Delivery seems expensive now because it was only ever made cheap by underpaying workers, giving them no benefits, making them cover their own car costs, and forcing them to rely on tips to survive. The truth is, having someone drive your pad thai and curry across town costs real money, and I’d rather pick it up myself than keep pretending cheap delivery was ever anything but exploitation.
The problem isn’t that delivery itself is exploitation, just the delivery apps. The issue is that the claimed scaling factor that makes the apps work doesn’t exist. Turns out drivers get more money and delivery costs less if you pizza is delivered by a pizzeria employee than a delivery driving app contractor.
> Tipping should never be expected and be part of the base salary
I agree. Here, the choice is between tipping and rendering that person unemployed (or underemployed) because of projected morality. I'm arguing that it's better for the people one purports to help to hand over a tip and not support reducing their work, or worse, to advocate that others not use their services.
No! It is the company’s job to price their service to cover costs. I get to decide if I pay. Tipping does not make exploitation any less real. Of course I tip when necessary. That's besides the point.
> It is the company’s job to price their service to cover costs
They did. They made money. The delivery staff made money--OP is quoting the real, lived experience of actual gig workers. The government came in and decided that was unsavory, and so now those staff are making less (not counting the ones now unemployed).
There is always someone willing to work for a dollar. That doesn't mean we should abolish the minimum wage to exploit desperation.
Gig workers are just bullshit countries invented to hide unemployment. They don't ad anything to the economy. Nobody is buying a house or starting a family as a Uber delivery driver.
> doesn't mean we should abolish the minimum wage to exploit desperation
I agree. If all the city had done was raise the minimum wage (and make it applicable to these workers), that would have been fine. They didn't. They added a targeted tax.
> Nobody is buying a house or starting a family as a Uber delivery driver
Not in Seattle, but objectively untrue across the country. But also, I don't think it's fair to say we should render unemployed everyone who has a job that they can't start a family or buy a house on.
