Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-07-22)

22

T E C H N O L O G Y

2

Dozensofworkerssaythecompany’sapphectors

themtotakeongrocerydeliveriesthat

aren’tworththeirtime,andthatit doesn’tstopthere

Instacart Doesn’t

Want ‘No’

For an Answer

fooddeliveryplatformusuallydoesn’toffer an

optiontodecline.

Workers are forcedto entirely mute their

phone,closetheapp,orsitthroughabout four

minutesofthatstrangepinging,whichmany

say sounds like a submarine’s sonar and some

compare to a time bomb. Those who wait it out

sometimes wind up having to do it all over again

when the same job pops back up in their queue.

Edited by

Jeff Muskus ILLUSTRATION BY JACK SACHS; DATA: FORTHCOMING STUDY FROM KATHLEEN GRIESBACH, ADAM REICH, LUKE ELLIOTT-NEGRI, AND RUTH MILKMAN

BloombergBusinessweek July 22, 2019

WhenInstacartInc.’seponymousgrocerydelivery

appgetsa neworder,it typicallyalertsa nearby

“full-service shopper,” its term for the worker who

gathers and delivers the groceries, by sending the

order to the worker’s phone with a bright green

“ACCEPT”buttonanda repetitivepingingsound.

Butevenif thatshopper—whoostensiblyhasthe

flexibilitytorejecta gig—decidesthelatest one

isn’t worth the time and effort, the on-demand