Monday, December 2, 2019

Boycott Instacart? - Hustler Daily Thumbs Up - December 2



Hello fellow Encore Hustlers

One of the attractions of gig platforms such as Uber, TaskRabbit, DoorDash and GrubHub is their ability to allow hustlers to earn cash on a casual and flexible basis.

However there is a dark side to these hustles since reliance on the platforms also puts us at the mercy of algorithms that can change without notice.  Take for example this story about InstaCart and how workers are experiencing an erosion pay because of how the platforms algorithm value their assignments.  When InstaCart - a platform for buying and delivery groceries for strangers - first started workers could anticipate making $16 to $20 per delivery.  However as the service has become more popular, workers now report that their pay has now declined to the $7 to $9 range.  This situation has deteriorated to the point where InstaCart workers have begun to strike to bring this issue to the attention of the public and to academics.

While Mr EH encourages everyone to pursue the hustle this does not mean that we should accept work when it reaches the point where the gig becomes untenable.  When this happens it is time to start your own hustle with being at the mercy of an algorithm.

Cheers,
Mr. EH

No comments:

Post a Comment