Pattaya: Greedy Grab - riders protest that company is not paying them enough

[webfact]

Pattaya: Greedy Grab - riders protest that company is not paying them enough

 

Picture: STV Pattaya

 

More than 100 Grab Food riders protested in South Pattaya yesterday that their company is not paying them enough.

 

They are threatening strike action in the resort if their demands for better pay are not met. 

 

They want changes to how much they are paid for each trip because at the moment they are not being paid enough to make use of their bikes viable. 

 

Picture: STV Pattaya

 

Some had placards saying "Grab naa leuat" - direct Thai language that means 'Greedy Grab'. 

 

A spokesman said that some riders were making 1,000 baht before but changes meant they are now lucky to make 400 baht a day.

 

Narongsak Suksanguan said that as a bare minimum the fee for each trip needs to be raised from 30 to 35 or 40 baht. 

 

Previously an adjustment was made but it has proved not to be enough to satisfy the riders.

 

As more people return to going out to eat, riders are seeing their salaries plummet compared to the height of the pandemic lockdown when most everyone was eating at home, notes Thaivisa.

 

Source: STV Pattaya

 

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[geriatrickid]

Fair enough. they are not obliged to work for Grab. they can start their own co-op and;

-pay for the IT infrastructure and dispatch services.

- pay for the advertising

- pay into a fund to compensate customers who are ripped off or injured.

 

What is not mentioned is that clients/users have the option of tipping. In many countries, the drivers make their profit on the gratuity. Perhaps the Thais don't tip.

 

[Kerryd]

So let's see, they claim that some drivers were making up to 1,000 baht (per day) before "the changes". But ever since the Covid restrictions have been lifted, they are "only" making around 400.

Which is probably more than they were making before the covid restrictions, when people were doing then what they are doing now. Going out to eat or picking up food on the way home instead of having it delivered. There were probably even more drivers back then as well, meaning less work for each of them (averaged out).

(I'd suspect that when the covid restrictions kicked in, a lot of moto delivery/taxi guys ended up going "home" due to the lack of work here and in other major tourist centres. As there aren't as many tourists now and many places are still closed, a lot of the people who've gone home probably haven't returned yet.)

I mean, holey c.rap - one of my neighbours is a Grab driver. We have a 7-11 at the entrance to our "village", 300 meters from our homes, and I've seen him order stuff online (from 7-11) and have it delivered. 
You know, instead of just jumping on his moto and driving there and back.

It's like it's the standard business practise here, when demand is reduced, increase prices to try and gouge as much as you can from the remaining customers until they goes elsewhere and your business fails completely.

So they'll jack up the costs of having food delivered, which will result in less people having food delivered, which will result in even less work for those drivers, which will result in them (again) demanding more for their trips.

I'm guessing Grab isn't losing money, now, and probably wouldn't lose much even if they raised the per trip fee to 40 baht and didn't increase the cost to the customer, but at some point it could become unprofitable to keep doing so. Then all those drivers will have to try and get their old jobs back at (Food Panda/Lalalamove/MacDonalds/7-11/etc), which probably already have enough drivers.

Ah well, it's not like we don't have enough moto taxi drivers in the city as it is ! I've seen 2 or 3 street corners that didn't have a squad of them camped out at the ready. And with all the new developments that keep going up, there's sure to be a demand for more moto-taxi guys to sit around all day hoping to get 4-5 trips a day.

[petedk]

1 hour ago, geriatrickid said:

Fair enough. they are not obliged to work for Grab. they can start their own co-op and;

-pay for the IT infrastructure and dispatch services.

- pay for the advertising

- pay into a fund to compensate customers who are ripped off or injured.

 

What is not mentioned is that clients/users have the option of tipping. In many countries, the drivers make their profit on the gratuity. Perhaps the Thais don't tip.

 

I can imagine many Thais tip. It may not be a lot, but 10 baht or 20 baht a time soon adds up to an extra 400 baht a day.

 

Maybe one of the problems is the shear number of Grab drivers now. I often drive through Ekamai in Bangkok and there is a famous noodle shop. It is normal to see 30 or more bikes waiting to pick up noodles, parking on the road causing a 2 lane road to be one lane .

[sammieuk1]

I'm with the riders grab are grabbing to much of their pitiful income ????

[Kerryd]

19 minutes ago, petedk said:

I can imagine many Thais tip. It may not be a lot, but 10 baht or 20 baht a time soon adds up to an extra 400 baht a day.

 

Maybe one of the problems is the shear number of Grab drivers now. I often drive through Ekamai in Bangkok and there is a famous noodle shop. It is normal to see 30 or more bikes waiting to pick up noodles, parking on the road causing a 2 lane road to be one lane .

Here in Pattaya a number of places have had to set aside special "Grab" parking areas due to the number of delivery bikes continuously coming and going. It seems every 2nd or 3rd moto on the roads these days is someone delivering for one outfit or another.

[Pumpuynarak]

I'll welcome the day that all food delivery m/c's disappear off the roads in Thailand, they're nothing more than dangerous idiots imo.

[pedro01]

400 Baht a day is a pitiful wage. 

 

1000 Baht a day isnt great either. 

 

So by what measure are they greedy? 

[hotandsticky]

7 minutes ago, pedro01 said:

400 Baht a day is a pitiful wage. 

 

1000 Baht a day isnt great either. 

 

So by what measure are they greedy? 

 

 

 

1,000 Baht IS great by Thai standards - What are you measuring it by ?.............. I trust you are not trying to judge this on western numbers; that would be foolish.

 

For delivery guys 400 Baht is acceptable - 1,000 Baht for skilled workers.... and maybe only in Bangkok.

[johng]

11 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

For delivery guys 400 Baht is acceptable - 1,000 Baht for skilled workers.... and maybe only in Bangkok.

if  <30,000 baht per month in Bangkok is "great"   how can they "all" afford to drive their  Fortunas and Benz's for a holiday to Pattaya every weekend..let alone pay for food,electric,water,mortgage  etc  during the week ????  ????

[johng]

1 hour ago, Pumpuynarak said:

they're nothing more than dangerous idiots imo.

Not quite as dangerous as the white minivans that have been absent for the last couple of months but are starting to creep (zig zaggy zooming)   back onto the roads.

[Deli]

Did anyone here consider that they have to pay for the bike, gas, maintenance. The risk they have going through the traffic, unhappy customers if a bit late, crappy weather sometimes...  It's not a fun job. And Grab definitely is not doing this for charity. Happy to have these delivery guys around and I tip them well.

Edited August 6, 2020 by Deli

[hotandsticky]

1 minute ago, Deli said:

Did anyone here consider that they have to pay for the bike, gas, maintenance. The risk they have going through the traffic, unhappy customers if a bit late, crappy weather sometimes...  It's not a fun job. And Grab definitely is not doing this for charity. Happy to have these delivery guys around and I tip them well.

 

 

You make it sound so awful I am almost surprised.......... not........   that there is such a massive surplus of these guys.

[Airalee]

4 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

 

What is not mentioned is that clients/users have the option of tipping. In many countries, the drivers make their profit on the gratuity. Perhaps the Thais don't tip.

Judging from the grief that Americans get here on Thaivisa for bringing our horrible tipping culture here to Thailand...

 

“They’ll all start expecting tips!  You’re making Thailand more expensive for the rest of us!”
 

...I doubt most Farangs are tipping either.

 

Stingy bastards! 

Edited August 6, 2020 by Airalee

[KhaoNiaw]

3 hours ago, Kerryd said:

I'm guessing Grab isn't losing money, now, and probably wouldn't lose much even if they raised the per trip fee to 40 baht and didn't increase the cost to the customer, but at some point it could become unprofitable to keep doing so. 

Grab is still losing money: https://southeastasiaglobe.com/will-grab-survive-covid19-singapore/

[skorp13]

My nephew drives for grab since his hotel closed down. He told me what he makes on some deliveries and how many extra hours he has to work to make up for it. No they do not pay their drivers enough. Also because when ordering from Grab there is a delivery charge most people, especially Thai's, do not feel the need to tip.

[Kerryd]

4 minutes ago, KhaoNiaw said:

Grab is still losing money: https://southeastasiaglobe.com/will-grab-survive-covid19-singapore/

To be fair, it seems that it is the Grab "ride share" portion of the business that is having problems in Singapore.
The food delivery "vertical" seems to still be making a profit, but not enough to offset the losses in the ride share "vertical".
 

"Though it does claim to be profitable in some ‘verticals’, such as food delivery, Grab has yet to publicly explain how much, when and where it earns profit in precise terms."

I don't know if Grab even does ride share in Thailand ? If not then they are probably turning a better profit (here) as they would be suffering similar losses, dragging down the overall profitability.

I note in that article that one of Grab's problems is their incentives (for new drivers) like up front signing bonuses. I suspect that doesn't apply to food delivery scooter drivers though. Seems they also put a lot of effort into trying to get Grab drivers to "use each other" for trips (by subsidizing such trips which means lower revenues).

Doesn't look good for Grab though when it seems they haven't turned a profit since they started in 2012 ! That apparently is accounting for all their "verticals" in all the countries they operate in !

[brucegoniners]

I think they should go on strike. I'm tired of these as#*oles cutting me off on the roads!

[Nice Boyd]

I BElieve they Charge Restaurants 35% is that true

Edited August 6, 2020 by Nice Boyd

[dsf9]

5 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

 

- pay into a fund to compensate customers who are ripped off or injured.

 

Hahahah. Uber used to give you a couple hundred baht when you were involved in a collision (as I know). Does Grab go further than refunding the fee? 

[losername]

I had never used Grab but recently a friend staying with me advised that every delivery she received had ฿10 added to the quoted cost by the rider.  Maybe part of the same problem but nowhere near Pattaya.

[wcoast]

49 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

Oh yes, let's exploit workers because there is always another to fill the empty slot. 

 

You make it sound so awful I am almost surprised.......... not........   that there is such a massive surplus of these guys.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Narongsak Suksanguan said that as a bare minimum the fee for each trip needs to be raised from 30 to 35 or 40 baht. 

Put 30B gasoline in the tank of a little bike and look how far you get. Far!

Obviously there are other costs but the gasoline is the highest cost and depends on the distance.

It should be easy to ride profitable with 30B per trip.

I understand that they like to get more and I also understand that all the other people who receive minimum wages i.e. in factories or shops like to get more.

Fact is GRAB and other companies will find enough riders who are willing to work with what they pay...

[treetops]

45 minutes ago, Nice Boyd said:

I BElieve they Charge Restaurants 35% is that true

It's certainly around that figure.  A restaurant owning friend made enquiries with them (and other similar companies) a while back and decided they were too expensive. They were all wanting around 30% to 40% of the price.

[onekoolguy]

2 hours ago, pedro01 said:

400 Baht a day is a pitiful wage. 

 

1000 Baht a day isnt great either. 

 

So by what measure are they greedy? 

I agree they should be paid more. Did you know that Grab charges the seller about 35% of the sales price!

[Greenhill]

1 hour ago, johng said:

if  <30,000 baht per month in Bangkok is "great"   how can they "all" afford to drive their  Fortunas and Benz's for a holiday to Pattaya every weekend..let alone pay for food,electric,water,mortgage  etc  during the week ????  ????

That's only their earned income!  Money that they get from corruption can double that easily!!

[ujayujay]

6 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

Fair enough. they are not obliged to work for Grab. they can start their own co-op and;

-pay for the IT infrastructure and dispatch services.

- pay for the advertising

- pay into a fund to compensate customers who are ripped off or injured.

 

What is not mentioned is that clients/users have the option of tipping. In many countries, the drivers make their profit on the gratuity. Perhaps the Thais don't tip.

 

Yes, you Dreamer????????????

[Cake Monster]

The Grab Company is paying these people enough.

Its just since the Lockdown there has been an explosion of these Delivery Guys, and ques of them can be seen waiting outside a Restaurant for their turn to deliver a Pizza or something.

Slim their numbers by 50% or so, and they all make a living.

[Bender Rodriguez]

ok, what does a motosay/TAXI union stop from paying x,y,z to create an APP equivalent to GRAB where they would get more of the cut ????

[sanuk711]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

A spokesman said that some riders were making 1,000 baht before but changes meant they are now lucky to make 400 baht a day.

For changes read...Pay cut,

 

It was OK to pay them this before, but now we are up and running---lets cut their pay.