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Dodge7
Joined: 21 Oct 2011
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:37 am Post subject: How Much Do These Korean Taxi Drivers Really Make? |
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It can't be that much. Gas is outrageously expensive here. Anyone have a round figure? I feel bad throwing 2.300 at the guy for taking me a few kms. It seems like it should be more--at least 3k or so. I want to tip him but I don't want that to lead to the American entitlement attitude I see back home. Everyone has their hand out for something. Next you'll start seeing tip jars at Holly's Coffee. |
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le-paul
Joined: 07 Apr 2009 Location: dans la chambre
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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well, when you say 'gas is expensive', youre right about one thing 'gas'. They use 'LPG' which is alot cheaper than petrolium and its subsidised by the government. They also make alot of their fares from the main office/call outs which arrange long distance pick ups/drop offs. The night shifts also bring in a lot more money.
I have a friend who is a taxi driver. He was a freelance electrician and I know he makes more money now, than he did when he was working at the power plant. |
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fustiancorduroy
Joined: 12 Jan 2007
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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You can ask the taxi drivers in Korean how much they make. They'll tell you. Drivers that work for companies -- i.e. those who do not own their own cars -- make about 1.5 million won a month. 개인 taxi drivers, those who do own their own cars, make a bit more, around 1.8 to 2.0 million won a month, depending on how much they work. So, they ain't rich, especially considering that work 4 or more 12 hour shifts a week, but they're not exactly scumming it in the poor house, either. |
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Lazio
Joined: 15 Dec 2010
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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A taxi driver once asked me what am I doing and how much I make/hour. I didn�t want to make him feel bad so I just told him 30,000Krw/hour. He looked at me surprised and said that it was too low. I was like wtf? so I asked him how much he makes and he said around 100,000/day (in 10-12 hours) I didn�t want to pull this card but he insisted I don�t make decent money so I proceeded to ask him what would be his hourly salary than. Confused expression on his face and that was the end of our conversation. |
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Dodge7
Joined: 21 Oct 2011
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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Lazio wrote: |
A taxi driver once asked me what am I doing and how much I make/hour. I didn�t want to make him feel bad so I just told him 30,000Krw/hour. He looked at me surprised and said that it was too low. I was like wtf? so I asked him how much he makes and he said around 100,000/day (in 10-12 hours) I didn�t want to pull this card but he insisted I don�t make decent money so I proceeded to ask him what would be his hourly salary than. Confused expression on his face and that was the end of our conversation. |
And just to clarify I was talking about gae-in (privately owned) taxis. So he nets 100K after paying for gasoline? Even LPG is expensive--my wife's car takes LPG and it costs around 50-60k.
I would rather give my money to the little guy, gae-in taxis anyway. Do the guys working for the taxi companies get commission? |
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warmachinenkorea
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:50 pm Post subject: |
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Dodge7 wrote: |
Lazio wrote: |
A taxi driver once asked me what am I doing and how much I make/hour. I didn�t want to make him feel bad so I just told him 30,000Krw/hour. He looked at me surprised and said that it was too low. I was like wtf? so I asked him how much he makes and he said around 100,000/day (in 10-12 hours) I didn�t want to pull this card but he insisted I don�t make decent money so I proceeded to ask him what would be his hourly salary than. Confused expression on his face and that was the end of our conversation. |
And just to clarify I was talking about gae-in (privately owned) taxis. So he nets 100K after paying for gasoline? Even LPG is expensive--my wife's car takes LPG and it costs around 50-60k.
I would rather give my money to the little guy, gae-in taxis anyway. Do the guys working for the taxi companies get commission? |
So 50-60K is expensive? That's $45-50. This isn't 1998. |
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Unibrow
Joined: 20 Aug 2012
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:37 pm Post subject: |
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Think of all the cool loot they get from drunken people too |
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Moondoggy
Joined: 07 Jun 2011
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Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:13 pm Post subject: Re: How Much Do These Korean Taxi Drivers Really Make? |
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Dodge7 wrote: |
It can't be that much. Gas is outrageously expensive here. Anyone have a round figure? I feel bad throwing 2.300 at the guy for taking me a few kms. It seems like it should be more--at least 3k or so. I want to tip him but I don't want that to lead to the American entitlement attitude I see back home. Everyone has their hand out for something. Next you'll start seeing tip jars at Holly's Coffee. |
Taxi drivers make somewhere between 1.6 and 2.1 mil.
Bus drivers make about 3mil.
http://news.nate.com/view/20121213n03581 |
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nicwr2002
Joined: 17 Aug 2011
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:50 am Post subject: h |
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Not to mention car repair. If they are working 12 hours a day or at least 10 hours a day, they are probably having to fill up at least once a day or once every other day. Plus, they really run those cars ragged. City driving is the worst on cars. |
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Threequalseven
Joined: 08 May 2012
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:52 am Post subject: |
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One taxi driver told me that most taxi drivers in the town I live in make 1.5m per month, but he makes 3.0m. |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 4:48 pm Post subject: |
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It'd be a mistake to think that because taxis run on LPG that this saves the drivers a fortune.
Yes, LPG is much cheaper than petrol and a little cheaper than diesel. But the other side of that coin is that LPG fuel consumption is terrible, especially for the kind of stop/start city driving that taxis do. So although it costs less to fill up an LPG car, that one fill-up will take you a fraction of the distance of the equivalent full tank of petrol or diesel.
Taxi drivers are required to run their cars on LPG. There may well be other things that taxi drivers are lucky with or have easy, but having to run their cars on LPG isn't one of them. |
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newb
Joined: 27 Aug 2012 Location: Korea
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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b-class rambler wrote: |
It'd be a mistake to think that because taxis run on LPG that this saves the drivers a fortune.
Yes, LPG is much cheaper than petrol and a little cheaper than diesel. But the other side of that coin is that LPG fuel consumption is terrible, especially for the kind of stop/start city driving that taxis do. So although it costs less to fill up an LPG car, that one fill-up will take you a fraction of the distance of the equivalent full tank of petrol or diesel.
Taxi drivers are required to run their cars on LPG. There may well be other things that taxi drivers are lucky with or have easy, but having to run their cars on LPG isn't one of them. |
Yes, but LPG or fuel for taxis and heavy trucks is government subsidized without the tax. So it's around 1000 won per liter for them |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:10 pm Post subject: |
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newb wrote: |
Yes, but LPG or fuel for taxis and heavy trucks is government subsidized without the tax. So it's around 1000 won per liter for them |
I'm aware of that. But they'd need a hell of lot more of a subsidy that what they get to make up for the awful fuel consumption they get with LPG compared to, say, an equivalent diesel car.
Taxi drivers will often be getting as little as 3-4km/l for the kind of driving they do. With a similar size diesel engine, they could be getting 3 times that. Yet a litre of diesel - even without a subsidy - wouldn't cost them anywhere near 3 times as much. It wouldn't even be twice as much. |
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newb
Joined: 27 Aug 2012 Location: Korea
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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b-class rambler wrote: |
newb wrote: |
Yes, but LPG or fuel for taxis and heavy trucks is government subsidized without the tax. So it's around 1000 won per liter for them |
I'm aware of that. But they'd need a hell of lot more of a subsidy that what they get to make up for the awful fuel consumption they get with LPG compared to, say, an equivalent diesel car.
Taxi drivers will often be getting as little as 3-4km/l for the kind of driving they do. With a similar size diesel engine, they could be getting 3 times that. Yet a litre of diesel - even without a subsidy - wouldn't cost them anywhere near 3 times as much. It wouldn't even be twice as much. |
Well, perhaps they need to drive like normal drivers, but not like F1 race car drivers. |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:35 pm Post subject: |
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newb wrote: |
b-class rambler wrote: |
newb wrote: |
Yes, but LPG or fuel for taxis and heavy trucks is government subsidized without the tax. So it's around 1000 won per liter for them |
I'm aware of that. But they'd need a hell of lot more of a subsidy that what they get to make up for the awful fuel consumption they get with LPG compared to, say, an equivalent diesel car.
Taxi drivers will often be getting as little as 3-4km/l for the kind of driving they do. With a similar size diesel engine, they could be getting 3 times that. Yet a litre of diesel - even without a subsidy - wouldn't cost them anywhere near 3 times as much. It wouldn't even be twice as much. |
Well, perhaps they need to drive like normal drivers, but not like F1 race car drivers. |
Not sure if you're being deliberately obtuse here or just want the last word. Yeah, some taxi drivers drive like idiots, but it doesn't alter the fact that anybody driving a taxi in a Korean city is going to find it close to impossible to get better fuel consumption than that in a LPG car, however hard they try. |
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