The GIG Economy Podcast

We would love to hear your feedback! We trade war stories from the road and unpack how app design, customer expectations, and bad incentives turn normal deliveries into avoidable chaos. We also dig into bigger gig economy shifts like Waymo stepping away from Uber in Phoenix, DoorDash moving deeper into on-demand delivery, and a frightening Uber safety story involving a child taken to JFK.  • back-...

We would love to hear your feedback! We unpack how gig workers get squeezed from every direction, from sudden app deactivations to new fees that punish you for needing your own money sooner. We also trade stories about self-driving car chaos, towing and ticket headaches, and the small habits that keep multi-apping from turning into a mess.  • Spark driver deactivated after completing an order, stu...

We would love to hear your feedback! We bounce from real-world glitches to big platform moves, focusing on how drivers get squeezed when apps fail, pricing gets murky, and decisions have to happen fast. We question the gaps in transparency across Uber, DoorDash, Walmart delivery partnerships, and even robotaxis, then trade practical ways to protect your time and your safety.  • DoorDash outage fal...

We would love to hear your feedback! We go live while running real deliveries, fighting through a storm, tech issues, and the chaos of multi-apping on DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Along the way, we break down miles, pay, app quirks, and the small mistakes that can tank a shift or save it.  • streaming a real shift with weather, road hazards, and app glitches  • Why long-distance food delivery...

We would love to hear your feedback! We trade real stories from the road and break down how small app details can make or break your night, from reservation pressure to what CarPlay leaves out. Then we move through the week’s biggest gig economy headlines, including new rideshare safety rules, tip trust problems, and why grocery delivery keeps shifting across platforms.  • night driving challenges...

We would love to hear your feedback! We bounce from a major union milestone for rideshare drivers to the everyday grind of app glitches, background checks, and pay that keeps sliding. We also dig into delivery fees that turn small orders into big bills, Gen Z jumping into gig work, and what self-driving cars and safety stories mean for the road ahead.  • Massachusetts rideshare drivers forming the...

We would love to hear your feedback! We trade real road stories from St Louis and Grand Rapids, then zoom out to the bigger shift as Uber pours $10 billion into robotaxis while Waymo keeps scaling on its own. Along the way, we dig into gig worker basics like bathroom access, easy side income disappearing, and how AI is already being used to scam riders with fake damage claims. • Using Lyft promos...

We would love to hear your feedback! We track how gig platforms chase predictable revenue through subscriptions and premium customers while drivers still eat the chaos of gas prices, bad estimates, and the algorithm. We also swap stories that sound funny at first, then land on the same point: trust and safety break fast when platforms and people cut corners.  • Uber One, DashPass, and Instacart su...

We would love to hear your feedback! Uber’s newest AI features promise easier booking and more add-ons, but we keep asking how it changes driver pay, rider behaviour, and accountability when things go wrong. We also compare side hustles like BabyQuip and laundry apps by running the numbers and calling out the hidden costs that don’t show up in the ads.  • weekend rideshare stories, drunk passenger...

We would love to hear your feedback! We trade real driver stories from busy nights on the road, then dig into how policy, algorithms, and safety risks shape what gig workers actually earn. We debate Seattle’s pay law, Uber’s upfront pricing backlash in Hawaii, and what it means when platforms push narratives that don’t match driver experience. • Road stories that show the weird and human side of r...

We would love to hear your feedback! We bounce through the latest gig economy news and call out how apps keep expanding into “everything” while drivers are left to do the math on pay, fees, and risk. We also hit the real-world safety side of delivery work and the weird tech trends showing up in cars and autonomous driving.  • Uber Eats is launching retail item returns, and how the fees might work ...

We would love to hear your feedback! That moment when you order ice cream at 9:15 and it shows up at 11:10 tells you almost everything about modern delivery. We kick things off with stories from the road that remind you how weird rideshare can get, then we unpack what happens when apps stack doubles and triples and the customer pays the price while the driver takes the blame. From there we get pra...

We would love to hear your feedback! A third grader opens our day with the most unhinged April Fools line imaginable, and somehow that’s still not the weirdest part of the night. We geek out over the NASA launch, then snap right back into the gig economy grind: weekend runs, a surprisingly good Lowe’s delivery, and the little moments that make DoorDash and rideshare life feel like a constant impro...

We would love to hear your feedback! Robotaxis, rising costs, and shaky app promises are colliding fast, and we’re starting to see what that means for drivers who count on rideshare and delivery money. We break down Uber’s latest autonomous moves, the arrival-time lawsuit, and the everyday strategies that keep gig work from turning into a financial trap.  • Uber’s Rivian robotaxi plan and why it m...

We would love to hear your feedback! A million-dollar GoFundMe for a DoorDash driver. Champagne requests inside an Uber. Robotaxis that stall out so often cities invent a new emergency category. That’s the gig economy right now, and we’re not pretending it’s normal.  We start with what drivers are actually seeing on the ground, then get into Uber Elite, a new premium rideshare tier pitched above U...

We would love to hear your feedback! Uber drivers are already doing brutal math on every request, so what happens if the platform starts charging us a subscription just to work? We react to reports that Uber is exploring a driver subscription model, compare it to other approaches in rideshare, and talk through the real-world questions: who it helps, who it hurts, and why part-time drivers could ge...

We would love to hear your feedback! Ep 292 News Links Two drivers swap snow-soaked stories that expose how stacking, distance, and clunky app UX turn hot food cold and good intent into fixes on the fly. We break down Uber Eats’ no-edit tip change, Walmart Spark’s settlement confusion, robots blocking ambulances, and Uber’s parking play with SpotHero. • triple stack delays and food temperature tra...

We would love to hear your feedback! We trade late-night rideshare stories with real safety lessons, then dig into Uber’s background check controversy, the pace of misconduct reports, and what policy changes could actually protect people. We also explore Uber’s EV charging push, a new trash-day gig app, Life360’s family integration, Waymo’s assertive maneuvers, and DoorDash’s retail surge. • fast-...

We would love to hear your feedback! A pizza goes to the right address—until the app decides it didn’t. That’s where our night begins: inside a double-order mix-up that flips a completed delivery into a fresh task 10 miles away, and a support chat that insists the driver is at fault. We unpack what really happened, why third-party systems like Toast can scramble instructions mid-route, and how to...

We would love to hear your feedback! News Links for Ep 289 A tipping point is here for the gig economy, and we felt it the moment two verdicts landed: Uber facing an $858.5M judgment in a sexual assault case under “apparent authority,” and Instacart ordered to pay nearly $16M after a fatal crash. We unpack what these rulings actually mean—where platform liability starts, where driver accountabilit...

We would love to hear your feedback! News Links from Ep 288 We dig into the week’s wild mix: snow closures and NTI days, shrinking gig hours, the end of Dovetail screenshots, Spark incentives that don’t always land, and a sober look at autonomy after Waymo’s low-speed child impact and an impatient merge around a semi. Safety, strategy, and sanity lead the way. • school shutdowns, NTI days, local d...

We would love to hear your feedback! Ep 287 News Links Two friends tackle a frozen week of gig work—how storms stall demand, why some apps shut down, and where the money still flows—then zoom out to taxes, tips, and the fight for transparency. We also dig into AV stumbles, teen ride safety, and Amazon’s shifting retail play. • ice storm impacts on scheduling and safety • spark incentives and wheth...

We would love to hear your feedback! Two hosts dig into a week of wild gig-economy stories: a convicted murder tied to a scam, a federal Uber SA trial with explosive internal messages, delivery partnerships that shift the market, and autonomy failures that expose design gaps. We weigh real fixes, from portable background checks to camera standards, and call out bad driver behavior, cash-ride risks...

We would love to hear your feedback! Ep 285 News Links We chase a slow January across rideshare, delivery, and shopping, then dig into AI hoaxes, rising energy costs from data centers, and where autonomy helps or harms. Laws, kiosks, drones, and tipping rules collide with real driver pay and trust. • dry January reducing orders and routes • multi‑app strategies to survive slow demand • AI misinfor...

We would love to hear your feedback! Ep 284 News Links We break down a wild start to 2026: rumors of a DoorDash “desperation score,” shifting incentives across Uber, Lyft, and Spark, and the thin line between algorithmic efficiency and exploitation. From a Waymo red-light fail to McDonald’s weighing bags, we push on safety, trust, and what drivers can actually control. • Uber quest math vs Lyft dr...