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Instacart paying 80 cents an hour because worker received a large tip

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Re: Instacart paying 80 cents an hour because worker received a large tip

#551

Post by blincoln »

heimidal wrote: post #378
TAForObvReasons wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switch to cash tipping. Tipping through CC or some other mechanism means at least one other party is involved and takes a cut. Cash tipping ensures the money at least is seen by the service staff.

I’m pretty comfortable tipping via credit card because I understand that the card company and a bank is taking a cut. I am _not_ comfortable with something like this, where it’s not immediately clear what’s happening.

Anecdotally, I've been told by a lot of former restaurant workers that management generally walks off with most or all of the credit card tips. I generally tip in cash everywhere as a result.

Re: Instacart paying 80 cents an hour because worker received a large tip

#552

Post by Pharmakon »

xref wrote: post #497
Pharmakon wrote: post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don’t believe it either, but it’s convenient lie, like corporations being people. It’s ridiculous, but as long as it’s the law and the people benefiting tip their politicians well, whomp whomp.

Dismissing corporate personhood as “a convenient lie” is pretty flip when the Supreme Court has ruled it is enshrined in the constitution. But boy I’d love to dis-enshrine it.

Let’s not overstate the issue. The SCOTUS has a history of convenient lies, from the legal basis of segregation to fuckery around evolution.

Re: Instacart paying 80 cents an hour because worker received a large tip

#553

Post by fouc »

Perhaps tipping should always bypass the company.

If there was a popular 3rd party app for tipping directly to any individual, regardless of where they might be or whether they're working or not, that could actually prevent companies from snooping in on the tips. Even at restaurants.

Re: Instacart paying 80 cents an hour because worker received a large tip

#554

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #302
_mdpn wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Collective action is essentially impossible among consumers though. It's not possible with an attitude like that. There is no government action that is forcing you to buy from Instacart. >Boycotts essentially never work. Tell that to Birmingham, Alabama. >Not only that, but who are you going to use instead of instacart: Amazon Fresh? Uber? Or will you drive yourself to the store and buy it from minimum wage employee…

You’re being down voted for saying, especially, “we can choose to live differently, to be kind to each other”. You do have to be careful with that sort of language, we have a bit of a history of nailing people to trees or shooting them for suggesting such things. Edit: fixed a word.

I tried to change “especially” to “essential”, twice. And all I managed was a false sense of “fixed a word”.

Re: Instacart paying 80 cents an hour because worker received a large tip

#555

Post by sharemywin »

swozey wrote: post #40

I was a huge user of Instacart 2 years ago when my nearest grocery store turned into one of the busiest Whole Foods in my city that I didn't enjoy dealing with. The way they keep working to create opaqueness around their tipping to the point that last year Drivers were handing out pamphlets explaining how to remove the "Service Fee" (which nobody but Instacart gets) to tip the drivers was a huge red flag. Removing th…

Drivers also have wear, tear and usage of their car, which a shopper does not. Also, the shopper is much less likely to get in a deadly accident than a driver. Not saying shoppers don't deserve tips too. Just kinda laying out all the costs and risks of driving.

Re: Instacart paying 80 cents an hour because worker received a large tip

#556

Post by shard972 »

taurath wrote: post #392
shard972 wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the rich, powerful and elite are also not responsible for anything either? Just individually? That seems like quite the atomised society.

From that which is given much, much is expected.

Am I to believe that the poor all sowed the clothes on their backs from sheep that they raised themselves?

At some point even if that is true, they have some responsibility. Unless they were born on a desert island.

Re: Instacart paying 80 cents an hour because worker received a large tip

#557

Post by foobiekr »

pkaye wrote: post #200
function_seven wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Fair Labor Standards Act disallows this type of agreement for ordinarily-tipped jobs. I don't know how the contractor status of Instacart drivers affects this. They're not technically employees. But the verbiage of "Tip" in the UI is a strong signal to the customer that the money is directly credited to the driver. It should bear no relation to their fee from Instacart. This is wage theft. A horrible agreement do…

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) covers only employees, not independent contractors.

Yet another reason this independent contractors thing is an exploitive scam.

Re: Instacart paying 80 cents an hour because worker received a large tip

#558

Post by diminoten »

DATACOMMANDER wrote: post #268
diminoten wrote: post #73

Where's the outrage for the millions of service industry employees who also have to deal with this, and have been dealing with this for decades? Why's Instacart getting the unique bad press?

In part because they’ve added a layer of deception to the practice. In part—and I’m speculating here—because this is a young company, founded and run by people in (or nearly in) our cohort, and were disappointed in them as peers (albeit peers who struck it rich).

Maybe, I'm leaning towards the, "people didn't realize what tip wages were" explanation though.

Re: Instacart paying 80 cents an hour because worker received a large tip

#559

Post by icelancer »

blincoln wrote: post #551
heimidal wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m pretty comfortable tipping via credit card because I understand that the card company and a bank is taking a cut. I am _not_ comfortable with something like this, where it’s not immediately clear what’s happening.

Anecdotally, I've been told by a lot of former restaurant workers that management generally walks off with most or all of the credit card tips. I generally tip in cash everywhere as a result.

I worked for years as a server and this never happened to me. We just got taxed on them and everyone didn't report their cash tips.

Re: Instacart paying 80 cents an hour because worker received a large tip

#560

Post by tdeck »

throwaway415415 wrote: post #459
rafiki6 wrote: post #110

More evidence as to why tipping culture needs to die. Tipping fundamentally takes away the responsibility of paying someone for their work from the employer to the customer. In what other business context do I pay an employee of a company I deal with directly outside of the service industry where tipping is common? Wages are a cost of doing business. Pay the worker enough. If you want to still provide them an incenti…

There has been a no tipping movement in san francisco that has worked quite well. People don't tip anymore here and it is not socially accepted to do it.

As an SF resident I don't seem much evidence of this movement. I get prompted to tip very frequently for counter service, even at food trucks. People must be tipping if that's the case, although I don't watch other patrons.
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