161
‘It’s a nightmare’: couriers mystified by the algorithms that control their jobs
(www.theguardian.com)
This is what tech bros bring. A living nightmare.
this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2025
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The algorithms are all about optimizing the extraction of wealth, from everyone involved.
Kafkaesque is a good word for it
“We can never work out the algorithm,” one of the drivers says, requesting anonymity for fear of losing work. They wonder if the app ignores them if they’ve done a few jobs already that hour, and experiment with standing inside the restaurant, on the pavement or in the car park to see if subtle shifts in geolocation matter. Retail assistants say they have to pay a fee if they want to receive their wages within a month. ‘So immoral’: gig economy workers charged fee to get paid quicker Read more
“It’s an absolute nightmare,” says the driver, adding that they permanently lost access to one of the platforms over a matter of a “max five minutes” wait in getting to a restaurant while he finished another job for a different app. Sometimes he gets logged out for a couple of hours because his beard has grown, confusing the facial recognition software.
“It’s not at all like being an employee,” he says. He is regularly frustrated by having to challenge what appeared to be shortfall in pay per job – sometimes just 10p, but at other times a few pounds. “There’s nobody you can talk to. Everything is automated.”
Everything is automated
This is EXACTLY the reason I refuse to use Uber or any shitty car ride service. Attempted to create an account, never got it created, months later fraud on my bank from Uber. Bank didn't believe that I didn't have an account and told me I had to dispute with Uber first.
GOOD LUCK DISPUTING SOMETHING WHEN YOU HAVE NO ACCOUNT SND THE COMOANY IS TOO FUCKING CHEAP TO HIRE HUMANS AND HAVE A PHONE NUMBER.
I literally had to hunt down a physical dispatch place, and demand they fix my issue with an account that doesn't exist in my name. It took hours, days, weeks to get anyone to even do shit. Since that day, if I can't physically walk I to the building OR call them, the company doesn't exist in my mind and get rightly fucked for all I care.
I would change banks after that
I got charged for like 3-6 months of DoorDash premium. And that's without having a DoorDash account. Apparently my GF used my card for one order, and managed to accidentally sign up for a subscription which she never used. So the account not in my name, not on my phone, and not attached to my email. I was able to call them though, and they "generously" refunded 2 months.
Seriously fuck DoorDash.
Yes fuck DoorDash. There security is so shitt, my GF account got hacked and they allowed an order to go through in Australia while we live in the US and have never been anywhere near there. If you can’t figure out this is fraud then you seriously shouldn’t be working in the tech industry.
Uber's support is an actual nightmare to deal with. I had an issue where they charged me significantly more for an order than the website said. Their support just wouldn't do anything except go through their script and tell me I'm shit out of luck. They only had someone do something when I complained at them on Twitter.
“There’s nobody you can talk to. Everything is automated.”
Yeah this is the stuff that needs to be regulated asap. You should have to have a contact you can refer to for pay disputes, this just creates an unreasonable burden on the person being paid when they have no one to contact.
Which regime gonna do it?
EU likes to talk big game even they won't really fuxk with it
I prefer to order directly from kitchens anyways