41–50 of 371 posts
This sounds extremely scummy, and if the story really is as simple as this article tells it I don't understand how the CEO of this company can look at himself in the mirror. I think a great example of an app that lets me give positive feedback to service people is Uber. They let you get a ride ASAP with as little decision making as possible, and then you can rate it after you get where you're going and you have some…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's possible if the labor owns the company.
So then your answer is no, because then the venture owners don't own the company.
Wow, that seems gratuitously dishonest -- especially misleading customers about what's a "tip" vs. a surcharge. Having an $x delivery fee (paid to the company) and then a tip as a separate item ($ or %) would be fine. Making the "delivery fee" into a "service charge" is itself dishonest; making it adjustable when it doesn't go to the user is pretty bad, too. I can't tell if this loses them more goodwill with customer…
Consumers should understand that services have a cost. Companies should charge consumers an amount that is commensurate with the cost that it takes to deliver that service (unless they operate in a non-competitive market in which case they are free to charge whatever their customers are willing to pay). If there are humans involved in providing that service, they should be paid a living wage.
Tipping is the backward part of US consumer expectation. Not service fees.
Is it possible to have a value-added services company that doesn't exploit its labor? Is your answer going to be self-driving cars? What about alternatives that don't fundamentally replace the labor? In my opinion, it is impossible to achieve venture capital goals and pay service labor commensurate to the value it delivers.
Profit has to come from somewhere. You can't reimburse the workers the full value of their labour if you wish to make a profit. I'd say that counts as exploitation. Unfortunate, but thats the reality of capitalism.
I'm a customer of Instacart and a big fan of the service. It has saved me so many hours. The contract between a customer and Instacart is very simple: The customer picks out groceries and they show up at the door an hour or so later. Uber's decision to remove tipping was brilliant. Why impose additional uncertainty and friction into the work flow? Star ratings allow Uber to compensate top performers without creating…
> Star ratings allow Uber to compensate top performers without creating an inconvenient friction point for users. Uber drivers with a high rating get paid more?
Almost every other country tips restaurant servers <1%. Tips aren't required for adequate compensation. This should be covered by a competitive base wage.
> Instead of the tipping option appearing on the checkout page as it originally had, a default 10 percent “service fee” sat in its place. If I could take a guess, I'd say this is more related to the user experience. I hate tipping. I'd rather just attach a 10-20% fee instead of needlessly evaluating someone else's performance with every delivery. Or better yet, I'd rather just use a company that adequately pays its o…
Is it possible to have a value-added services company that doesn't exploit its labor? Is your answer going to be self-driving cars? What about alternatives that don't fundamentally replace the labor? In my opinion, it is impossible to achieve venture capital goals and pay service labor commensurate to the value it delivers.
Profit has to come from somewhere. You can't reimburse the workers the full value of their labour if you wish to make a profit. I'd say that counts as exploitation. Unfortunate, but thats the reality of capitalism.
Is it possible to have a value-added services company that doesn't exploit its labor? Is your answer going to be self-driving cars? What about alternatives that don't fundamentally replace the labor? In my opinion, it is impossible to achieve venture capital goals and pay service labor commensurate to the value it delivers.
I think this argument takes a relatively small set of companies a generalizes their exploits across the larger economy. Isn't it the case that most service companies in the west do not exploit it's labor? The people involved in customizing your car configuration prior to it being delivered to the dealership are not, to my knowledge, exploited. Most laundromats in my area do bag service, those workers don't seem to be…
Sure, but Instacart is demolishing a very worker-popular tipping feature. That suggests that actually, there is a critical mass of consumers willing to pay more.
The question is, why does it matter to Instacart so much that some consumers pay less than what they're willing to pay?
I'm poor enough to buy my own groceries, but if you're rich enough not to do that, then "tip"/pay your servants in cash.