Yep, exactly. I started using Instacart when it first came out. It was very convenient. But then I started to see more stories about how the company was changing the compensation structure. It got so bad that the delivery people were leaving flyers in the bags, made by that person, explaining how Instacart was basically screwing them.

I haven't used Instacart since then.

You didn't explain why that's "the right thing". Making sure the worker is paid well is the most important part.

It's also possible that instacart will lose money on the sales where they can't scam tips; that means you can use the service and pay the worker well and punish instacart and increase the incentive for them to change their policy.

Respectfully, I think you're being a bit naive. At the moment, the evidence points to Instacart _not_ being the kind of company that will respond to "incentive to change policy", but that they _are_ a company that will commit wage theft. Pull the ripcord, delete accounts, tank all the metrics (MRR/DAU/WAU/MAU), and force the company to change or collapse. Subtle hints won't be effective here, as the response their community support indicates.

This is basically the argument for removing the minimum wage entirely. Some money is better than no money, right? I'd prefer not to live in that dystopia.

Or we can just make it very clear that companies that engage in outright wage theft should be put out of business, so no other business ever tries it in the future.

I don't think you understand my argument at all. I'm suggesting that the tips be rearranged so that the working is making significantly more than minimum wage, and the company can't scam their way out of paying what they promised to lure in workers in the first place.

I'm all for bringing a legal hammer down on them! I'm just saying that as far as personal action goes, getting them to lose money while their worker gets a healthy wage is better than a boycott.

exactly. Most people don't tip on Instacart so doing the right thing would be to make sure they pay their employees well.

maybe the right thing is just stopping tipping altogether? Then Instacart will be forced to pay a somewhat reasonable wage

Good for you, but arbitrary moral judgements against everyone else never goes well. Walking miles to gather food and water is the reality for billions of people.

Using Instacart is a luxury in the first place, but having everyone close their account only hurts the very people you seem to be for. In case you missed it in the article, there is a workaround so that your tips are correctly considered, or you can always pay cash: http://www.workingwa.org/22cents

If Instacart closes down because of this kind of shitty behavior, people may learn a thing or two, and the next company in this space might decide that wage theft is not going to be part of their competitive advantage.

Sure, and meanwhile these workers don't get paid anything. There are ways to fix things without shutting it all down.

>>There are ways to fix things without shutting it all down.

Same arguments were used to suppose slavery. If we make slavery illegal, where will slaves work apart from cotton farms?

There are other jobs to do, it doesn't mean we have to allow blatant injustice to go on, in exchange for profits. All the while using a moral arguments to justify it.

My issue is claiming moral righteousness of the struggle of shopping for your own food after using a luxury shopping app. I pointed out that the article itself asked customers to use a workaround so both sides get what they want.

Frankly I don't care about this company but equating this to slavery just comes across as more of the same virtue signaling.

There appear to be plenty of other unethical companies to work for so this is unlikely to be a problem.

> arbitrary moral judgements

This is redundant. You are making a general argument here against making decisions based on your own morality.