Las Vegas Taxicab Company

Owners Get Hit Hard By Recession

by Vegas Taxi Driver
February 2, 2009

January 2009 will be remembered by the owners of Las Vegas cab companies as a bleak month with dismal profits. The month of December for taxi business in Las Vegas was terrible, but December is always the worst month for business in Las Vegas anyway. January is supposed to be one of the best months for Las Vegas cab companies, but it wasn't. Business has not been what it used to be. The cabbies have been taking it on the chin, but so have the owners of the taxi companies in Las Vegas. 

The expense of paying for employee benefits and business insurance and liability insurance does not go down just because business is down. The power company doesn't give the cab companies a break just because there is less taxi business and McCarran Airport is not bringing in as many passengers. The costs of administration and payroll and running a company that maintains hundreds of vehicles and employees keep on racking up.

In Las Vegas, all taxis are owned by a handful of companies and all the taxi drivers are employees. Taxi drivers in Las Vegas do not have to pay for maintenance of the vehicles they drive. Las Vegas taxi drivers do not have to pay for liability insurance and business insurance and medical insurance. Las Vegas cabbies do not have to buy new vehicles every few years. Taxi drivers in Las Vegas do not have to pay for towing. Twenty years ago I was an owner/operator driving taxi in a different city, and I learned that if you own your own taxi, the only time it will break down is at the beginning of a busy weekend, not only resulting in being out the money that you would have made, but having to pay for towing and repair.

Las Vegas cab companies have to pay for lawsuits and legal fees, and they are common targets for lawyers and swindlers. Las Vegas taxi companies have to withhold money for workmen's compensation, employment insurance, welfare, and social security taxes for every employee, and they have to match the amount of what is taken out of employee pay.

The investments and portfolios of the owners of taxicab company owners have also taken a big hit because of the market and real estate values.

The month of January started off with the CES show, the biggest convention of the year, started on Thursday instead of Monday, which means that there is less taxi business because having a big convention on weekdays is a boost for the taxi business. Las Vegas is already busy on weekends and covention goers usually are here for business and do not spend as much as regular weekend visitors. Since the Superbowl was on the first of February this year, the big days preceding it were the last two days of January, and people spend less money at the end of the month. I can look at all the ones and fives that I have in my cash at the end of my shift and I can tell it is the end of the month. (I learned that when I was managing restaurants 30 years ago.)

In combing through online blogs and news articles, I have read many articles about the plight of cabbies in Las Vegas, and I have written a few articles myself. But I have never read an article in support of Las Vegas cab companies. I will admit I feel a little guilty that nobody is running a public relation campaign for the benefit of the cab companies, and that is why I felt compelled to take a moment to plead their case for the sake of fair argument. I tend to go overboard with my grievances and insults, so I decided to even the score a bit.

Not all the owners of taxi companies are bad, and even the bad ones are not all that bad. I have worked for most of the cab companies in Las Vegas. The cab company I currently work for is owned and managed by people who are decent and fair and genuinely care about their employees, and they have treated me well. I have worked for dozens of various kinds of companies, and the people I work for right now are the best people I have worked for in my life. If all the taxi companies were as good and decent as the one that I work for, there would be a lot less problems in the taxi business in Las Vegas. I always hope that any company that I work for makes lots of money and their profits increase while I am working for them.

When people get in my cab and ask about being a cabbie in Las Vegas, I do not complain about the policies of the Nevada Taxicab Authority or the crooked way that some cab company owners treat their drivers; people do not want to hear about that and that wouldn't be good for my tips. I reserve all of my sarcasms and criticism for my blog articles. What I do tell my passengers is that I am an employee and that I have medical benefits, and that I don't have to pay for the maintenance of the vehicle. I tell them that the money is not as good as it is in most places, but because cabbies in Las Vegas are employees, I can quit when I want, and then I can come back to work when I want. If I owned my own cab I would be tied down.

As long as I can make a reasonable amount of money without being a crook, and as long as there are not so many cabs out that it is impossible to find a taxi stand to get on, and as long as I don't have to spend my whole night getting chased away from cab stands because there are too many cabs in line, this is not a bad gig. I am glad that the Nevada Taxicab Authority Board decided to not put out extra medallions during conventions in February 2009 so I have a chance to make some money, but it is unfortunate that business is not good enough for extra medallions.

I sincerely hope that business picks up soon and that cabbies can go back to griping about strip club kickbacks and hotel doorpersons and the price of gas and traffic instead of being angry about too many medallions, and that the owners of cab companies in Las Vegas can go back to counting big stacks of money. Maybe the politicians will give the Las Vegas taxicab companies 20 or 30 billion dollars as part of the economic recovery stimulus package.

by Vegas Taxi Driver
February 2, 2009

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jan/30/taxi-board-adds-no-extra-cabs-magic/ By Richard N. Velotta Fri, Jan 30, 2009 "Taxi board adds no extra cabs for MAGIC"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28772664/ KVBC-TV updated 9:43 a.m. PT, Fri., Jan. 23, 2009 "Cab confession: More taxis have drivers seeing red"

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