3 ms·
The article loosely hints at this context, but provides no evidence either way. Looking at Instacart revenue / margin numbers, they hit profitability _for the
by s3r3nity 6y ago
The article loosely hints at this context, but provides no evidence either way.
Looking at Instacart revenue / margin numbers, they hit profitability _for the first time ever_ in April 2020 alongside the COVID pandemic. Further, margins are CRAZY THIN - meaning maintaining profitability is really difficult in an environment of increasing competition from Uber / Google, among others. (Ex: Uber bought Postmates, as the latter had similar margin difficulties.)
My read is that this type of move was planned as an option for Instacart for a while, and Prop 22 maybe pushed up the timeline slightly.
EDIT: not sure why I'm getting downvoted. I know the article tries to build this narrative as much as possible (without even mentioning Prop 22) but then doesn't even provide the financial details that show that Instacart has really tight margins - and if they're trying to IPO, at this rate they're going to stumble there.
- huac 6y agoThe article doesnt mention Prop 22 by name but the last paragraph is very clearly about Prop 22 > San Francisco-based Instacart and other gig companies including Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. last year bankrolled a successful $200 million campaign to pass a California ballot measure exempting them from a state law declaring workers were employees if they did work in the “usual course” of their bosses’ business. Emboldened by that victory, the companies are pushing for similar changes elsewhere that would make it easier to claim workers are contractors.
- s3r3nity 6y agoCompletely agree, but I would argue that the article is a bit deceptive in that it's trying to build that context without any evidence or data that this is the driver for Instacart's move. correlation <> causation, etc. etc.