Instacart shoppers besieged by bots that snatch lucrative orders • Hacker News Board

Re: Instacart shoppers besieged by bots that snatch lucrative orders

#141

Post by missedthecue » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 9:20 PM UTC

sukilot wrote: post #139

missedthecue wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A union is, in an economic sense, a cartel. Their job is to restrict supply of labour so that the price they can demand for it increases, making their members more money. This is why it takes over a year to join the plumbers or electricians union in many states and why it takes over 10 years to join the longshoremens union. I am against all cartels as a matter of principle, be they the ILWU or OPEC.

OK. I'm against corporations as matter of principle. A corporation is also a cartel.

A corporation is a legal entity that provides some liability protection, and is not a cartel in any sense. Several corporation can collude to form a cartel, but a corporation in and of itself does not in any way meet the definition.

Re: Instacart shoppers besieged by bots that snatch lucrative orders

#142

Post by catsarebetter » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 9:20 PM UTC

This has been happening for some time now, unfortunately, IC doesn't give af b/c the orders are still fulfilled. In the 4 sided marketplace they balance, usually the shopper experience ranks last in priorities, like in all gig economy apps

Re: Instacart shoppers besieged by bots that snatch lucrative orders

#143

Post by sharkmerry » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 9:41 PM UTC

perl4ever wrote: post #131

zackmorris wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your thinking is a fallacy, because a union uses the same principle that the republican party uses to maintain control: solidarity. I'm curious why you would want to opt out of a union in the first place, since unions generally double workers' wages. I live in the right to work state of Idaho, which has some of the lowest wages in the country, especially for things like farm work. I realize that this is a bit of a st…

>since unions generally double workers' wages. >My feeling is that had we been unionized, we would have made at least $17/hr You can dismiss this as anecdotal if you wish, but I went from a non-union job to a union one, requiring much the same skills, and the latter pays less. On a per hour basis, my current job pays 95% of the non-union position, but the main difference is 7.5 hours vs. 8 hours a day. That means my…

>>On a per hour basis, my current job pays 95% of the non-union position, but the main difference is 7.5 hours vs. 8 hours a day. That means my yearly salary is more like 87%.

Over your career, doesnt getting raises matter more than immediately more money that will never increase? and without a union could be ended at anytime.

Over a 25 year career, assuming 3% raises, you make 30% more. Plus you worked 3125 hours less.

Re: Instacart shoppers besieged by bots that snatch lucrative orders

#144

Post by erik_seaberg » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 9:47 PM UTC

debouncy wrote: post #122

joncrocks wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would also presume that in addition a `free market idealist` would also want to ensure that Unions aren't given any special status, and that employers could also come together to agree wages.

If unions don't aren't somewhat mandatory then workers are trapped in prisoner's dilemma.

The prisoner's dilemma is modeled with only two sides. A union might be better for average members, but it's strictly worse for non-members and employers and customers. Competition is a solution, not a problem to be avoided.

Re: Instacart shoppers besieged by bots that snatch lucrative orders

#145

Post by YeGoblynQueenne » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 11:33 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #125

brorfred wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free market idealists also tend to be very against the natural way for workers to consolidate and leverage negotiation power: trade unions.

Not exactly. We are against the way unions are implemented and make work not a free market. I'm not against your union so longs as I can decide not to join and still have equal work with you.

The way I interpret what you say is that you'd like to have the benefits of being in a union, without being in a union. If that's the case (otherwise, sorry for misrepresenting your views) I don't see how that can work. How are a bunch of independent individuals going to secure their common rights without collaborating with each other?

Re: Instacart shoppers besieged by bots that snatch lucrative orders

#146

Post by mantas » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 6:26 AM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #123

mantas wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last time I checked, USA did have corporate tax. Just like we got in Europe.

Corporate income tax was just cut by 40% (from 35% to 21%). Almost 2.5% of the entire federal government's revenue.

So? It's not sky-high in Europe either. In my European country it's 15%, 5% for micro businesses.

Re: Instacart shoppers besieged by bots that snatch lucrative orders

#147

Post by compsciphd » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 6:28 PM UTC

cjg wrote: post #79

m463 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought the same thing about ebay. I thought... if someone bids at the last minute, it should extend the auction a short amount of time. Let people get into it personally, not through pre-bid and/or software.

Except that eBay uses a particular auction model where by extending the time doesn't matter much. If you bid the most you would be prepared to pay for something - you don't pay that price - you just pay enough to beat everyone else. If you bid in a genuine way there's no pipped at the post situation - you just weren't prepared to pay more. Now there are some secondary psychological effects, like a high price bid so f…

you are giving out information by bidding early. if everyone snipes at the last possible moment, you are right, winner pays the lowest they can. However, by bidding early, other competitors now have info on you and can adjust accordingly.

Re: Instacart shoppers besieged by bots that snatch lucrative orders

#148

Post by Fogest » Thu, Aug 06, 2020, 8:07 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #20

Fogest wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Grocery shopping is a bit different from just picking up a food order. You may only have the time (or desire) to do smaller orders and not want to deal with larger more time consuming ones. Or maybe you don't want to drive farther to certain stores etc....

Sure, but all of those could be addressed by allowing setting available-for criteria rather than browse-and-select. Or they could just not display tips in advance; since tips can be altered after delivery, it's misleading to treat them as part of the bargain of accepting a delivery anyway, advance entry should be viewed as a convenience for the orderer to enter a default amount based one expected service, not an indu…

I agree, I think showing tips prior to an order is absolutely stupid. I did Skip the Dishes delivery on the side and you could see the tip before you delivered to the customer. It always seemed silly to me to be able to know what was tipped. What if I had a big order and no tip? Honestly even as a customer I don't like this because you feel pressured to tip otherwise be afraid they will do something to your food. It would be like going to a restaurant and having to choose your tip before they did anything and have them know what you chose to gave them. It just is stupid.