Slashdot Mirror


Dark Side of Gig Economy: Some Instacart Workers Go On Strike Over Pay That Can Be as Low as $1 Per Hour (fastcompany.com)

From a report: Instacart shoppers and drivers -- the people who gather your groceries and deliver them to you after you order via the Instacart app -- are on strike. While independent contractors can't technically strike, via a Facebook group some of the company's thousands of employees have organized a "no delivery day" in the hopes of getting higher wages, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The strike is only taking place in a few of the 154 cities nationwide that Instacart operates in. The action may be small, but the grievances are big. While Instacart, the 5-year-old San Francisco startup, is valued at $3.4 billion, it allegedly pays its workers as little as $1 per order. Ars Technica has a great breakdown of all the issues surrounding how Instacart employees get paid and it's complex, with three different income streams coming together Voltron-like to form a wage. The result, though, is that some shoppers are being paid less than the federal minimum wage, like a Jackson, Miss., worker who put in a 19-hour week in Jackson, Mississippi, that paid out $37.75 (roughly $2/hour). That's far below the $14/hour wage that Ars Technica says Instacart is targeting.

2 of 436 comments (clear)

  1. Again...where's the gun...? by cayenne8 · · Score: 0, Flamebait
    Again, where's the gun to their head to do this contract job?

    Ok..it does sound like the app is a bit unfair, treating 6x cases of water the same as 1x case, but still...the person 'can' refuse a trip, or even to work for the company at all.

    It takes a bit of smarts to figure out if the bill rate for a contracting gig is worth the effort, you know?

    Put on those big boy pants and do some ciphering.

    --
    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  2. Re:out of touch by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    In many towns, the unemployment rate exceeds 50 percent.

    Do any of these town have roads ... which can be used to pack up and leave?