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California workers for the Grubhub food delivery app reacted angrily to changes to the platform they say discouraged tipping, saying they would eliminate the supposed benefits of the new rules for gig workers in the state.
Last month, California approved Proposition 22, which, while falling far short of the benefits received by full-time employees, gave concert workers a limited number.
Weeks after the decision, Grubhub reduced its standard tipping value from about 20 percent to zero, adding the suggestion “leave an optional tip in addition to the driver’s benefits”.
Like other applications, Grubhub added an additional “benefit” fee, in this case $ 1.50, for each order in California – although that money is placed in a centralized pot for which only a limited number of drivers are fully eligible. .
“[The] the benefits are not high enough to compensate for not encouraging any tips, ”wrote a Grubhub employee on Reddit.
“So much nonsense to open this division between customers and drivers,” wrote another. A third added: “This is scary. Very disappointing. “
According to Proposition 22, workers receive a health grant, as long as they work at least an average of 15 hours per week in one of the work applications. However, to qualify, workers must already be the primary owner of an existing health plan.
To obtain the full salary, workers must work at least 25 hours a week. Companies count only “engaged” time, not including periods spent driving without a designated job – estimated at about a third of all time spent on the road, according to a study by the University of California, Berkeley. No allowances are made for clearance or illness. Data shared by Uber suggested that about three-quarters of its own drivers would not reach that limit.
Other benefits include a guaranteed minimum earning rate, accident insurance and $ 0.30 per mile for vehicle expenses. The measures were ridiculed as inappropriate by groups of workers, but concert companies maintained that such a model was vital for workers to maintain flexible working standards.
But a study by the University of California at Santa Cruz in May found that “couriers are particularly dependent on tips, which account for 30% of their estimated earnings.”
“I keep records,” said Jeanine, a Grubhub worker in the San Francisco bay area. “And there was a complete turnaround. It’s impressive. “
She shared an analysis of her tips on the platform with the Financial Times before and after the move. On two consecutive Saturdays, she completed the same number of orders – eight – but on the first Saturday, before the move, 100% of her customers left at least a small tip – totaling $ 61.03.
On the second Saturday, five of his eight customers left no tip, with the rest totaling $ 24.71.
In response to criticism about the new tipping options, a spokeswoman for Grubhub said: “Some customers in California may see this at the checkout next to a driver benefits fee, and customers continue to have the ability to leave a tip for the driver, including through customs tip resource. “
Proposition 22 gave workers “more stability,” the statement added.
Uber and DoorDash said last week that they would raise prices to finance the benefits of Proposition 22, although so far only Grubhub has made changes to its tipping system.
In June, it was announced that Grubhub would be acquired by the European food delivery group Just Eat Takeaway, in a $ 7.3 billion deal.
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