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Comment by s0l1dsnak3123 | Hacker News Reader

Except we don't get to set the wage?

You don't get to set the minimum wage, and perhaps have difficulty determining the precise wage without tips, but tips allow you to choose the maximum wage. If you knew $5 of what you paid Uber would go towards the driver for a 20 minute ride, that they had to spend a dollar of that on gasoline, and perhaps that they would need an extra 10 minutes to get home, you could estimate they earned $8 an hour. If you deemed this too small, you could tip them $2 to bring it up to $12 an hour.

Naturally, without everyone doing the same, they would not notice the effect. However this does not constitute justification for not doing your part.

Uber should pay that and it should be priced into the model. If the market is unwilling to pay then it should go under

Uber should pay it, yes, but they aren't. Further, not paying it is unlikely to make them go under - in fact the reverse. Charging more, or giving more to the drivers, will take away from their profits. Conversely, not paying their drivers enough will at worst cost them drivers moving to Lyft. Until this is a problem, they won't change.

The only parties that take advantage of the driver are Uber and yourself; if Uber is unwilling to take up the mantle of proper pay then the responsibility falls on you. The question becomes: does the driver have a right to be payed properly? Or, in other words, if the driver is willing to work for a lower pay, do you have a responsibility to pay them more? Some would argue that it's a free market, and that if they don't like the pay, they should find a different job. If you believe in a minimum wage however, you should make sure that all those under your service recieve a reasonable wage.

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