DoorDash’s new reward program: work more hours for less money!
This week, DoorDash released a brand-new way to make sure its workers accept sub-minimum wages.
Starting in December, workers must maintain a 70% “acceptance rate” — the percent of job offers they choose to deliver — in order to get “Top Dasher” status. That means accepting deliveries that pay as low as $2.
“Top Dasher” status gets you the ability to “Dash anytime” and get more job offers.
But wait...doesn’t DoorDash say the flexibility to “work when you want” is the whole reason to take the job?
They’re calling it a reward program. But when the “reward” is just the ability to get work, it sounds a lot more like a punishment for workers who refuse low pay.
So let’s get this all straight:
First, DoorDash steals tips from their workers by lowering pay on orders with higher customer tips.
They defend their tip theft for months, in the face of national media outrage and thousands of workers & customers organizing.
Finally, they cave and agree to stop taking tips.
Their solution: a new pay model, rolled out in September, that offers 0 transparency about tips...and frequently pays as little as $2 per delivery.
Unsurprisingly, workers choose to reject low-paying jobs that would cost them more in mileage than they’ll get paid. Acceptance rates plummet.
So DoorDash finds a way to punish drivers for refusing jobs that aren’t worth their time — simply force workers to accept those low-paying jobs by punishing them for low acceptance rates!
And not only are they punishing workers for rejecting low pay...they’re trying to spin it as a positive.
Sound familiar?
That’s because it’s right out of the DoorDash deception playbook. They used the same type of backwards language to defend their tip theft for years.
What DoorDash said: We’re adding extra pay when the tips are too low!
What they meant: We can get away with paying lower when the customers tip more.
What DoorDash is saying: We’re rewarding the best Dashers with Top Dasher status!
What they mean: We’re punishing workers who turn down our ridiculous $2 job offers.
And DoorDash workers aren’t falling for it. DoorDash’s pay model is known for its lack of transparency. But there’s one thing that’s crystal clear: every move they make is designed to gouge workers.
Workers are already crowdsourcing pay data to find out what DoorDash is really up to — and once we release the results, we’re launching the next step by defending our right to refuse jobs.
DoorDash workers: RSVP to our meeting on Tues. 12/10, where we’ll announce our findings & the next step.
And whether you’re a DoorDash worker or not, make sure the public knows they’re up to their old tricks again. Click here to help call them out on Twitter, or spread the word on Facebook.