Will Extraordinary Gas Prices Drive Gig Workers to Collective Action?
Stagnant order pay and rising fuel costs push drivers to their breaking point
On Tuesday, President Biden issued an executive order banning the import of Russian oil and natural gas in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s antagonistic invasion of Ukraine. Due in part to the turmoil in Eastern Europe, but also corporate profiteering off of the crisis, gas prices for Americans have now reached $4.32/gallon nationwide, according to AAA’s National Average. While commuters and employees returning to the office are undoubtedly feeling the sting at the pump, some of the country’s most vulnerable contractors are left searching for answers.
“It’s just not worth it anymore.”
Exploring online forums of DoorDash, Uber Eats, and GrubHub drivers, it does not take long to find entire mega-threads dedicated to the conversation around rising gas prices and stagnant wages. Some users come looking for solutions, some for validation, and others even examine the prospect of collective action.
“I just want to say this to get it off my chest: I am refusing to dash anymore until Doordash gives us a raise to counteract these gas prices.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m tapping out of this soon. I’m tired of hemorrhaging at the pump.”
“Uber doesn’t hardly send me any orders anymore. Grubhub cut the pay and is hardly worth it. Doordash is still busy, but reduced pay and tip hiding make it hard as hell to pick profitable orders. It’s just not worth it anymore. They want us to deliver for free now.”
“Dasher union when????”
Collective action as a contractor is tricky. When you drive for Uber, you are not an employee, and because of that peculiar status, you can be terminated at a moment’s notice if you become a thorn in the side of upper management. Union busting tactics are already considered good business practices in America, even when you are an employee, like Amazon, REI, and Starbucks have shown us over the past year. For this disconnected and independent workforce, union solidarity seems next to impossible.
However, contractors hold a unique bit of leverage in the food delivery industry; the ability to refuse inadequate orders.
Even before the gas crisis began, /r/doordash_drivers, a community of 128,000+ Reddit users who presumably drive for the popular app, routinely share best practices for new drivers. That includes advice on where and when to dash, what to expect come tax season, and, most importantly, knowing what orders are a waste of time and a net negative return on investment when factoring in fuel prices and wear and tear on their vehicles.
I contract for DoorDash in the Puget Sound area for extra spending money and as a stopgap between “real” jobs. I am lucky; I deliver in a dense urban area in an electric vehicle. There are fewer drivers on the roads and a higher supply of order availability, meaning I can pick and choose what orders are worth accepting. The current gas prices could be construed as a benefit for me.
Still, in the past week, I have watched orders wait on takeout shelves for hours (meaning I’ll pick up an order, drop it off, come back for another, and see the same food still sitting there). DoorDash attempts to finesse their way around this issue by “stacking” a no-tip order with another order from a good tipper, so seasoned drivers need to stay one step ahead or risk exploitation.
When these apps do everything they can to appease non-tippers and shrug off drivers’ concerns, everyone suffers.
A Race to the Bottom
To their credit, delivery service GrubHub sent out emails Thursday claiming to raise driver’s base pay due to the gas price surge (this change is, so far, not reflected in drivers’ experience on the app). However, there is no reason to believe competitors will follow suit. User screenshots show DoorDash allegedly lowered their default tip option shown to customers in some markets, from $2.50 to $1.50.
In this highly competitive, low-margin industry, where contractors already deal with unsafe app design, abusive customers, and unhelpful driver support while on the job, the contractor delivery sector is quickly becoming a race to the bottom.
None of these companies are making money, as few Internet-based startups manage to do early on. Instead of retaining talented and committed contractors to work for them, they hope to outlast their competitors by overhiring and offering the cheapest delivery prices possible. All the while, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu became the second-highest paid executive in 2020, with compensation valued at $414 million.
Private equity built these app empires on the shifting sands of contracted labor exploitation. With this latest hike in gas prices, it seems something is finally starting to give. We can only hope these companies realize their current model is untenable and change course for the good of their customers and their drivers. It will be a mighty uphill battle, but collective action and solidarity is the only way to push for much-needed changes to the app delivery industry.
