Possessed of a master's degree in Middle Eastern studies and performing at an exemplary level in his job as a counter-terrorism intelligence analyst for the State of Florida, Jonathan Rigsby in 2016 was successful by any reasonable definition of that term. But in the dark year when his marriage broke up and he desperately needed to supplement his income to hold up his end of the divorce settlement, he made the decision to sign on as an Uber driver in his home town of Tallahassee, Fla. Drive: Scraping by in Uber's America, One Ride at a Time is the grimly frank account of his experiences as a rideshare driver, an indictment of the country's rapidly expanding gig economy, and a frightening portrait of the ease with which one can slip from middle-class comfort to life on the edge of poverty.
Lured by what he argues are Uber's false promises of "high wages, flexible hours, and independence," Rigsby quickly stepped onto a 70-hour-a-week hamster wheel that left him sleep-deprived and miserable as he struggled to pocket the extra $250 per week he estimated he would need to earn from part-time driving to avoid financial ruin. Egged on by the app's "gamified" incentives crafted with the aid of computational neuroscientists and other experts, night after night, Rigsby pushed himself past the edge of exhaustion to log just one more ride, especially during times of surge pricing, when high demand from hard-partying college students at Florida State University would turn his app screen red and boost his pay.
For all its gritty detail about the physical toll Rigsby's hours behind the wheel exacted, Drive features an impressive number of emotional moments, as he recounts the psychological pressure he endured contemplating his "life of dead dreams and nonexistent hopes," facing a choice between washing clothes and buying food while wrestling with his guilt at the thought that he was failing his young son. He shares vivid stories of some of his riders, the most disturbing an account of a savage beating inflicted by a passenger that had him almost wishing for death, and launched him into a Kafkaesque encounter with Florida's criminal justice system.
Drive concludes with a biting epilogue in which Rigsby dissects the business model of Uber and other well-known companies that exploit the labor of gig workers like him. It's a structure that handsomely rewards wealthy venture capitalists and startup entrepreneurs, while treating its essential laborers as disposable commodities. As Rigsby explains, Uber's low cost and undeniable convenience extract a considerable price, not only from the workers who keep its wheels turning, but also from the society that's willing to ignore their plight. After reading this book, some may find themselves pausing before they tap into the app on their smartphone. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer
Shelf Talker: In biting and frank personal detail, an Uber driver exposes the dark underside of its operations and questions the claimed benefits of the gig economy.