This is what tech bros bring. A living nightmare.
The algorithms are all about optimizing the extraction of wealth, from everyone involved.
Kafkaesque is a good word for it
“We can never work out the algorithm,” one of the drivers says, requesting anonymity for fear of losing work. They wonder if the app ignores them if they’ve done a few jobs already that hour, and experiment with standing inside the restaurant, on the pavement or in the car park to see if subtle shifts in geolocation matter. Retail assistants say they have to pay a fee if they want to receive their wages within a month. ‘So immoral’: gig economy workers charged fee to get paid quicker Read more
“It’s an absolute nightmare,” says the driver, adding that they permanently lost access to one of the platforms over a matter of a “max five minutes” wait in getting to a restaurant while he finished another job for a different app. Sometimes he gets logged out for a couple of hours because his beard has grown, confusing the facial recognition software.
“It’s not at all like being an employee,” he says. He is regularly frustrated by having to challenge what appeared to be shortfall in pay per job – sometimes just 10p, but at other times a few pounds. “There’s nobody you can talk to. Everything is automated.”
“There’s nobody you can talk to. Everything is automated.”
Yeah this is the stuff that needs to be regulated asap. You should have to have a contact you can refer to for pay disputes, this just creates an unreasonable burden on the person being paid when they have no one to contact.
I have no sympathy for people who do business with these companies anymore. Drivers, stores, and customers who get fucked over the same way time and again by these companies deserve it at this point.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
