According to a Vice report, due to a loophole in the DoorDash application, drivers on the platform are making much more money in an effort they’re calling #DeclineNow Movement.
The two DoorDash Dashers, Dave Levy and Nikos Kanelopoulos are trying to beat the algorithm. They try to persuade their fellow drivers to decline the least paying deliveries. The default system for matching jobs with drivers will automatically respond by increasing pay rates. “Every application based on Demand, the Company’s objective is to shift profits from the driver back to the company constantly,” Levy says. “Our objective is the reverse of that.”
What is the #DeclineNow movement?
The primary tool of Dashers to interfere with the company’s algorithm is the #DeclineNow movement. It is a more than 30,000-individual Facebook forum that provides insight into a type of labor activism modified for the gig economy. While there’s no proper way to quantify its effect, # DeclineNow’s members say they have already increased pay for workers across the USA. Including in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, where Kanelopoulos and Levy live.
But this effort raises challenging questions about the nature of collective action. There are few reasons to doubt whether using a company’s software systems against it is a strategy that can prove effective for a more extended period or not.
How did the #DeclineNow movement start
In October 2019, Dave Levy and Nikos Kanelopoulos launched the #DeclineNow Facebook group. They urge members to decline any delivery that does not pay at least $7, which is more than double the current floor of $3. In the #DeclineNow strategy, low acceptance rates are a badge of honor. Levy himself rejects about 99% of the jobs offered to him. He is rapidly declining low-paying jobs to find enough lucrative ones to keep him busy. #DeclineNow’s strategy of selectively rejecting orders is well-known among DoorDash workers – and not widely accepted.
Some question the firm minimum fee rule, citing the regional price differences. At the same time, others find the #DeclineNow movement to be toxic and mean-spirited. A place where people try to bully and ridicule others into going along with their plan. #DeclineNow has little patience for such naysayers. Users who question the $7 minimum face suspension from the group. Or as the group’s administrator likes to put it, “a trip to the dungeon.”
DoorDash’s response to #DeclineNow
In a recent statement, DoorDash said that Dashers are always free to accept or decline orders. However, coordinated declining slows down the overall delivery process. The company motivates workers to get at least 70% of deliveries offered to them. It also awards them with “Top Dasher” status.
DoorDash isn’t new to pay scandals
It would not be the first time DoorDash was under fire for pay outrage. In 2019, the company faced a tipping scandal. They allegedly skim earned tips from drivers to profit and cover minimum fees for small orders. With gig economy workers still classified as contractors via Prop 22 in California, much of the power is still in the delivery company’s hands.
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