[Liquix]

Are you implying that if they were not earning $3/hr, they would use those hours to sit around and mope? The point is that $3/hr is a very small reward for your time when compared to pretty much any other use of that hour(i.e. flipping burgers, bagging groceries, making coffee is 3x as lucrative)

[aianus]

Yes. I drove part-time for Uber and the vast majority of Uber drivers are part-time. I had a real job paying 7x more during the day. If Uber didn't exist I just would have earned less.

I assure you I wasn't earning $3/h though, that was just what it ended up saying on my taxes because they let me deduct part of my fixed expenses that I was paying anyways like insurance, finance interest, license, registration, etc. It was closer to minimum wage, and tax-free at that (which suited me because my marginal tax rate was high from my day job).

Before Uber I just drove for free by myself in random directions for fun. That was way more expensive.

Edit: I also have an expensive car that guzzles premium fuel, or it would have been significantly more than minimum wage.

[toblender]

This assumes that people want to do coffee / burger flipping on a fixed schedule. Most Uber drivers I have talked to like the flexibility.