For Uber drivers, the economics of ride-sharing and grocery delivery have always been troublesome. Owning a car and driving it frequently is expensive, and working as an Uber driver doesn’t pay all that much considering the costs (median hourly earnings before expenses in the U.S. were $21 in the third quarter of 2022, per Gridwise estimates).
It’s a recipe for a high-churn business, albeit one that Uber executives have generally navigated well. Uber has made the side hustle just flexible and gainful enough for millions of independent contractors, mostly avoiding driver shortages that would cause trip prices to spike.
