Uber Driver By Sandra Vahtel: Article Analysis

Andrew Davis

Prof P

Philosophy 106

05/16/16

Critical Essay on Uber

I loved Uber as a passenger. Then I started working as a driver by Sandra Vahtel. This essays context shows the writer feeling a little upset of how little success she was having as an Uber drive in L.A. She describes all the great perks of being a driver when she heard them from a driver while she was a passenger for two years in the L.A. area. Her approach to this article is to inform that it’s not at all easy to be driver for Uber or Lyft, because of the approach that customers have all the power to make a great driver suffer by giving negative ratings in which if enough people did that cause they were having a bad day then the persons livelihood could be in danger. I think

area without a car, during which she relied on two or three rideshares a day. It's easy to see the appeal of Uber and Lyft, which provide a comfortable, friendly and most importantly inexpensive ride. She mentioned as a passenger she enjoyed talking with drivers and relished saving money on car payments, gas and insurance and often said that if she owned a car, she would definitely be an Uber driver because it seemed like so much fun. Sandra during one of her rides she asked the driver how much they made per month and he said 4,000- 6,000 dollars. Since she was short of work she bought a car and started to drive for Uber. Sandra said “On my third day behind the wheel, I sat in the car for 11 hours, drove for seven of them, and grossed $118 before deducting the cost of gas, wear and tear, rideshare insurance and income tax.” Uber and Lyft prompt passengers to rate their drivers. When a driver's average rating falls below 4.6 out of 5 stars, they risk being fired from Uber or Lyft. Earlier this year, both Uber and Lyft slashed nationwide fares by 20%. In the L.A. area the per-mile cost for Uber is now $.90, Lyft a mere $.88. She also says “I'm grateful for the income, but know that as soon as I can, I'll join the half of rideshare drivers who quit within a year and go back to being a passenger, one who no longer complains about an $18 fare to get across town.” The main conclusion that Sandra is pointing out is that being a

A lot of her information she provides about how being a Uber driver is not a good job and has bad pay after costs of gas and wear and tear on the vehicle is supported by a good amount of articles. Such as another article posted in the L.A. Times called “After driving for Uber, he's keeping his day job”, which is written by Steve Lopez a Contact Reporter. He states in his article that his 12 fares that he had that day ranged from “$4 to $44, and the take for nine hours of work was $153.30. Not bad, but Uber's cut was $30.66, which left him with $122.64. That works out to $13.63 an hour, but let's not forget the cost of gas, which comes out of my pocket. That brought him down to $110 net, or $12.22 an hour.” This is more evidence that supports the argument, but this argument is not deductive because there are still people out there that make almost 100,000 dollars a year from driving with Uber or Lyft. These drivers in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles get paid average $25 to $35 an hour. Some drivers make even more with getting bonuses by meeting a certain quota by taking in a certain number of customers a month. Sandra commits the Straw Man Fallacy by saying “Two years ago rideshare companies showed some of their drivers making $90,000 a year in New York City, and $74,000 in San Francisco.” This conflicts with her idea that people cannot make a living being a rideshare driver. It also shows her committing the