<story><title>Driving for Uber and Lyft</title><url>http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/11/22/mr-money-mustache-uber-driver/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>rm999</author><text>This article rests on the premise that operating a car costs a fixed 50 cents a mile. But several uber drivers have told me the economics work out pretty well for them because they already need their cars, so IMO using 50 cents a mile is an unfair assumption.&lt;p&gt;Looking at the operating cost of a car is complicated with many variables, but the standard 50 cent estimate is NOT a marginal cost, i.e. you don&amp;#x27;t actually spend an extra 50 cents to drive a mile. The annual AAA driving costs brochure puts the per mile cost (gas + maintenance) at 14 cents a mile for a small sedan, and 17 cents for a big sedan, plus ~3 cents a mile for depreciation (see &amp;quot;decreased depreciation&amp;quot;). Moving from 50 cents to 20 cents a mile brings his estimate pay from 7 dollars an hour to 12.40.&lt;p&gt;Brochure link: &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;exchange.aaa.com&amp;#x2F;wp-content&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;17-0013_Your-Driving-Costs-Brochure-2017-FNL-CX-1.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;exchange.aaa.com&amp;#x2F;wp-content&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;17-0013_Y...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;edit: to be clear this math is if you already own a car and are driving on off-times for additional income, which (in my experience) is what a large % of uber&amp;#x2F;lyft drivers do. It&amp;#x27;s also what Mr. Mustache was doing in his test.</text></comment>
<story><title>Driving for Uber and Lyft</title><url>http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/11/22/mr-money-mustache-uber-driver/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>enraged_camel</author><text>There are two major problems with the sharing economy that most people don&amp;#x27;t mention when they write articles about it.&lt;p&gt;First, the overwhelming majority of gigs don&amp;#x27;t teach you any marketable skills whatsoever. So over the course of your contracting, you may as well be unemployed. This hurts most people&amp;#x27;s chances of finding gainful employment, and ends up being a massive hidden cost above and beyond car maintenance and similar expenses directly related to running the gigs.&lt;p&gt;Second, because you make so little, you also save very little, if any, for retirement. Since saving for retirement is all about compound interest, people who run gigs while young instead of looking for full-time employment are in for lots of pain and discomfort later in life. In fact I suspect we&amp;#x27;re witnessing the creation of yet another underclass, consisting of people who will probably have to work until they die. Lots of Baby Boomers (who were unfortunate and&amp;#x2F;or made poor choices earlier in life) are already in this situation and it will only get worse.&lt;p&gt;As an aside, one thing I don&amp;#x27;t get about the gig economy is how the workers can afford health insurance. I assume most don&amp;#x27;t have any, or they are on their parents or spouses&amp;#x27; plans because even the cheapest plans are really expensive and I doubt your average Uber driver can afford them.</text></comment>