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I'm a developer for a major food delivery app

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Re: I'm a developer for a major food delivery app

#41
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter if 10% of users quit using it if the stolen tips from the other 90% more than cover it. And where are you going to run? The competition isn't any better.

I think that's very cynical perspective. Probably you are correct, but if they were all corrupted, I could try starting my own. I'm probably naive but I still believe being ethical and profitable at the same time is possible.

If it helps: they do not all work this way

Re: I'm a developer for a major food delivery app

#43

> I’m posting this from a library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop because I am technically under a massive NDA. I don’t care anymore. I put in my two weeks yesterday and honestly, I hope they sue me. Why bother using library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop if he doesn't care anymore? Why give out the biggest clue, which is the time of his resignation letter? If the story is real, this company is a straight-up scammer waiting for t…

This is what I would do if my internal moral compass was exhausted to the bone and I felt like public disclosure mattered. Fortunately, public disclosure regarding my prior employment is already regularly made and ignored, so I didn’t have any compulsion to.

Libraries are a haven of safety for leaking material once only. Burnout does not imply incompetent opsec. Neither does drunk; after all, it would horrify non-tech folks to realize how often impaired / intoxicated workers are using root privileges to fix an incident.

Re: I'm a developer for a major food delivery app

#44
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter if 10% of users quit using it if the stolen tips from the other 90% more than cover it. And where are you going to run? The competition isn't any better.

I think that's very cynical perspective. Probably you are correct, but if they were all corrupted, I could try starting my own. I'm probably naive but I still believe being ethical and profitable at the same time is possible.

being ethical and profitable is possible, but competing against the unethical is another matter.

if a company keeps the tips they can charge lower prices. just like some restaurants pay lower salaries when waiters can rely on tipping (which is why i consider tipping itself to be unethical)

Re: I'm a developer for a major food delivery app

#45

> I’m posting this from a library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop because I am technically under a massive NDA. I don’t care anymore. I put in my two weeks yesterday and honestly, I hope they sue me. Why bother using library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop if he doesn't care anymore? Why give out the biggest clue, which is the time of his resignation letter? If the story is real, this company is a straight-up scammer waiting for t…

When you are burn out your brain doesn't brain too well, reminds me of Luigi, that 3D printed his gun among other smart moves but made many silly mistakes that got him caught (like carrying the silencer, the magazine, and other incriminating evidence)

Re: I'm a developer for a major food delivery app

#46
post #38

> I’m posting this from a library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop because I am technically under a massive NDA. I don’t care anymore. I put in my two weeks yesterday and honestly, I hope they sue me. Why bother using library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop if he doesn't care anymore? Why give out the biggest clue, which is the time of his resignation letter? If the story is real, this company is a straight-up scammer waiting for t…

It's also possible he lied about his end date to throw suspicion off. Or he may be still working for the company and used someone else's resignation to pin the blame on them.

Maybe “he” is a “she” - quite right what you say, there’s no reason to believe their details.

I would say what they describe about their employer is probably true. I’ve had similar experience of companies making every last buck off their “human assets” but thats how profit works: you take money off others in exchange for promised benefits.

Re: I'm a developer for a major food delivery app

#47
Trying to find any hints of this elsewhere online as I’m inherently skeptical of posts such as this. This is what I have found, take it for what it is. Sorry for any formatting or spelling. It’s 1:15am and I’m scrolling HN rather than sleeping.

I don’t know why but I always just assumed priority delivery meant “faster”. It doesn’t.

> If you select the Priority Delivery option, a Priority Fee will be added on top of the delivery fee for your order to be dropped off first in case of a batched delivery.

So, I’m guessing, if you are in a batched delivery of priority orders you are paying for normal service. [0][1]

Looking at the DoorDash blog, they are constantly running experiments so none of this really shocks me.

> At the time of writing, we run about one thousand experiments per year, including 30 concurrently running switchback experiments, which make up to 200,000 QPS of bucket evaluations. [2]

Regarding the desperation score: algorithmic wage discrimination appears very well studied and verified. [3][4]

The delivery fees to pay for lobbying efforts is very well covered apparently.

> In an earnings call last month, DoorDash executives told investors that the number of commission caps more than doubled from August, when there were 32, to December, when there were 73. Still more have been added since then. Localities that imposed caps are small cities like Pacific Grove, California, and larger cities like Oakland; some are entire states, like Oregon and Washington. Prabir Adarkar, the company's chief financial officer, said the company made $36 million less in revenue during the last three months of 2020 because of the new limits.

> DoorDash executives have argued that they have no financial choice but to fight back by adding fees in jurisdictions where there are caps.

> In Oakland, according to the city's online lobbyist database, DoorDash now has a dedicated representative registered with the city for the first time. Other lobbyists for DoorDash are handling efforts for multiple cities. On March 15, Chad Horrell, a lobbyist for DoorDash, left nearly identical public comment voicemails for the city councils in Akron, Ohio, and Huntington Beach, California. [5]

> Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and other gig companies who authored and advertised Proposition 22 spent a record $200 million on the ballot initiative to persuade Californians to vote it into law. In the weeks leading up to the 2020 general election, Uber and Lyft bombarded its riders and drivers with endless messaging through its apps and by saturating the television and digital ad space. [6]

The section on companies subsidizing pay looks to have been proven in court multiple times and led to millions in settlements.

> On Feb. 24, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a press release that between May 2017 and September 2019, an Office of the Attorney General (OAG) investigation found that the delivery platform “used customer tips to offset the base pay it had already guaranteed to workers, instead of giving workers the full tips they rightfully earned.”

> Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced a $2.54 million settlement with Instacart, an online delivery company, resolving a lawsuit alleging that the company misled DC consumers, used tips left for workers to boost the company’s bottom line, and failed to pay required sales taxes. [8]

[0] https://help.uber.com/ubereats/restaurants/article/how-the-d...

[1] https://www.uberpeople.net/threads/angry-uber-eats-customers...

[2] https://careersatdoordash.com/blog/the-4-principles-doordash...

[3] https://www.columbialawreview.org/content/on-algorithmic-wag...

[4] https://www.hrw.org/report/2025/05/12/the-gig-trap/algorithm...

[5] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1262088

[7] https://www.today.com/food/news/doordash-settlement-payout-r...

[8] https://oag.dc.gov/release/ag-racine-announces-instacart-mus...

Re: I'm a developer for a major food delivery app

#48
post #8

I do use some of these regularly when I'm in a pinch but I would never even think to tip in the app itself. If I don't trust a company to pay the drivers a wage, why would I trust them to give them my tip! Edit : I always tip with cash on delivery.

It used to be the case briefly (I think) that drivers choose your order after seeing the tip amount so as the poster mentioned, you would get only the truly desperate drivers if you dont tip. If whats written here is true (I honestly have no reason to doubt it) its disgusting and ill definitely not use these apps any further.

I'm inclined to believe the poster also, I see no real benefit otherwise. I will say it's not a surprise at the very least, their business model was market 'disruption' to the point there are no alternatives as the customers will all be on the app. It reminds me of a related video of the Last Week Tonight about the food apps.

Well worth a 20 min watch : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFsfJYWpqII

Re: I'm a developer for a major food delivery app

#49
Blockchain and split payments would work here. The transparency would be useful. Maybe even using x402?

So buyers should be able to see where and how their money is going to be distributed after payment. How much does the driver get? How much is he/she earning? Comparable drivers can compare metrics.

Perhaps unions could build some type of payment app and have gig workers use it as part of their employment contract?

So gig workers end up like ebay sellers with a feedback, followers and sales data on display. They can take their profile with them to new employers as well. Buyers get a profile too. Funds could also be held in escrow, and refunds granted where applicable. I don't know.

Re: I'm a developer for a major food delivery app

#50

> I’m posting this from a library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop because I am technically under a massive NDA. I don’t care anymore. I put in my two weeks yesterday and honestly, I hope they sue me. Why bother using library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop if he doesn't care anymore? Why give out the biggest clue, which is the time of his resignation letter? If the story is real, this company is a straight-up scammer waiting for t…

It's just another run of the mill reddit rage bait fanfic. Nothing makes sense plus the weird responses by the user. Inb4 no shallow dismissals

> The algorithm is a gigantic neural network, and as such essentially a black box, incomprehensible to the human mind.

Yeah right

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