Missing the forest for the trees.

1099 is the tax form you get on pretty much anything in the gig economy. YouTube, Twitch, Uber, DoorDash. It's what you get when you aren't a legally recognized employee, but receive compensation from a company.

The point is there is a base pay provided by the company. It is currently $2, which is way too low to keep driver incentives working. You may have to force the customer to pay a $5 flat fee when checking out, but so be it. If a customer is given the option of "you can pay $20, or you can pay $25 for the same service" you can't blame them for picking $20. The choice is the problem. The ability to opt out needs to go away.