There's something off-putting about this video. Gig work can be good for extra income, but the underlying, upbeat tone of this video is misleading. Yes, Jake's job is flexible, but someone who works 80 hours a week should not be living in his car, and should ideally be making more than $500-$1200/week.
80 hours is different on these apps. I work doordash. Actual hours on the app in a week could be 35. Active time could be 16..and I will make around $450 for that. The 19 hours is waiting for an order. The 16 hours is total time in an active delivery. I barely feel like work at all and can make $600 a week in around 20 hours total active hours worked..gig workers love it because number 1 its so easy. You can work when you want and you get paid to hustle. Im not lazy. If I work in another job I could do twice the amount of work an hour as someone else and get the same pay. Delivery if I do twice the amount of work and hustle i will make more per hour than someone who doesnt hustle
Basically, he's not telling you the whole story. Those 80 hours likely includecthe time he spends cultivating his RU-vid channel (which brings him a significant amount of income).
how did that work out / is it working out? I hear these fears of the car breaking down but i live pay check to pay check if my car breaks down I am in an even worse position. 300-500 a week with just a car insurance bill and phone bill allows you plenty to save for emergencies where you'd have to stay at a hotel for a bit / get a new car. Am I missing something? The hard part seems to be living in the car and everyone seems to point out how it's "on the edge". If you live pay check to pay check "you're on the edge" too lol.
Jake's channel is one of my favorite on RU-vid. He is simply am awesome guy, that found inner strength to conquer his own demons and is not shy to talk about it, making it one of the most real channel on RU-vid
I feel like this video, while bringing up a lot of very concerning points about the gig economy, doesn't really do anything to address them. :/ The overall upbeat tone is kind of chilling, especially considering the main take away is that the corporations benefiting from the gig economy are able to do so in part because of how much of the costs are shifted onto their employees.
And they don't even mention how the companies should have more responsibility to those workers. Or at least collectively having a way to deal with them in case something happens to them. This shift to claim "well, it is his fault, he knew the risks" gotta feel great when the risks are high and people are desperate and companies can just dismiss it as the worker's personal choice or responsibility.
What do you expect PBS to do about it? They can hardly twist the companies' arms. They didn't endorse or condemn the situation, they just reported what it is. That's their job.
This really common on the 2 Cents channel, they'll describe something out of a dystopia and then it turns out that it happens all over the US. If other PBS channels like Above the Noise or Origin of Everything can be realistic about racial injustice, I'm pretty sure they can extend that to economic injustice, and the two usually go hand in hand
I'm thinking that this video was designed to beat the bushes against these corporate entities. Don't feel sorry for Jake, however. He has a great future running his own business, although he may not know it yet. Clue: he wants to not have a boss... Primary trait of an entrepreneur.
As a European it is so surreal to see people delivering food in cars. Here we mostly have scooters and e-bikes. I find it hard to believe that the economics play out if you pay for car insurance, maintenance and the higher fuel consumption of a car. Especially when you are as slow as traffic and have to find parking..
That’s true for some places but for more suburban markets that have longer distances it’s safer to use a car. For example you do not want to take an e bike or scooter on the I-5 or 215 here in SoCal unless you’re looking to get clipped by a speeding car.
i appreciate that jake’s decision is the best for him personally (i also appreciate his candor about his past and what he’s overcoming), but it’s true that he does not have much of a safety net and he’s one bad accident away from having his entire lifestyle be unsustainable (such as a health emergency, car breakdown, etc). it’s fortunate that his dad seems to be a really caring person who would be willing to help him out in the case that something like that happens. however, for many gig workers, they don’t have any kind of safety net or security. i hope that we can figure out a solution to let gig workers continue to enjoy relative flexibility while also offering them affordable options for insurance & adequate reimbursement for the wear on the personal items they use for work and depend on.
His dad needs to cut the umbilical cord. Dudes a man. You make decisions and you accept the consequences. He can be happy and poor or rich and depressed. He chose happy and poor. I don’t feel bad for him at all. I am happy for him. When he gets sick… time to say goodbye and that’s it. We all die someday. 8 billion more where he came from.
@@goldwolf0606 his father does not give him financial support. You have obviously not had a child in recovery. I have watched a lot of Jake’s RU-vid videos. He is living one day at a time, the AA/NA way, in a simple manner in order to maintain his sobriety. It’s less burdensome for him to live by himself in his vehicle and work the gig economy than to live in a place with some roommates, pay rent, etc. He has hobbies - skateboarding, running - and has made a network of friends including some influential RU-vidrs and financially savvy young people and he works on himself psychologically. He also collects socks and items for the homeless in LA from his subscribers and volunteers to that community. Can you honestly say the same for yourself? Time to educate yourself a bit more.
@@goldwolf0606 he’s not looking for anyone to feel sorry for him lol and his dad is far from “babying” him. You can have a conversation with your parent 😂
Eva, a bad accident could hamper a whole swath of people depending on the severity. As far as a car breakdown, it depends. If you've done the work long enough, you should know how to plan ahead and save for repairs and/or a new car. The only thing that could break you is if you were at fault.
I have been following Jake on RU-vid for a few months, as I relate to his recovery journey and desire to spread kindness and support to others in need. He's a good dude, or a good egg as they say. I recommend others give his channel a try. Peace.
Thats a misnomer. He is avaiable on the apps up to 80s hours a week. Half that time he is waiting for an order/watching youtube. When I "work" 40 hours a week on doordash my active delivery time will be about 18 hours. I make about $500 a week working 18 hours a week
@@izang5800 that's like saying a security guard is only actually doing his job when there are people around, and not when he's just sitting there and there's nobody around. But he is, as long as you're on someone else's time, you're working
@@octabunge well there is no boss. I log into the app at home and sometimes wait 30 minutes for a good order. During that 30 minutes i could be making food..watching youtube. On my computer. All things i cant do on "someone else's time" at a regular job.
He said it was almost euphoric the first night he slept in his car. He likes traveling and living at his own speed. The cat is more than able to work a 9-5…but he’s got a dream and ambition. Doing it at his own pace. I’m rooting for you dude! See you in a couple weeks!
This guy is undoubtedly a good video editor and videographer living in Los Angeles where a large amount of content creators live. He could easily focus on leveraging that high earning skill rather than using his low earning skill, driving. This dude could literally live his dream life with a little bit of iteration and venturing out. In addition, he already has a fan base of some sort. No brainer!
Well that was incredibly depressing to watch... And just the upbeat nature of this video covering system that regularly exploits people and throws them away like garbage the moment they fail to reach the INSANE 80-hour work week demanded of them, cruel. This isn't "flexibility", this is "being on call at all times to scrape together enough cents to not DIE".
I'm really feeling it for the man and his father. It's a tough life and a hard trade off. At the current pay rate he's getting it's very hard to make it work. His father supports him but it doesn't make sense to either of them. This gig give a false sense of freedom. A better alternative would to simply take part to job and do this on the side. At least to get the benefits and some what of a stable income.
This is just another example of the media attempting to normalize and even glorify these vulnerable workers in order to maintain the status quo. Way to go PBS!
The guy lives and sleeps and works out of a box that he can't stand up in that's falling apart, no kitchen, no bathroom, no privacy, self-confessed "living on the edge", yet has convinced himself it's a blessing. Out of the richest country in the world, folks, this is heartbreaking.
That’s called freedom. He’s doing what he wants. Nothing heartbreaking about it. I’m happy for the dude. It’s not the path I’d choose but the dude is happy. He’s healthy. You can’t ask for anything more. I’ll take a car health and happiness over a mansion obesity and depression…
Why is it heartbreaking when he’s really enjoying it? You are not him and you don’t know how he feels. I think it’s heartbreaking that some people can think that another man’s freedom of choice is somehow inferior. smh
With 38k followers on RU-vid & a Patreon, no he's not. Maybe others in that situation, but not Jake. He's actually very resourceful. And his content is awesome.
The path your on now is better than a life on drugs ,your life looks fabulous to me you don't need fancy things to be happy...you had toothache problems and you sorted it out for yourself, your car needed work you sorted it out for yourself your doing just fine ....who needs to know where you'll be in 10 years ! I'm 58 yes old I learned one thing for sure worry about the now ...dont spend happy times worrying about 10 years onto the future ❤
@@JakeMcCollum 🍻cheers to you dude ! I’m super happy for you man!!! Freedom is taken for granted in the land of the free. Live free and die hard baby!!! I yearn to be free like you 😂!!!
@@ianwatson194 homeless people on the streets have families. You don’t need a white picket fence to have a family or home. Home is where the heart is, and he loves his car msn 😂 that’s his home.
Well, I have very mixed feelings about this - very mixed, very mixed. I have followed Jake a long time and I like him. He never mentioned RU-vid which is actually his major source of income allowing him to actually NOT be in food delivery. I understand what his Dad is concerned about. When you work delivery you are actually PAYING to work when you look at automobile costs. They never deal with the fact that if your vehicle is being used in a commercial activity YOUR INSURANCE DOES NOT COVER YOU in an accident if you were not paying for commercial coverage. I wish Jake well!
@@marzipan2555 That is most interesting. The problem is exactly what does that "pay out" in maximum coverage benefits. There are lots of misconceptions about what "covered" REALLY means.
I can’t believe PBS is flipping this to he like a feel good story about a man’s choice. This is disgusting. Also y’all keep calling them employers when they fight to be legally free of considering these workers their employees. This is a miserable life for this man.
I mean, he doesn't appear to be making the effort to do anything else. He is doing this by choice. I think the father is correct that he's one bad day away from disaster, but the only one who can change that is Jake, and he doesn't seem to want to.
The gig companies keep getting called " employers ". However, the workers on these gig company platforms are self employed independent contractors of whom get misclassified as employees. The gig companies found loopholes to get out from managing payroll tax, health insurance and etc so they can walk away with higher profitability while many of the workers endure economical hardship not created by themselves but, yet created by the gig companies. Next, some of these gig companies got into the stock market and are now putting the interest of the heavy hitter investors above the " workers ". In Jakes case, his way of life is by choice meanwhile, many people that work in the gig economy fall into the lifestyle due to their pay getting flattened and manipulated by these gig companies. There's a mental hold into the app and it's called " gaslighting ".
It wasn’t a feel good story or a sad story either. Its a man telling his story, and PBS letting him do so without interjecting bias. PBS let’s the viewer make up their own minds but from the reactions I’m reading, many are just projecting.
I understand the desire for flexibility but man, the people running these companies aren't sleeping in their cars and working 80hrs a week for $500-1200 - they are using you and they should be paying WAY better. Jake, you deserve healthcare my guy. Your pops is right: I'm scared for you. You are a major car repair or accident away from being in real financial trouble. Much love to you and all the workers out there grinding.
Jake says this is his choice and if it is then that's to him but it's so scary to me knowing that some people will live like this not on their choice and traditional white collar workers will likely be doing gig work to without basic protections
I think gig companies should collaborate w each other such that if a worker has put in enough hours in a year they should afford the individual w health insurance.
I feel like when the evictions start again there are going to be hundreds of thousands of people living like this. I am already price out and struggling to find a place, I have a van with a bed in it that I originally bought a few years ago just for vacations. And I'm Currently homeless and living in it. I'm actually super comfortable in it myself. But I have a wife and 3 young kids. They are staying with wife's sister. If Iy wasn't for them I would probably stay in the Van rather than pay these price gouging rent prices!
Yeah I am trying to convince my bf for us to buy a trailer in a park. I had and lost 3 jobs through the pandemic. I have been abused in the workplace for 15 years and I am so over mainstream work but prices just keep climbing and wages are completely stagnant.
he's making 500 a week with no rent cost. He can write gas and miles off on taxes and almost break even so that 500 a week is virtual untaxed. People act like if the car breaks down his life is over.. get a hotel, get the car fixed / get a new car with payments. Am I missing something? He makes more than I made after taxes / rent. If my car broke down now I'd be more in trouble than him.
I understand the mental illness aspect of this. I have a hard time maintaining long-term employment so something like this works for me. Unfortunately, a minor bump in my background prevents me from doing this type of work.
If you want to do it, go ahead. Trying to convince me this is normal is a hard sell. I like that he's happy, but I fear he'll be left for dead if anything happens. And that is not ok.
@@flicksby3930 that response means "I'm crystallized in my opinion, so no, I'm not going to bother checking out his channel." 🤣 I too am a subscriber. These comments are endlessly frustrating. They don't know Jake like we do!
@@safetyfirst3132 it isn't like I'm wishing him anything bad. I'm just afraid this lifestyle has less safety net than it should. Not sure what moral judgement do you think I pass on him or whatever you meant by what you wrote, but I'm fairly neutral relative to Jake, I can assure you.
@@VeteranVandal I apologize if I seemed harsh, I'm just frustrated with the "missionaries" throughout this comment section. Try to think of it in that context. Imagine how missionaries (pick whatever religion or cultural practices) would walk into perfectly happy indigenous villages & teach them shame & consumerism. Cover your bodies, worship our gods, tear up the land to build structures that require endless pollution & maintenance to sustain. "But they had no health care!" Well, they didn't need it til these missionaries brought foreign disease. 🤔 Fast forward to today & people STILL think they know what's best for others based on a snapshot, taken out of context, without knowing the full story. Even when the story is available (Jake's channel) it's often not dissected, or even glanced at. The opinions flow freely anyway. Because the missionaries know best, right? You used the word "afraid". "I'm afraid he's on his own." Well, the thing that alleviates fear is knowledge. Maybe if you knew more about the situation, you wouldn't be afraid. 🙂
People are quick to judge.. you are so used to living how society tells you you should live. Jake is doing what HE wants to do. But because you live how most people do, jakes way of living is not acceptable. Why? Who makes the rules? You? Because he lives life different, its wrong? Check yourself. This is freedom. He and thousands of people want this. If you don't agree, that's your PERSONAL choice.
For now, I wish I could recommend a on the road truck driver lifestyle, that way he could live in the truck. But easier said than done, and it also comes with its own set of unique drawbacks.
He can definately do something with driving. İ m glad he has gotten through recovery and maybe if he has no criminal record (or if he is part of a rehab program something) he can drive a truck, a bus, a ferry, a schoolbus, heck even bike courriers are getting more popular in certain cities. Eventually, İ think he will need to. İm glad he is enjoying it for now though
As a parent....we always worry about our children no matter their age. Like dad said that he's supportive of his son and he's making it work 👍 RIGHT ON 😄 It doesn't have to make sence to everyone as long as it's working for you.💋
You missed point of the documentary where this guy repeats this he has an mental illness and his father is scared for him since he’s literally homeless with no financial support of his own. His car is about to break down and then he will be on the streets unless his father pays for another car. He is no financially independent and lives off the financial lifeline of his father in the event his car dies. Owning a house and having a traditions job and established career is financial asset that this guy will never know. As someone that works in the medical field, everyone’s a libertarian unless you’re sick or your old and sick. And then you get scared about how your going to survive and be able to afford to eat.
I feel bad for people having to do this. His dad is spot on in the sense that he is one bad day from catastrophe. I've done door dash and grub hub before, and it sucks. Yeah you're your own boss, KIND OF, but not really. I guess if you like going in and out of your car/being mobile/seeing lots of different locations, it could be more bearable. Honestly this is a huge red flag of where our country is heading. People living out of their cars barely making ends meat. The lower class will obviously feel the brunt of these changes. Corporations once again taking advantage of people with little options. So much risk is on you when doing these gig jobs. Some don't even take taxes out, so you have to set that aside yourself. I know plenty of Uber drivers that don't pay their taxes. Either way, I'm glad your father supports you. More power to you man, I hope one day soon, you'll no longer be living on the edge and have something stable while still protecting your mental health.
I understand him. It's about being unencumbered. Some folks don't want to trade money for time. This is quite different to the way I was brought up...but I understand the sentiment.
Uber Grubhub doordash ect pay drivers less now than ever before. Usually much less than minimum wage before factoring in all the driver’s costs. People can’t afford to maintain or replace their car and once it blows up the company just recruits someone else and runs them into the ground too.
Jake is supplanting his drug addiction with workaholism in order to maintain sobriety which probably incurred from a learned behavior in his home life which is why he still has vagabond tendencies. So therefore, it’s neither a choice nor a lifestyle, it’s his illness playing out that’s (hyper-?)functional rather than dysfunctional. It would be different if his plan was expand to vanlife or a schoolie or some decent, mobile housing. He’s not happy, he’s brainwashed and exploited; PBS should be ashamed to share his story this way.
This is homelessness. Even the government views this as homelessness. You can't sleep properly, or shower, change your clothing, brush your teeth. You can't keep food without it going to waste, much less cook anything. You can't get a real job without an address, and you're always worried about where to park next. People who live out of their cars often have their cars broken into and everything they own or hold dear is stolen from them. This is outrageous to see being marketed as a "future of work".
No... it's not outrageous. It's so NOT outrageous that this dude CHOOSES to do it. You don't know what REAL struggle or homelessness is cause you're from America lol. Go to a 3rd world country and complain to them how your government doesn't take care of you see if u don't get obliterated.
Idk what you're talking about. I follow him on all social media, and he showers every day, sleeps well, brushes his teeth, and eats well. He just has a gym membership at planet fitness and showers there every day. He also CAN afford a place and chooses not to. Basically, even though it saves him a ton of money AND makes him happy, you think he should spend all that money and get a place anyways even though he'd be less happy, just because YOU would be more happy if you were him? That doesn't make any sense.
Great interview with you and your dad, Jake! I thank God that you have a vehicle to work out of and good health. (I've seen your videos of not so good homeless people situations). You are obviously intelligent and have a strategy to get things done. With the economy like it is and the cost of living going up we may see more people living the car life. I warms my heart to see you share socks, etc, with the homeless too. Keep up the good work. God's speed and protection around you! ❤
A big salute to you for figuring out what keeps you centered and happy enough. There definitely needs to be more done in a tax sense to reimburse workers like this for all the self provided equipment they have to use. As this industry continues to grow the accompanying changes must keep pace.
This worker isn't paid until he picks up and drops off his order. That means all the time he spends waiting for orders and driving to pickup orders isn't paid work. Hence, at least half of his work is "overtime".
Like any news station for clicks they decided to take the negative slant on Jake’s story. This is like some propaganda to get you to vote against proposition 22 in California which was already passed. California gig workers are treated better than any other state in the country. So much more important to focus on the fact that Jake is maintaining his sobriety and completely saved his life by doing so. Your dad though man he’s pretty young to have such a limited outlook at the world. He watched too much of Saturday Night Live when Chris Farley did the skit about living in a van down by the river.
A lot of people are saying that this video is upbeat. I don’t think it’s supposed to be sad lol. They’re just showing his story. I don’t think they are looking to “change” the future of work. They just want to show you.
Wow I love that very motivational . As a subscriber of Jakes . I’m really happy to see him being recognized by other channels! Let’s go Jake! You got this!
Jake is HOUSELESS, not homeless. There is a difference. He has his passenger seat made out to be a bed. He showers, etc at Planet Fitness or the beach. Watch other car/van lifers. Traditional houses and jobs are not for everyone
I had other expectations when 2cents announced that they are doing a series on 'future of work'. Thought it would be encouraging and help me to think through interesting opportunities I haven't considered. Instead both videos have been a bit depressing (not wrong... Just different to my initial expectations)
