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> At a minimum I'm going to be tipping in cash. Do the right thing. Take a stand for human decency and make a compromise by closing your instacart account now

> At a minimum I'm going to be tipping in cash. Do the right thing. Take a stand for human decency and make a compromise by closing your instacart account now. Absorb the inconvenience and do your own shopping. And make sure to tell instacart to (insert profanity of choice) if you can while closing your account. That behaviour is low down and dirty. Shady craigs list used car dealer level stuff. I just walked three blocks in the rain to the local grocery store to pick up stuff to make dinner and food for tomorrow. Not like I was jumping for joy and made a dash for the door. I didn't want to, but I did. That's life.

Dylan16807 8y ago
You didn't explain why that's "the right thing". Making sure the worker is paid well is the most important part. It's also possible that instacart will lose money on the sales where they can't scam tips; that means you can use the service and pay the worker well and punish instacart and increase the incentive for them to change their policy.
- noddingham 8y ago
  Respectfully, I think you're being a bit naive. At the moment, the evidence points to Instacart _not_ being the kind of company that will respond to "incentive to change policy", but that they _are_ a company that will commit wage theft. Pull the ripcord, delete accounts, tank all the metrics (MRR/DAU/WAU/MAU), and force the company to change or collapse. Subtle hints won't be effective here, as the response their community support indicates.
- eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago
  This is basically the argument for removing the minimum wage entirely. Some money is better than no money, right? I'd prefer not to live in that dystopia. Or we can just make it very clear that companies that engage in outright wage theft should be put out of business, so no other business ever tries it in the future.
  - Dylan16807 8y ago
    I don't think you understand my argument at all. I'm suggesting that the tips be rearranged so that the working is making significantly more than minimum wage, and the company can't scam their way out of paying what they promised to lure in workers in the first place. I'm all for bringing a legal hammer down on them! I'm just saying that as far as personal action goes, getting them to lose money while their worker gets a healthy wage is better than a boycott.
- the_clarence 8y ago
  exactly. Most people don't tip on Instacart so doing the right thing would be to make sure they pay their employees well.
manigandham 8y ago
Good for you, but arbitrary moral judgements against everyone else never goes well. Walking miles to gather food and water is the reality for billions of people. Using Instacart is a luxury in the first place, but having everyone close their account only hurts the very people you seem to be for. In case you missed it in the article, there is a workaround so that your tips are correctly considered, or you can always pay cash: http://www.workingwa.org/22cents http://www.workingwa.org/22cents
- pessimizer 8y ago
  > arbitrary moral judgements This is redundant. You are making a general argument here against making decisions based on your own morality.
- glangdale 8y ago
  If Instacart closes down because of this kind of shitty behavior, people may learn a thing or two, and the next company in this space might decide that wage theft is not going to be part of their competitive advantage.
  - manigandham 8y ago
    Sure, and meanwhile these workers don't get paid anything. There are ways to fix things without shutting it all down.
    - foobiekr 8y ago
      There appear to be plenty of other unethical companies to work for so this is unlikely to be a problem.
    - kamaal 8y ago
      >>There are ways to fix things without shutting it all down. Same arguments were used to suppose slavery. If we make slavery illegal, where will slaves work apart from cotton farms? There are other jobs to do, it doesn't mean we have to allow blatant injustice to go on, in exchange for profits. All the while using a moral arguments to justify it.
eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago
Yep, exactly. I started using Instacart when it first came out. It was very convenient. But then I started to see more stories about how the company was changing the compensation structure. It got so bad that the delivery people were leaving flyers in the bags, made by that person, explaining how Instacart was basically screwing them. I haven't used Instacart since then.
kofejnik 8y ago
maybe the right thing is just stopping tipping altogether? Then Instacart will be forced to pay a somewhat reasonable wage

Dylan16807 8y ago

You didn't explain why that's "the right thing". Making sure the worker is paid well is the most important part. It's also possible that instacart will lose money on the sales where they can't scam tips; that means you can use the service and pay the worker well and punish instacart and increase the incentive for them to change their policy.

noddingham 8y ago
Respectfully, I think you're being a bit naive. At the moment, the evidence points to Instacart _not_ being the kind of company that will respond to "incentive to change policy", but that they _are_ a company that will commit wage theft. Pull the ripcord, delete accounts, tank all the metrics (MRR/DAU/WAU/MAU), and force the company to change or collapse. Subtle hints won't be effective here, as the response their community support indicates.
eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago
This is basically the argument for removing the minimum wage entirely. Some money is better than no money, right? I'd prefer not to live in that dystopia. Or we can just make it very clear that companies that engage in outright wage theft should be put out of business, so no other business ever tries it in the future.
- Dylan16807 8y ago
  I don't think you understand my argument at all. I'm suggesting that the tips be rearranged so that the working is making significantly more than minimum wage, and the company can't scam their way out of paying what they promised to lure in workers in the first place. I'm all for bringing a legal hammer down on them! I'm just saying that as far as personal action goes, getting them to lose money while their worker gets a healthy wage is better than a boycott.
the_clarence 8y ago
exactly. Most people don't tip on Instacart so doing the right thing would be to make sure they pay their employees well.

manigandham 8y ago

Good for you, but arbitrary moral judgements against everyone else never goes well. Walking miles to gather food and water is the reality for billions of people. Using Instacart is a luxury in the first place, but having everyone close their account only hurts the very people you seem to be for. In case you missed it in the article, there is a workaround so that your tips are correctly considered, or you can always pay cash: http://www.workingwa.org/22cents http://www.workingwa.org/22cents

pessimizer 8y ago
> arbitrary moral judgements This is redundant. You are making a general argument here against making decisions based on your own morality.
glangdale 8y ago
If Instacart closes down because of this kind of shitty behavior, people may learn a thing or two, and the next company in this space might decide that wage theft is not going to be part of their competitive advantage.
- manigandham 8y ago
  Sure, and meanwhile these workers don't get paid anything. There are ways to fix things without shutting it all down.
  - foobiekr 8y ago
    There appear to be plenty of other unethical companies to work for so this is unlikely to be a problem.
  - kamaal 8y ago
    >>There are ways to fix things without shutting it all down. Same arguments were used to suppose slavery. If we make slavery illegal, where will slaves work apart from cotton farms? There are other jobs to do, it doesn't mean we have to allow blatant injustice to go on, in exchange for profits. All the while using a moral arguments to justify it.

eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago

Yep, exactly. I started using Instacart when it first came out. It was very convenient. But then I started to see more stories about how the company was changing the compensation structure. It got so bad that the delivery people were leaving flyers in the bags, made by that person, explaining how Instacart was basically screwing them. I haven't used Instacart since then.

kofejnik 8y ago

maybe the right thing is just stopping tipping altogether? Then Instacart will be forced to pay a somewhat reasonable wage