This Week in Rideshare: Lyft Going into Delivery, Big Hazard Pay Payout in Seattle

Welcome back to this week in Rideshare News! This week’s headlines include:

• A Jilted Doordash customer strikes back
• DoorDash and Postmates Pay Out More Than $350,000 to Seattle Gig Workers Due to Hazard Pay Law
• Lyft Co-Founder Says They Are Not Going Into Consumer Delivery Space
• Poll on Prop 22

Cecily Jamelia:                  Hi there. My name is Cecily Jamelia, and welcome back to this week in ride share and gig economy news. Here are this week’s headlines.

Cecily Jamelia:                  A jilted DoorDash customer pulls a gun on a driver.

Cecily Jamelia:                  DoorDash and Postmates pay hazard pay to Seattle drivers.

Cecily Jamelia:                  Lyft co-founder says they have no intention on becoming a delivery company.

Cecily Jamelia:                  A new poll refutes Uber’s claims that Californians support Prop 22.

Cecily Jamelia:                  We’ll discuss all this and more. It’s this week in Ride share News.

Speaker 2:                          You’re desperate to make a video?

Cecily Jamelia:                  A video of an angry customer jilted by the same restaurant twice, was angry about her order being wrong yet again. So she pulled up on the Dash, her and her husband, and pulled a gun out on them. Please note that the video cuts off due to the couple ducking down when the gun was drawn.

Speaker 2:                          You’re desperate to make a video? You’re desperate to make a video, bitch? [inaudible 00:00:58] the fuck ahead. I don’t give a fuck. I got something too, bitch. I got something too in my pocket. You’re desperate to make a video, I’m going to give you a video, bitch.

Cecily Jamelia:                  Now the couple did get her license plate and it’s not known if law enforcement has been involved. Please, please be careful out there. People can be crazy, especially when it comes to their food.

Cecily Jamelia:                  DoorDash and Postmates paid out $350,000 in restitution to drivers in accordance to their Seattle hazard pay mandate that went into effect this past June. This was intended to help drivers out and offer some economic protections while they drive during COVID-19.

Cecily Jamelia:                  Hello. I’m so glad that you guys got that and I’m hoping that other cities will follow suit moving forward.

Cecily Jamelia:                  Lyft’s co-founder says they have no intention on becoming a consumer delivery company.

John Zimmer:                    The other area we’ve looked at is delivery. So we have no intention to be another kind of food delivery consumer app. We will not do that. But there’s a lot of small and local businesses that are having to pay 30%, 20% of their revenue to be on those platforms. And so we think there’s a huge opportunity to help those small and local businesses have their own kind of capabilities and provide more jobs for drivers. So we’re experimenting with that.

Cecily Jamelia:                  He also discussed how Lyft is adapting to the pandemic, their performance on the stock market, short and long-term operational goals, health and safety, and you know what? Prop 22. The link is in the description.

Cecily Jamelia:                  A new poll was released for Prop 22, and despite the emails that I received from Uber, this poll shows that Californians are not sold on treating Uber and Lyft drivers as independent contractors. The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll shows that 39% of the 5,900 likely voters surveyed would side with the companies and vote yes on Proposition 22, compared to 36% that said that they would vote no. And 25% are undecided. The polls margin of error is a plus or minus two points. A link to the poll is in the description.

Cecily Jamelia:                  I saw this on Facebook and I wanted to share it with you all. It says, “My family is giving me a hard time with driving again. I don’t know why, but I feel stuck.” Well, I think a lot of people feel that way. I think it was a feeling that a lot of folks felt before the pandemic. So I don’t think that this is a new feeling, but there’s a lot of pressure right now to stay still. And then there’s also some pressure to get out there and make some money, especially while we’re in limbo. And the government really hasn’t had a clear answer or direction on what we should be doing.

Cecily Jamelia:                  My personal opinion would be for you to do what’s best for you, short and sweet. Everybody else doesn’t pay your bills. Everyone else doesn’t know what it takes to keep your life moving in the direction that it needs to move. And you’ve got to look out for yourself. So if that’s what you need to do to look out for yourself, that’s what you got to do. Let her know what she should do or how she should respond in the comments.

Cecily Jamelia:                  That’s all for me this week. If you liked this video, give me a thumbs up. If you want to reach out, you can hit me up at Drive Girl Drive. I hope that you guys have a blessed week and I’ll see you again next Saturday.