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Comment by lotsofpulp | Hacker News Reader

It's also funny that she thinks she's not out spending money, when she is consuming fuel, wear and tear on the vehicle, and increasing risk of morbidity/mortality by driving around, also leading to more sitting.

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She specifically mentions factoring in her costs, and the comment that you cite was about the fact that she enjoys shopping but is spending other people's money.

I did misinterpret that. Oops! However, there is no way she’s profiting anything at $0.60 per mile reimbursement from Instacart.

If you already have a car, it only costs about 25cents/mile at the margin. Half the cost is just depreciation from buying it.

The cost is more than 25 cents/mile. There is a lot to factor in. Typically when you are a salaried employee and use your vehicle for business, this mileage allowance is on top of your pay. She is not earning anything other than what Instacart pays. By the time it's all said and done, she'll be lucky if to brake even. Maybe that's enough for her.

Here is what he IRS has determined the cost of driving is. I would imagine the costs in CA are greater due to gasoline prices, traffic, and general cost of living.

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-issues-standard-mileage-rat...

54.5 cents per mile The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued the 2018 optional standard mileage rates and beginning on January 1, 2018, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car, van, pickup or panel truck will be: 54.5 cents per mile for business miles driven (up from 53.5 cents in 2017)Dec 14, 2017

Includes gas, oil, repairs, tires, insurance, registration fees, licenses, and depreciation (or lease payments) attributable to the portion of the total miles driven that are business miles.

> Includes gas, oil, repairs, tires, insurance, registration fees, licenses, and depreciation (or lease payments) attributable to the portion of the total miles driven that are business miles.

"Attributable to the portion" sounds like you divide it by total miles, which is going to give you a number that's bigger than marginal cost, and possibly a lot bigger. For some cars, doubling the miles might only increase non-fuel costs 20%.

I was thinking about this the other day. My Kia Optima tells me I’ve averaged 25mph over the last 120k miles. That means I’ve gotten about 4800 hours of life out of the car. If I take care of the car, I have an easy 3200 more hours. This would give me ~8000 operating hours. Acquisition was 15k$ (used) and yearly maintenance will probably average to ~100$/300hrs. So total life cost of the car will be ~18k$/8000hrs. That gives me an amortized cost of 2.25$/hour.

Mind you, I drive a lot of easy 55mph, in central Texas.

we should put hour meters on cars like we do on boats

My pickup truck has one, I was pleasantly-surprised to see it.

You're right though, all cars should have it. Cars idleing for hours puts wear-and-tear on the engine that isn't evident by the odometer.

Most people in the US don’t have the option of going without a car, so you have to amortize the cost of obtaining a new vehicle over the total miles driven of current vehicle.

They do have an option, but they choose a lifestyle that consequently requires one.

You choose where you live. You choose what job you take. You choose to have children. Etc.

The fact that she enjoys it gives me the thought that she does not enjoy what she was actually trained to do or went to school for. Honestly doing deliveries is easy and lazy work sure you walk around the market but I'd be more likely to think she could not work if she hadn't mentioned that fact. (Taking into account that she could be saying she likes it solely so in her mind it doesn't seen so bad to be doing..)

I wouldn't begrudge her that hard for finding something that adds a little joy.

I don’t mean to begrudge, just pointing out that people don’t consider driving for 1 min costs them $0.60+ (prob $0.70 in CA) with a regular ICE vehicle. Plus the risk of being involved in a collision (greatest risk to one’s health that Americans face), plus of course pollution.

These externalities are never accounted for, and which lead our society to behave in suboptimal ways. Not to mention allowing all these on demand delivery and ride hailing tech companies to buy drivers at very low cost.

My family went on a car trip that went from the Midwest to California and back. Compared to Oklahoma, California's fuel is about twice as expensive.

I'm going to guess that Cali's 1-minute cost is more around $1.

OK has such serious problems, though, not really a comparison.

$.6 is average not marginal. The first mile (initial purchase) is half the cost.

I read it as that she is aware that the driving is costing money as well but that at least this way she is spending someone else’s money to do shopping instead of her own money.

Regarding sitting, most that do this likely don't drive far from home base. Once at the store, they are on their feet shopping, and hustling while they do it. When they get to the destination, it involves carrying packages up multiple flights of stairs, sometimes more than once. Better than a desk job, no?

Nothing gets increased unless you think her customers just wouldn’t shop at all if it wasn’t for her, or would somehow do so in perfectly safe and carbon-neutral ways.

That's the beauty of capitalism: the costs of production are externalized and so far-off or abstract that they cannot be immediately realized by the actor.

Buying gas for your vehicle is far off and abstract?

Do you think about the costs of production of oil, the refinement process, fuel delivery costs, wars in the middle east, and the environment/societal impacts of all of it each time you're at the pump? I doubt many people do.

> Do you think about the costs of production of oil, the refinement process, fuel delivery costs

These are internalized to the cost of fuel at the pump. There's no need or benefit to think about them as a consumer.

I do think about the subsidies for corn in 10% ethanol gas, and choose to purchase the gasoline with no ethanol because I don’t agree with corn subsidies. More and more gas stations around me offer a choice.

That’s about the only choice I get to make, though, short of buying a Tesla.

There’s a practical side to non-ethanol gas too: it’s much better on small engines like lawnmowers and generators. It’s in nearly every gas station here that’s remotely close to ATV trails.

They should be, but....it’s fairly obvious that they aren’t completely captured by the current price.

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