Setting one’s rates implies that to compete, the cheapest person will win the bid. So many, in an effort to win clients, will under bid those, who have actually counted the cost. At the outset, I matched the bid of a graphic designer at $300 a design that took two weeks to produce. Eventually, I charged a rate that was commensurate with my time, but that rate was $3500. I never got another job offer from that company thereafter and the person, who hired me was fired. This of course only considered time, not insurances, nor pension, and perhaps out-of-pocket expenses. I don’t remember. Nor did it consider luck and time in landing the first job. The truth is, as with Uber or Lyft, it will all go back to taxi services that count the cost to remain in business. There is depreciation, initial cost of vehicle, gas, accidents, insurance, and other costs that only show up over time. Fatigue and boredom being other factors. Picking up someone who threatens you. A flat tire, where you end up getting robbed. What are the true costs of gigs? I believe the gig is up. You just have to think this stuff through. If you make a change to the status quo does that change solve the problem or simply create more problems? I think gigs reach the lowest common denominator. They don’t suit the whole. If all people need to work and the system only rewards a few, the system fails. Go ask Marx in Capital I. He had the same idea. Machines could have been used to better society but decreasing work. Instead, machines were used to ensure monopolies and surplus capital. Money is shifted to a few.