Michael Bordenaro says the gig economy is starting to fall apart, and in his latest video he points to a problem that many drivers already know firsthand: there are too many workers chasing too few worthwhile jobs.
In his telling, platforms like Uber, DoorDash, and Instacart once gave people a quick way to make money, especially after losing a regular job. If you had a car, some free time, and a phone, you could jump in fast and start bringing in income.
That simplicity was the whole appeal. Bordenaro says a lot of people treated gig work as a safety net, something flexible and immediate when the normal job market failed them.
For a while, it really did seem to work. He says people could often make an extra $400 or $500 a week without much trouble, and during the pandemic the opportunity looked even better because sign-on bonuses and promotions were still flowing.
That period now looks like the high-water mark. What made gig work attractive at first was not just flexibility, but the feeling that it could actually replace a lost job for some people. According to Bordenaro, that is no longer true for most drivers.
Oversaturation Has Changed The Entire Equation
The biggest word in Bordenaro’s argument is oversaturation.
He says too many people have poured into these platforms all at once, especially as layoffs, inflation, and rising living costs have pushed more workers to hunt for side income. What used to feel like a quick backup plan has become crowded to the point that it barely works for many drivers anymore.
Bordenaro described one driver who started doing Uber full time after losing a traditional job. At first, that driver was working around 40 hours a week and making between $2,000 and $3,000 a week before expenses, enough for the gig to function as a real replacement for prior income.
But then the market changed. The bonuses dried up, the supply of drivers exploded, and the earnings started falling fast.
Now, Bordenaro says, that same kind of driver may have to work 60 hours a week just to make what used to come from 40 hours. He went even further, saying that if someone wants the kind of income that once made gig work feel worthwhile, they may need to put in 80 hours a week.
That is not flexibility anymore. That is a trap dressed up as freedom.
The whole appeal of these apps was supposed to be efficiency. You log on, work when you want, and make decent money. Once it takes 50 percent more time just to stand still, that promise starts to collapse.
Drivers Wait More, Earn Less, And Customers Feel It Too
Bordenaro says the problem is not just lower pay. It is the amount of unpaid waiting time that now comes with the job.
Drivers, in his words, are sitting around longer waiting for profitable rides or deliveries to show up. If the offer is too small, many skip it because a $5 trip often is not worth the fuel, vehicle wear, and time.
That makes sense from the driver’s point of view. A person using their own car cannot afford to pretend operating costs do not exist.
But Bordenaro says the customer ends up paying for the same problem in a different way. If more drivers are declining weak offers, deliveries take longer, rides become harder to get, and the whole experience gets worse.
That is part of what makes this feel bigger than a simple pay complaint. When both sides are unhappy, workers and customers, the model itself starts to look shaky.
The driver loses because there is too much dead time. The customer loses because nobody wants to take a low-paying job. The platform still keeps moving, but the trust underneath it starts to erode.
Bordenaro’s broader point is that the gig economy is no longer operating like a smooth market. It is turning into a jammed one, packed with workers who are all trying to avoid bad jobs while hoping a better one appears on the screen.
Some Workers Are Giving Up Entirely
Bordenaro says a growing number of gig workers are simply being forced to quit.
Not because they hate the work itself, but because the time-to-pay ratio no longer makes sense. If a person has to stay glued to a phone, waiting for a decent ride or delivery that may never come, the unpredictability becomes exhausting.
That kind of income is hard to build a life around. Bills do not care whether your app was slow that day. Car repairs do not wait for surge pricing. Rent does not get cheaper because profitable orders were scarce.
He says this has led to rising turnover. Retention is falling, people jump in hoping to make fast money, and then they jump out once they realize the opportunity is not what they expected.
At the same time, new people keep arriving. That is one of the uglier ironies in Bordenaro’s argument. Even while current workers are getting squeezed out, more people are still entering the space after losing jobs or needing emergency income.
That creates a cycle that is hard to break. The platforms stay flooded with labor. Existing workers keep earning less. Fresh workers still arrive thinking they can make it work. Then many of them burn out too.
The Security Problem Is Getting Harder To Ignore
Bordenaro also raised another issue that gets less attention than shrinking pay: safety.
He said more people are allegedly renting or selling access to gig accounts, allowing unauthorized drivers to work under someone else’s approved profile. In his view, that creates a serious risk, especially for customers getting into a car with a stranger.
He said he has noticed this himself during food deliveries, where the app shows one person and one vehicle, but someone else arrives in a different car. That, he argued, is shady enough on its own, even before you get into bigger concerns about background checks.
According to Bordenaro, a survey found that 45 percent of gig workers said they had either rented or sold access to a gig account. He broke that number down further, saying 25 percent rented out an account, 20 percent sold one, and 45 percent said they had done neither.
Whether every self-reported number captures the whole truth is another matter, but his point was clear: once workers start buying, renting, and gaming access to the platforms, the whole system becomes less trustworthy.
He says some people do it because they cannot get approved themselves. Maybe they lack enough driving history. Maybe they fail a background check. Maybe they are stuck on a wait list because the market is already overcrowded.
That part of his argument is especially troubling. Oversaturation does not just lower pay. It can also encourage rule-breaking, side deals, and a black market around the work itself.
Automation Is Looming Over All Of It
Bordenaro does not think the pressure stops with oversaturation. He sees automation waiting in the background too.
He points to driverless Waymo taxis and food delivery robots as early signs that the companies involved in transportation and delivery are already experimenting with ways to phase human workers out. Right now, he says, some of those alternatives cost more, but he clearly believes the long-term direction is obvious.
In his view, gig driving could become an extinct concept within the next 10 years if things keep moving like this.
That may sound dramatic, but it fits the larger theme of his video. Gig workers are not just squeezed by too many workers today. They are also exposed to being replaced tomorrow.
Bordenaro ties that risk to a wider labor market that he sees as unstable across the board. He talks about layoffs, AI, automation, and a job market where even traditional employment feels less secure than it used to.
That is what gives the whole video its darker edge. He is not saying gig work is under stress while everything else is fine. He is saying the gig economy is cracking inside a much broader economy that already feels brittle.
Gig Work May Be A Bridge, But Not A Foundation
One of Bordenaro’s more interesting points is that gig work can still teach people something useful. He says it can push workers to think more like business owners, to focus on profitable hours, profitable rides, and managing themselves instead of acting like employees.
He even shared one success story about an Uber driver whose passenger conversation eventually led to a full-time finance job. That is the exception in his story, not the rule, but he used it to show that being out in the world can create unexpected opportunities.
Even so, Bordenaro’s message is that gig work should be treated as temporary. In his view, it is side cash, not a true long-term replacement for stable income.
He warns that too many people let these apps become a crutch. They feel independent because they are technically self-employed, but the platform can still cut them off, flood the market, or change the rules at any moment.
That is not real control. It is rented control.
His bottom line is that workers who want long-term independence need something deeper than app-based gigs. Bordenaro says the best path is building a real business or some other source of income that is actually theirs.
Whether someone agrees with all of his gloomier predictions or not, his core argument is hard to miss. The best days of app-based gig work appear to be behind it. Pay is shrinking, too many workers are piling in, safety concerns are growing, and automation is circling overhead.
What once looked like freedom now looks a lot more like instability. And for a lot of Uber, DoorDash, and Instacart drivers, that reality is becoming impossible to ignore.
Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
