Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Some Instacart workers to strike over pay that can be as low as $1 per hour

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 132 posts

Re: Some Instacart workers to strike over pay that can be as low as $1 per hour

#11

Post by dzonga »

cylinder wrote: post #7
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #6

I recently ordered from DoorDash, a similar service. The app gave me a price for the order and then had a line item called “Dasher Tip” and asked me how much I wanted to put down. I put in $20. Later when the woman arrived with the food, we stopped to talk for a minute. She was a little younger than my mom, and said she had just started working for the service after her husband died. She asked me if she could ask me…

The psychopaths are running the show now. I don't use any of these nonsense delivery apps.

VC money can't make up for their weak numbers and incompetence. They gotta push up revenue in other ways.

Re: Some Instacart workers to strike over pay that can be as low as $1 per hour

#12

Post by jeremyt »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #6

I recently ordered from DoorDash, a similar service. The app gave me a price for the order and then had a line item called “Dasher Tip” and asked me how much I wanted to put down. I put in $20. Later when the woman arrived with the food, we stopped to talk for a minute. She was a little younger than my mom, and said she had just started working for the service after her husband died. She asked me if she could ask me…

Call me crazy, but when I use one of these services, I expect the service to be reflected in the price.

Re: Some Instacart workers to strike over pay that can be as low as $1 per hour

#13

Post by TaylorAlexander »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #9
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #6

I recently ordered from DoorDash, a similar service. The app gave me a price for the order and then had a line item called “Dasher Tip” and asked me how much I wanted to put down. I put in $20. Later when the woman arrived with the food, we stopped to talk for a minute. She was a little younger than my mom, and said she had just started working for the service after her husband died. She asked me if she could ask me…

May I ask which state you reside in?

CA - Bay Area

Re: Some Instacart workers to strike over pay that can be as low as $1 per hour

#14

Post by _m8fo »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #6

I recently ordered from DoorDash, a similar service. The app gave me a price for the order and then had a line item called “Dasher Tip” and asked me how much I wanted to put down. I put in $20. Later when the woman arrived with the food, we stopped to talk for a minute. She was a little younger than my mom, and said she had just started working for the service after her husband died. She asked me if she could ask me…

Your story is a great reminder to why tipping is pointless (among many other reasons, such as [1]) If you do decide to tip, you should hand the person you want to have the money cash -- that's the only way you can be for sure they're gonna get it.

[1] http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/articles/27/

Re: Some Instacart workers to strike over pay that can be as low as $1 per hour

#15

Post by georgemcbay »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #13
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask which state you reside in?

CA - Bay Area

You should consider reporting this to both the California Labor Commissioner (Dept of Industrial Relations) and the IRS, both would be extremely interested in this especially if this is DoorDash's standard procedure.

I've used the service a few times in the past and probably will again, but I'm going to start asking the drivers how much they got as a tip and will definitely report any discrepancies.

The website specifically says 100% goes to the delivery person ("Dasher Tip (100% for your Dasher)") so I don't think they can weasel out of that by saying the tips are pooled or any of that other nonsense.

Re: Some Instacart workers to strike over pay that can be as low as $1 per hour

#16

Post by spo81rty »

What I don't understand is if the pay or working conditions are so bad, why don't people just go find a new job?

If they can't get anyone to do the job, they will be forced to pay more or fix the conditions. If they have a terrible reputation, nobody will want to work for them.

It's simple supply and demand.

Re: Some Instacart workers to strike over pay that can be as low as $1 per hour

#17

Post by grandalf »

spo81rty wrote: post #16

What I don't understand is if the pay or working conditions are so bad, why don't people just go find a new job? If they can't get anyone to do the job, they will be forced to pay more or fix the conditions. If they have a terrible reputation, nobody will want to work for them. It's simple supply and demand.

Maybe the average pay is $15/hour. We are not given enough data to estimate whether striking is rational.

Re: Some Instacart workers to strike over pay that can be as low as $1 per hour

#18

Post by JumpCrisscross »

zajd wrote: post #10
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Their big competitive advantage is just lower costs by completely ignoring the law This is disingenuous. Uber started out with Uber Black, which was attractive because of its customer service. UberX was only launched in response to Lyft. Airbnb skirted some necessary hotel laws, and many unnecessary ones. Agree on Postmates and other delivery services.

All of them ignored the law. If Uber was just Uber Black you might have a point.

> If Uber was just Uber Black you might have a point

Uber launched Uber Black, and not UberX, because it was convinced a ride-sharing service would be shut down by authorities. When Lyft failed to be shut down, Uber panicked and responded. Next to this ambiguity are several cities' track records of racist, horrible cab drivers fully embracing their state-sponsored monopolies.

Re: Some Instacart workers to strike over pay that can be as low as $1 per hour

#19

Post by mtpn »

jeremyt wrote: post #12
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #6

I recently ordered from DoorDash, a similar service. The app gave me a price for the order and then had a line item called “Dasher Tip” and asked me how much I wanted to put down. I put in $20. Later when the woman arrived with the food, we stopped to talk for a minute. She was a little younger than my mom, and said she had just started working for the service after her husband died. She asked me if she could ask me…

Call me crazy, but when I use one of these services, I expect the service to be reflected in the price.

While that would be ideal, I do think it’s at least slightly crazy to truly expect that people delivering food are not somewhat depending on tips to make it work. That’s just how it goes in the real world!

Re: Some Instacart workers to strike over pay that can be as low as $1 per hour

#20

Post by _m8fo »

spo81rty wrote: post #16

What I don't understand is if the pay or working conditions are so bad, why don't people just go find a new job? If they can't get anyone to do the job, they will be forced to pay more or fix the conditions. If they have a terrible reputation, nobody will want to work for them. It's simple supply and demand.

It boggles me that anyone believes this. It's called leverage. Not everyone has equal ability, nor equal ability to change jobs for a variety of reasons.
Post reply on HN