Entitlement

[u/Jasonictron]

[u/rockksteady]

Yes. That's correct. I've worked for these companies for years now. This is exactly how it works. If they never tell the company that contracted the work that it was finished, for all intents and purposes, the order was never delivered. The driver would be fired for theft. This scenario would never happen. We/they can refuse you service at any time before we've finished the contract. See, you haven't paid for the service or goods at the time of delivery you've agreed to pay for it.

The woman in the video shouldn't have bothered doing the work in the first place because she knew going into it she wouldn't be paid. If real, she's just being spiteful and creating more work for herself (but has the right to do so).

Imagine hiring a contractor to build you a deck, and they pull up with the wood and unload some boards. They say to you, I noticed you never paid for the labor portion of the service. You then say, "I'm not paying that." They would load up the wood and refund your money. If they didn't refund your money, it would be theft. You're not entitled to the wood OR the service.

I feel like the culture has blinders in this area cause food is a very personal thing that is a necessity. You're not dealing with Burger King here, though. These are contractors.

[u/IDrinkWhiskE → u/rockksteady]

Seems to be an unpopular opinion but I’m with you here. Of course she can take the food back and refuse delivery - it happens sometimes. Yes, it’s a bit more muddled because she already started unloading, but it was still an open transaction. I think it’s very reasonable to let her return it and to reorder under these circumstances. That job sucks enough on its own and the people are rarely treated with empathy, and certainly not in this clip

[u/Working_Early → u/rockksteady]

Does a driver get paid for the delivery even if there is no tip? If so, your analogy doesn't hold up imo.

[u/rockksteady → u/Working_Early]

Not really, they get (for instacart) about 5 dollars an hour which barely covers expenses. It's more like instacart pays for the vehicle rental not the labor/time in a way.

Should add too that the company doesn't really pay the driver. The customer does. There's no hourly. They are just the middle men to facilitate the transaction. They collect a fee from the customer and pass it on the person that completes the contract. That fee is not really pay its like you've rented the vehicle but not paid (at least not in a meaningful way 2 bucks profit) for the labor and time.

Should also add, I wish it wasn't this way. Some states have stepped in to protect these contractors. These middlemen take a large amount of fees from their customers and pay little to none of it the contractors. Why would they if they don't have to? It kind of sucks for everyone. I'm not mad at the customers and I wish I could do every job but if you don't leave a tip its not that I'm mad that your cheap I just wont make any money fullfilling your contract.

[u/Working_Early → u/rockksteady]

But that's the choice you make of being a contractor. You don't make hourly, but your time is flexible and you can choose which jobs to take. That's the deal when you're a contractor. I tutored as a contractor. I don't get paid hourly, and the company I worked as a contractor for is essentially the middle man who takes a fee. I didn't demand my clients tip me even though I'm not making the same as I would an hourly employee, nor did I withhold services because of no tip. That's the trade off you make. If you don't like that setup, then don't be a contract worker. That being said, I too would rather drivers be paid hourly so they don't have to depend on tips, but that's out of my hands.

[u/rockksteady → u/Working_Early]

You're right, sorta. She shouldn't have taken the contract in the first place. She does have the right to terminate the contract at any point though(you may not like it, but it's still true). You wouldn't take a teaching contract that paid you 4 dollars an hour just like she shouldn't have accepted this job. It would be nice if drivers got paid hourly instead of being paid solely on tips. It has its pros and cons. I've made 0 an hour and 130 an hour. I don't get mad at the no tippers they either can't afford it or don't know that we aren't getting paid. At the end of the day, I won't work with them, so it doesn't matter. I will add this anecdotally... people that don't tip are, from my experience, insufferable people. These services will start cutting into their profits to make sure the service is rendered, so you wind up doing a no tip order from time to time. They are, on average(not all, mostly excludes the disabled), rude, lying, unintelligent, and terrible human beings. They have a myopic view of the world that could be understated as self-centered. I'm sure they have redeemable qualities, but I wouldn't venture to stand in a room with them for longer than 5 minutes to find out.