"You tricked us" - motorcycle food and parcel delivery firm under fire as employees claim 19% rate reduction

[rooster59]

Image: Sanook

 

Sanook reported that motorcycle delivery personnel of a well known application claim they have been stripped of 19% of their income after the firm changed their rates.

 

More than 100 riders - some with paper alleging they had been tricked by the firm - gathered near the end of Sukhumvit Soi 40 in Bangkok.

 

Traffic jams built up inbound as the road was reduced to one lane. Outbound was not affected. 

 

They claim their rates have been hit after the firm - who Sanook did not name though it was clearly visible on jackets in their video - were giving riders 50 baht instead of 62 baht for the first three kilometers. 

 

After various deductions their fees were now reduced from 51 baht to just 41 baht. 

 

Not only that Sanook were told that changes to the way distances over 3 kms were calculated meant further losses.

They used to be assessed on GPS by vehicle movement, now it was the distance a pedestrian would travel. 

 

Protests began last week and followed a boast by the company that the employees and the company would "Get Bigger Together".

 

It appears that the company is getting bigger while the employees cut is getting smaller, notes Thaivisa. 

 

No executives of the firm bothered to come down to hear the employees demands to reinstate their previous deal. 

 

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[tomazbodner]

"They claim their rates have been hit after the firm - who Sanook did not name though it was clearly visible on jackets in their video - were giving riders 50 baht instead of 62 baht for the first three kilometers."

 

Gosh! Holy Brown and Cony!

[trainman34014]

Simples; total strike, no deliveries until they get their dosh back !

[brommers]

Until the general public stop using all these gig economy deliver services the plight of drivers will not improve. This business model is acreturn to 19th century business practices hidden behind technology. And anyone usingbthese companies is condemning people to exploitative conditions.

[Burma Bill]

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

a well known application claim they have been stripped of 19% of their income after the firm changed their rates.

  

Maybe the firm is trying to grab a bigger profit??

[Kerryd]

Maybe the firm wised up to riders taking "the long way around" to get deliveries done ?  Maybe they started noticing riders claiming they went 3 kms for a trip that should have been only 1.5 ?

Maybe that's why they started calculating based on walking distance ?

Oh right, riders would never fudge trips to make extra dosh. They are after all, the most honest of people working in the city. 

 

 

[cocoonclub]

12 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

riders claiming they went 3 kms for a trip that should have been only 1.5 ?

Isn’t the app tracking their moves via GPS? 

[Kerryd]

Yes, which is probably how they (may have) noticed a problem. They may have noticed that trips that should have been 1-2 kms were showing up as 3-4 on the GPS as riders took longer routes. Assuming that is the reason for the rate change, which would probably mean someone in the firm either got wind of something or someone was comparing GPS data with actual distances (perhaps using Google Maps or something) and noticing a lot of discrepancies.

It could well be that the "firm" is just being cheap a**es as well. However, the "longer route" scam has been going on with regular taxis, in many countries, for decades. I would be shocked if riders who are getting paid by distance weren't trying to "stretch out" their routes a bit.

[tonymontana32]

1 hour ago, Kerryd said:

Maybe the firm wised up to riders taking "the long way around" to get deliveries done ?  Maybe they started noticing riders claiming they went 3 kms for a trip that should have been only 1.5 ?

Maybe that's why they started calculating based on walking distance ?

Oh right, riders would never fudge trips to make extra dosh. They are after all, the most honest of people working in the city. 

 

 

The fee is already calculated when people order food so that isn't possible

[itsari]

7 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

Simples; total strike, no deliveries until they get their dosh back !

Not so simple , solidarity amongst workers no longer exists . 

[worldexpress]

Unfortunately, maximum exploitation is the business model the 'disruptor' companies are using to maximize revenues. Uber and Lyft drivers have been dealing with the same squeeze-more pay cuts over the years and the Amazon workers are subject to literally non-stop "intense work-out" during their shifts with just enough time to pee into plastic bottles. Of course, I am one of hypocritical consumers that enable and patronize those businesses, sadly. 

[hotchilli]

19 hours ago, rooster59 said:

They used to be assessed on GPS by vehicle movement, now it was the distance a pedestrian would travel

That's fine as long as they're not using the pavements?

Maybe they were taking the "scenic route" before to bump up mileage?

Just throwing the flip-side of the coin out there.

[impulse]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

That's fine as long as they're not using the pavements?

Maybe they were taking the "scenic route" before to bump up mileage?

Just throwing the flip-side of the coin out there.

 

Here's an experiment.  Pull up directions in Google Maps.  Look at the mileage for taking a car, then look at the mileage for walking.  There can be a significant difference before you go the first 5 meters of that journey.  Before anyone takes any scenic route, it's all factored in. 

 

I'm curious what percentage of the rate goes to the rider and whether they calculate the customers' charge on the same basis as they calculate the drivers' pay.   In other words, are the customers getting a better deal to be more competitive, or is the company pocketing the discrepancy (if there is one...)?

[robblok]

16 hours ago, brommers said:

Until the general public stop using all these gig economy deliver services the plight of drivers will not improve. This business model is acreturn to 19th century business practices hidden behind technology. And anyone usingbthese companies is condemning people to exploitative conditions.

Nobody forces them to work for these prices. Their choice to work for it or not. 

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post and the replies have been removed.

 

A troll post using a trolling image has been removed. 

[mtls2005]

On 3/27/2021 at 11:40 AM, rooster59 said:

of a well known application

 

Assuming it's Line Man?

 

Based on the photos.

 

Quite strange that no reference is made to the company?

[mtls2005]

On 3/28/2021 at 2:26 AM, worldexpress said:

Unfortunately, maximum exploitation is the business model the 'disruptor' companies are using to maximize revenues.

 

Yeah, there's that, oh, and delivering food to people, and providing business for restaurants, and keeping people employed there.

 

You do realize that food has been delivered prior to the "dispruption"?

 

If drivers do not want to work this job they are free to seek employment elsewhere.

 

The originating business (restaurant) - lower margin as the NSP is discounted, the app - from both the busienss and the customer, the driver (sometimes has to float money) and the customer (higher NSP, + fee) all have to share the "fee".

 

Now if Line Man has violated the terms of their contract with drivers, or changed it without notice or retroactively then that would not be good.

 

 

Often various government agencies flock to issues, tripping over each other to appear "involved", would be nice if the MOT and MDES looked into this case.

 

 

[Mr Dome]

On 3/27/2021 at 5:37 PM, cocoonclub said:

Isn’t the app tracking their moves via GPS? 

No, it doesn't work that way. The apps will calculate the distance/give the route to take, sometimes going so far as basing it on "as the crow flies". Riders have no influence on this.

 

In depth reading can be found here: https://www.wired.com/story/gig-workers-gather-data-check-algorithm-math/

[Mr Dome]

On 3/28/2021 at 9:01 AM, robblok said:

Nobody forces them to work for these prices. Their choice to work for it or not. 

Also your choice not to comment or not and here we are with your stinker of a comment.

 

The current pandemic has wiped out a lot of jobs is just one reason. These jobs require no special knowledge, so anyone can do them, is another.

Probably, many aren't as cynical about the gig economy jobs as we Westerners are, so they might not have seen this coming (these "your boss is an algorithm" companies always do this).

[cocoonclub]

2 hours ago, Mr Dome said:

No, it doesn't work that way. The apps will calculate the distance/give the route to take, sometimes going so far as basing it on "as the crow flies". Riders have no influence on this.

 

In depth reading can be found here: https://www.wired.com/story/gig-workers-gather-data-check-algorithm-math/

If that was the case then the riders should be glad about the change announced here no? Because calculating their commission based on “the distance a pedestrian would travel” sounds better for them than based on “as the crow flies”. 
 

 

 

[Mr Dome]

21 hours ago, cocoonclub said:

If that was the case then the riders should be glad about the change announced here no? Because calculating their commission based on “the distance a pedestrian would travel” sounds better for them than based on “as the crow flies”. 
 

I was responding to your post that seemed to suggest that the riders can pick their route and get paid for the actual distance travelled, showing that might not be the case.

 

The OP clearly outlines deductions and I have no doubt that the gig workers aren't mistaken.

 

Now you claim, what? That they're actually getting more? We're missing some info here.

[cocoonclub]

7 hours ago, Mr Dome said:

I was responding to your post that seemed to suggest that the riders can pick their route and get paid for the actual distance travelled, showing that might not be the case.

No, that’s not what I suggested. It’s what someone else suggested, which is why I asked (sort of a rhetorical question) if they aren’t tracked via GPS. 
 

You then replied, somewhat unrelated, that riders get paid based on “how the crow flies”. So I responded to that pointing out that they then should be better off now (given that the commission model now seems to got changed from “how the crow flies” to how the pedestrian walks). 
 

7 hours ago, Mr Dome said:

The OP clearly outlines deductions and I have no doubt that the gig workers aren't mistaken.

 

Now you claim, what? That they're actually getting more? We're missing some info here.

1. If your claim is correct that before the change they got paid based on “how the crow flies”, this would mean that they now get more. 
 

2. If the other poster’s claim is correct that before the change they got paid according to whatever they claimed the distance was (without any GPS tracking), this would mean that they are now worse off, but rightfully so. 

[Mr Dome]

On 3/31/2021 at 11:22 PM, cocoonclub said:

No, that’s not what I suggested. It’s what someone else suggested, which is why I asked (sort of a rhetorical question) if they aren’t tracked via GPS. 
 

You then replied, somewhat unrelated, that riders get paid based on “how the crow flies”. So I responded to that pointing out that they then should be better off now (given that the commission model now seems to got changed from “how the crow flies” to how the pedestrian walks). 
 

1. If your claim is correct that before the change they got paid based on “how the crow flies”, this would mean that they now get more. 
 

2. If the other poster’s claim is correct that before the change they got paid according to whatever they claimed the distance was (without any GPS tracking), this would mean that they are now worse off, but rightfully so. 

OK, misunderstanding then. My apologies.

[Meat Pie 47]

On 3/27/2021 at 1:43 PM, trainman34014 said:

Simples; total strike, no deliveries until they get their dosh back !

does that mean you have to cook by your self?