4 ms·

How does this minimum wage work, specifically? One of the selling points as far as I can tell of these delivery apps is that the workers effectively bid per ord

How does this minimum wage work, specifically? One of the selling points as far as I can tell of these delivery apps is that the workers effectively bid per order -- they're not hourly workers, they can choose or refuse which orders they want to take. Workers are not on the clock, obligated to work certain hours, they don't even have hours. It would be interesting to see an even more market-based delivery app ecosystem -- each contract is auctioned separately, with spot prices for each hour and route of delivery going to the lowest bidder. It would never happen, since it would ruffle to many political feathers, but it's an interesting thought experiment. It would also require much more transparency than the apps currently allow or would ever willingly give up.

LapsangGuzzler 3y ago
One of the earliest and best things the internet does is auctions. Auctioning off delivery contracts individually isn’t profitable. If it were, we’d be doing it already.
111111IIIIIII 3y ago
> It would never happen, since it would ruffle to many political feathers Wrong. It would never happen because it would be too unreliable so nobody would use it. The few times I used DoorDash the orders took twice as long as the estimate even though I live near a city center and always tipped the highest recommended abount. And that is why these workers are definitely employees who should be paid for their availability.
ImPostingOnHN 3y ago
> they're not hourly workers, they can choose or refuse which orders they want to take. Workers are not on the clock, obligated to work certain hours, they don't even have hours it seems they ARE hourly workers for the purposes of this law, which makes sense: they're allegedly contractors because they can choose their hours. if a driver wants to work the 8:00 to 9:00 hour, the delivery app can either: 1. pay them at least the minimum wage for that hour, and assign enough work to fill it, or 2. pay them at least the minimum wage for that hour, and NOT assign enough work to fill it, or 3. don't pay them for that hour, meaning you aren't letting them work that hour, meaning you're determining their hours, meaning they're employees, not contractors whether [app X] has enough orders to keep occupied all the willing drivers with open [app X] is [app X]'s problem: [app X] choose the business model of unrestricted driver growth

LapsangGuzzler 3y ago

One of the earliest and best things the internet does is auctions. Auctioning off delivery contracts individually isn’t profitable. If it were, we’d be doing it already.

111111IIIIIII 3y ago

> It would never happen, since it would ruffle to many political feathers Wrong. It would never happen because it would be too unreliable so nobody would use it. The few times I used DoorDash the orders took twice as long as the estimate even though I live near a city center and always tipped the highest recommended abount. And that is why these workers are definitely employees who should be paid for their availability.

ImPostingOnHN 3y ago

> they're not hourly workers, they can choose or refuse which orders they want to take. Workers are not on the clock, obligated to work certain hours, they don't even have hours it seems they ARE hourly workers for the purposes of this law, which makes sense: they're allegedly contractors because they can choose their hours. if a driver wants to work the 8:00 to 9:00 hour, the delivery app can either: 1. pay them at least the minimum wage for that hour, and assign enough work to fill it, or 2. pay them at least the minimum wage for that hour, and NOT assign enough work to fill it, or 3. don't pay them for that hour, meaning you aren't letting them work that hour, meaning you're determining their hours, meaning they're employees, not contractors whether [app X] has enough orders to keep occupied all the willing drivers with open [app X] is [app X]'s problem: [app X] choose the business model of unrestricted driver growth