“This base pay isn’t enough to sustain a livable wage, let alone to deal with medical bills.”
Shelby Hansen, Rover pet-sitter, Seattle
“I’m a gig worker on Rover and I need to see the City Council pass the PayUp policy.
The Rover app is a dog walking and pet-sitting service. I started doing this work because I thought it would be fun to work with pets. But while I was pet-sitting, owners were not honest with me about the aggressiveness of their dog. I was hurt badly, which left me with medical bills—and I haven’t been able to work with dogs because I developed a fear for large dogs.
The reason I work for Rover is for the flexible schedule. I have medical appointments that help me manage my disability, these take precedence over a regular, 9-5 work schedule. I’ve had multiple retail jobs that weren’t very accommodating of my illness. Without the type of flexibility offered by Rover, I honestly couldn’t work. But the low pay and lack of health coverage just aren’t worth the dangers.
Rover encourages workers to always maintain a low pay threshold in order to undercut other Rover workers.
This base pay isn’t enough to sustain a livable wage, let alone to deal with medical bills. Rover takes 20% of each and every job I do, in addition to the service fees they charge the client.
When you have to choose between food to stay alive, or transportation, or even rent…this is no way to live.
Rover is in our own backyard, and as a Seattle-based company, you would think they would treat Seattle workers better.
We need the Seattle City Council to pass the Pay Up policy for gig workers in 2022 because I need to be able to pay my bills and have enough for basic survival.”