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Comment by fu9ar | Hacker News Reader

Do you realize that Uber and Lyft drivers are often making below minimum wage when you account for their costs? The only way they are getting drivers is by offering fat bonuses to both parties for driver referrals. The entire business model is unsustainable and now Uber is hemorrhaging money because all of their drivers figure this out, drive enough to get a bonus and move on.

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Sure but if Uber didn't exist how would these people be making money? Why would they work for Uber if there were better options? They can choose to work wherever they want but they can't choose to work for Uber if it doesn't exist...

Honestly who is losing vs the alternative where the job to take isn't even an option?!?!

Do you realize that most Uber drivers aren't working it as a full time job? They're working when they have downtime and can make a few bucks.

"Do you realize that most Uber drivers aren't working it as a full time job? They're working when they have downtime and can make a few bucks."

Isn't the entire point of "minimum wage" because of thinking like this? Most people working at McDonalds making minimum wage aren't doing it full time either. The minimum wage laws are trying to enforce that a person's time is worth a minimum amount, regardless of the total number of hours worked.

But they aren't employees...

Even if that's the case, why would someone contract themselves out for less than minimum wage, when any low-effort job would be paying more than that? The answer is that they wouldn't, and thats why Uber, Lyft, and other competitors have to pay out the bonuses to these drivers

> Even if that's the case, why would someone contract themselves out for less than minimum wage, when any low-effort job would be paying more than that?

Because other low effort jobs don't let you start and stop whenever you want? Because other low effort jobs don't take anyone with a car and clean record? Because lots of reasons.

Yeah, this is key. I've had countless drivers who were unemployed, either by choice (retirement) or circumstance. A few do try to make it a full-time job. But there's plenty who see it as a stop-gap, something to do when you have time and energy to help make ends meet, and that you can stop at any time, which is important when you're in job-interviewing mode.

You could actually ask them instead of aimlessly speculating.

Not all jobs are supposed to pay all your bills and mortgage. McDonalds and similar jobs are there for students and other people who want just part-time gigs paying some additional cash for their non-crucial expenses. Such jobs are supposed to be temporary, therefore there's no point in enforcing minimum wage for them.

Thanks for the neoliberalism in a nutshell post. Go ahead, bury your head deeper up your own ass instead of dealing with the reality of the economic situation in which we all find ourselves. I got a job as a "temp" once. I was working full time second-shift in a fucking factory, doing RMA services for a major laptop and tablet manufacturer. I was doing advanced troubleshooting and repair, with no benefits or security. Capitalists are, en masse, exploiting this stupid idea that somehow, people should be paid less for the same work because of what they intend to spend their pay on?

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