Uber's politics and the gig economy
groundswell.org
groundswell.org
I've actually done this for nearly every cab I've ever taken (starting long before Uber came out), so I have a point of reference and comparison[0]. It's anecdotal, but it's been interesting to observe the changes as a rider.
In NYC, the demographics of Uber drivers and yellow medallion cab drivers are generally the same, and most Uber drivers previously drove either yellow medallion cabs or private cab services. Uber drivers seemed generally happier about their jobs, making far more money doing basically the same service.
For a while, nothing seemed to change about their experiences, as far as I could tell. Only about a year or so ago did I start to notice a change, and it wasn't the one I'd expect.
Nowadays, both yellow medallion cab drivers and Uber drivers in NYC seem to have the same level of satisfaction with their job, and are generally unhappier with their line of work overall compared to a few years ago. Uber drivers who have driven for more than a year or two say they are making dramatically less money than they used to, and they complain that their costs are higher and revenues more unpredictable (such as Uber changing the requirements for what counted as Uber vs. Uber X, dramatically reducing revenue permanently).
One Uber driver told me that he was an early driver and used to rate passengers fairly, and now just gives everyone a 5-star, because "it doesn't really matter" (ie, he just doesn't care).
On the other hand, Uber drivers used to tell me that they experienced a different sort of clientele. Taking Uber (instead of taking a cab) was a status symbol. One told me that he drove a guy literally a block and a half to a party, just so he could be seen stepping out of a black car. From what I've seen, as the service has grown, the clientele has regressed more to the mean, and is now more similar to the typical cab user (except a bit younger and more tech-savvy).
Uber (and the like) have been revolutionary services from the point of view of the rider, but from the perspective of the driver, it seems that the initial differences in experiences were only temporary.
[0] I started doing this simply because I have family members who used to drive cars in NYC professionally and still tell stories of their days. So I could relate to the riders, and they'd tell me their thoughts very candidly. Only much later did Uber come out and this turn into an opportunity for comparison.
Going from my house to 16th and Mission is about a 15 minute drive, assuming no traffic. The UberX fare calculator quotes me $11 to $14 (assuming no surge). It's probably going to be about 5 minutes to come and pick me up. The fare component is $10 to $13. Driver gets 80% of that. So now we're talking $8 to $10.40 for 20 minutes' work. If you're literally going back-to-back, that's $24 to $31 per hour. But you aren't picking people up back-to-back. And of course gas, vehicle maintenance, blah-blah-blah.
It's not great money. Things get better if you surge, but Uber is trying to increase supply enough that surges are rare and relatively low-multiplier. Also, surges typically happen during high-traffic times when each ride takes longer, and getting to the fare takes longer.
Right now, some of this is masked for a lot of drivers by big bonuses paid at sign-up, and/or limited-time-period wage guarantees. But the longer-term drivers are basically seeing that their basic income per trip has gone down 30-50% from about a year ago. Of course they're less happy!
Imagine you're a gig worker who makes $2500/mo. $750 goes to your apartment, $500 goes to taxes, $200 goes to your car payment and auto insurance, $200 goes to groceries, $180 goes to your cell phone and utilities, $120 for some credit cards you make minimum payments on, another $120 for gas, maybe $150 for clothes and entertainment.
That leaves you with $280/mo in disposable income. Requiring Obamacare will extract $80-$120/mo for the lowest level of coverage that has high deductibles and is generally useless. You could pay another $100/mo and get the next level up, but your ability to save for anything at all is now completely gone. All you can look forward to is a few hundred dollars on your tax return.
Health care must be free to make sense in this context.
They don't have the option to enroll or not. They have to or they get penalized. The penalty is small; $95 per person, but this is really just another tax on a growing margin of society that can't shoulder more taxes.
The health care industry has already responded to the situation in a more sensible way. Many urgent care clinics have popped up in the last few years. They'll handle most run-of-the-mill health concerns for $100-$200 a visit. Many drugstore chains have started their own prescription clubs that cover a pretty wide range of common medications for very reasonable amounts.
If you're a healthy individual who visits the doctor twice a year and maybe you need a prescription or two, then it makes more sense to pay for your health care on an as-needed basis. You'll save more money. Obamacare didn't really solve the major issues with health insurance. They missed the mark because industry already stepped in to provide a solution. If they wanted to solve the problem vis-a-vis affordability for marginal workers, the solution would have been to make it free.
Just like with gay marriage and openly gay military members, we'll get there eventually, but people are still suffering because of the painfully incremental way legislature works.