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Comment by thomzi12 | Hacker News Reader

Without earnings per hour metric, it's hard to make much of this post.

I agree with this. They did mention that they don't know how much time workers spent earning this income, but I can see how this piece would convince a casual reader to conclude that these sharing economy platforms are a terrible way to earn money.

Agreed, and if they were lucrative jobs the service managers would gladly announce and broadcast those numbers. But they cover and hide the real numbers because it's not really worth it.

Also, the upfront or ongoing costs of using some of these platforms, like AirBnB or Uber where you might have a mortgage or car payment that far exceeds your earnings. A $1000 a month mortgage to make $924 a month isn't profitable.

At least the partially covered mortgage on a domicile might lead to increased equity in an asset with some long term retained, or even increasing, value. The car financing case seems much more dubious.

Partially covered mortgage means the bank will eventually foreclose. They take the house and, zero out the equity the owner may have, and take any asset value increase and pocket it all.

I meant partially covered by the rent you are able to charge. When I moved away from the house I had bought, I rented it out for a number of years. The rent I was able to charge covered about 90% of the payments, and I put the rest in from my salary. I sold the house a few years later after it had appreciated somewhat, and it was overall a good deal.

I could imagine a similar situation with Airbnb instead of traditional lease arrangements, assuming the numbers line up. My point was more that I can't see it working out that way with an asset like a car.

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