Slashdot Mirror
Where Does a Tip To an Amazon Driver Go? In Some Cases, Toward the Driver's Base Pay (latimes.com)
Amazon at times dips into the tips earned by contracted delivery drivers to cover their promised pay, a Los Angeles Times review of emails and receipts reveals. From the report: Amazon guarantees third-party drivers for its Flex program a minimum of $18 to $25 per hour, but the entirety of that payment doesn't always come from the company. If Amazon's contribution doesn't reach the guaranteed wage, the e-commerce giant makes up the difference with tips from customers, according to documentation shared by five drivers. In emails to drivers, Amazon acknowledges it can use "any supplemental earnings" to meet the promised minimum should the company's own contribution fall short. "We add any supplemental earnings required to meet our commitment that delivery partners earn $18-$25 per hour," the company wrote in multiple emails reviewed by The Times. Only drivers who deliver for Amazon's grocery service or its Prime Now offering -- which brings household goods to customers in two hours or less -- can receive tips through the company's app. Amazon insists that drivers receive the entirety of their tips but declined to answer questions from The Times about whether it uses those tips to help cover the drivers' base pay.
Like the old commercial "Stop 'Liking' _everything_!", it's time to stop attaching a tip to every single exchange of service in the U.S. It's a U.S. thing. It's confusing wages exactly like this article suggests. Let's just get away from tipping as a "norm" and if you feel someone did an exceptional service, then tip personally separately.
Cash is still a thing. If you want to tip, don't do it using the app. Amazon can't figure in tips it doesn't know about, right?
When I pay by card in a US restaurant, I try to avoid tipping using the "add X%" button and leave cash on the table instead because I don't trust the owners not to rip off the waitress in some fashion or another.
BTW, in Sweden, there's no such thing as a "tipped" sub-minimum wage for restaurant workers, and no such thing as tips, either.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Income is wages+tips.
It presumably is in the USA, which is how Amazon get away with this. It isn't in places such as the UK, where that practice would be illegal. After all, the supposed reason for tipping is to get better service; how would that work if the person providing the service doesn't get the tip?
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
Why don't you Amazon drones just direct deposit your paychecks into Mama Amazon's bank account directly? It's more convenient than having to do all that swiping on your gadgets.
It's amazing to see how far the Slashdot community has come in the past 20 years or so. It used to be a group of nerds (of all kinds) who were mostly anti-mega-corporation and pro-privacy.And now, most Slashdotters just can't wait to give all of their money and all of their personal information to just a few giant mega companies in exchange for a little bit of (perceived) convenience.
I don't respond to AC's.
No, they're talking about the Amazon Prime Now drivers and the Amazon Fresh drivers.
So basically delivery drivers. We're expected to tip delivery drivers?
No. Simple flat basic no. They've been fucking paid for delivering my package, they've delivered it, now they can go and deliver someone else's.
How is this different from paying waiters less than minimum wage because they will get tips? The real problem is tipping. Get rid of it.