04/10/2023
There are many Facebook groups, for drivers using the various platforms. A lot of the posts I see are in a few common themes. There are many new drivers, just looking for help, trying to figure out what they are doing. At this time of the year, there are many questions about filing income tax, and there is an incredible amount of opinions, and speculation, about how the algorithms, assign offers, including everyone’s different take on what works for them.
I also follow the big three, on LinkedIn, just to see how they are marketing themselves in the professional space. The interesting thing is that they all portray their companies as highly ethical, and having an incredible culture, while making almost all of their revenue by using technology, to manipulate sometimes very vulnerable people within our society.
They all demonstrate this by having daily “cash out” options. They all pay weekly by direct deposit, but for a fee, drivers can cash out daily. IMHO, this practice preys on marginalized drivers, as they may drive all day, to cash out, so they can put gas in their cars to do it all over again tomorrow.
Some have minimum order acceptance rates, to give drivers some perceived “priority “ on better orders. I.e. Skip requires an 80% acceptance rate, which is measured on your last 10 deliveries. DoorDash has their “Top Dasher” program, that has criteria on your ratings, but the key one is an acceptance rate of 70%, measured on your last 100 deliveries. The big perk for top dasher, is the ability to dash anytime, without scheduling.
These are only a few examples of how these platforms use psychological tricks, within the algorithms, to charge customers and merchants more, while getting the goods delivered for less.
Think about the cash out thing. Most charge about $2 per transaction. There are more than 2 million people doing this in North America. So if half are cashing out daily, that’s over $1M per day in revenue, just for paying out money to the people that earned it.
