, Columnist
A Secret of Uber's Success: Struggling Workers
Katie Benner explores how the success of Uber, Lyft, TaskRabbit and other hot on-demand companies rely on the needs and vulnerabilities of struggling workers.
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Whether or not you know the term "on-demand economy," if you've used a smartphone application to summon a driver or a delivery person to get you some food then you know what it is -- a hassle free way to find workers when you need them for a pretty low price.
Startups that connect service workers and customers have raised lots of venture capital based on the idea that low prices will democratize and popularize services that were once reserved for the rich. The viability of these enterprises is tied to scale. Once they are popular and ubiquitous enough, the argument goes, they'll transform massive swaths of the service economy including transportation, retail and the workforce itself.