I'm just perplexed when they say they're losing money (or making so much less than minimum wage that they may as well be) but they keep on doing it instead of stopping. If they're not just blowing off some steam with hyperbole, they would literally be better off staying home on the couch.

Most people don't drive Uber as a job. It's a second or third job. Make-you-own-hours is what makes that possible.

> If they're not just blowing off some steam with hyperbole, they would literally be better off staying home on the couch.

I mean, ditto for payday loans -- you're better off not having the money. Unless you actually need the money to make rent. Then you're screwed.

Uber is better than payday loans, but if you're depreciating your car at a faster rate than you're making money, you're still up against a negative expected value.

Landlords use depreciation to have low taxable income despite being cashflow positive. I don't see why Uber drivers shouldn't be able to. They're making business use of a physical asset (their car).

Example 10-mile trip: 1.25 base fare + (10 miles * 1.15 per mile) = 12.75 * 80% (driver's share) = $10.20 revenue - 5.40 deduction for mileage = $4.80 revenue reported. For somebody in 20% tax bracket, this could yield $1.08 in savings.

Although using the per-mile deduction negates the ability to deduct line item expenses, such as gas, car washes, etc.

Something like - your car cost $30,000 and depreciates over 10 years, so $3,000 per year (just making up numbers, no idea if/how the IRS depreciates a car). So you'd have a $3,000 loss in the value of the car per year until it drops to 0. If the car was used 40% of the time for business (driving for Uber) you could claim 40% of the depreciation - $1200. I guess then you'd have to separately itemize all the gas, maintenance, etc.

But if you're actually losing money on the Uber-driving endeavor when that is factored in, whatever revenue you get should be tax-free. Of course, I suppose that only works if you're an independent contractor / business, and Uber drivers fought so hard to get treated as employees instead. Oh well. Employees get screwed when it comes to taxes.

Nobody wakes up in the morning and says "today I'm going to drive for Uber literally for free." Of course not. Let's use a little common sense here.

Uber drivers expect, plan, hope to make money. The point is, they don't make much, and sometimes it's very little (like on a long fare).

So the question is, then why do they keep doing it? And I'm just suggesting that maybe a lot of them don't have a higher-paying alternative that they are dumbly choosing against.

This still doesn't make any sense. If you are losing money working for Uber, then you do have access to a higher paying alternative - which is literally standing in your house and doing nothing. Because zero is greater than a negative amount.

I think there are really three explanations that make sense:

People are not literally losing money working for Uber, or maybe they are sometimes but not overall at the end of the month, and they're just rhetorically exaggerating in frustration.

People are literally losing money working for Uber but only when you include depreciation of their car, and that is a long term cost, so people are effectively taking a loan from their future selves.

People are literally losing money working for Uber but morally feel that they should be working rather than not working, even if there is no economic reason for them to do so, and they just hope their situation will improve in the future.

I believe this is it. They need money now, Uber is better than a payday loan but yes, they are mortgaging assets to make some cash now.

People are literally losing money working for Uber but enjoy driving as a hobby, and Uber helps them recoup at least some of the costs of driving around all the time.

(yes, I've had drivers tell me they do Uber/Lyft for fun because they love driving)