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I think this argument takes a relatively small set of companies a generalizes their exploits across the larger economy. Isn't it the case that most service comp
by wwalser 10y ago
I think this argument takes a relatively small set of companies a generalizes their exploits across the larger economy. Isn't it the case that most service companies in the west do not exploit it's labor?
The people involved in customizing your car configuration prior to it being delivered to the dealership are not, to my knowledge, exploited. Most laundromats in my area do bag service, those workers don't seem to be exploited. I feel sure that the list goes on.
There are some common threads amongst companies that are exploiting their workers:
1. They are b2c companies.
2. Most seem to be venture backed.
3. The worker they employ are mostly unskilled.
4. The law doesn't seem view the current treatment of these employees as illegal in any way.
#1 seems most significant to me, the price that a critical mass of consumers are willing to pay for the value that unskilled workers can provide seems to be too low to build a large business on the back of.
- doctorpangloss 10y ago> Price that a critical mass of consumers are willing to pay Sure, but Instacart is demolishing a very worker-popular tipping feature. That suggests that actually, there is a critical mass of consumers willing to pay more. The question is, why does it matter to Instacart so much that some consumers pay less than what they're willing to pay?
- wwalser 10y agoYour comment is 100% assumptions. > Sure, but Instacart is demolishing a very worker-popular tipping feature. That suggests that actually, there is a critical mass of consumers willing to pay more. Nothing about this article says that to me. Nothing. At least one worker has given this information to someone who tweeted the information whose tweet was picked up by recode. We don't know if tipping is "very worker-popular" we know that some workers asked the company to change it back and they half capitulated. I'm personally a fan of charging higher fees and paying all workers the same living wage. That's effectively what a static service charge does. > The question is, why does it matter to Instacart so much that some consumers pay less than what they're willing to pay? We also don't know that. Do you know what the average tip was on instacart before this change? So you know that a 10% static service fee is lower than the average tip before now? Do you know if brown workers were tipped less than white workers? Men more than women, the inverse? We don't have the information required in order to make the judgements that you've decided to make.