At The Mercy Of An App: Workers Feel The Instacart Squeeze [Gig Economy]

NPR ^ | November 25, 2019 | Alina Selyukh

[C19fan]

Working for Instacart — buying and delivering groceries to strangers — at first felt like Michaellita Fortier's childhood dream of starring on the speed-shopping TV show Supermarket Sweep.

"It was fun in the beginning," Fortier says. She felt like she was helping people in need while making as much as $16 or $20 per delivery.

But then the app inundated her with orders worth half that, $7 or $9 per delivery. For that money, she was expected to go to the store, shop, fill a cart and deliver an order, sometimes driving 10 or 15 miles.

"I thought, 'Now listen, this is less than minimum wage you want me to drive [for],' " Fortier says. After seven months of working for Instacart in west Michigan, she quit the gig in October.

Millions of Americans like Fortier have counted on platforms like Instacart, DoorDash, Uber or Lyft not just as a service but as a job. Quickly, they find themselves at the mercy of an algorithm — ever-changing pay structures, no assurance of a minimum wage, the smallest tweak of the app capable of upending their livelihoods.

[ctdonath2]

Do you support minimum wage laws? I don’t, as they prohibit people from working if they can’t produce more than a minimum value; I believe earning less than $minwage is better than earning $0. Ergo, is fair if a business AND employee agree to a way around that unconstitutional limit.

[SoCal Pubbie]

After seven months of working for Instacart in west Michigan, she quit the gig in October.”

You were saying?

[Retrofitted]

That she needed to quit and move on. Which she did. Good for her! That’s what she needed to do! Now, hopefully a lot more of that 130k will and Instacart will pull it’s head out or go under as employees-users and customers go to other options and NPR can go create some more victims somewhere else.

[sheana]

I use instacart and recently talked to the gal who delivered my groceries. She said you have to fill out an app, online, just like any other job and they do a background check. Takes about a week to get the okay to work. She said she chooses her jobs. She said you have to be ‘on it’ to get the ones you want but she works a lot....and makes about $3k a month. She delivers mostly for Aldis and Smart & Final.

[a fool in paradise]

As they say in the art and music trade, “it’s good exposure even if you don’t get paid”