With Homejoy, you could build a relationship with a single housekeeper, and arrange for them to come once a month. If you're using Uber to commute, it's absolutely the same and very worth cutting out the middle man.

The rest of the time, if you need a ride at a time/place that isn't regular, the driver you know might be far away, might not be driving at that time and might be driving someone else, so it will generally be worth it to pay a premium.

The difference with Homejoy was that many people on their site already had existing cleaning companies. They were using Homejoy for customer acquisition. Once that customer was acquired, there was no need for Homejoy. Once Homejoy was out of the picture, the cleaners regular liability insurance would still be in play. Obviously there were some cleaners that did not have a business.

The difference with Uber/Lyft is that these drivers don't have a business outside of the app. Therefore, once you eliminate the app, you eliminate their commercial insurance and it becomes a really interesting situation if there were ever an accident.

> The difference with Uber/Lyft is that these drivers don't have a business outside of the app.

Doesn't this discredit Uber's argument that drivers are independent contractors?

Perhaps - but that's outside the scope of this specific discussion about sidestepping the app and paying under the table so to speak.