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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.
I think the gun pointing to their head is the need to eat and have somewhere to live.
Again, where's the gun to their head to do this contract job?
If you don't have a job, you starve.
That's a gun to the head.
So, are e-unions the future? I hope so. The plutocrats have gotten the upper hand for too long, creating growing inequality. It's time us 95% get some bargaining power back (if GOP doesn't outlaw or de-fang unions & e-unions).
Table-ized A.I.
HMm...I guess I must have missed it in the article, that this was the ONLY job in town for everyone.
I guess I must have not read the whole thing in true slashdot fashion to have missed such a crucial detail...?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
This is not a bug but a key feature of gig economy.
It is. The "feature" is that by calling workers "independent contractors", Instacart can violate all of the laws set up to make sure that employers don't take advantage of workers. Morality, ethics, and common decency have no place in business-- all that matters is paying workers as little as possible in order for the company to make as much profit as possible.
HMm...I guess I must have missed it in the article, that this was the ONLY job in town for everyone.
Yeah, the asshole libertarians think that a two dollar an hour wage is fine, because of course if people don't like it they can just go get a different job.
This is exactly why people think libertarians are assholes.
HMm...I guess I must have missed it in the article, that this was the ONLY job in town for everyone.
Obviously these folks have a wide range of employment immediately available and choose the lowest paying option. They're just ignoring the better paying alternatives because they enjoy this line of work so much. I'm sure that's what's happening.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Not so much that, but more that NOT EVERY JOB out there is meant to be made a career of, nor sole source of income to support yourself/family.
This should be common sense, no?
Each job should pay what it is worth. Do you think a burger flipper should make the same as a highly skilled computer programmer?
Should I have to pay $15/hr to get one of the neighborhood kids to pull weeds in my garden one weekend?
Is it worth $30K/yr for someone to put flyers on cars in a parking lot for an hour or two a day?
Seriously, not all jobs are meant or worth paying a wage to live off of....some ARE only for extra money on the side, or starting jobs for teens.
This has been the norm for decades, and only recently for some reason, has everyone started thinking that ANYTHING you could possibly do for money should pay enough to be your sole source of income.
Not all jobs are worth that....
If the individual doesn't like the jobs they are being offered, then THEY need to figure out what to do or what jobs to seek that do give enough compensation to live off of solely.....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
And what's this miraculous set of handcuffs that keeps them from seeking employment elsewhere but still allows them to drive around town where they live now? Is there some forcefield that zaps them back when they try to cross city limits so they can't relocate and look for work elsewhere? Come on guys...if there's no work where you live, that's the invisible hand telling you to move where the work is. People have done it since time immemorial. Whole boat loads and plane loads of people do it now. All the way to the other side of the planet in some cases. We issue hundreds of thousands of work visas every year to Indians and Chinese and Austrailians and Europeans, and hundreds of thousands more immigrant visas. People who want work will find it. What makes you so special that you think the work ought to come to you instead of the other way around?
Each job should pay what it is worth. Do you think a burger flipper should make the same as a highly skilled computer programmer?
No. But if he's an adult working full time at the most sophisticated job that he's able to do, he should make enough for food, shelter, and health care. I'm not married to forcing his employer to bear that whole burden.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
"You seem to think this is a right that everyone is inherently born with...?"
Yes, just like corporations have a right to cheap labor? When did this happen?
"The declaration of the US said it wants to give everyone the "pursuit of happiness", but it doesn't guarantee it,"
That's a 200 year old piece of paper written by people with fleas and wooden teeth. Since when do we worship old ideas while surrounded by technology that can produce everything?
"And if you are such a dense simpleton that you cannot take care of yourself, well....there is always welfare."
Like for car manufacturers and banks? Oh, there's that right to steal from the poor (PS: that's you) to bail out billionaires.
You seem to think this is a right that everyone is inherently born with...?
If you're an American working as productively as you're capable of, you deserve food, shelter, and health care. I didn't say it was a "right"; it's just the right thing to do. Some people are born simple and will never make it beyond "burger flipper." They shouldn't be left hungry or have to splint their own broken arm. Like I said, this support doesn't have to be 100% borne by the employer. Leaving the weak to die isn't something a civilized society should do.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
I know someone who used to brag about how he had a lady who would clean his whole house, wash his dishes, do his laundry, for $5 an hour because she was an illegal alien and was basically desperate for money. Not surprisingly, most people upon hearing this did not rush out to get their own service slave. They just thought to themselves about what a sleaze this person was. That's basically what the gig economy is doing. Finding the people who are the most desperate and taking advantage of their situation. The fact that people are willing to do a job for a low rate does not mean it is right for you to perpetuate that situation. Just because you do it through a flashy app, it doesn't change anything.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Because things were good when the kids were born and no one has a fucking crystal ball? I mean I know you're trying to get at the whole 'you shouldn't have kids if you can't afford them' line but life just isn't that fucking simple for anyone.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
If you're a human being working as productively as you're capable of, you deserve food, shelter, and health care. I didn't say it was a "right"; it's just the right thing to do. Some people are born simple and will never make it beyond "burger flipper." They shouldn't be left hungry or have to splint their own broken arm. Like I said, this support doesn't have to be 100% borne by the employer. Leaving the weak to die isn't something a civilized society should do.
Fixed that for you.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Basically, using the guise of 'independent contractor', companies are skirting our (American) wage regulations and shafting workers whenever and whereever they can. And people wonder where that income disparity is coming from.
This here is a nice shiny example.
Maybe its because they don't see it as 2hr, they see it as taking a gig that involves dropping something off on they way home for the grocery store trip they were making anyway,
Except that's not the way instacart works, any more that Uber works by you pick somebody up on your way to the store.
From the Ars article:
shoppers make a per-item fee (typically $0.40)— however, this is not per unit of that item.
Ars spoke with six Instacart shoppers who said that they have routinely been made to pick up several heavy items, such as cases of bottled water, soda, or ice. Those items, of course, not only have to be loaded into a shopping cart, and then into a car, but they must be also hand-carried to someone’s door—sometimes up flights of stairs. Shoppers are still paid a $0.40 per-item fee even if someone orders one, five, or 10 cases of bottled water.
This definition of an "item" creates a windfall for people/businesses ordering lots of things--often heavy, bulky ones. Instacart's pricing scheme makes them a good deal more competitive than typical delivery services, so the customers do the rational thing.
I have to wonder how much this entire issue would smooth out just by changing this into a true per-item fee.
Family is the answer.
Many people don't have families. Many more poor people have families that are just as poor as they are.
If US becomes totally communist, I will move immediately.
What makes you think you would be allowed to leave?