GoPuff uses company Slack channel to announce 25 - 35% pay cuts to workers

Are you a GoPuff driver? Click here to report on pay at your warehouse.

On August 2, GoPuff delivery drivers across the US will see their hourly pay cut dramatically — and this is how the company’s managers chose to announce it.

So what exactly does this mean? GoPuff’s subsidy works like an hourly guarantee for drivers’ shifts. Unlike typical apps, GoPuff requires drivers to work on scheduled hours, reporting to a warehouse where they’re assigned deliveries. Workers earn a flat rate for each order (usually $3) and at the end of the week, pay is topped off if they didn’t get enough to earn the hourly rate.

Screenshot from a mileage tracker app used by San Antonio GoPuff driver.

Most warehouses’ subsidies are so low drivers earn far below minimum wage, after factoring in expenses. That’s because workers cover all the costs of driving their own cars — GoPuff doesn’t pay a dime, or even cover costs for accidents.

And those miles really rack up. For example, this typical 9-hour shift in San Antonio took 113 miles, about $7/hour in unpaid mileage costs.

so a pay rate of $9/hour is closer to $2/hour after expenses.

San Antonio drivers were told the cut was due to a “temporary increase” in May.

And it’s true many warehouses mysteriously bumped up pay earlier this year, right around the time drivers began organizing to demand better from GoPuff…

…but drivers in San Antonio weren’t told the increase was temporary. The announcement — which actually came in June, not May — simply reported that pay would be increased to $12/hour.

And what’s more, the driver who shared this screenshot was actually making $10/hour before the bump — yet pay at his warehouse is now being cut down to $9.

This cut will affect thousands of drivers as hundreds of GoPuff warehouses slash pay on Aug. 2, just two months after their “temporary increases.”

In Dallas, pay was bumped to $12.75/hour and will decrease to $9 — a 30% cut.
In Westminster, CO, the $16 hourly guarantee is being cut to $12.25 — firmly below the state’s minimum wage of $12.32/hour, even before accounting for mileage costs.
In Lafayette, IN, pay is being decreased by 35%, from $13.50/hour to $8.75.

GoPuff hasn’t explained why they chose to cut workers’ pay. But to be fair, they may have been too busy — on Friday, they announced they’d raised another $1 billion in investments.

GoPuff is one of the fastest-growing apps out there. In the last year, they bought liquor chains BevMo and Liquor Barn, paid $350 million for British app Fancy, partnered with Uber Eats to deliver “essentials,” launched GoPuff Kitchen to compete with restaurant delivery apps, and expanded to over 500 warehouses in almost every state.

Their valuation is now a whopping $15 billion — nearly quadrupled since last year.

They owe their explosive growth to a unique business model: offering almost-instant deliveries for a flat $1.95 fee by keeping drivers on standby at warehouses. The trick is having gig workers report to managers on scheduled shifts, almost exactly like employees…minus minimum wage.

Unlike competitors like DoorDash and Instacart, GoPuff has managed to keep their treatment of workers under the radar — until now. Drivers are organizing, and they refuse to stand by & let GoPuff expand their shady model by cutting pay further. It’s time for customers & the public to start paying attention too.

Click here to read Gopuff drivers’ demands & share this page on Twitter & Facebook to get the word out.

And if you’re a driver for GoPuff, click here to report pay rates at your warehouse, so we can crowdsource data to learn how GoPuff is cutting pay across the US.