Have you noticed? When you get a ride request, the Uber driver app now shows you the postcode of the destination, before you pick up your rider. This small detail can have a huge impact on your work when used correctly.

How does it work?

Before this update, you didn’t know where your next trip would go until you accepted it. Cancelling a trip upon pick-up is very frustrating for your riders, and it’s not ideal for your driver rating either. Thanks to the update, ride requests now show the postcode of the pickup as well as the dropoff location. This means you can just decline the trip earlier and give the rider more time to find another car.

Why is it useful?

Avoid or target an area

There are days when it doesn’t make sense to pay the Congestion charge. Perhaps you’re working a short shift, or just want to avoid a restricted area or getting stuck in traffic.

The app now shows you in time if a trip will take you to an area you want to avoid.

All you need to do is decline. No need to call the rider and ask about the destination—or worse, accept the trip and then cancel, as many drivers used to do.

You can also use Uber destinations to target specific areas. Is there a game, concert or other big event ending soon? You can hit two birds with one stone if you aim for a trip to an area where you’re sure you’ll land another one quickly. The same way, you can secure a run to the airport or the train station easier, where you have a good chance to swoop down on your next trip in minutes.

Stay organized

It’s not all about how much an Uber driver makes, though. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is also key to long-term success, so you should always pay attention to end your shift in time.

However, the way home can get tricky. What if your last ride is a long one and takes you in the opposite direction? You’ll arrive home late and most likely go more with an empty car than you’d be comfortable with.

Uber destinations take out the guesswork of every ride and make time management so much easier for you.

Postcodes? Really?

It does sound silly at first—who’d memorise hundreds of postcodes, right? But it’s actually quite clever. Think about it: you don’t know the name of every street either, and there’s nothing in their names to suggest where they are.

Postcodes, on the other hand, are very logical. The system was designed to give you a general direction at a glance. Check out this map. You don’t need to memorise any of it, you’ll know it all by heart in no time just keeping an eye on the requests.

The first letters give an indication of where the district is relative to the city centre. For example, N stands for North, SW for Southwest, etc. The central area, covering most of the Congestion Charge Zone, is further divided into Eastern Central (EC) and Western Central (WC). Check out the full list of the London postcodes and district names.

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Life as an on-demand driver is all about finding the best time and place to work with the highest efficiency possible so you can maximise your earnings and enjoy a healthy work-life balance. However, where and when you drive is not all that you can control. You can also juggle multiple apps to keep downtime […]

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