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Comment by toblender | Hacker News Reader

Vs. 0 dollars if these services did not exist.

What? Hardly. The people who drive for Uber and Lyft are able-bodied adults who could be doing other unskilled labor positions for much more than zero. There's a real opportunity cost here.

Hopefully studies like this help the drivers recognize their value and they can negotiate better (leave until their rates increase).

Would you use the service if it was 3x more expensive?

imagine how cheap it would be if uber enslaved them, opportunity city.

Why would it be 3x more expensive?

This study says they're earning $3.37/hr in profit. Most of the rides in my city are $10 and take less than 20 minutes of time for the driver. So, if I paid $12.25 instead of $10 for rides, and the extra money went to the driver, they would earn $10.11/hr profit instead of $3.37/hr. That's 3x the profit for the driver, and only a 22.5% increase in the cost of rides. I would continue to use the service just as often.

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)

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

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.

Exactly. Friend wanted spending $ to europe. Became uber driver. Within one week had extra spending $.

This lines up with the incredibly high turnover rate too. People like this are the positive use case for Uber.

Unfortunately, I believe they make up a small minority of drivers, at least in most metro areas.

How is that an argument defending these companies from taking advantage of people?

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