Opinion | Uber: A Great Service, Less Great for Drivers - Wall Street Journal

April 28, 2019 3:44 p.m. ET

Photo: R4924_italyphotopress/Zuma Press

“Uber Slows Down in Traffic on Its Way to IPO” (Exchange, April 13) proves once again that you can’t make a profit by selling a service below marginal costs. Uber also has the unsolved challenge of how to recruit and maintain a fleet of happy contract drivers who cannot make a living implementing its trademark licensing and marketing system. Why drive for Uber if you can’t pay the rent and feed your family?

David Laufer

Oxnard, Calif.

As Uber’s initial public offering approached, I received an opportunity to rent a car from an Uber affiliate so I could drive for Uber. I ran the numbers and concluded that no one could make a living following that route unless one worked an incredible number of hours. Talk about owing your soul to the company store! Then I deducted the self-employment taxes (nearly 25% in California) an independent contractor should be paying, and concluded that driving for Uber and paying one’s taxes is a terrible deal. That led to the question: Who is collecting the self-employment taxes from the army of Uber drivers?

James W. Earhart

San Francisco

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