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Reeling from algorithm glitch, Instacart institutes $3 minimum fee for drivers
- Tossrock 8y agoMaybe people should start tipping in cash again. Every service person I've asked has preferred it.
- coreypreston 8y agoThat isn't a bad idea, but not exactly something drivers can rely on.
- tehlike 8y agoAnd it is not something i carry with me most often.
- tastyfreeze 8y agoIts preferred because it is common to not report cash tips on taxes. If I could make a percentage of my wage tax free I would prefer it as well.
- talltimtom 8y agoSo.... they aren’t going to stop steeling tips, just limit how much they steal? And they are claiming that it was an algorithmic glitch that cause them to steal a drivers tip that one time... yet they aren’t going to stop it all together just limit it. They need to come out and say “all tips goes to the driver” or they are going to dies in distrust. No-one wants to buy from or work for a company that downright steals tips from its employees.
- fuzz4lyfe 8y agoIt's too late for me, I don't tolerate this sort of bullshit. I had pizza delivered once and paid/tipped online (I have ten years in restaurants behind me, on the rare occasion I eat out I tip really well) and the delivery guy gave me a funny look when he dropped off my order. I took a look at the receipt attached to the order and the price I paid was higher plus the tip was not on the slip, I sent him a text with my order confirmation to let him know what I paid he texted me back that this wasn't the first time they screwed him on tips and that hes going to find another job. Every few months I post a yelp review with this experience so it remains on the first page for the restaurant.
- paulie_a 8y agoThat's why I just keep twenty in singles in my wallet, I never pay cash for things but can just hit zero on the app and give the tip in person.
- CodeWriter23 8y agoThose people really appreciate the cash tips too.
- erulabs 8y agoBut they do say “all tips goes to the driver”, and the worst part is that they _aren't lying_. Some MFA was reading that statement thinking "how can we claw that one back", and came up with the clever idea of guaranteeing a minimum rate. In other words, they can now say "all tips go to the driver" and "drivers are always at least paid X amount" and not be lying. They just don't disclose that they only pay the driver _if the tips don't cover the minimum_. It's a very clever way of taking two positive statements that sound good to consumers and employees and finding a money hole between them.
- rhcom2 8y agoReeling from bad publicity, Instacart blames a unexplained algorithmic glitch.
- olliej 8y ago“Glitch” US Labor law doesn’t allow tip theft, and changing pay rate dependent on tip value is clearly tip theft.
- throwaway2016a 8y agoSomeone who has worked in a service job can answer this better but I'm not sure that is true. My understanding is that restaurants routinely pay less than minimum wage and then up your wage to minimum if your tips don't come up to at least minimum wage. I'm not sure how this is any deferent. Though doing it without the person being paid even knowing is abhorrent.
- RHSeeger 8y agoRestaurants (and some other places) are allowed to pay less than minimum wage by law (thought they are required to covert the gap if the tips aren't enough to bring the user up to minimum wage; I've never seen it happen). If you're not part of the group allowed to do this, you don't get to.
- mikeryan 8y agoThis is an explicit carve out for restaurants in certain states. Wouldn’t apply to Instacart and you can never take tips away.
- fwip 8y agoI think the loophole that Instacart is hoping to squeeze through is the difference between employees and "independent contractors."
- olliej 8y agoin this case the tip is being paid to the contractor, not instagram, instagram is merely handling the fund transfer. In effect it is retroactively reversing the pay rate. This is theft.
- dahdum 8y agoHow on earth was this an "algorithm glitch" or anything close to "black box"? It's how they calculated pay, by setting a minimum hourly rate and subtracting any tips from that before paying out themselves. This reporter is far too trusting. > Instacart still hasn’t explained exactly what went wrong in calculating Arrigo’s 80-cent fee. But it shows the risks inherent in relying entirely on the “black box” of algorithms that, regardless how clever they are, can sometimes produce baffling results.
- bb88 8y agoOr the developers are just stupid. Now they simply can add a simple if-statement. if driver_pay < 3: driver_pay == 3 No need to bother with unit tests on that one. [Edit:] LOL as seen below. That's probably how they coded it.
- dymk 8y agoActually you should have tested your code, because this does a no-op equality test against 3 (==), rather than your intention to set driver_pay to 3 (=)
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- throwaway2016a 8y agoI thought you did that intentionally to be sarcastic / ironic...
- paulie_a 8y agoInstacart should fix the other glitch, it used to be roughly one hour. Now it is tomorrow, or the day after. Not exactly insta. And the quality has gone way down, they'll buyers would suggest a better deal, now they pick the worst if it makes their shopping faster
- scarejunba 8y agoFunny. That would have been an interesting postmortem but I think they just eat the tip. That’s what it sounds like at least.
- foobiekr 8y ago“Algorithm glitch” Amazing how this glitch also impacts DoorDash, GrubHub, ... and the glitch is to cap how much they will use to offset their costs not actually honor the intent of the tip.
- simplecomplex 8y agoTips are so incredibly stupid, unnneccessary, confusing, and a waste of everyone’s time and energy. Just imagine... paying the price that’s advertised. How practical and convenient that would be! The obvious solution is a law banning the soliciting of tips, and let’s require prices to include sales tax while we’re at it. Call it the “pay what’s advertised” or “fair pricing” law.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- berbec 8y agoThe only glitch was screwing over someone who wouldn't stay quiet.
- tareqak 8y agoInstacart is a YC company (s2012) [0]. [0] https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/ https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/