Re:SouthwestAirlines' Meltdown Shows How Corporations Pit Co...
by cldellow on Friday December 30, 2022 @08:40PM
(#34192484)
In theory, that'd work well.
In practice, drivers don't see the tip amount until after completing the order. They have to infer the tip amount by looking at an aggregate payout that combines transit time, tip and incentives.
The services would no doubt claim that this is to ensure every consumer is treated the same, regardless of tip. However, sometimes services run "top-up" incentives where they guarantee a driver a minimum fee per delivery. In this scenario, if the incentive is $10 and I tip $10, I'm not visibly different from a customer who tips $0 -- the driver makes the same pay.
Worse, as a consumer, I can't tell if my tip is influencing the driver's behaviour. Some apps (looking at you, Skip the Dishes) will affirmatively lie to you about the progress of your order, hallucinating GPS traces to make you think that your order is en route to you, when, in fact, no driver is assigned. (You will learn this from the customer support team only after several minutes of agonizing back and forth where they painstakingly avoid answering direct questions.)
If we're going to retcon tips as an auction for services, then I should be allowed to claw back my tip if the service wasn't performed in a timely manner.
In practice, drivers don't see the tip amount until after completing the order. They have to infer the tip amount by looking at an aggregate payout that combines transit time, tip and incentives.
The services would no doubt claim that this is to ensure every consumer is treated the same, regardless of tip. However, sometimes services run "top-up" incentives where they guarantee a driver a minimum fee per delivery. In this scenario, if the incentive is $10 and I tip $10, I'm not visibly different from a customer who tips $0 -- the driver makes the same pay.
Worse, as a consumer, I can't tell if my tip is influencing the driver's behaviour. Some apps (looking at you, Skip the Dishes) will affirmatively lie to you about the progress of your order, hallucinating GPS traces to make you think that your order is en route to you, when, in fact, no driver is assigned. (You will learn this from the customer support team only after several minutes of agonizing back and forth where they painstakingly avoid answering direct questions.)
If we're going to retcon tips as an auction for services, then I should be allowed to claw back my tip if the service wasn't performed in a timely manner.