MICHIGAN, USA — Grocery delivery app Shipt has made changes to the way its shoppers are paid. The company website calls it a "refresher on shopper pay" and highlights "some new updates that make pay even more competitive and easier to understand."
"It didn’t actually resonate that I would be taking a pay cut at first," said one West Michigan Shipt shopper, who wished to stay anonymous for concerns of backlash for speaking out. "It was phrased so nicely, there was great graphics and I was honestly under the impression it was already working that way."
The refresher emphasized cleared distinctions in the way shoppers are paid. The three ways are the baseline offer pay, which is guaranteed, and potential bonuses or customer tips, which are not. A Shipt representative confirmed that the company's pay is done by the offer, adding that they are committed to aligning that baseline to at least to $16 per hour.
Our shopper said $16 per hour is not the reality. They said the payment is based on the order time, and because it's usually less than an hour, the pay doesn't match up for someone trying to earn a full time income. They also said the quantity of high paying orders has declined in the past few months. Where they were making between $25 and $45 per order at the beginning, it's more like $10 or $15 now.
"It's just very inconsistent now, and that’s been frustrating because you can't approach it like an eight hour shift anymore," they said. "Gas is just expensive, and when you take out the cost of that it can be a little laughable sometimes what you’re actually making."
They said the drive times calculated by the app are also often inaccurate, leading to frustrated customers who give poor ratings or lower tips because of it. That also means less time to calculate into that $16 per hour equation.
The Shipt representative, along with the company's website stressed that shoppers are paid based on the time and effort it takes to complete an order. They also added that order prices are based on a number of factors like size of store and proximity of the items in any given order.
The Shipt website also mentioned a shopper perks program that helps offset the cost of things like gas and car insurance.
"It's just looking at the app a lot. You’re pulled over in a parking lot waiting for the next good one that’s worth your time to pop up," our shopper said. "I think I’ll still do Shipt, but I won't prioritize it the way that I had been."
Shipt released a statement about the shopper's concerns:
"At Shipt, we remain committed to continuing to offer shoppers access to flexible income earning opportunities that are competitive, easy to understand and compelling.
While we can’t speak to this particular shopper’s experience, we can confirm that in 2021, shoppers made, on average, between $25-35 per hour when factoring in offer pay, bonuses and tips. It’s also important to call out that 75 percent of Shipt Shoppers nationwide choose to shop an average of 10 hours or less each week.
This week, we reached out to shoppers to transparently share some positive enhancements. First, we took an industry-leading step to establish an earnings standard in our offer pay. Now, every offer a Shipt Shopper sees in Grand Rapids, or any market across the country for that matter, will be at least $16 per hour based on Shipt’s time and effort estimates. In many places, this represents an increase in shopper offer pay, on top of what shoppers can receive in bonuses and tips.
Second, we’ve updated our offer cards to display a single estimated pay number so shoppers can easily understand pay and best evaluate how to spend their time and work. Pay may increase from this initial estimated number, such as when more items are added to an order after a shopper has claimed it. We’re committed to showing shoppers key pieces of information to help them determine whether they want to accept an order offer, including estimated drive time from leading mapping services, the shopping list, the drop off location, etc."
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