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For millions of Americans, the office isn't a building — it's the front seat of their car. And right now, that office is getting a lot more expensive to operate.
Since the Iran conflict sent oil markets into a tailspin, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline has jumped by about a dollar. For workers whose income depends on how many miles they can afford to drive, that's not just an inconvenience — it's a direct hit to their livelihood.
The gig economy has no safety net at the pump
Leslie Sherman-Shafer, an Uber driver in the San Francisco Bay Area, used to spend around $25 to fill up her Toyota Corolla. She's now paying closer to $40 a tank. She's a retired dental assistant who drives five days a week, and the extra costs are forcing her to put in more hours just to break even.
The cruel irony? Ride-hailing platforms don't reimburse drivers for fuel. Drivers like Sherman-Shafer rely entirely on tips to bridge the gap — and most passengers don't tip at all.
It's a reminder of how exposed gig workers are when external costs rise. There's no employer to absorb the shock, no policy to fall back on. Just longer shifts and hope.
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The mileage reimbursement problem
For workers who do get reimbursed, things aren't necessarily much better. The IRS standard mileage reimbursement rate for 2026 is 72.5 cents per mile — a figure that business owners say simply isn't keeping pace with current fuel costs.
Chris Willatt, who runs Alpine Maids in Denver, reimburses his cleaning staff at that federal rate for the miles they drive between clients' homes. With gas prices surging, he says it feels like his employees took a pay cut overnight. To soften the blow, he's restructured assignments to minimize driving and cut back on required office check-ins.
Some employers are going further. Molly Kenefick, owner of Doggy Lama Pet Care in Oakland, bumped her reimbursement rate to 80 cents per mile for staff who drive dogs to hiking trails — and plans to keep it there until local gas prices stay below $5 for at least a month. She's also planning a price increase in May, though she's wary of raising rates too steeply and losing clients. In the meantime, she's dipping into personal savings to cover the shortfall.
How big is this problem, really?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly 27% of civilian workers listed driving as a physical requirement of their job last year. That's a vast and diverse group — Uber drivers, DoorDash couriers, home health aides, electricians, nannies, real estate agents — all of whom are quietly absorbing costs that have no easy fix.
Gig platforms are responding — sort of
DoorDash, Uber, Lyft, and Instacart have responded to the spike by offering increased cash back on gas purchases for drivers who use company-branded debit cards, and DoorDash and Instacart are providing weekly fuel payments to drivers who log 125 or more delivery miles. It's something — but for many drivers, it doesn't come close to covering the difference.
Sarah Noell, a DoorDash driver in Lynchburg, Virginia, has adapted by getting stricter about which orders she accepts — turning down any job that doesn't average out to at least $1 per mile, which cuts out a significant number of low- or no-tip orders.
The bottom line
Gas prices affect everyone, but they hit workers-on-wheels in a uniquely direct way. For employees covered by mileage reimbursement, the math has quietly gotten worse. For gig workers, there was never much of a cushion to begin with.
Until fuel prices ease — or reimbursement structures catch up — a lot of people are just doing the math at the pump and deciding whether the shift is still worth it.