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People are baiting Instacart workers with huge tips then slashing them to zero:
Instacart workers are being wooed by orders with large tips only to find them dropped to zero after a delivery has been made, according to a new report by CNN. Instacart lets users set their own custom tip with each shopping request, but it also allows them to change it for up to three days after an order is completed to adjust for experience. Workers, however, claim that some users have been abusing this feature, baiting them with big tips to get their shopping requests completed sooner amid the pandemic rush — only to find the tip slashed afterward without much feedback.
One Instacart worker said their tip was dropped from $55 to $0 despite finding everything the customer needed. Another worker claimed their tip changed to $0 since they could not find toilet paper in stock, to which the customer described in the feedback report as "unethical."
[...] Instacart says shoppers who experience tip-baiting can report instances in-app, though some workers say this relies too much on their end and that the company should make a 10 percent-minimum tip mandatory for all orders during the pandemic.
(Score: 3, Funny) by EvilSS on Sunday April 12 2020, @03:13PM (7 children)
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Sunday April 12 2020, @03:48PM (6 children)
Tech is not a complete solution for the human factors, including greed of the corporation. The corp will hire workers for as little as they can get away with, always.
30 years ago, I walked on as part-time stock help at my local grocery - I told them that minimum wage wouldn't cut it, but I could start tomorrow. They started me at $6/hr when minimum was $3.35. They also had to do a quick re-evaluation of all their other part-time stock wages, guys that had been working there 2 years and longer who were still in the mid to low 4s per hour. The labor was probably worth upwards of $20/hr to the store (they paid full-time stock $15/hr + benefits for the same work), but as long as they could get away with chiseling the workers down near minimum, they did.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Sunday April 12 2020, @04:05PM (1 child)
Corporations are like people. And the people corporations are most "like", are the free-range sociopaths and psychopaths.
...and Coincidentally [forbes.com]... (cough)
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Months of development work saves hours of up-front design.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2020, @09:51AM
that forbes link seems to be describing progressives
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2020, @04:19PM (2 children)
"Tech is not a complete solution for the human factors, including greed of the corporation."
While true, it looks like it isn't just the greed of the corporation that is an issue. It's also just as much about the greed of the customers. That needs to be addressed too.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Sunday April 12 2020, @04:43PM (1 child)
Turnabout is fair play? Don't like being caught in the crossfire? I suggest a strike. If there's an infinite supply of idiots to take your position, maybe you're being unreasonable and/or need to find another line of work. If there's a legitimate issue and nobody steps up to take the raw deal you've pointed out - something will get fixed, or the business will rightly shrivel and die.
Where I come from "tip" is optional money to be offered in exchange for excellent service. In restaurants, they have perverted this to be a "standard" 15, now 20+% expected unless something is grossly sub-par. It really should go away, people should get what they need to live in exchange for showing up and doing an acceptable job, and get extra "tip" money when they have truly provided excellent service to someone who A) has some extra money to offer, and B) feels like giving it at the time. Scenes of pissed off waiters/waitresses haranguing customers who have "stiffed them" (often slightly less than 15% gratuity) are a ridiculous show of entitlement.
My suggestion in the specific instance of instacart's system is that the delivery people regard the "proposed tip" for exactly what it is: not a promise, not anything really since contractually it can be changed up to 3 days after delivery - it's a meaningless number that only fools chase with expectation of delivery - much like the top end of the "commission income range" in sales job applications, even more meaningless that that in reality.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2020, @10:10PM
Maybe if the tip gets cancelled, InstaCart gets to send someone round to take back the groceries.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2020, @01:03AM
Not to mention, that grocery shopping isn't something that can be automated at this time. Portions of it can be, like most items in the dry goods section, but in some areas like meat, seafood and produce in particular require some degree of knowledge to identify products that are of appropriate quality.
It really depends on the chain you're working with, having knowledgeable employees that the customers trust to make recommendations is incredibly valuable. Personally, I just got a job at the local grocery store in part because the experience shopping there was so good. They've been hiring people by the dozens trying to keep the stores clean to the higher than normal standard necessary and keep the shelves stocked as more people than usual are needing their food through a grocery rather than restaurants.
So, far, I'm being treated well and have a job that is incredibly important. But, if I'm ever unhappy, at least I've learned a ton about how to grocery shop for various meats and produce items. Not to mention that right now, this is one of the few sectors where I can just focus on being great at my job with little risk of being downsized.