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by cocobongo 2783 days ago
Personally I think Uber drivers/couriers are freelancers. Uber drivers can work whatever hours they like. If they want to work 1 hour a day, they can. If they want to work 10 hours a day, they can. That's not something that non-freelancers can do.

For the same reason, I don't think it's fair to compare the average Uber driver salary to a full-time salary. Some Uber drivers work full-time, but I'd guess most don't. Lots probably only work a few hours a week. Uber provides students/parents/anyone with a way to make extra money on the side.

Also, from the article I linked to, 900k US drivers make $13 Billion a year. So $14k-$15k/job/year. When you factor in that many (probably most) Uber drivers are only working part-time, that's significant income from a super flexible job.
1 comments
marmaduke 2783 days ago
> I think Uber drivers/couriers are freelancers

yep so they should be compensated more, not less, in sight of the precarity of their job

> When you factor in that many (probably most) Uber drivers are only working part-time, that's significant income from a super flexible job

super flexible for whom? the drivers? or for Uber?

There are two sides to the gig style work, one side is a corp that's got teams of PhDs and a cloud calculating its optimal risk-reward strategy, and the other side some poor people trying to make money. How this can possibly turn out well for the latter is a pipe dream.

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cocobongo 2783 days ago
Freelancers are compensated whatever the market values them at. If they can get better pay/work elsewhere, then they do.

Driving for Uber is as flexible job as it gets. I don't see how it's flexible for Uber - Uber can only offer a ride if a driver decides out of their own free will to accept a ride.

For many people (2+ Million), driving for Uber is worth the money. They decided that it's a better gig than their other options. If they decide that it's not worth it, then they stop. And because it's such a flexible job, they don't even need to give two weeks notice.

Even though you think that driving for Uber isn't worth the money, millions of people around the world do.

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marmaduke 2782 days ago
Begging for money in the street is even more flexible — no car required — but I doubt you’d say those doing so are satisfied.

> free will to accept a ride

Whenever money is involved, free will goes out the window. It’s naive to think of all these people as rational actors.

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