People are luring Instacart shoppers with big tips — and then changing them to zero
In late March, Instacart worker Annaliisa Arambula accepted a grocery order that came with a big tip: $55. The store was just down the street, everything the customer wanted was available, and the order seemed to go off without a hitch.
But an hour later, Arambula checked her earnings on the Instacart app and the entire tip was gone, with a message saying the “customer modified the tip post-delivery.” She ended up making just $8.95 from Instacart on the order.
“I was flabbergasted. I couldn’t believe it,” Arambula told CNN Business.
Demand for grocery delivery is surging amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and many customers are struggling to get the items they want or even a time slot for a delivery. Some people are dealing with that by offering big tips, as high as $50 or more, to entice Instacart workers to pick up their orders. But some of those people have turned the tactic into a bait-and-switch, offering up the big tip and then taking it away as soon as the person who risked their health to get them their groceries has made the delivery.
Before accepting a “batch” — which can consist of one or a few orders from different customers — workers can see the items requested, the store location, the payment Instacart provides workers for the job, and the tip being offered. Instacart allows customers to change a tip for up to three days. Some workers told CNN Business tips can make up half of their income or more.
“It’s very demoralizing,” said Arambula, who lives in the Portland, Oregon, area and has worked full-time for Instacart since June 2017. “I don’t pretend to be a hero, like a nurse in a hospital … but I literally am exposing myself [to coronavirus] and when I return home, exposing my own family to the possibility of transmitting this disease. When you know that it’s somebody who’s just doing it to game the system and to get their order when they want it, it’s really frustrating.” Arambula’s husband is currently unemployed and at high risk for Covid-19 because he has diabetes, so they are relying on her work for Instacart to pay their bills.
Instacart is one of several delivery companies now expanding rapidly due to demand spurred by the pandemic. Last month, the company announced plans to bring on another 300,000 full-service shoppers in North America to service the increased demand.
An Instacart spokesperson told CNN Business the vast majority of people in March adjusted their tip upward or did not adjust their tip after delivery. Moreover, the spokesperson said, the company recently removed the “none” tip option for people, so users who want to tip nothing must manually change a tip to $0. The spokersperson said this could deter users from doing so. People can also leave feedback and rate a worker in the app, something Instacart claims typically happens if and when a person removes a tip.
“It’s a crapshoot”
Jenifer G., who became a “full service shopper” for Instacart about a month ago and asked to be identified by her first name and last initial for fear of retribution, said she has already experienced a handful of bait-and-switch tippers in Pennsylvania. She said one person originally put a $32.94 tip on a 27-item order from Sam’s Club, only to replace it with a $0 tip after delivery. Another person changed a $13.31 tip on a 38-item order from a different store to nothing after delivery.
“It’s a crapshoot,” said Jenifer G., who noted half her earnings come from tips, either in cash or through the app. “These are affluent communities that I’m delivering to. There’s almost no need to not tip, especially because not only is this a convenience for you but we’re in a pandemic right now.”
An Instacart spokesperson said that tips are always left up to a customer’s discretion and would not comment on specific instances of tip baiting occurring. In an email to Instacart customers provided to CNN Business, the company encourages people to “please consider tipping above and beyond to reflect the extra effort of your shopper.”
Being able to change a tip is not uncommon for on-demand delivery platforms. But other services such as Uber Eats and Postmates, which offer on-demand meal deliveries, allow customers to change tips for shorter windows of time, between one and 10 hours.
Bryant Greening, an attorney and co-founder of Chicago-based law firm LegalRideshare, told CNN Business that a few dozen Instacart shoppers and drivers have reached out to his firm to voice concerns over the practice. His law firm has discussed the possibility of litigation against Instacart, or even individual customers.
“It’s truly evil to bait and switch in this type of environment,” said Greening. “Their livelihood and well-being are on the line. When these shoppers and drivers see a high tip, it’s an opportunity for them to put food on the table, so they’re more willing to take a risk on their health to achieve that goal.”
While Instacart is benefiting from a surge in customer orders in recent weeks, workers have criticized the company for not doing enough to ensure they’re adequately protected and paid during the pandemic. For more than a week, some workers have been on strike until Instacart meets their demands including hazard pay, an expansion of its coronavirus pay to include those with underlying health conditions and a default tip of 10%. One day before the planned strike, Instacart said it would change its default tip setting from 5% to the most recently used percentage a customer chose to tip.
Jenifer G., the Instacart worker, said she feels the company should mandate a 10% tip “that sticks no matter what” on all orders until stay-at-home guidance is lifted and only allow people to tip above that should they choose.
“I can’t strike, I literally cannot afford to, but I’ll [only] shop during ‘boost times,'” she said, referring to high-demand times of day when Instacart pays a few dollars more to workers.
Detached customers
In addition to having their tips slashed at the last minute, some Instacart workers are also the target of seemingly tone-deaf remarks from customers. Carilyn, who started working for Instacart about one month ago and asked to be identified by first name only for fear of retribution, told CNN Business she also had a recent experience with tip baiting. When dropping off an order recently, she said the customer told her it was “unethical” that she wasn’t able to find toilet paper and updated her tip to $0.
“I tried my best. A lot of people are detached from the situation going on,” said Carilyn, who is based in Florida. “They really don’t see what we see. We know things are a no-no, like soap, and toilet paper, you barely find eggs if you’re lucky.”
(Because workers tend to be tipped a percentage of the total order cost, when high-demand items can’t be found in store — in this case, toilet paper — the tip shrinks accordingly. But in other cases, customers enter a custom tip amount and then take it back after the delivery.)
Fortunately for some, like Carilyn and Jenifer G., the majority of recent tips have been authentic. Carilyn said she took home more than $360 in cash and in-app tips last week alone — a good week for her. Jenifer G. also noted that she’s had people leave cash tips in envelopes at their door.
While some workers said they have grown wary of large tips because of tip baiting, others sometimes risk picking up low tip orders in the hopes the person will pay more in cash. It doesn’t always work, though. Jenifer G. said she recently picked up a 112-item order from Aldi for a person who put a $1 tip in the app and there was no cash tip waiting.
“We always say: No matter what, never trust a tip,” she said.
Photo Credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images
5-year-old Texas boy killed by stray bullet while recording TikTok videos with dad
(Meredith) — A 5-year-old has died after being struck by a stray bullet while he was recording TikTok videos with his dad.
According to KTRK, the incident happened around 9 p.m. in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday, March 31. . The family was sitting on their balcony when they heard five to six gunshots.
Immediately after the shots were fired, Jordan Allen Sr. said he heard his son crying for help.
When Allen Sr. returned, he saw his son clutching his head on the floor. He flagged down an ambulance and the boy was rushed to the hospital.
However, the 5-year-old would not recover from his injuries. He was taken off life support on Monday, April 6.
Houston police are investigating the incident. It’s unclear who was behind the shooting.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
California man punched his mom for hiding toilet paper
An angry California man tried to wipe the floor with his own mother — when he accused her of hoarding toilet paper amid the coronavirus lockdown and slugged her in the face, cops said.
Adrian Yan, 26, was busted on a battery charge after the filthy fracas Monday at his home in the town of Saugus, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Shirley Miller said.
“Apparently the family disturbance had started over an argument about toilet paper,” Miller told The Post. “[Yan’s mother] said that she had been hiding it because he was using too much.”
Yan allegedly got so enraged, he punched his 40-something mother in her face, but she later declined medical treatment.
Santa Clarita Valley Station deputies have seen a recent uptick in reports of domestic disturbances during California’s pandemic-related stay-at-home directive, Miller said.
“Tensions are running high in a lot of households,” she said.
Yan lived at the home with his mother and other relatives, Miller said. It’s unclear how many.
Deputies tweeted about the incident late Tuesday.
“Family disturbance calls can start out over small things, and then they escalate,” department officials wrote.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/08/california-man-punched-his-mom-for-hiding-toilet-paper-cops/
Photo Credit: reuters
Landlord changes church locks to stop pastor from defying coronavirus lockdown
A California church’s landlord changed the locks to prevent its controversial pastor from defying a coronavirus shutdown, according to reports.
Pastor Jon Duncan had vowed to continue preaching at Cross Culture Christian Center in Lodi, telling Fox 40 the services were “protected by the First Amendment and should be considered essential.”
But he was met by several police officers when he arrived on Palm Sunday — and was unable to enter the completely shuttered church, the Los Angeles Times said.
The building’s owner, the nearby Bethel Open Bible Church, had “changed the locks on the doors in response” to his threats to defy coronavirus restrictions, Lodi police Lt. Michael Manetti told the paper.
The officer said that during a “fairly cordial” discussion with the pastor, they also turned away more than a dozen cars that tried to pull in for Sunday service on a day when even Pope Francis livestreamed Mass from behind closed doors.
“We understand people’s desire to practice their faith,” Manetti told the LA paper. “It’s for everyone’s welfare. We have to protect the public.”
Duncan had no idea that the locks had been changed when he arrived for services, his attorney, Dean Broyles, told the LA Times.
“The landlord did not inform my client that they were going to lock them out of the premises,” Broyles said.
He said he is also planning a federal civil rights lawsuit. “The right to peaceably assemble, the free exercise of religion and freedom of speech are unalienable rights found in the First Amendment,” he said. “Constitutional rights are not suspended by a virus.”
Pastor Michael Allison of Bethel Open Bible Church said they “don’t anticipate [Cross Culture Christian Center] re-entering our building.”
“When the public health officer issued an ‘Order Prohibiting Public Assembly,’ we immediately took action to lock the building so that it would not be available for any public assembly,” Allison told the paper.
Photo Credit: AP/Jeff Chiu
Actress who fronted coronavirus PSAs busted for throwing wild house party
A Nigerian actress who fronted a national campaign about social distancing during the coronavirus lockdown has been arrested — for throwing a wild party packed with revelers, according to police.
Funke Akindele-Bello, 42, fronted a campaign for the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in which she filmed PSAs urging people to remain apart, saying, “Remember, your health is in your hands.”
She sparked outrage last week when video showed her throwing a wild party for her husband’s 43rd birthday — with her Lagos mansion packed with guests dancing and drinking in close proximity.
The apparent hypocrisy sparked numerous online memes, with videos of her PSA spliced together with the packed party.
Lagos State Police on Sunday announced the arrest of the “popular TV sensation”-turned-COVIDIOT.
The force said she was busted for “violating the Stay-at-Home directive and organizing a social event with a large gathering of people which could lead to the spread of Covid-19.”
Officers also arrested singer Naira Marley, one of those filmed at the party, while warning there was a “manhunt for other attendees.”
Akindele-Bello and her husband, Abdulrasheed Bello — a singer known as JJC Skillz — were both charged and found guilty, police said. As well as being sentenced to 14 days’ community service, they were both ordered to make a tour “to educate the public on the consequences of non-compliance of the restriction order,” police said.
The actress later took to Instagram to insist that everyone at the party had been there for “some months before, weeks before, days before the lockdown.”
“Nobody came from their houses to party with us. No,” she claimed, while insisting, “I’m not defending myself. I understand your concerns.”
The NCDC and Dettol, which backed the campaign, socially and otherwise distanced themselves from the actress, removing her PSAs.
“As an organization we are concerned at the turn of events,” Dettol Nigeria tweeted, stressing that it “does not condone any breach of the guidelines on Covid-19.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/07/actress-who-fronted-coronavirus-psas-busted-for-hosting-party/
Photo Credit: Instagram
Feds classifying all coronavirus patient deaths as ‘COVID-19’ deaths, regardless of cause
The federal government is classifying the deaths of patients infected with the coronavirus as COVID-19 deaths, regardless of any underlying health issues that could have contributed to the loss of someone’s life.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House coronavirus task force, said the federal government is continuing to count the suspected COVID-19 deaths, despite other nations doing the opposite.
“There are other countries that if you had a pre-existing condition, and let’s say the virus caused you to go to the ICU [intensive care unit] and then have a heart or kidney problem,” she said during a Tuesday news briefing at the White House. “Some countries are recording that as a heart issue or a kidney issue and not a COVID-19 death.
“The intent is … if someone dies with COVID-19, we are counting that,” she added.
Asked whether the numbers could skew data the government is trying to collect, Birx said that would mostly apply more to rural areas where testing isn’t being implemented on a wide scale.
“I’m pretty confident that in New York City and New Jersey and places that have these large outbreaks and COVID-only hospitals. … I can tell you they are testing,” she said.
Dr. Michael Baden, a Fox News contributor, said it’s reasonable to include the death of someone infected with the virus, who also had other health issues, in the COVID-19 body count.
“In the normal course, autopsies would then determine whether the person died of the effects of the COVID virus, whether the person had a brain tumor or brain hemorrhage, for example, that might be unrelated to it and what the relative significance of both the infection and the pre-existing disease is,” Baden told Fox News.
However, the number of autopsies being performed could be low due to the danger of infection, he said.
“Then you will include in those numbers some people who did have a pre-existing condition that would have caused death anyway, but that’s probably a small number,” Baden said.
The United States had 398,185 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday night, including more than 12,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
President Trump spent Monday trying to assure Americans that the US and health facilities are prepared for a possible surge in cases in the coming weeks.
“Progress has been made before the surge,” Trump said during the White House coronavirus briefing, where he said hospitals will be stockpiled with much-needed equipment. “The next week, week and a half is when the big surge is going to come.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/07/feds-classify-all-coronavirus-patient-deaths-as-covid-19-deaths/
Photo Credit: AP
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Azealia Banks Threatens To ‘Expose’ Busta Rhymes Over Uncleared Track
Harlem MC Azealia Banks is warning Busta Rhymes to clear the air between them before she starts exposing people.
On Monday (April 6), the Harlem-bred rap artist came out of her solitude to issue an ultimatum to some unnamed adversaries in a series of posts in her Instagram Stories obtained by The Jasmine Brand. “When this quarantine is over, I’mma f**k a lot of y’all n****s summers up. Everybody getting violated,” she wrote in her Instagram Stories. “I got a long list of n****s who ‘bout to get a surprise. Y’all never seen how evil this s**t gets. I’m not talking about music. I’m coming to SEE you niggas. Each and every last one of you.”
At the top of her list is Busta. “[Busta Rhymes], you first n**ga,” Banks declared, before advising him to “clear the record before I expose you.” “Don’t act stupid,” she cautioned. “Call @elis and @chepope and get it done in the next five days.” In case it wasn’t clear how serious she was, Azealia reiterated to Busta that she was “not f**king around” and gave him “four days” to get things resolved. It seems her beef with the New York rap icon might stem from their unreleased collaborative effort, “Taste State.” The track was supposed to appear on Azealia’s long-awaited Fantasea II: The Second Wave, per Genius, which had already been delayed multiple times at that point. In 2018, it seemed the album would finally materialize after Azealia unveiled its tracklist. She even previewed a snippet of “Taste State” on social media around June 2018. That following July, Azealia unceremoniously called off the album’s release, as reported by NME, following her controversial Wild ‘N Out appearance.
But it now appears Busta pulled his verse at some point, which might have factored into Azealia’s decision to delay her album. Continuing her rant, Azealia vented about behind-the-scenes politics that goes on in the music industry.
“Y’all don’t get that I seek none of these n****s out. [They] beg me to come to the studio then be on the internet reading blogs like b****es [and] wanna play politics,” she ranted. She stated that Busta first approached her to remix Beyoncé’s “Partition,” which came out in 2014.
“I did the remix for him (with no pay) as payment was supposed to be the trade off. He gets the Bey remix [and] I get the verse on my song to use whenever the f**k I please,” she claimed. However, it seems Busta never gave her legal clearance for the verses, although Azealia claimed it was her “intellectual property” as she came up with “parts of his lyrics, cadence, and flow” for his contributions to the track.
In her last post on the matter, Azealia warned that “this is going to become a big issue for” Busta if he doesn’t clear the song.
Article via BET
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Nick Cannon’s daytime talk show set for September premiere
Nick Cannon’s upcoming daytime talk show is set for a Sept. 21 premiere, distributor Debmar-Mercury confirmed Monday.
Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury has teamed with Cannon’s Ncredible Entertainment to produce the comedic talk show featuring interviews with celebrities and pop culture coverage. The nationally-syndicated show, “Nick Cannon,” is cleared to launch on TV stations covering more than 90% of U.S. TV households. Debmar-Mercury’s announcement Monday is an indication of confidence that the show will be able to go into production over the summer for the planned fall debut.
“It’s been thrilling going through this process, and to see the widespread support that the show has received and the milestones we’ve achieved is mind-blowing,” said Cannon in a statement. “We’re gearing up to deliver a must-see show and I’m looking forward to coming to you on your TV this fall.”
In light of his guest appearances on “The Wendy Williams Show,” his work on Fox’s “The Masked Singer” and MTV’s “Wild ‘N Out,” among other ventures, Debmar-Mercury said that Cannon was a perfect fit for the hard job of hosting a daily yakker.
“Clearances are climbing because our great station partners are hungry for a rising, versatile and dynamic talent like Nick. His light-hearted style quickly wins over viewers and gives them a much-needed escape from the world,” said Ira Bernstein and Mort Marcus, co-presidents of Debmar-Mercury. “We’ve been asked why we skipped doing test shows and explained there was no need. It’s obvious to anyone who watched Nick guest host for Wendy Williams last year how much he loves daytime talk and, based on the reaction of fans, how much they love him.”
“Nick Cannon” has been picked up by prominent station groups including Fox, CBS, Sinclair, Nexstar, Hearst, Tegna and Meredith.
Photo Credit: pagesix.com