Have you ever had to get a background check? I have. The FBI background check requires ink fingerprints which you get at a police station. Takes 15 minutes and I think $10. Georgia State background check accepts an electronic livescan which i had done at a UPS store. This is easier than getting your car emission tested.

> Have you ever had to get a background check? I have. The FBI background check requires ink fingerprints which you get at a police station.

Yes. The FBI one in fact (fyi you don't have to do those at a police station; depends on why and where you're getting one).

> Takes 15 minutes and I think $10. Georgia State background check accepts an electronic livescan which i had done at a UPS store. This is easier than getting your car emission tested.

Depends on the type of emissions testing you need to do but at least when I lived in MD I would be in and out of the emissions place is about 10 minutes.

Regardless emissions is a requirement to simply drive. To drive other people via Uber or Lyft you simply need to open the app and have a legal vehicle. Adding this requirement now prevents those drivers who only drive temporarily or when they think of it and need some extra cash. If you're a college student who wants to get some extra bucks you might try Uber or Lyft, realize you need to get fingerprinted (which could take weeks depending on where you are) and either you're paying for it (requiring more time to make up the difference) or Uber or Lyft are paying for it (which likely means more fees for customers as that will be very expensive).

Doesn't seem realistic at all to me.

I don't see why fingerprinting has to be such a hassle. It wasn't for me. I was able to schedule, online, an appointment with my sheriff's department, get digitally fingerprinted, and background checked all within five days for under $50.

Granted, the privacy aspect is the ever-present issue.

In Philly, the UPS Store does fingerprint checks. There are several locations in the city, and it seems to take under 10 minutes to do. The UPS Store also serves as Notary Public.

I assume the same is true in lots of other cities.

Five days? $50? And you say that's not a hassle?

In the rest of the country, things work just fine with zero days, $0.

> I was able to schedule, online, an appointment with my sheriff's department, get digitally fingerprinted, and background checked all within five days for under $50.

I think you just described a good part of the hassle. Not everyone driving for Uber / Lyft have $50 to use for fingerprinting services and a similar cost, even heavily discounted, represents a significant cost to the companies if they're covering it. Then you have the whole part where, currently, anyone can pick up people and provide lots of supply for the customer demand but if they all have to wait that introduces a huge amount of friction (so less drivers).

Granted this is just in the city of Austin so it's possible to handle it without great difficulty. But if this were to apply across the nation? That would be devastating for the businesses.

People who drive for Lyft/Uber need a newer car with insurance and registration. The cost and regulatory burden of getting a background check is not significant in comparison to a car payment.

You need to have that regardless to drive. You're missing the big part of Uber and Lyft's model: anyone who wants extra cash can sign up and start driving people. If someone wants extra cash for a weekend then realized they need to go get fingerprinting done which could take a week then they're a missed opportunity.

This may not be a popular opinion but why doesn't the government fingerprint every citizen by default? After that there wouldn't be any need to do all these "checks" by every company. Just punch in your employee's SSN and you're done.