Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay • Hacker News Board

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#211

Post by b3lvedere » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 9:23 AM UTC

eridius wrote: post #197

dawnerd wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like even if they paid their delivery people a reasonable wage they'd still expect tips. Ive had movers that made over 50/hour not including the cost of materials/truck/etc ask for a tip. I was all for Uber being tip free until drivers started driving for Lyft which does tips in-app, and now all the drivers expect it. I've always felt this way with Pizza. Most places charge a delivery fee. That itself should b…

Just to be clear, for pizza places that charge a delivery fee, most of the time that does not go to the driver. You should still tip your driver.

Which is the problem in the first place.

Why are we taught by people to tip some personell and not to tip others?

Because the first group has a very low income. That's why. Because corporations cannot be trusted to treat their people nicely. That's why. Because the first group usually works hard and shows effort, while the others don't. That's why.

I don't mind to tip when someone has done an excellent service, but i always try to make sure my tip goes to that person directly and not some weird strange thing like a jar or a fund the corporation came up with.

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#212

Post by linkregister » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 9:25 AM UTC

vegabook wrote: post #170

tyre wrote: post #8

They have tens of thousands of customers, yet are worth multiple billions of dollars (valued at $2bn in 2015.) That's just incredible. Let's say they have 100k customers who each use the service every week. That's 5.2m orders per year. Let's say $100 per order, to be generous. At a 10% service fee, that's $50m for a two-year-old 40x revenue multiple. Before paying their contracted workforce. This does not make sense.…

All you see is the capital angle? You're hijacking the comments with your company valuation thing instead of thinking about the workers for once as is the whole point of the article.

The parent poster can't control who up votes his comment. Thinking about the capital angle doesn't mean someone doesn't think about the workers. Also, what happens to the workers/shoppers once Instacart runs out of funding?

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#213

Post by lostlogin » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 9:29 AM UTC

navs wrote: post #187

Negitivefrags wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also live in NZ. I've seen a few places prompt for tips but typically only in areas tourists frequent. I always just tip nothing. I'm pretty sure they are just doing it to bait Americans.

Curious, I live in Auckland and haven't seen mention of tips except in 'hipster' cafes and I rarely see gold coins or notes. I wonder if it's less about baiting Americans and more about emulating Americans.

Non solo pizza in Parnell do a hard sell on the tip. Very much a tourist location as mentioned above.

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#214

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 9:34 AM UTC

linkregister wrote: post #212

vegabook wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All you see is the capital angle? You're hijacking the comments with your company valuation thing instead of thinking about the workers for once as is the whole point of the article.

The parent poster can't control who up votes his comment. Thinking about the capital angle doesn't mean someone doesn't think about the workers. Also, what happens to the workers/shoppers once Instacart runs out of funding?

[deleted]

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#215

Post by mattbillenstein » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 9:40 AM UTC

I recently stopped using Instacart, there wasn't a single reason, but the sum of:

1. I'm paying 15-20% more for groceries just on line-item price. The prices Instacart shows vs what you see in store are sometimes a bit less, but more often not, 20% or more more.

2. Inconsistency between what's in Instacart's catalog and what's in the store. Making special requests isn't easy and they usually just go unfulfilled as it's up to the discretion of the shopper if they want to spend the extra time to find something special.

3. Safeway.com's online store got a little bit better -- and next day delivery is usually okay with me.

4. This service fee issue to top it off -- I just don't feel like paying 20% more for stuff, 10% for delivery, 10% for a service fee, then I'm compelled to add a tip? Poor UX IMHO if the solution is to manually change the service fee to 0% and tip 10%.

5. I had an incident last year that was sorta hilarious -- I had a shopper tell me Safeway was out of ice cream. Like, completely out of ice cream -- I went to their online store at the location the shopper was supposed to be and they list 400 different ice cream products. There is no way they were out of ice cream unless they had lost power for a day or something. It was just completely nonsensical and made me think they were maybe trying to fulfill my order out of their own warehouse because they had 90% of the stuff there -- and 90% in crunch time is maybe okay? That was maybe the first nail in the coffin.

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#216

Post by CalRobert » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 9:41 AM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #169

closeparen wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What is the market for +10% on groceries and basic necessities? People who live in the suburbs without cars. Cities are successfully discouraging car ownership by making parking scarce near downtown offices and even the suburban transit stations that lead to downtown offices. At the same time, cities aren't permitting the construction of dense, walkable neighborhoods, at least not fast enough to make them affordable…

I think if cities make car transportation a hassle, what will happen is dense locales will see more Aldis, Trader Joes Lidls, etc. (small footprint, high turnover goods at affordable prices) and that will enable more people to walk to their grocer, rather than use shopping and delivery services. These services are basically luxuries. Middle class people with families aren't the ones using these services. Upper class…

"dense locales "

They have to stop making it illegal to build dense locales, though.

The grandparent makes a great point. Anecdata, but it mirrors perfectly my experience living in a moderate-density mixed use neighborhood (South Park, San Diego). My wife and I managed without a car for several months largely through techniques they describe.

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#217

Post by verytrivial » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 9:46 AM UTC

This is not a fault of Instacart IMHO, but a symptom of the US's strange relationship with minimum wage laws.

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#218

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 9:49 AM UTC

linkregister wrote: post #212

vegabook wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All you see is the capital angle? You're hijacking the comments with your company valuation thing instead of thinking about the workers for once as is the whole point of the article.

The parent poster can't control who up votes his comment. Thinking about the capital angle doesn't mean someone doesn't think about the workers. Also, what happens to the workers/shoppers once Instacart runs out of funding?

[deleted]

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#219

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 9:55 AM UTC

linkregister wrote: post #212

vegabook wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All you see is the capital angle? You're hijacking the comments with your company valuation thing instead of thinking about the workers for once as is the whole point of the article.

The parent poster can't control who up votes his comment. Thinking about the capital angle doesn't mean someone doesn't think about the workers. Also, what happens to the workers/shoppers once Instacart runs out of funding?

[deleted]

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#220

Post by chii » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 10:03 AM UTC

IanCal wrote: post #162

paulcole wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I break even by paying someone else that $10, if I value my leisure time as equivalent to my wage. I value my leisure time at the arbitrary amount of $1000/hr. Have I broken even if I pay $1000 to someone so they'll do my grocery shopping?

For value, yes. If not, perhaps you don't really value your leisure time at $1000/hr.

your value isn't set by your own standards - your value is what someone else will pay you for your time! I.e., the opportunity cost of leisure is the value of leisure.