Arrive - Summer/Fall 2016

NOBODY KNOWS QUITE WHAT TO DO WITH THE GIG ECONOMY AND HOW IT FITS INTO OUR BROADER WORK WORLD. ALL WE KNOW IS THAT IT’S GROWING.

44 Arrıve • Summer/Fall 2016 • arrivemagazine.com
your expensive crystal chandelier. Hang-
ing a few family photographs above the
fireplace feels like a safer bet.

Goodstein, the freelance photographer, has had several positive experiences with TaskRabbit. But one time she hired a woman to paint two end tables for her and wasn’t pleased with the outcome. “That’s the risk you take for not hiring a professional,” she says.

The price was right, however, and next time Goodstein says she’d still use TaskRabbit; she’d just find someone with specific furniture-refinishing experience.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR WORKERS? In the United States, the so-called “social safety net” that keeps us from falling into poverty—think health insurance, disability pay and other benefits—is largely provided by employers.

So what happens to independent contractors?

Sundararajan, the NYU professor, says
we’ll have to find a different way to protect
these workers. Possible solutions include
adopting the “hour bank” system used in
marketing consultant, the gig economy
helps her make money by spending money.
When she wanted three new bookshelves,
she hired a “Tasker” off TaskRabbit to go
to Ikea, buy the shelves, deliver them to
her home, assemble them and recycle the
boxes. It cost her about $300 total, including
approximately $150 for the bookshelves.

“That would have taken me forever,” she says. “I bill hourly more than TaskRabbit bills, so it freed up a full day for me.”

DECIDE WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL SAFE
Much has been said about safety in the
gig economy, particularly when it comes to
ride-sharing apps. Ray Mundy, professor
of transportation studies at the University
of Missouri–St. Louis, feels safer in taxis
because cabbies typically undergo finger-
print-based background checks through a
law-enforcement agency. Uber and Lyft, on
the other hand, use private services to screen
a driver’s past—a process that is not nearly
as thorough and relies on the driver provid-
ing his or her real identity, Mundy says.
Even so, Goodstein says she feels
safer in an Uber because the whole ride
reimbursement for expenses and tips. On
Super Bowl Sunday, hundreds of drivers
protested in New York after Uber reduced
their rates by 15 percent.

Other gig workers say the model is a great source of freedom and flexibility, and to leave them alone so they can make money their way. Academics and legislators are at work trying to develop new models for worker benefits that aren’t tied to an employer.

All this is to say that nobody knows quite what to do with the gig economy and how it fits into our broader work world. All we know is that it’s growing. A Time magazine poll found that 44 percent of Americans have participated in the gig economy, and new platforms pop up all the time. As consumers, we have to figure out when and how to use these services. A few things to consider:

WHAT KIND OF EXPERIENCE DO YOU WANT?

The gig economy is successful because it uses technology to bring people closer together, says Sundararajan.

“I think a lot of people like taking a Lyft
and sitting in the front seat … or the inti-
macy involved with staying at an Airbnb
instead of a hotel,” he says. “A lot of the
sharing economy services integrate some
form of genuine human connection into
everyday economic activities.”
That may be why your Lyft or Uber
driver is more likely to chat you up than
your taxi driver—though not everybody
wants that. And some people would rather
stay in a hotel than a private rental; after
all, it comes with daily cleaning services, a
front desk that never closes and no photos
of other people’s children. Thinking about
what kind of experience you’re after can
make these decisions easier.

MAKE SURE TO COMPARISON SHOP

Gig-economy businesses are not always a cheaper option. It’s helpful to do a price comparison, if possible, and think about what you value most. Is it the price or some other quality: convenience, authenticity, uniqueness?

For Washington, D.C., resident Emily
Goodstein, a freelance photographer and
is tracked on the app. “You have a better
record of where you are with an Uber than
you do with a cab,” she says, pointing out
that “a cabdriver with a clean record is
also a stranger.”
All this ambiguity means consumers
have to take responsibility for their own
safety and figure out what exercising cau-
tion means to them, says Marlene Morris
Towns, a marketing professor at George-
town University who often uses Uber. “You
have to be cautious in a new way, just like
you have opportunities in a new way.”

THINK ABOUT THE SCOPE OF THE JOB

Beyond your bodily safety, you’ll want to think about the safety of your stuff. Gig economy businesses carry insurance and often have robust customer service appara-tuses. But you may find more peace of mind hiring a local business, where you can see a certificate showing proof of insurance, meet people face-to-face before hiring them and complain in person if need be.

For example: TaskRabbit insures each
task for up to $1 million, but you’ll still
probably balk at hiring a “Tasker” to install
construction trades, which provides ben-
efits to laborers who work for more than
one business, and using the Affordable
Care Act’s health care exchanges as a
model for other benefits.

Some observers are concerned that these gig workers are taking jobs from “real” employees. Mundy, the transportation professor, says that many cabdrivers are immigrants who came to the U.S. to live in a country of laws—and now they’re losing out to businesses like Uber that don’t play by the same rules.

To others, it’s the “price of progress,” says Towns, who finds Uber rides more pleasant and accommodating than cabs. She also points out that the new model is more democratic: She’s a black woman and knows many black men who have trouble hailing a cab. That doesn’t happen with Uber, she says.