This is the second part of the conversation with Łukasz. You can read the first one here
You regularly publish summaries of remuneration rates on various Platforms on your website and have been doing so for quite a long time. You must have noticed some patterns. What do you think salaries and rates depend on?
The delivery industry is the most capitalist labor market. Applications (apart from Pyszne.pl) pay us exactly as much as they need to ensure the desired smoothness of services. So in winter, when customers order more and there are significantly fewer couriers, the rates are high. In November and December, when only the most hardcore riders ride bikes and there are fewer scooters, you can earn really good money. The situation reverses in spring when seasonal delivery workers, mainly bicycle delivery workers, return. Apps are so comfortable that they can reduce rates almost to a minimum. What’s worse for us couriers is that even though these courses are low-paid, it is becoming more and more difficult to obtain them. During the holidays, when students are also involved, working on delivery (apart from Pyszne and possibly Glovo) basically makes no sense anymore. I once joked that during this period it was a job for enthusiasts and desperate people, and now I often repeat it. Experienced delivery workers deal with this differently. I know people who work hard in the winter so that they can have some time off in the summer. Others are looking for another job for this period (I took advantage of the offer of additional work this year and am currently devoting more time to it). Of course, still others grit their teeth and drive for spare change.
The vehicle is also important. For some time now, the Platforms have clearly favored delivery people on scooters and couriers working this way are probably the easiest to survive this period.
But it is also known that Platforms use dynamically determined remuneration. On one day, for the same order, one Supplier will receive PLN 10, the other PLN 12. If this is the case, why do Platforms use different types of “multipliers”?
The fact that one day the same course costs PLN 12 and another day PLN 10 (and this can happen even in courses that are one minute apart) is due to the multipliers. Platforms provide specific applicable base rates, which change very rarely (for example, in Uber they changed once in 3.5 years). Multipliers increase the base by a given percentage and hence the difference in the valuation of theoretically the same rates. In the given example, the rate for PLN 10 is the rate with a multiplier of X1.0, and the latter with a multiplier of x1.2.
The exception – from November – is Wolt, where the base rate is no longer known. This change in Volt was highly criticized by the couriers. Issues such as base rates should be mandatory for platforms to publish. Recently, Bolt has also been mixing things up a bit in the base, and while it is still known how much the base is as a whole, it is no longer known how much the individual components of this amount are.
What do you think about “challenges” and “bonuses”. Why do they often seem abstract or encourage dangerous behavior on the road, e.g.: “make 10 deliveries in 2 hours – we guarantee a PLN 50 bonus”
I have never seen a bonus of 10 deliveries in 2 hours. This would be pointless, because there is no physical possibility to complete so many courses. The only platform whose bonuses meant that attempts to complete them could result in dangerous behavior was Wolt. The problem was not only the high threshold (8-9 courses in 3 hours) but, above all, the moment of calculating the bonus. In all the apps I use, this is the moment of accepting the last course, and in Wolt it was the moment of completing the delivery. For this reason, the latter was often done at breakneck speed. We reported it to the headquarters and eventually they corrected it some time ago and it’s the same as everywhere else. Or at least it was, because Wolt formally gave up bonuses and it is difficult to say whether they will return to them in the winter.
In Uber, Bolt and Stuart, the bonuses are time-bound so that they could be physically performed without any problems. This would be possible, if, of course, you get that many courses at all. In winter it is usually easy to make them, and in summer there are either no bonuses or it is difficult to count on the right number of deliveries.
You are one of the few people who have been in this job for so long. Research shows that most people quit their jobs after about 3 months. Why do you think this happens?
I think that if this period is as long as 3 months, it is due to the fact that it is overestimated by enthusiasts like me or colleagues who have been working in the industry even much longer. I think the truth is that most people give up after the first or second settlement. An incredible number of people do not understand taxes at all. At the beginning of their work, they think that they will get the amounts they see in the application, but then it turns out that the result is much less. There is disappointment and a feeling of being cheated. Many people also do not understand the seasonal nature of this work, which I mentioned earlier.
Of course, for many people it is just a job to start or to earn extra money. For pupils or students, it is often just a summer job, which certainly influences such statistics.
Well, many people do not understand why the Platforms do not provide net earnings, but rather provide (according to them) rather abstract amounts of remuneration for the order. You say it’s because they don’t know how to calculate taxes. Or maybe the platforms do it on purpose to pull the wool over their eyes?
It is not possible for platforms to provide the net amount in the sense of “on hand”. This is due to the fact that different people – depending on the situation – are obliged to pay different taxes and ZUS, of course. I settle my taxes differently for JDG with VAT, and someone else settles for JDG but without VAT. Of course, it is completely different for those who do not have a business, but here again there are issues such as whether someone is a student under 26 years of age or whether these criteria are not met. Next comes the question of what kind of contract the Partner has signed – whether it is a 100% mandate contract or a mandate contract plus a lease agreement. When you go for a job interview in a regular company (at least not a Janusz company), you also talk about gross salary, not net salary – largely for the same reasons.
Stuart, Wolt and Glovo (from what I’ve heard) show this amount as easily as possible. This is the amount paid to the Partner for the delivery, net of VAT. This amount is then reduced by the settlement fee, as well as taxes and ZUS (Social Insurance Institution) appropriate to the situation of the courier.
It’s more difficult with Uber, because for 3 years they have been showing the courier the amount plus VAT, which in my opinion is unjustified. Apart from VAT taxpayers on JDG – like me – VAT does not apply to the rest. This is a tax in which the courier is not a party – these are Uber, Partner and the Tax Office. Here I am firmly convinced that this is a psychological trick. I find myself looking more favorably at Uber’s rates because they look better paid than they actually are. Nevertheless, to be fair to them, currently, even after deducting VAT, Uber pays relatively decently.
The most complicated thing is with Bolt. In this company, part of our earnings is paid from Estonia and part from Poland. Therefore, part of the amount of a given delivery is 0% VAT. Additionally, for some reason, different Partners pay this VAT differently (or not). I have no idea what this means. I suspect it may be a matter of what contract they have signed with Bolt.
The European Union has adopted the Platform Work Directive, which is to be implemented in Poland within two years. Do you have any expectations or concerns about her?
I read the content of this directive for the first time 1.5 years ago and then I was very optimistic. Contrary to what appeared in the media, the directive in that form would not force the introduction of full-time positions in our work. In that version, it would probably look like the Platforms would actually have a chance to adapt to the regulations so that they could reasonably prove that they are not our employers. Besides, I have no such attitude towards any of these companies. For me, they are more like business partners. There would have to be smaller or larger changes in individual companies, giving us even greater freedom and much greater transparency regarding the algorithms that determine our work.
Unfortunately, the regulations have been tightened this year and now I’m not sure what it will look like. At first glance, it may be difficult for them to change in our favor so as not to become our employer. In my opinion, such a situation would be very unfavorable for people who have the same approach to this work as I do (and I believe that is the majority of us). It will end with us working 8 hours a day for the minimum wage, having basically no influence on anything. I say “we will”, in quotation marks, because I would certainly end this adventure in such a situation.
However, the applications belong to powerful global corporations and I suspect that their lobbyists and lawyers will not allow such a situation. By the way, I don’t know of any other industry in which private entrepreneurs would be forced to employ under an employment contract. Perhaps this will be one of the forms available to couriers who will have to choose a job for the minimum wage in Poland, or stay with the current form of cooperation. However, the reality would change anyway. The platforms would, of course, try to use these couriers on hourly wages as much as possible, and those who had to pay more for a given course would be left with scraps.
Personally, I would like the work on new regulations in our country to address the issue of importing couriers, who are most often brought here as part of student visas at third-party universities. I have nothing against these guys, but it seems to me that there are enough people in the country (be they Poles, Ukrainians and other people in Poland not by the mere fact of becoming a food supplier or a passenger transport driver) to everything worked. Of course, this would result in a higher cost for these applications. Perhaps, however, this would force them to rationalize their actions at the expense of other parties of the entire business than ours. There is nothing in the Directive about the import of couriers, but I have a strange feeling that our industry had a large share in the visa scandal that is currently in the spotlight, so who knows… maybe our authorities will also turn their eyes in this direction.
Have you heard anything about the creation of Trade Unions bringing together Delivery Workers?
I know about the existence of the Pyszne.pl couriers’ union. It is no coincidence that they have such an organization, because it is currently the only company that employs couriers (some of them) directly. The problem with other platforms is that it is not known under which company these associations would operate. This came about when changes were introduced in Wolt that were very unfavorable for couriers. The idea of establishing a union was born. However, this turned out to be very problematic and in the end it probably didn’t happen.
Anyway, if the remaining couriers were to form a union, what would it be under? Probably partners, because they are most often the direct employers of delivery workers. The problem here is that there are so many partners and couriers from different apps work under them, and they actually have different problems and demands.
Apart from Pyszne.pl, it is difficult to find any sense of community between couriers. An organization that would take care of our interests would be extremely necessary now. The problem is that I suspect it would be difficult to even find a common message. Different couriers work for different apps, have different needs and ideas of what this work should look like. Most often, they are in complete opposition to each other.