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You may have missed the part where the service fee is optional and can be removed, or replaced with a tip to the employee. The fact that the fee is optional, in

You may have missed the part where the service fee is optional and can be removed, or replaced with a tip to the employee. The fact that the fee is optional, instantly makes it not a "fee". Service fees are not a discretionary addon that customers can choose to eliminate.

NotSammyHagar 10y ago
Yes, you can set it to 0, but they are 100% trying to trick people into not tipping and giving instacart the money. At my neighborhood restaurant they eliminated tips and replaced it with a fixed service fee of 20% they give to the employees. It's common to call such things service fees and to think that goes to the end workers, instead of the corp. It's indefensible to say they didn't mean to trick people into thinking it was a tip for the delivery people.
- wwalser 10y ago
  The article doesn't say that the service fee is _not_ given to workers. It may pass through Instacart. It may all go into a common pool paid to workers. Instacart may take a rake. We simply have no idea. Until someone shows some data, everything that you've said is assumptions.
wwalser 10y ago
I didn't miss it. I just think way more information is necessary in order to understand whether or not it's a positive or negative. As originally implemented, it doesn't appear to be in any way dishonest. My understanding of the article is that the service fee wasn't originally optional. It was a static 10%, required, service fee. No information is given about how much of that fee goes to workers, meaning it's entirely possible that all of it does. It doesn't go to _the_ worker who delivered your groceries, it goes into a common pool that is distributed across all workers. If 10% is enough to break the barrier into a living wage then this could be a positive change. Workers no longer have to fear having a "bad night" where they have 5 runs to get a single $10 items vs a "good night" where they have 3 runs to get $200 worth of groceries. They made it optional and mutable when their workers protested.

NotSammyHagar 10y ago

Yes, you can set it to 0, but they are 100% trying to trick people into not tipping and giving instacart the money. At my neighborhood restaurant they eliminated tips and replaced it with a fixed service fee of 20% they give to the employees. It's common to call such things service fees and to think that goes to the end workers, instead of the corp. It's indefensible to say they didn't mean to trick people into thinking it was a tip for the delivery people.

wwalser 10y ago
The article doesn't say that the service fee is _not_ given to workers. It may pass through Instacart. It may all go into a common pool paid to workers. Instacart may take a rake. We simply have no idea. Until someone shows some data, everything that you've said is assumptions.

wwalser 10y ago

I didn't miss it. I just think way more information is necessary in order to understand whether or not it's a positive or negative. As originally implemented, it doesn't appear to be in any way dishonest. My understanding of the article is that the service fee wasn't originally optional. It was a static 10%, required, service fee. No information is given about how much of that fee goes to workers, meaning it's entirely possible that all of it does. It doesn't go to _the_ worker who delivered your groceries, it goes into a common pool that is distributed across all workers. If 10% is enough to break the barrier into a living wage then this could be a positive change. Workers no longer have to fear having a "bad night" where they have 5 runs to get a single $10 items vs a "good night" where they have 3 runs to get $200 worth of groceries. They made it optional and mutable when their workers protested.