Otherwise we’d game the system," the Spark driver in Lafayette, Indiana, said. "They don’t let us know what 'effort pay' is or how it's calculated. This waiting time is compensated, usually a few dollars, as "effort pay," using a blackbox algorithm, or opaque pay structure. Spark gig workers say they can wait for 15 minutes up to an hour for an order to be ready once they've accepted the order and notified Walmart that they've arrived at Walmart pick it up. Spark drivers provided screenshots of their earnings that confirmed these changes. Workers are drawn in with lucrative pay and bonuses, and plentiful offers, only to see their offerings and earnings nosedive.
Motherboard spoke to Spark drivers in Washington, Texas, Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky who described "a bait and switch" story that has become familiar across the gig economy. "It's gotten to the point where there are days where you have to work 12 hours with no break to make the same money I made working five or six hours when I originally started," a Spark driver in Lafayette, Indiana told Motherboard. “Drivers who use the Spark Driver App are paid competitively per trip compared to other platforms," a Walmart spokesperson told Motherboard. In October, at DoorDash's request, Walmart opened up the tipping window. Until late 2020, Walmart's app did not allow customers to tip until after an order was delivered, an issue which also impacted Spark drivers. DoorDash recently surveyed one million of its gig workers and found widespread dissatisfaction with fulfilling Walmart orders, including low tips and long wait times-issues also voiced by Spark drivers. In addition to Spark, Walmart also relies on third-party gig workers from DoorDash, Postmates, GrubHub, Instacart, and Roadie for deliveries.
Shipt's gig workers say they've continued to see low earnings in 2021. (Other gig workers are leaving Shipt and Instacart for Spark.) In September, Motherboard reported that Shipt gig workers saw a decline in pay when the company switched from a transparent to an algorithmic pay model in 2020. Some are abandoning the app altogether for Target's delivery app, Shipt, because its customers tip better. Spark drivers say they need to work longer hours to earn the same income and qualify for bonuses. Posts on several private national Facebook groups for Walmart delivery drivers describe a similar situation. The expansion of Walmart's delivery operation during the pandemic has translated to fierce competition among gig workers for lucrative orders on its Spark app, workers told Motherboard. Spark's largest unofficial Facebook group, "Spark Delivery Drivers Nationwide," has more than 3,100 members. Walmart's mass hiring of personal shoppers in its stores suggests the company also rapidly onboarded new gig workers. The company would not disclose the number of gig workers on its Spark platform, but its website indicates that it operates in more than 230 U.S. At the peak of the pandemic delivery boom, Walmart said customer delivery and pick ups orders had increased by 400 percent. It has also increased delivery and pick up slots at its stores by 40 percent during the pandemic. The country's largest employer, Walmart said it hired 500,000 new employees, including 170,000 as personal shoppers who fulfill delivery and pick up orders. She used her stimulus checks to help pay for a $3,000 new car.ĭuring the pandemic, Walmart and its delivery operations have expanded rapidly across the United States, in response to soaring demand for grocery deliveries and to keep up with its competitor, Amazon. Things took a turn again for the worse when her car broke down while she was delivering for Spark. You can always tell when a lot of new people start working because the orders will disappear." "At first you get overloaded with orders then quickly they start dwindling down.
"The one thing that everyone goes through is the way they draw new hires in and give them priority," she continued. Motherboard granted the worker anonymity because she feared retaliation from Walmart for speaking to the media. "I was very disappointed because I had expected the job to last.” "I drove around for hours and occasionally one order would pop up, only to be accepted by another driver," she said. Lucrative $15 orders were snatched up by other drivers before she could claim them often the loading animation on the Spark app, the Walmart logo, would spin endlessly when she tried to accept an offer, and it would get scooped up by another driver. Drivers call it “the spinning wheel of death.” When we spoke in April, she said she was lucky if she brought home more than $500 in a 30-hour workweek, and relies on tips as her main source of income. But less than a month into the job, her income plummeted.
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