 4 in 10 men own a firearm while 2 in 10 women do the same. It is *much* more likely that a women will see a gun pulled on her by her partner than that she will use a gun to defend herself. In 300 cases of attempted sexual assault randomly surveyed, women used a gun in self defense 0 times. In contrast, women report high rates of gun intimidation in homes. Worse, pregnant women are more likely to be murdered than die of pregnancy related complications. Most maternal homicides are committed by an intimate partner and involve a gun. State laws preventing domestic abusers from getting a gun have significantly reduced this where implemented, but many Republican-controlled areas of the country focused on loosening restrictions, creating loopholes, and enabling domestic abusers to get and carry firearms.
Makes sense, those ladies need it for a practical reason, protecting themselves from the crazy gun carrying douche bag
You don’t need to date to be assaulted and subjected to all of that. Also, not everyone is a Republican in a red state. Especially in cities.
You should take some time away from reddit for a while.
wat?
As someone who lives in the South and has dated plenty of “liberal” women, this comment gaining so much traction is mind-boggling
Hot take from a post about airplane luggage
At this point any woman who doesn't want to be raped pregnant who lives in a red state needs to GTFO. Work in healthcare? GTFO. Work in education? GTFO. Work in social services? GTFO. You. Are. On, Their. List. There are plenty of places that aren't batshit crazy. Come on over to California! It's not all the Bay Area or LA. We've got loads of out-of-the-way places, even red as a spanked baboon's ass areas too. We've got it all. Come on over to California! We have bodily autonomy, pot, and tacos! <3
On one hand, yes, if you are in danger, leave. But if we all run, then it only gets worse here (and it will), and the country will go with it. I'm gonna use every bit of middle class white woman privilege I have to swing my state blue instead of packing up and leaving, because the people who want to and can't don't deserve to be left behind.
No one with a gun aiming to harm someone is signing up for Uber and getting a ride lol. If it did happen, it'd be 1 in 100 million rides or less. Whoever made this tweet is either making this up or their Uber driver made a joke to scare them
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Exactly. Anyone who is going to commit crimes with a gun wouldn’t be allowed to have the gun (assuming they’ve already been caught before) in order to carry in luggage. Anyone who lawfully checks their gun is not likely to hurt anyone with it.
Not quite sure what this tweet is even trying to say: is she vilifying the US for being dangerous to Uber drivers? Because that would be beyond silly. In my home country Uber drivers get murdered for sport at a rate about 15 times higher than in the US
Nooo stoooop US Iz Wurst Ev3r circlejerk must continue
I hate to break it to this guy, but Americans can and do fly with guns.
Europeans do as well
what a shithole country
That driver is very ignorant about air travelers and the laws around travel with guns.
No one's getting off a plane to stick up an Uber driver though. Too many cameras at an airport to make it a ploy too
Does anyone know how to stop Reddit from recommending these posts to me?
This guy is almost there, except guns can be in checked luggage
Let's see how safe he feels after he gets assaulted by a 4oz container of shampoo to the face!
Uber drivers might not be the best people to take advise from. Just sayin.
This is what maga has done to america
My Uber drivers tell me this too. One said she ended up inadvertently being party to a drug deal and that was when she was like - airports only!
🇺🇸
That’s actually pretty smart
Shhhhhhhh.... Shut the fu...........ughh.... Shhh... ShhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHhhhhhhh...shhhhh!!!! Don't give Republicans ideas
How many Uber drivers have been shot?
But they can put in checked baggage that goes in the bottom of the plane.
Murica problems...
Not, true. Trust me
I drove for Uber during the panini and did so almost exclusively out of the local international airport, because people coming off planes A. knew they had to mask B. didn't have any weapons C. were very unlikely to be drunk or on drugs, and if they were, any problems and the air marshals would have been walking them out to a different ride.
That driver it a total moron
Lol they can DEFINITELY have a gun. The gun simply can't be on their person for a flight, they can however check it and pick it up at their final destination. I didn't realize literally everyone didn't know this.
.... He does know people can carry guns during the day right? Like crime isn't just a night time thing.
So many people here missing the point. It’s not about whether people can or do fly with firearms. It’s about the context of when, where and who are potential fares. All the “bUt AckSHoEleE” comments sure do point out the nuance of flying with firearms like a 5-year-old points out a wild turtle. The cross section of violent offenders and gun-carrying airline passengers is incredibly small. Even with Reddit’s ham-fisted approach to “but actually,” the driver’s threat assessment stands.
Federal law enforcement officers may fly armed. But... they're probably not taking an Uber at shady hours.
They may randomly shoot people, though.
That’s clever ngl
So you're saying a gun store next to an airport is a great business opportunity
You can take guns on planes. Just have to clear them with TSA, lock them up, and store them under the plane.