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Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

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Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#191

Post by MegaButts »

grandalf wrote: post #186
MegaButts wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You clearly like Instacart, and that's fine, but I strongly disagree with you that they've built something better than the grocery store. For starters, right now they depend on grocery stores existing for their business, otherwise they are exactly like WebVan. Also, grocery shopping is nothing like postal delivery. You don't choose what mail you want, you just take everything that's addressed to you. Obviously this v…

Hah. I wish I were getting paid to do this. Maybe I do particularly dislike grocery shopping. Everywhere I've lived it's been a real drag: Midwest: In the store with lowest prices you spend half your time shopping and half waiting to get through checkout. Whole Foods is pleasant but overpriced. Mariano's is somewhere in the middle. NYC: Great small boutique grocery stores, much more expensive than Whole Foods, unbear…

Fair enough. Instacart may not be for me, but I'm glad it works for you.

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#192

Post by woogiewonka »

mikeash wrote: post #105
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…

The solution is to pay them better and forbid them from taking tips. Make it clear to customers that it's not even allowed, let alone expected. Unfortunately, I don't think tipping culture is going away any time soon.

Living in Japan, love the fact that I don't have to tip anywhere!

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#193

Post by woogiewonka »

jasonpeacock wrote: post #123

I'm an avid Instacart user, and I refuse to pay the service fee, nor the tip. Companies need to pay the drivers fair wages, and charge the customers enough to do so. Don't push that responsibility to the customer. Also, the service fee is perfect example of a Dark Pattern[1]. The actual service fee option (which is pre-selected at 10%) is hidden below the fold in the iPad app (and iOS?) checkout widgets. You have to…

Totally agree.

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#194

Post by khallil »

Seems like they're learning a hard lesson on unit economics. We're somehow at a point where companies are burning cash to provide low service fees, and now they need to become profitable.

When there's nothing left to optimize, the way to become profitable is to either pay drivers less or charge customers more, and customers are not down to pay more.

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#196

Post by eridius »

xiaoma wrote: post #195

It's possible that pretty much any so-called "gig-economy" platform is inexorably pressed towards first wooing, then commoditizing and finally squeezing its workers.

This does seem to be pretty common, but it doesn't apply to 100% of gig economy companies.

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#197

Post by eridius »

dawnerd wrote: post #94
matt_wulfeck wrote: post #5

> 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…

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.

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#198

Post by ajb »

eridius wrote: post #196
xiaoma wrote: post #195

It's possible that pretty much any so-called "gig-economy" platform is inexorably pressed towards first wooing, then commoditizing and finally squeezing its workers.

This does seem to be pretty common, but it doesn't apply to 100% of gig economy companies.

Counterexample?

Re: Instacart is playing games with its workers’ pay

#200

Post by r00fus »

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…

> These services are basically luxuries. Middle class people with families aren't the ones using these services.

I use these services occasionally (2-3x/mo) for a family of five (DI3K). When you're outnumbered and have to play zone-defense against your kids, taking a trip to the grocery store at rush hour is neither fun nor productive (kids are usually hungry by then and late snacking = poor appetite for dinner).

I'd love to see the US cityscape turn into something more akin to Europe's (what you described), but I think you have to instead promote mass-transit (to be better) instead of making car transportation a hassle.

The flip-side though is that car and petrol industry do lobby to prevent electrified mass transit from being viable.

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