Do All Those Holiday Deliveries Mean Lumps of Coal for Drivers?
Walmart and Grubhub offer side hustles with a side of sad
The holiday season means last minute - you need something you forgot, you’ve got to feed people you hadn’t planned to, you’re tired and want to order in for dinner.
No worries!
There’s a slew of apps and service providers ready to deliver what you need - now!
And, doing some side work as a delivery driver could mean extra money - much needed this time of year.
Unless, of course, those apps trick you into paying insane fees - or deceive drivers with false earnings promises and junk fees to access their earnings.
A pair of stories about the perils of the gig economy delivery industry suggest that for drivers and customers alike, a last-minute holiday delivery might just mean a heavy dose of coal.
Apparently, Walmart and its chosen payment vendor forced delivery drivers to pay some $10 million in junk fees just to access earnings.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) alleges in a complaint that Walmart's payment scheme for its "last-mile" delivery service violates federal law by denying workers the right to deposit funds in an account of their choosing and by forcing those drivers to pay millions of dollars in junk fees in order to access their own pay.
If the CFPB suit is successful, harmed Walmart drivers may get all or a portion of their funds back.
Then, there’s Grubhub - a popular food delivery app that grew its business by straight up lying. Listing restaurants on its app that hadn’t agreed to be a part of Grubhub’s program - creating confusion for both customers and restaurants and all kinds of problems for drivers.
“Our investigation found that Grubhub tricked its customers, deceived its drivers, and unfairly damaged the reputation and revenues of restaurants that did not partner with Grubhub—all in order to drive scale and accelerate growth,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “Today’s action holds Grubhub to account, putting an end to these illegal practices and securing nearly $25 million for the people cheated by Grubhub’s tactics. There is no ‘gig platform’ exemption to the laws on the books.”
As a result of the FTC’s action, harmed consumers, restaurants, and drivers will be compensated for their losses. Additionally, Grubhub must take action to rectify these problems.
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