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I feel about this company the same way as I feel about driving Uber. If you already have someone in your family who's making money and has benefits, driving it could be a fun way to make a few extra bucks and talk to a few people.

So if you're a housewife with a few free hours while the kids are at school, or a bored retiree, by all means drive Uber/work for this place.

If you're someone in their prime and have to be self-reliant then this is as bad a deal as "I'll drive Uber for now" as a life plan. You're going to be down the road with no benefits, no growth, no title, and nothing to build the rest of your career on.




> You're going to be down the road with no benefits, no growth, no title, and nothing to build the rest of your career on.

"Benefits" aren't free. Every company budgets the cost for everything an employee receives as "Total Compensation" from health plan to gym to educational credits to free food to stock options.

I used to think "free stuff" was great until I started understanding how the money really works in this situation. Now I would much prefer the freedom to choose the benefits I value at the level I choose instead of having them chosen for me in a "one size fits all" plan. Just give me ALL the money in that Total Comp number and let me choose what to keep in my pocket and what I wish to buy.

Comparing a low-skill job like driving an Uber with higher skill, more specialized work is apples vs oranges. In a free employment market, being an independent contractor tends to the most beneficial arrangement for most workers - it's just harder to see the full picture when the costs of "benefits" are hidden and the true "Total Comp" of an FTE vs IC isn't disclosed transparently.

I prefer more transparency (information), more choice, more flexibility and more control being in my hands.


Point out the Uber drivers making $10K/mo for quarter time work. Otherwise this argument falls flat.


Is it the guy who was making 400k at Amazon? Paying someone a quarter of what they are "worth" isn't that great a trick.


You missed the "for quarter time work". Earning $10k/month working 10 hours a week is pretty close to getting $400k/year for an FT job at Amazon (especially if FT ends up being more than 40 hours a week).

I say "pretty close" because if you're working on a 1099 basis there are a bunch of extra costs (extra SSDI payments, health care premiums, etc.) that you have to cover.

But still, nothing about the article suggests that the pay rates are poor, and the upper end ($250/hour) is quite good, especially when combined with the ability to work less than full time.


Autarch - thanks for breaking it down like that.




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