You’re wrong, but it’s understandable. The key point you’re getting wrong is: You make money from a job.
The pay for most of the assignments you get from DD or UE is usually not enough to cover fuel, let alone maintenance on your vehicle. Certainly less than minimum wage for your time. Which is legal for them to do, because you are a contractor, paid per job and not per hour. If the customer doesn’t tip, you are earning less than minimum wage at best. In many cases, you’re actually paying to work, but you’re forced to take these unprofitable orders just to maintain your rating and keep getting assignments. (In my area, drivers call this “eating shit”)
At best, you can take about 6 assignments an hour. To net minimum wage, you need at least three of them to tip well. When a restaurant doesn’t bother to start preparing the order until you arrive, the time you waste waiting is 2-3 orders. If any of the remaining orders that hour don’t tip, you’re below minimum wage.
It is a shitty, exploitative service that nobody should be using. If you are going to use it, be aware that the service is taking everything you’re paying, and completely shafting your driver.
I did. I’m a blacksmith. I found a niche where customers are appreciative of labor, and I fill that niche. The two seasons I relied on DD for flexible income are well in the past.
Client does not need to be aware of how much each worker in the chain earns. He is aware of the price he is buying the food.
Same as delivery guy is aware of money he gets from the job. If he doesn’t like the money, he should not take the job.
Tips are totally optional bonus.
A client is the person a contractor works for. The only client involved is the service itself, as the driver is a contractor.
The person making the purchase is a customer, not a client.
Ideally, you would be right. The customer should not be involved in the business relationship between the driver and the service. However, this is quite obviously not an ideal situation.
With employed waitstaff, tips are, technically, a bonus. A waitress who does not receive enough tips to put herself over minimum wage is entitled to extra pay to reach that point. Legally, this waitress is “adequately” compensated for her time, regardless of tips.
Unlike employed waitstaff, there is no provision to ensure this driver is compensated for their labor. There is no provision to ensure they are reimbursed for their actual expenses. The driver is often asked to subsidize certain customers, by accepting compensation that is less than minimum wage, and even at less than actual cost. They are often asked to pay to work.
Employees are protected by labor laws. When a group of employees decides to demand better pay, their collective action is explicitly protected.
When contractors do the same, their collective action violates anti-trust laws. They are guilty of collusion and price fixing.
The services have found a legal loophole to evade minimum wage and labor protections, and they are using it to exploit drivers.
The customer benefits from this. The customer is complicit in the exploitation. Ignorance does not negate their complicity.
(You should also know that if you do tip well, the services reduce their base pay further, effectively capturing part of your tip to the driver. They are exploiting you, too.)
Again, nobody should be using these services. They are bad for everyone. The only ethical way to use them is to tip sufficiently to ensure the driver’s pay exceeds minimum wage.
This may be the reality, but in theory the answer is for people to say “fuck working for these asshats if we are stuck at the mercy of caprcious users tipping”.
I would argue there is no ethical way to use them.
You don’t have to convince me. I agree with you. These services are profoundly scummy and exploitative. They are almost as greedy as employers have become with your time.
They make money… When a customer tips. The tip is, effectively, the only money they actually make. It’s not how it should be, but it is how it actually is.
When every customer tips well, and nobody introduces delays to slow your hustle, it’s a fairly lucrative job. When customers think tips are “optional” and stores don’t actually start working on an order until you arrive, it’s a shit job.
It’s pretty much the same for our employed waitstaff. Your tips are paid out to you on the day you earn them. Your base wages are paid out weekly or biweekly. You keep 100% of your tips, but your employer is required to withhold income taxes from your base pay. If you make enough in tips, withholding is all of your base pay. You receive a pay stub where nearly 100% of your pay has been withheld and sent to the IRS for income taxes. Tips are, effectively, the only money you actually take home.
You’re wrong, but it’s understandable. The key point you’re getting wrong is: You make money from a job.
The pay for most of the assignments you get from DD or UE is usually not enough to cover fuel, let alone maintenance on your vehicle. Certainly less than minimum wage for your time. Which is legal for them to do, because you are a contractor, paid per job and not per hour. If the customer doesn’t tip, you are earning less than minimum wage at best. In many cases, you’re actually paying to work, but you’re forced to take these unprofitable orders just to maintain your rating and keep getting assignments. (In my area, drivers call this “eating shit”)
At best, you can take about 6 assignments an hour. To net minimum wage, you need at least three of them to tip well. When a restaurant doesn’t bother to start preparing the order until you arrive, the time you waste waiting is 2-3 orders. If any of the remaining orders that hour don’t tip, you’re below minimum wage.
It is a shitty, exploitative service that nobody should be using. If you are going to use it, be aware that the service is taking everything you’re paying, and completely shafting your driver.
That makes more sense. It seems drivers are almost set up to fail. You can make big tips but you are more likely to get no tip or be under tipped.
Wow sounds like you should have found a different job than a job that doesn’t make money!
I did. I’m a blacksmith. I found a niche where customers are appreciative of labor, and I fill that niche. The two seasons I relied on DD for flexible income are well in the past.
Congrats
Thank you.
Client does not need to be aware of how much each worker in the chain earns. He is aware of the price he is buying the food.
Same as delivery guy is aware of money he gets from the job. If he doesn’t like the money, he should not take the job. Tips are totally optional bonus.
100%. The tip discussion is getting more and more prominent here in the UK. Please America please sort your shit out its spreading.
A client is the person a contractor works for. The only client involved is the service itself, as the driver is a contractor.
The person making the purchase is a customer, not a client.
Ideally, you would be right. The customer should not be involved in the business relationship between the driver and the service. However, this is quite obviously not an ideal situation.
With employed waitstaff, tips are, technically, a bonus. A waitress who does not receive enough tips to put herself over minimum wage is entitled to extra pay to reach that point. Legally, this waitress is “adequately” compensated for her time, regardless of tips.
Unlike employed waitstaff, there is no provision to ensure this driver is compensated for their labor. There is no provision to ensure they are reimbursed for their actual expenses. The driver is often asked to subsidize certain customers, by accepting compensation that is less than minimum wage, and even at less than actual cost. They are often asked to pay to work.
Employees are protected by labor laws. When a group of employees decides to demand better pay, their collective action is explicitly protected.
When contractors do the same, their collective action violates anti-trust laws. They are guilty of collusion and price fixing.
The services have found a legal loophole to evade minimum wage and labor protections, and they are using it to exploit drivers.
The customer benefits from this. The customer is complicit in the exploitation. Ignorance does not negate their complicity.
(You should also know that if you do tip well, the services reduce their base pay further, effectively capturing part of your tip to the driver. They are exploiting you, too.)
Again, nobody should be using these services. They are bad for everyone. The only ethical way to use them is to tip sufficiently to ensure the driver’s pay exceeds minimum wage.
This may be the reality, but in theory the answer is for people to say “fuck working for these asshats if we are stuck at the mercy of caprcious users tipping”.
I would argue there is no ethical way to use them.
You don’t have to convince me. I agree with you. These services are profoundly scummy and exploitative. They are almost as greedy as employers have become with your time.
I’m from Europe, so please explain, if workers don’t make any money, why the hell are they working in the first place?
Seems stupid to keep working if you end up paying for the pleasure.
They make money… When a customer tips. The tip is, effectively, the only money they actually make. It’s not how it should be, but it is how it actually is.
When every customer tips well, and nobody introduces delays to slow your hustle, it’s a fairly lucrative job. When customers think tips are “optional” and stores don’t actually start working on an order until you arrive, it’s a shit job.
It’s pretty much the same for our employed waitstaff. Your tips are paid out to you on the day you earn them. Your base wages are paid out weekly or biweekly. You keep 100% of your tips, but your employer is required to withhold income taxes from your base pay. If you make enough in tips, withholding is all of your base pay. You receive a pay stub where nearly 100% of your pay has been withheld and sent to the IRS for income taxes. Tips are, effectively, the only money you actually take home.
They make the money from tips, presumably.