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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.
The only way it's economically viable for most people to get someone else to go shopping at a retail store for them is to pay that person much, much less than it otherwise would cost conventionally to do that.
The gig economy seems entirely oriented around pay schemes that are so complicated that most of the people signing up to do the work can't figure out up front they won't make any money doing the work.
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.........
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.