The short version
In The Epoch Times (November 25, 2019), Boon founder Ryan Vet compared California's AB5 to "whack-a-mole" and warned it was "disrupting an industry that didn't need disruption" in trucking. California added exemptions for more than 100 occupations the next year, and in 2022 truckers protesting AB5 shut down the Port of Oakland for five days.
Ryan Vet · Article in The Epoch Times
AB5 was sold as a law about Uber and Lyft. By November 2019 it was clear it reached much further, and The Epoch Times' Chris Karr went looking for the industries that hadn't seen it coming. Trucking was the loudest: owner-operators who had financed their own rigs were suddenly unsure they could legally keep working as contractors.
Ryan Vet was running Boon, a marketplace for licensed professionals, which was exempt because healthcare was carved out of the law. That put him in an unusual spot. He could talk about the model without defending his own company, and he used it to make the argument that aged best: the law would keep producing new problems faster than it solved the old one.
Ryan's Big Takeaways
- 01
Fix one problem, create two.
Ryan compared AB5 to "whack-a-mole: it's trying to ... hit one problem on the head, [but] two other things pop up that might not be as favorable." That is what happened. In September 2020, California passed AB 2257, carving out musicians, freelance writers, photographers and others, and bringing the exempt list to 109 occupations.
- 02
Trucking didn't need this.
"The people that weren't using this [app-based] technology ... are now having to re-classify how their entire job works," he said. "You're disrupting an industry that didn't need disruption." The trucking industry fought the law in court for almost three years. When the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear its case on June 30, 2022, independent truckers blockaded the Port of Oakland for five days.
- 03
The real trade is control.
For rideshare drivers, Ryan said the cost of employee status was the flexibility that drew people to the work in the first place: "The downside is now Uber and Lyft, if they do hire these people as employees, can control every action that individual takes: when they drive, where they drive, how they drive, what they drive." A year later, that flexibility argument was the core of the Proposition 22 campaign, which passed with 58% of the vote.
The Velocity Gap →
Standout Quotes
It's trying to ... hit one problem on the head, [but] two other things pop up that might not be as favorable.
It's all under the guise of fair pay and benefits, which are very noble causes. I do think those should be examined outside of this context, I think it is important.
You're disrupting an industry that didn't need disruption.
The downside is now Uber and Lyft, if they do hire these people as employees, can control every action that individual takes: when they drive, where they drive, how they drive, what they drive.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What did Ryan Vet tell The Epoch Times about AB5?
In November 2019, Ryan Vet told The Epoch Times that AB5 was like "whack-a-mole," solving one problem while creating two others, and that it was "disrupting an industry that didn't need disruption" in trucking. He also said employee status would let Uber and Lyft control "when they drive, where they drive, how they drive, what they drive."
Did AB5 affect Ryan Vet's company, Boon?
No. Boon matched licensed healthcare professionals with contract work, and healthcare professions were exempt from AB5. He told The Epoch Times, "We're technically still [able] to do contract work."
Was Ryan Vet right about AB5 and trucking?
Yes. The California Trucking Association challenged AB5 in court until June 30, 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Independent truckers then protested at the Port of Oakland, shutting it down for five days.
Frameworks & Ideas Referenced
- The Velocity Gap implied : Rules written for one model of work, applied to a technology that had already changed it.
Books, People & Sources Mentioned
- California Assembly Bill 5 (2019) : The law the article reports on.
- AB 2257 (2020): the exemptions that followed : The "whack-a-mole" in practice.
- Port of Oakland AB5 protests (2022) : What happened to trucking.
Keep Exploring
- What I called on the gig economy in 2019, and what happened Explore →
- Appearance USA TODAY: what AB5 would cost consumers USA TODAY quoted Ryan Vet, then founder of the gig staffing marketplace Boon, on the night California's Senate passed AB5. He called it good for workers, warned it would "implode the gig economy as we know it today," and argued consumers were the side nobody was counting. Explore →
- framework The Velocity Gap Explore →
- speaking Futurist keynotes Explore →
Ryan writes one free essay a week. It's called Collide.
How generations are reshaping work and home. Practical, research-backed, and delivered weekly. Read it at RyanVet.com/collide.
