Realcent.org

I thought I'd start a new thread unrelated to coins and precious/base metals so I'd like to talk a bit about the gig economy. This is a term lots of people are not familiar with, so let me give a few examples.

A driver for Lyft or Uber (transporting people) is a participant in the gig economy.

So is a driver for Amazon, and the Amazon driver might deliver packages like UPS, groceries (they own Whole Foods and deliver WF groceries), generic groceries (for those on a budget), dinners from lots and lots of restaurants (not usually fast food, but something like Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Red Robin, P.F. Chang, etc. There are many other companies that deliver hot meals such as Caviar, Doordash, Grubhub, Postdates, Uber Eats, etc.

Then there are places that deliver things like lost luggage from the airport, medicines, etc. Companies that do this include Citizen Shipper and Roadie.

There are others that help people move. They include Dolly and Truxx.

There are literally hundreds of companies that offer side gigs like this. It is estimate that several million people in the U.S. have gig type jobs. Some are even people like teachers who are out of work for the summer and want to make some extra money.

A website with quite a bit more info on gig type companies is: http://www.sidehusl.com

There is good and bad to them and each company has their own peculiarities, so I am speaking in general terms with a lot of what I say. The good side of the deal is that you have lots of freedom with jobs like this. You can often work whenever you want (sometimes around the clock like with Lyft and Uber) and take vacations whenever you want. It is very nice not having to worry about calling the boss and faking like I am sick. With many gigs there is no boss- the whole thing is automated. As long as you have a car with a decent driving record and a smartphone, you should be able to get a gig or two (or even many more) to help bring in some extra money.

The downside with many of these jobs is that the same thing that is good (no boss) is also bad. By that I mean that support is difficult to deal with. You are pretty much on your own with lots of the gigs. Even if the company does have a support team, the personnel are often people who are unable to help with more complicated items- sometimes they even struggle with the basics. So if you have something that comes up or you worked too hard for the task you had and need to ask for additional money, you may have to send an email that is responded to by a person outside the U.S. or even a robot using keywords/artificial intelligence. As a result you may have to follow up with another email when you get an idiotic response. This can be very trying.

Another big downside is that typically you are NOT an employee of the company you work for. You are considered an independent contractor, which is the company's way of getting out of paying you any benefits whatsoever. Also, on the downside, you are expected to (with most companies) pay all of your own car expenses. If you drive a gas guzzler, that could be a deal breaker.

One thing that is nice about working multiple gigs is that when one company is quiet another might be busy and you could pick up the slack. A driver for Amazon won't usually be delivering packages past about 9:30-10pm at night. If they still want to work, they might be able to drive to the local airport and give people some rides, assuming they also work for Lyft or Uber. A person who works multiple gigs is sometimes referred to as a gig stacker.

I'm not writing this to tell you any one company is great or horrible. If you go on the internet and look at places like Facebook, Glassdoor and Reddit, you will see plenty of good and bad comments about perhaps all of them.

That said, I drive for Amazon (since November) and Roadie (since January). I would like to get perhaps 2-3 more gigs to work in addition as the summer months can get quite slow.

If there is enough interest in this thread, I can add more comments about Amazon and Roadie later.

I am curious about who else in the RC community has one of more gigs that they do. Also, if you can tell us a bit about the good and bad of each one, that would be good to know.

Without getting too personal, I have about a 20 mile drive each way to get to the area where I can get some decent Amazon business. The issue is that means I have to at least cover 40 miles of driving round trip, so if I only make $25-50 in a day, that just doesn't cut it. I would love to find something where I could start closer to home. I hear that GrubHub is a place where I could literally start a shift while inside my house and be paid minimum wage in my state for the waiting time I have before I go to pick up that first meal, which will usually only be perhaps 2-3 miles from home. Unfortunately, they aren't hiring right now in my area (city withheld for privacy reasons).

But if anyone else knows of a gig like Grubhub that could be started from home (to save potentially 40 miles a day of driving), that would be great.

Also, another personal item- I don't want to drive for Lyft or Uber. There are too many problems with driving people around. A few potential risks/issues for the driver:

1) A party animal who pukes in your car.
2) Someone actually doing drugs in your car while you are driving.
3) Someone who is eating something messy in your car (i.e., pizza).
4) Being a victim of the next Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dammer.
5) Someone in a HUGE hurry to get to the airport who won't pay for your speeding ticket or the accident you have.
6) Having to wash your car all the time.
7) Someone who doesn't like the same radio station I like.
8) Someone who wants to talk about things like religion and politics and force their opinions on me.

I can just imagine the conversation...

PASSENGER: "Don't you just hate them?"
ME: "Hate whom?"
PASSENGER: "The dozen or so types of people and nationalities that I've been talking about."
ME: "Here is your stop!"
PASSENGER: "NO IT'S NOT!"
ME: "YOU WANNA BET, YOU INSENSITIVE SOB!"

I'm sure there are other risks as well, but that is enough for me to totally avoid Lyft and Uber.

Sorry to be so wordy, but this is a potentially important subject for me and potentially several in the RC community. What experiences and thoughts do you guys have?

I get that new options are unfolding and entrepreneurs both at the top and bottom will try to develop and use them. But the jobs that I've seen like Amazon delivery and uber driver are not primary jobs - they are (at least often) just temporary fill in work with uncertain net return. I see the big companies like Amazon and uber abusing their employees, especially the contract workers that don't qualify as directs and so don't get the benefits or protections of an employer.

I think these types of jobs are developing and the story of where they go remains to be seen.

If the big gig companies continue down the path they are on they will turn into.(if they aren't already) the robber barons of the 21st century and the reaction to them will ultimately turn violent and lead to some new form of worker revolt and/or union, and perhaps lead to a new type of "trustbusting" legislation.

Gig driving jobs seem like a low return on time and expenses invested, BUT they are a way to earn money. I'm not a professional driver, my expertise is better focused on real estate.

I dabbled in online gigs to understand the economy better. One writing site in particular
The availability of such work puts to shame some of the people who claim they can't find a job.

One site that keeps sending me bits of money via paypal even years after I wrote anything for them is https://www.constant-content.com/