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UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

businessinsider.com

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Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#71

Post by cm2012 »

iso1631 wrote: post #61
artoonie wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(b) you can change your tip afterward if your service was not as expected. Just like in a restaurant: maybe your default tip is 25%, but great service bumps that up, and bad service bumps it down. You go in expecting to pay 25%.

We bought a second car at the weekend, I phoned up my insurance company and asked them to put it on. They did so, and it was cheaper than the quote I'd got online - £180 for 9 months vs £290 for 12 months. So I immediately tipped the person on the phone £45 How ridiculous does that seem?

"In boxing I can punch people in the face, but in baseball it got me disqualified! How is that fair?"

You're comparing apples and oranges. Tipping is just the way portions of the food service industry works.

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#72

Post by artoonie »

wmab wrote: post #36

Why would there be a buy in the Eats tracking but not in Rideshare? I'd imagine it's the same underlying GPS tracking/routing software used in both cases. Is it just that the rides are paid differently than Eats deliveries are so they're noticing it differently?

There are some anecdotes that it also happens on Rideshare, but I don't have a car so I can't verify until Uber allows me to pick up passengers on the handlebars of my bike

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#73

Post by birdyrooster »

iso1631 wrote: post #62
ab_testing wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COVID-19 is like the golden age of food delivery. If these food delivery apps are not profitable now, they will probably never be profitable. When the severity of COVID subsides in a few years, people will like to go out to eat again rather than have it delivered.

The only reason I could think of to use something like ubereats, deliveroo, justeat, etc would be if I wanted a non-pizza delivered while I was staying in a hotel in a strange city somewhere. If I'm at home I'll look at the menu of my favourite indian/chineese/whatever place, phone them up, and they deliver it as they have done for decades. I've spent two nights in a hotel since March, normally it's 70 a year. One ni…

Mmm Naan Pizzas are good

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#74

Post by awodol »

iso1631 wrote: post #62
ab_testing wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COVID-19 is like the golden age of food delivery. If these food delivery apps are not profitable now, they will probably never be profitable. When the severity of COVID subsides in a few years, people will like to go out to eat again rather than have it delivered.

The only reason I could think of to use something like ubereats, deliveroo, justeat, etc would be if I wanted a non-pizza delivered while I was staying in a hotel in a strange city somewhere. If I'm at home I'll look at the menu of my favourite indian/chineese/whatever place, phone them up, and they deliver it as they have done for decades. I've spent two nights in a hotel since March, normally it's 70 a year. One ni…

The problem is most restaurants in my city unless they're pizza just don't deliver, and this applies to lots of cities across the country let alone suburbs.

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#75

Post by dheera »

artoonie wrote: post #21
dheera wrote: post #18

On a related note, I don't understand the point of tips on UberEats. (a) I thought the whole point of these apps was to simplify things for the user. I just want to know how much I pay in total, upfront, as I'm selecting food. Include taxes and delivery fees in a big fat "this is what you will pay" display on the screen and I'll be a 10X happier user. Delivery apps were a great opportunity to axe the complexities of…

(b) you can change your tip afterward if your service was not as expected. Just like in a restaurant: maybe your default tip is 25%, but great service bumps that up, and bad service bumps it down. You go in expecting to pay 25%.

> Just like in a restaurant

My expectation of apps is to get rid of these artifacts of the past. In most other parts of the world prices are given to you upfront, no tips necessary.

Not only that, but Uber asks you before you even check out if you want to give 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, or a custom amount. Considering I haven't gotten my food or service yet, how the hell am I supposed to know? I don't want to deal with this decision. You tell me how much I'm supposed to pay and just present me one number. I'll hit "buy" if it fits my budget.

Uber got rid of cab driver run-arounds, they can get rid of tips in the same way and just ask for a fair price upfront. As a customer I would find up-front, no-tip pricing a MUCH better UX.

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#76

Post by enragedcacti »

supernova87a wrote: post #59
zadkey wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest reason I would say that the drivers are not independent contractors is that they are not allowed to set their own rates. Uber's argument that they are not employees is based on the concept that they only a platform facilitating a connection between drivers people who need rides or in this case deliveries. But if the contractors are truly separate entities, then Uber by controlling the cost of the ride/del…

Wouldn't Uber's argument about this be that drivers do get to set their rates by the platform showing them and matching them with jobs that are at a rate they accept? Just because they can't put out a published $ figure on their desired per job rate, doesn't mean they're not setting their own rates that they accept?

Driver's can get kicked off the platform if they reject too many rides, so I wouldn't necessarily call that setting your own rate. They can decide whether or not to be active based on surge rate which is something somewhat akin to setting a rate.

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#77

Post by cactus2093 »

Analemma_ wrote: post #69
cactus2093 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just 17% of Uber and Lyft drivers surveyed want to remain full-time employees [0]. How does this not stop this whole conversation in its tracks immediately? There's so much grandstanding about this, you and every other politician or upper middle class tech worker has their takes on how these poor drivers are being tricked into bad deals they can't understand and need the protection of full-time employment. But it's n…

Is there a more reliable source for that 17% number? The quoted figure comes from a poll by "TheRideshareGuy", which is apparently a magazine for rideshare drivers giving tips on maximizing earnings, and so whose entire existence is predicated on the rideshare business remaining as it is. So as a source for a question like this, it's basically worthless.

This is another survey with similar findings [0].

It was commissioned by Uber but conducted by an independent research firm, and the methodology is documented, so it's up to you how reliable of a source you find that.

Since these are major lawsuits and it's also becoming a pretty big story in California, I imagine if there are significant flaws here or if there are other reputable surveys that have found the opposite, that those will start to surface. So far I haven't seen anything to that effect.

[0] https://www.cadriversurvey.com/

Edit: I missed in the irony in your comment as well on first read. There's an entire side industry devoted to helping workers maximize their profit, and many seem to have success doing so. That seems like a good thing, at least for those who want it? Compare that to other industries like Amazon warehouse workers, where many are full-time employees. It doesn't seem to have helped their working conditions much as there are a lot of complaints about the job, and if certain employees are more productive the company pockets the savings rather than the employees being able to make more money.

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#78

Post by iso1631 »

awodol wrote: post #74
iso1631 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason I could think of to use something like ubereats, deliveroo, justeat, etc would be if I wanted a non-pizza delivered while I was staying in a hotel in a strange city somewhere. If I'm at home I'll look at the menu of my favourite indian/chineese/whatever place, phone them up, and they deliver it as they have done for decades. I've spent two nights in a hotel since March, normally it's 70 a year. One ni…

The problem is most restaurants in my city unless they're pizza just don't deliver, and this applies to lots of cities across the country let alone suburbs.

I wonder if it's a cultural thing, what country are you in?

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#79

Post by paganel »

Not sure about UberEats but just two days ago a I took an Uber ride that was paying the driver about 5.50-6 euros instead of the usual 9-9.50 euros that the ride was usually worth, I felt bad about the driver and so I helped make up the difference in cash, directly to him. I know the sums and the difference itself don't seem that big in nominal terms but I live in Eastern Europe where the difference between 6 euros and 9 euros still counts for lots of people.

Anyway, interesting to see that that wasn't an isolated incident when it comes to Uber the company.

Re: UberEats could be underpaying delivery drivers on 21% of trips

#80

Post by iso1631 »

cm2012 wrote: post #71
iso1631 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We bought a second car at the weekend, I phoned up my insurance company and asked them to put it on. They did so, and it was cheaper than the quote I'd got online - £180 for 9 months vs £290 for 12 months. So I immediately tipped the person on the phone £45 How ridiculous does that seem?

"In boxing I can punch people in the face, but in baseball it got me disqualified! How is that fair?" You're comparing apples and oranges. Tipping is just the way portions of the food service industry works.

> Tipping is just the way portions of the food service industry works.

A number of industries (but which industries - how do I tip the person who takes my order at a mcdonalds drivethrough. Do I tip my builder who put in a new window? How about the binman?), in a small number of countries (do I tip in Mexico City? Quito? Brazzerville?)

The U.S. seems to have built an expectation of tipping into its economy and tries to export that expectation around the world.

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