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Instacart CEO: Some Workers Must Earn Less For The Company To Grow
https://www.buzzfeed.com/carolineodonovan/instacart-ceo-some-workers-must-earn-less-for-the-company-toInstacart workers are earning a lot less money after changes to the company’s pay structure — changes CEO Apoorva Mehta told BuzzFeed News are necessary for the company’s continued growth, but that hundreds of vocal Instacart shoppers say are threatening their livelihoods. According to a Buzzfeed News analysis of 15 workers’ pay stubs, shifts that once earned shoppers $100 or more in 4 to 8 hours have dropped closer to $60 to $80 for similar shifts. These shoppers estimate their earnings have fallen by around 30% so far.
When Instacart announced in September that it would be updating the way shoppers get paid, replacing its tips-based pay system with a pooled “service amount,” a company blog post described in detail how the changes would both increase driver pay and stabilize their earnings. But now, one week after the update rolled out in most markets, many shoppers who spoke with BuzzFeed News said the change has made working for Instacart non-viable....
Like many other shoppers, she believes that Instacart is intentionally allowing customers to believe that the automatic 10% “service amount” is a tip that goes directly into her pocket. “I will not continue working for Instacart at this low of pay, and while customers are being tricked into thinking they left a tip,” she said in an email. Other shoppers had similar experiences. Six of the shoppers who shared their pay stubs got no tips at all, and three more made less than $5 in tips following the change. In the week before, most of them earned around $50 in tips, with three of them earning more than $100 in tips....
The goal, Mehta said, is to have shoppers earning an average “market clearing wage” — so, in San Francisco, between $16 and $22.50 an hour. “If you are making more than that as a shopper, then your wage will go down,” said Mehta. “If you were making less, your wages will go up.” Instacart is confident that plenty of shoppers will be willing to work for the new rate, which Mehta said changes daily based on supply of workers and demand for orders in a particular market. In fact, since the new dynamic pay model started on Instacart, that base rate has already started to fall. In two Bay Area zones, for example, the new base pay rate rolled out at around $10 per trip, but was already below $9 per trip within a week, according to screenshots shared with BuzzFeed News.
When Instacart announced in September that it would be updating the way shoppers get paid, replacing its tips-based pay system with a pooled “service amount,” a company blog post described in detail how the changes would both increase driver pay and stabilize their earnings. But now, one week after the update rolled out in most markets, many shoppers who spoke with BuzzFeed News said the change has made working for Instacart non-viable....
Like many other shoppers, she believes that Instacart is intentionally allowing customers to believe that the automatic 10% “service amount” is a tip that goes directly into her pocket. “I will not continue working for Instacart at this low of pay, and while customers are being tricked into thinking they left a tip,” she said in an email. Other shoppers had similar experiences. Six of the shoppers who shared their pay stubs got no tips at all, and three more made less than $5 in tips following the change. In the week before, most of them earned around $50 in tips, with three of them earning more than $100 in tips....
The goal, Mehta said, is to have shoppers earning an average “market clearing wage” — so, in San Francisco, between $16 and $22.50 an hour. “If you are making more than that as a shopper, then your wage will go down,” said Mehta. “If you were making less, your wages will go up.” Instacart is confident that plenty of shoppers will be willing to work for the new rate, which Mehta said changes daily based on supply of workers and demand for orders in a particular market. In fact, since the new dynamic pay model started on Instacart, that base rate has already started to fall. In two Bay Area zones, for example, the new base pay rate rolled out at around $10 per trip, but was already below $9 per trip within a week, according to screenshots shared with BuzzFeed News.
Welcome to the New Economy, folks.
11 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
I do believe I will suggest this to my favorite shopper 
, from whose FB feed this came.
CEOs make everything, workers get to fight for what's left of the scraps. There's no ownership of anything. Rent prices are through the roof. Employers can tell you to fuck off at any time. Capitalism, yeah!!