In message , at 10:36:21 on Sat, 23 Apr
2016, tim... remarked:

Sometime because selling that way is genuinely cheaper and sometimes
(as here) that saving has come about because the product on offer
doesn't have to jump through the regulatory hoops that have
historically been set up for that type of business, usually either to
enforce tax collection or improve consumer standards.

Or in this case, invent their own pirate ranks on double yellow lines,
and clog the traffic as well as making it much harder to black cabs to
pick up and drop off at various venues.

I'm not sure if "having insurance" comes under your "consumer standards"

And then of course there's the "employment standards" where the drivers
are trading short term work for longer term security. But that's also
the model for other ecommerce supplier with courier drivers on zero
hours self employed contracts.

When they get too old or sick to work, the public purse will have to
pick up the tab.

--
Roland Perry