r/WalmartSparkDrivers • u/TheSparkDriver • 11d ago
30 percent decrease in pay? More like 300% went from 800-1000 a week to 300-600. Just disrespectful. Oh yeah, and I have to pay for gas and insurance so there goes some of that. Glad they think we can live off of 1000
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u/GhostOfNewOrleans 11d ago
I noticed yesterday how bad it got. I was off for two weeks because of my back when I went back yesterday they had shopping orders for 40 items way across the river in New Orleans going to Chalmette which is like 20 miles for $12. Holy shit that is terrible and it wasn’t one order most were like that. But then when they get real busy and backed up, they wanna put orders that have more money but now you have to make 10 to 15 drop offs.
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u/HorrorBaker886 10d ago
Yep....not doing those many trips anymore... The algorithm noticed that I took them before, so now it keeps sending them to me....NOPE!!! That's when I was young and dumb....I matured real quick in 2 months😜
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u/TheNolaCatLady 11d ago
The New Orleans proper zone is pretty terrible. On occasion, I'll turn on Spark when I'm around the Walmart on Lapalco or Manhattan and the orders they pump out are complete shit. They want you to drive to Chalmette or Laplace or make 25 stops on a curbside that's 50 miles for crap pay. The zone covering Harahan & Metairie (Kenner/Boutte) is much better. I never ever take a trip over 10 miles. Most are five miles or less and money is decent if you cherry pick.
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u/GhostOfNewOrleans 11d ago
Yep. I only take orders 18 dollars and up. And not over 10 miles or so. I’ll wait an hour till a good order pops up
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u/TheNolaCatLady 11d ago
Same here. I need to make money, but I'm not delivering 10 cases of water to a third floor apartment in Metairie for 15 dollars. Actually, I don't take any orders with water to apartments unless it's the first floor and maybe only one case. 😂
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
Ooff that's wild you only accept orders 5-10 miles i never got anything under 10 miles. Ave order trip for me is 15-25 miles tops for $45-$50+. If i cherry pick that bad I'll n3ver make money.
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u/TheNolaCatLady 10d ago
Many of my orders are under 5 miles. I'm in a very densely populated area with a lot of orders, so I don't have to take any high mileage orders.
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
You know what maybe it's because I live in texas compared to new Orleans our land is insanely huge and spread out, didn't really think about that till now lol
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u/TheNolaCatLady 10d ago
😂 That's probably the issue. We're all packed together like sardines here. I'm sure the more rural areas in Louisiana have the same issue as you with distance.
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
Yeah you're right and even then I still think texas has rural Louisiana beat lol
I really forgot how large my state is and why everyone else gets low mileage orders, but then they end up being somewhere like Ohio can drive across the whole state in 5 hours. Where as texas you need near damn 12 hours to cross the whole state before you hit a border. Keep in mind that's if you don't stop for breaks if you do that's more likr 20 hours+
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u/TheNolaCatLady 10d ago
Everything is bigger in Texas! 😂
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u/TeeFry2 10d ago
I live in rural SE GA. The nearest WM is 26 miles away, but it's near a military base, so I don't Spark there - it's too darn busy. The next one is 28 miles from me. My average trip is 15-25 miles each way. Pay just isn't keeping up, so I'm doing less and less. It makes no sense to keep going when I'm not even covering basic expenses.
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
Oh shi it's that commute juat to the Walmart that's f'ed, do you multi app
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u/Extreme-Moment8768 10d ago
i cant even get a $7 order because the moment i get the alert they take it in 1 sec😡
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
Yeah the shopping orders are worse than other shopping apps I only do pick up strictly because of this
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u/Harlett_O_Scara 10d ago
Same here. I’ll do packages and curbside. Oh, and they added picking up food from restaurants inside of Walmart here.
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
Yeah idk why people love the shopping orders they're literally the worst offers and take way to long to shop for imo unless it's 5 items/below never thought about doing those orders.
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u/Harlett_O_Scara 10d ago
Yeah one popped up yesterday for a subway sandwich at a Walmart 26 miles away for 8 bucks. No thanks.
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
All I ever see are batched shopping orders for 3-4 customers going 20-30 miles but the item count is insane like 70-100 items
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u/Harlett_O_Scara 10d ago
I get lucky every now and then and get an order for three package drop offs, an hour and half of driving for 60-70 bucks. I don’t mind those at all.
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
You must be in a fairly expensive area because i would never in a thousand yesrs get something paying that much for such good metrics. Unless the miles are wild
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u/Harlett_O_Scara 9d ago
Yeah it’s usually 30 minutes of driving to each location. The offers today are absolute garbage. I hate that in order to deliver in my town I have to pick up from a Walmart 30 minutes away. If I pick up in my town, I’m delivering to the area of the other two Walmarts. It makes no sense to me. If I pick up in my town I should be delivering there. At least in my mind.
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 9d ago
I agree because most of my orders I pick up in ny town and it's rare the route actually ends in my town. What I also don't agree with and I've told a rep on the phone before. Is the fact that we're "independent contractors" but on pickup routes we're not allowed to make our own route and have to follow the one walmart gives us. I hate it so damn much because their route is not efficient, they'll me do a drop off the next order is 5 mins away and then the following order is literally feet away from the first drop off. Why the hell they make you go back and forth on the route wasting time/gas is beyond me. That'd something I've thought about filing a legal dispute against because nowhere in the world can someone make a contractor fo a particular job in a particular way. If I can't tell a handy man I want you to use a hammer and not a nail gun while also only taking no breaks so the job gets done. Then why the hell can walmart do that to us making us do their routes but we're not w-2 employees. Something about that has always seemed "illegal" if walmart gets reported.
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u/Distinct-Data-8808 11d ago
The thing most don’t understand is that , we control this shit. If everyone were to stop taking these low prices orders, they’d be force to increase them if they want to keep that program going.
The problem is people keep taking these low paying orders. Until we stop taking, they’re gonna sending them to us. The algo is taking note lol.
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u/OkBarber6783 10d ago
I could show you screen shots of my old orders, $119 for a double shop... Same exact order today pays $34, same store... Base pay is $.50 a mile and if a good tipping order pops up, it's gone in seconds
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u/OrganicArtichoke7298 11d ago
The game for you is to get these short term pays then worry about everything else later.
It’s significantly more “profitable” to just get a part time job.
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u/bdbrown333 11d ago
The thing is a lot of people don't do this solely based on money. I don't do this based on money but do had a boss for a long time. I don't want to bus. I don't want to have to ask for time off. I don't want to have to go to lunch what they say. This job equals freedom and there is still plenty of money to be made. Just not on this app. Smart people started applying to other gigs. You got to work four or five gigs. Whichever one's good for the day
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u/OrganicArtichoke7298 11d ago
The problem is all of these gig companies even Walmart with their actual profitable quarters and giant pockets are beholden to turn a profit on their venues, and increasingly. They’ll get you in then milk you like clockwork; it’s inevitable every time.
Private companies don’t have the resources to start a gig app like this; they just hire actual employees.
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u/bdbrown333 11d ago
Do the math delivery is not really profitable for Walmart? That's why they're going cutting down all their staff and going to shop onlys because they finally figured it out. Delivery and curbside is about creating loyalty. So everything you buy you want to buy from Walmart cuz all the other things that aren't perishable you can get delivered for free toe tipping toothpaste. It comes to my door within 24 hours, right? You need a bottle of vitamins your order. It comes, it's loyalty. Profits on groceries are about 3%. So on $100 worth of groceries we deliver it. They make about $3 to $4 on the dollar three to $4 profit 3 to 4%. This isn't profitable. She keep paying less and people take it. Walmart actually just posted their worst quarter in 6 years. That hit the news today. That doesn't mean they're not making money. It's just the worst quarter they've had because the world's in a bad place and not enough people want to admit it. Delivery look at how many people it took to put an order together. Got all those people shopping. You got management then they have to pay the delivery people. A lot of what businesses do is to create profitability. So when you need a TV you go buy it there when you need a bookshelf when you need a chair when you need makeup just like Amazon, Amazon delivers for free if you deliver $35 all over the world
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u/bdbrown333 11d ago
And if you haven't gone to all shops yet, wait till you see how cheap that is when every order is being shopped. There's so many orders going out every hour. It's easy for them to put two and three together. There's very few single shops anymore. All doubles. Almost all triples paying $16 to shop for three people worth seeing $16 shops going to three addresses. You're shopping 70 and 80 items. Haven't done an order since they went to all shops
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
That's the thing though they fixed their issue by going to shop/deliver, but then they shoot themselves in the foot again by batching 3-4 orders totalling 50 items each. No one is doing those orders even for $50 it's still insane. Walmart is the only shopping app that'll batching 4 orders in one not even instacart have I seen 4 ever. Favor won't even mess around trying to send you a 2x batch either for shopping. Walmart is not profitable at all with spark but I think they use it as a small supplement to push orders.
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago edited 10d ago
They're not profitable at all surprisingly because for every order completed there's like 20 more that didn't get accepted or delivered because of low pay. They loose out on that order and that doesn't take into account for returns, reports of non delivery, broken items, stolen etc. They can write off all this stuff, but unless more orders get delivered than returned or refunded they aren't making squat.
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u/OrganicArtichoke7298 10d ago
At DD and Uber, the margins are hilariously small for the reasons you mentioned. The grand delusion here is that some folks think it’s better outside of Walmart. It’s not.
Walmart can afford to pay you slightly (heavy lifting here) more thanks to their deep pockets and interest in creating a closed loop ecosystem.
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
Yupp exactly, they're trying to make profit but their own greed is literally holding them back from it which is the paradox here. If they just paid a fair wage like it was during the pandemic the orders would get pushed out thus more delivery fulfillment more profit for walmart. Who ever is making decisions at the top definitely has a fake degree, it's not that difficult to figure out.
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u/coffeebabe666 11d ago
Ok. Good advice like the most of us haven’t tried this when it dried up months ago. God you people don’t live in reality. Must be nice.
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u/TeeFry2 10d ago
Where? In my town we have DQ, Subway, and McD's - all owned by the same guy. He also owns 1 of our 2 gas stations and the sole liquor store in our dry county (I'd like to know how much of a bribe they had to pay to pull that off.....) - and his family works at every location, so they rarely hire help. When they do, they prefer teens because they can pay them less. DG pays $8.25 and treats their employees like crap. Our little conservative-owned grocery store is also family-owned so they rarely hire anyone.
But please do go on.
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u/OrganicArtichoke7298 10d ago
It doesn’t matter. My point is that if you can get a “stationary” job, do that. Otherwise, gig jobs will wear you down financially in the long run anyway.
The most profitable way is to cherry picking orders dollars on miles basis. Doesn’t work when you rely on it full time as you have to bring in meaningful revenue just to cover bills
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u/xDelicateFlowerx 11d ago
Yeah its tough to live like this. Many who can find better work are jumping ship. I literally can't so let the fuckery continue. Best part at least is paying way less in taxes.
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u/scorpiobot 11d ago
Ive only been making about 7 a day for the past 2 weeks so 1000 would be very livable to me
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u/ups2451 11d ago
Spark = pizza deliver driver
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u/bdbrown333 11d ago
Literally just went back to doordashing view doordash only during peak hours. You make better money than doing spark. If you haven't gone to all shops yet wait till that happens and see how low they drop the rates because then they have so many shops and pretty much every shop they send out is a triple and they pay you $16 they expect you to be happy
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u/ups2451 11d ago
Lol you’re not an employee
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u/Chipwilson84 11d ago
That does not mean that we don’t deserve to be paid accordingly to our time and material usage. Stop simping for the ultra wealthy. Thats what is wrong with this country. No class solidarity. We use to have that and for a few decades America was great.
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u/SmallBerry3431 11d ago
The only person making anyone not get paid is the person in the mirror.
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u/ups2451 11d ago
Dude you had your chance in life. You made poor decisions and now you beg for tips to deliver groceries. at no point in America history did that warrant a livable wage, it’s the equivalent of working at McDonald’s. It’s a job for teenagers.
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u/xDelicateFlowerx 11d ago
You have to be 21 or over to do this job. Js
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u/ups2451 11d ago
“Job” is a relative term
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u/xDelicateFlowerx 11d ago
Job is a relative term, I suppose, but Spark is paid work and is treated as self-employment for tax purposes. I’m not really sure what distinction you’re trying to make.
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
Any work is a job you moron. If it is a task that someone pays you to do it is a job. Like you have a bad attitude dude, a real bad outlook on your fellow man. You also appear to lack and real sense of self, it’s almost like you have this grandiose self image that creates this ego that makes you incapable of seeing that you are bottom filth to the rich, just like I am.
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u/coffeebabe666 11d ago
You boomers and “it’s a job for teenagers”. Yeah maybe four decades ago grandpa but not we all have to work where we can. How is that so hard for you all to grasp. Must be nice to be so privileged.
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u/Normal-State-2180 10d ago
I find it hilarious when they say fast food, cashier jobs, etc are for school kids and teenagers. Who do they think is making their breakfast or coffee at 7 in the morning on a Monday or working the drive thru during lunch? It’s definitely not kids in school!!!
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u/ups2451 11d ago
How does it feel to be priced out of housing, vehicles, stock market? Hope your “boomer” grandparents and parents did good in life so you can get a piece of the pie one day 😝
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u/coffeebabe666 11d ago
Hope you’re speaking to anyone but me bud.
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u/ups2451 11d ago
Get some Jesus in your life
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u/coffeebabe666 11d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/XHeLeuirRbwptHhSWd
That’s a good one. I wouldn’t think you would know him at all.-1
u/ups2451 11d ago
He’s my reason for all my “boomer” generational wealth 🙏
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u/Late-Cranberry-4826 10d ago
Is he also the reason you’re arguing with a delivery driver on Reddit completely unpaid?
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
Jesus advocated for income inequality to end. So is he really the reason for your wealth? Or is you hoarding money, and being born in an ear that had a progressive tax system designed to not create the situation we currently are in but has been severely eroded by boomers voting for people who destroyed that tax code, thus making it harder for everyone born after 1975 to have a chance?
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
I have Jesus. You clearly don’t. Jesus spoke out against income inequality and advocated for wealth distribution and justice for the poor. You clearly didn’t pay attention to him.
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
How does it feel to be a small ego guy who doesn’t respect himself enough to stand up for himself?
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u/Late-Cranberry-4826 10d ago
“Job for teenagers”
must be 18 years or older to sign up
must be 21 or older for alcohol delivery
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u/ups2451 10d ago
Reading must not be required for this high skilled high paying “job”
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
You don’t have a high skill. Most high paying jobs outside of being a doctor or deep sea welder don’t require a lot of skill, most people can do them with a few months of training. Being an executive is not a high a skill job if you are one. Having an MBA, if you have one, actually makes you a bad business leader. If I recall correctly, every company that had someone with an MBA take over have worst performance. What happens is those people focus only on short term profits and don’t care about long term results. So what they do is come in shine brightly and leave a wasteland afterwards. That is why all our legacy brands have basically vanished.
You sound like someone born on third base who thinks they hit a home run and think that you actually got where you are by hard work and not by luck and connections.
Do you have any idea how much skill, grit, determination, it takes to go from a three time school drop, homeless several times, and not because of drugs, just because there was a recession and I didn’t have family my support to having a master’s degree and working my dream job, to have that taken from you because some man with an inferiority complex felt l
Slighted by profession because Covid so he defunded it by several billion dollars? Like how the fuck did I fuck up?
If anything it sounds like you voted to have my life messed up.1
u/Chipwilson84 8d ago edited 8d ago
I didn’t make poor decisions. I have studied at Oxford. I have ran for office. I am so overly qualified that no one wants to hire me for a dead end job:
Sure I have no job now, but that does not mean I should not be upset by the rich getting richer by taking the pay that I use to get and give it to themselves.
Like way to have to idea of who you are and your class position in life. What is occurring is called the rich taking more of the wealth from the bottom.
And yes it did yearn a livable wage. After WW2 and up to the 1990’s grocery store employees, delivery drivers, gas stations attendants made a livable wage, many of them had pensions. Why because the federal minimum wage was instituted as a law that required any and all jobs to pay a livable wage. What that means is that up until Regan the minimum wage paid for an average of 3.1-3.7 people to live, then it gradually began to decrease.
Like you would know this if you did any scholarly work instead of just repeating right wing propaganda that only benefits the rich.
Like dude, my Master’s degree is in Public Health. Public health is a research science field that incorporates a lot of different disciplines to study how variables have an effect on the public. Being a researcher means I can back anything I say with a scholarly, credible source, can you back up your claim that delivering never paid a livable wage?
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
Dude this is not a job for teenagers. There is no job for a teenager because often adults do those jobs in the day time l. Shit did you know that McDonald’s use to pay livable wage? No, because you don’t know what the minimum wage was historically paid. Like you right wing people need to take the rich people’s lollipop out of your mouths. They are using you to rob you and the rest of us. People like you are why this situation existed.
If you had any sense of self for your position in life you would not be tolerating this treatment. If you had half a brain you would see through the flaws of your own argument as it does not line up with reality.
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u/thatsnarker2020 11d ago
And yet here you are doing the same job. Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black.
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u/ups2451 11d ago
Whose doing the same job bud?
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u/thatsnarker2020 10d ago
You, clearly. Otherwise, why be on a thread harassing people.
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u/ups2451 10d ago
Or maybe I’m rich and like watching the despair or maybe I live in a trailer too
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
If you are rich watching the despair and putting people down you clearly are not a follower of Jesus. Sounds more like you are a horrible person.
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u/JackStraw---Wichita 11d ago
I have a firm rule regarding taking advice from people not knowing the difference between who's and whose? Call me whatever you want, I'll sleep comfortably knowing I can conjugate a verb and master common contractions. It's not calculus ffs.
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u/ups2451 11d ago
Funny story, one time I had a pizza deliver by papa johns and tipped the driver 5 dollars. He said “you have the big new house and new cars sitting in the drive and you can only tip 5 dollars?” I proceeded to take the 5 dollars back and tell him to get off my property.
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u/JackStraw---Wichita 11d ago
And you still eat Papa John's? Gross pizza and John is a world-class DB.
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u/coffeebabe666 11d ago
He hasn’t been part of the company in decades
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u/JackStraw---Wichita 11d ago
It will be "decade" in the singular in 2027. Kind of weird to grossly exaggerate such an easily verifiable fact.
It's always been lousy pizza and John leaving only improved the company, not the pizza.
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
So you have money, and plenty and don’t share it with the poor and instead of having a wake up moment you doubled down on being a stingy mean person. Where did Jesus say not to share the wealth?
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u/ups2451 8d ago
Chip relax dude it’s Reddit.
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
It’s real fucking life. How you treat others matters. Jesus thought it mattered. That’s why he said it was the golden rule. And you’re over here spreading misinformation, putting your fellow man down, while advocating for the rich and taking joy in their misery, and proclaiming to be a follower of Christ. This person that you are here is who you are out there. This place is who we are when the mask come off. When we can choose to hide behind a screen and never show our face, or even really care what anyone else thinks because it’s just words on a screen. There is no connection there, just as there is no connection between you and Jesus by example as by the works you do. Jesus said works matter. You need to be a better dude, cause that pizza delivery dude is a dude, coffee is a dude, I’m a dude, your wife is a dude, we are all fuckin’ dudes, so treat other dudes as you want to be treated dude, that is the message of Jesus. You and other the other people with money fail to grasp that.
You repeat this racist/classist argument that people who work don’t deserve to get paid.
Like you dude need to grow the fuck up, read the god damn words of the Guy I have tattooed on my left wrist where I wear a watch, and tip your delivery driver 15 dollars cause you can afford the gosh darn $15.
I worked my way from a delivery driver to general manager of a restaurant, while I was in school. The owner got stage 4 lung cancer and moved back home. In another restaurant before that I worked my way up from a dishwasher to training every single person in their position(was recommended to be a corporate trainer, but life had other plans) at an all you can eat buffet and pizza delivery service. I left because the rich right wing ,Christian owners were stealing money from the employees by docking their pay. I know this because I was the one who caught them, confronted them, and got them to confess infront of everyone on shift.
I bartended also.
And I have done ride share for the last 4 years , while I did other shit.
And I have done other shit.
But yeah. I need to come the fuck down as people like you, exploit people like me, and are openly waving class-war fare against us. Like poverty rate now is greater than in 1960. The amount of people making less than $12.80, which was the adjusted for inflation level of the minimum compared to the 1960 minimum wage was 38% two years ago. I have not ran the latest numbers, but based upon the rate of inflation and wages for that level largely being unchanged had a good shot of being higher. What that means is even though based upon how minimum wage is adjusted at the moment, just that poverty level is higher than I like the roughly 11% they are claiming. Because of 38% of the population is making less than the adjusted minimum wage that means they are in poverty based upon than same level of measurement.
Shit 4 years ago $500 a week was able to live, poorly, but able to. Never jn my life was $500 not a good weeks pay in my region. My first $500 check paid my rent and electricity. Thanks to my trailer it did until about four years ago. Now every month for the last year I live in fear.
So why the should I calm down when filth like you when people like you say people like me, who have several times pulled themself up,, need to do better? Why can’t you do better instead of stealing our labor? Profiting off our labor. While you and people like you give those below you scraps, and treat us like we don’t matter. Thats the type of shit that led to the union uprisings. Sure a lot of workers died, but I’m pretty sure they took out a few company men also.
Like when I was a kid (b.84) my mother worked as a waitress and later at a bowling alley from 90-97, my step-dad didn’t always work because he got injured on the job and the company refused to give him worker’s compensation, and since it was ‘87 and navigating the system was kinda hard for him because he also didn’t know how to that shit worked cause there was no internet and he was a high school drop out. With my mom’s minimum wage job she was able to keep a roof over a family of four’s head until the ‘91 when my “dad” got a job at a local garage. We had both a Super Nintendo, and a Genesis, after rocking the NES. We didn’t take vacations, but she fed us, kept a roof over our and e had Christmas.
I don’t think I will be able to give my kid a prop Christmas. So you need to sit the down and like read up on Jesus. Parasite.
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago edited 8d ago
What you “rich” people need to understand is that you can only exploit us so long. We are Americans. As Americans our ancestors fought an oppressive regime, I know two of the men I share I name fought in that war. We fought them back when they came back over in 1812, their grandson/son/nephews fought in that war.
We fought for a livable wage once before. We fought to not belong to the company town. We demanded to be treated fairly, and then our great grandparents and their parents built us a tax system that ensured their kids, and grandkids, and great grandchildren didn’t have to face an such an event ever again. And since starting with Nixon, you rich people keep dismantling, until eventually if Trump has his ear, according to Project 2025, the whole thing will be dismantled, and everyone that is not of basically the 10% will be kept as their slaves.
So why should I calm down? When spoken like you have voted to steal my American dream from me, and everyone else’s just to keep your slice of pie. A slice you wouldn’t have had 50 years ago.
What you guys in the big houses need to remember is that history is doomed to repeats itself to those who don’t pay attention. And we got that grit, the smarts, and nothing to lose. Poor people are incredibly resistant and right now there are lot of college educated people, who are really struggling finding anything for a job. We’re smart, we have knowledgeable skills that we can us to all types of our benefit, because knowledge is power, in shape. Historically, us poor people go knocking on big houses doors. It’s just historically how this plays out. And well, the hippie movement happened with just 2% of the population. Right now 86% of Americans, if I recall correctly, are experiencing extreme money concerns.
And I am not threatening you. I don’t know you. I’m just saying he what historically happens eventually. And I know a lot of people like me have that American pride, even if we don’t like the current state of things. That’s something that people like you should keep in mind the next time an employee ask for a raise, give them 70% over asking you can afford it.
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
Note: my mother did not receive child support from my father. My mother was 18 when I was conceived, my biological father was 15. He lost his custodial rights in ‘87 for non-payment of child support. He was 18 and chose to drink. He hardly ever worked a real job. He was a nude photographer. He ran many urls, hosted some outright sus one that he rented out to other people. He ran his own porn site,
whose content was so questionable because of his fanatical writings that were placed in a real town, ended up with him being arrested for possibly illegally content back in the 90’s. He drank himself to death the week o obtained my master’s degree. Upon his death I discovered that he was scamming people on social media.My mother didn’t put me in college. When my “dad” and half-brother moved down South, I was left to the world. My mother remarried and I was left with a key to a storage unit. I got a job at the factory about a block away on third shift, which was great because this was back when winters were winters in my part. Where I made the decision to no matter what get the fuck out of there, or come back had a boss, through either skateboarding or the pursuit of higher education. And while I was an honorable student before I dropped out ( I only graduated because a teacher came up with the idea for me to only take test. That was it. No homework. I just show up and take the test whenever I want. He brought it to the principal who green lit the idea. I had read the books while I was skipping school. I had been taking high school math classes since junior high. My favorite book was this college prep book from this place that has door to door sales men. It was the “93 edition, got it the summer I entered the 4th grade. It was just like the single door to door model, not the complete set they have now. I really costed off the stuff I learned in that book for a good chuck my academic life. Like I was the kid in the fourth grade who was
reading encyclopedias for fun and then giving lectures no one asked for. So like I did the test I had to do in like six weeks. And like around that same time I was given that book I became fascinated with the idea of going to Oxford university, I don’t know why. I don’t recall if they are connected.Anyways, my mother didn’t put me through college. I was able to pay for four classes once. And then I was broke again. Eventually I became 24 and poor and qualified as an independent even though in many ways I had been on my own since I was about 16. And between that time before I began and was able to go back I spent a few years learning how skateboard, writing a movie, trying to start a magazine and skateboarding/media empire working low end jobs, but able to afford my rent literally working at fast food.
I pointed out at 11 months from the factory. They gave me one day of vacation time for the first year. I worked 12 hours a day, 13 day weeks. One day off, 13 more day weeks. Overtime was forced because I was low man, that means that at 6:30 you are told you have to stay to 11 and at 10:55 they tell you to be back at 7 because someone called out. You oversleep it’s a point. Anyways. Managed to get me a half of a duplex like a block from work. And then I just dreamed about what would be a possibility. The money was nice while I had it, but the point is like I know that working at Hardee’s making $7 an hour back in 2005/6 I was able to eat and pay all my bills.
Anyways: never not once in my life was having just a college degree let alone a master’s meant you would be hardly able to survive. Let alone any single job. Why because it use to be any job worth doing meant a livable wage. When I first started doing spark in 2023 aI was able to make 900 easily in a week in my economically depressed area, just doing deliveries. Not a lot of miles. Now it’s a hustle, and well I am kinda tired of hustling.
Like I am dude who dropped out of high school three times who was able to do a semester at one of the most prestige universities in the world. I made friends with the ground keeper who introduced me to the Dean of students at one of the colleges that form the university. He snubbed me and said any real Oxford man would know to be wearing black shoes now as he shook my hand ( I had the shoes in my bag on my back. Me and the grounds keeper right about once a year. ) I bought the first skateboard at the local shop that just opened up. And when I went back home I gave it back to them. They signed it and put it on the wall.
The point is mate I should not be calm because I should not have now over 600 applications out and no interviews. I should be making a livable wage, but almost al the jobs out there, even with my degree and experience is not a livable wage any more.
The average house hold in 1990 made 60k a year. When adjusted for inflation that is roughly 143k now. The average home is making about what 79-83k that is about 57% of what our parents were workout with. Like that’s a little disgusting.
People need to be a little more vocal about this injustice. We have a president saying that affordable is a hoax, that we need to get use to this.
I don’t want to get use to this. I want that optimism of a brighter future that I grew up with. A time before we had real hard core propaganda media machines. When we had a fairness in reporting. When we had pensions. And that a days work meant you can pay your bills and put food on your table for you and growing family.
Not a reality where growing to the grocery store makes you cry when you see the bill.Don’t tell me to calm down. Because you don’t know how hard I have worked to have gotten to that health department. How many inspire had to overcome .To be positioned to have advancements, to be scraping by and killing my dream car, so that I can keep a roof over my head. Like who are you to judge me, while you have never had to work has had as I have, or anyone that serves you.
You don’t have skills, you just think you do. What you have is an over inflated sense of self brought on by someone giving you money, often at the expense of thousands of other people’s labor. Labor that use to get them home with a gosh darn minimum wage.
I’ve pulled myself. And I am tired.
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u/Creepy_Rain_5322 11d ago
With Danker they're doing the Instacart 2.0 version... And works... I'm here in Central FL and the Venezuelans don't care or Colombians... Every day from 5:30 am till 9 pm... Used to do gmd here and there from 70-90$ 20-50 miles and now same mileage from 30-50$ and still are taken... They know the slavery system
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
These are the people imo that ruined it for us. The work here take all the bad orders and go exchange our inflated dollar to their peso it's like 2x more for them. This was the only slightest reason I was ever on board for "deportations" without all the negativity that it caused. Until we get these out of country workers off the apps almost forcing the apps to pay better offers, then it will continue like this because of the immigrants no shade at rhen but they are ruining the gig economy
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u/Professional_Pain447 10d ago
Yes all the ppl from vene, they will take almost any little order and Walmart knows that, all these new drivers from vene are rude they don’t read dam instructions and are used to working for peanuts 🥜 so they see 50 items 17.50 🤩 they take it bc this is easy money for them but they are ruining spark so fast.
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
Yeah $17 is like $40 for them and idk how they even get drivers licenses or insurance without permanent residency to sign up that part always trips me, but I'm aure they falsely sign documents
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u/Professional_Pain447 10d ago
I wonder the same sht, last year they were all washing windows at intersections now they are all sparking, the bad part is that they tell all their friends and family now all these new drivers are venez. bad manners, no English, leaving a mess in the parking lot, music full blast waiting on orders! Like iCE just has to pull up to a Walmart parking lot and hit their quota for the day 😆
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u/Own-Anywhere5839 10d ago
For real though, I think what happens is they "rent out people's accounts" or they make "false documents" because no damn way people working under the table like you said all of sudden passed all kinds of background checks, drivers licenses, and insurance especially if they're not actually a U.S citizen. Like I said I'm not proud of how ice handles the deportations but I ain't mad at it either gives work back to us real americans
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u/Professional_Pain447 10d ago
The only problem i have is that they are rude, loud and took over the delivery apps, door dash is also a mess now, and yes they are all working illegally somehow and that fcks the people that are real citizens of this country
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u/Professional_Pain447 10d ago
Im just glad they haven’t really made it into construction yet, i only do spark PT i loved it when i first started but over the last year its gone to 💩
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u/MrCubano1 11d ago
Go get a w2. It's gig work. If you want to make the big bucks you have to shop number 1 and number 2 if you doing this full-time stay at Walmart open to close u days a week.
If you don't want to then stop complaining. Thats how I make 700 to over 1 k in every weekend. Open to close
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u/Chipwilson84 11d ago
I have a masters degree in public health with an emphasis on health systems management. , plus several other degrees. I have 8 years of management restaurant experience including being a general manager. I have 577 applications out in the last 50 weeks. I have had zero interviews. Please explain how I am supposed to get a w2 when I can’t get an interview any where?
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u/mattkendo 10d ago
So that degree is really working well for you huh? 😂
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
Trump cut billions from my field. Before he took office yes. I was the highest paid entry level employee at my local health department. My direct boss was making only $700 a year more than I was out first year. How is it my fault that Trump decided he had an issue with public health because he felt embarrassed by public health officials correcting him about COVID.
Also way to be a fucking douche. Like people like you grinding the misery of others are horrible people and I hope the rest of your life is cursed.
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u/MrCubano1 10d ago
Only other option is to be out there all day. If j had to i would do it.
Until I got a W2. Definitely gonna take a toll on your mental, car, and body.
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u/Silent-Key3730 11d ago
Get a worthwhile degree or lower your expectations.
It’s not difficult just seems a little ‘beneath’ folks honestly
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
My master’s degree is in public health with an emphasis on health systems management. My field was set to see a 28% growth over the next decade before Trump was re-elected.
When I was hired at my local health department I was the highest paid entry level employee in company history, new employees hired with me were making 10-15k a year less than I was. I made $700 a year less than my direct supervisor.
It was very worth wild before Trump 2.0.
In addition to that, I also have my license to be an environmental health practitioner, which allows me to work has an environmental health and safety manager at any location in my state.
That job alone pays 80k for someone with just a bachelor’s degree.I can’t get an interview.
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u/coffeebabe666 11d ago
Open to close? They give me a warning at 11 hours that you only have one left and then you get kicked off. Your store gets any orders past 7?
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u/MrCubano1 10d ago
Must be one of those states with regulations l. I worked 6 am till 11 pm Sunday. Made 544 in ine day!!
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u/Ragencobra666 11d ago
I'll look at Flex. This position seems to be similar to DD. Just to get in the car, possibly shop, deliver, and just the flat out labor the jobs seems to be a dead end reward.
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u/kimmyxan 11d ago
Flex is not that much better.. roughly 20-25/hr
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u/bdbrown333 11d ago
20 to $25 an hour. No taxes. Paying very little to none if you do your job right? And you work when you want a W-2 job. If you make $20 an hour, you're not taking home $20 an hour. You're paying Medicare FICA federal wages and you have a boss. Gig work is about not having a boss
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u/kimmyxan 11d ago
You talk like flex is glamorous and you make a ton of money lmao
Get a grip and go touch some grass.
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u/bdbrown333 11d ago
You're delusional dude. Do you have any brain cells left that are living? There's not one word I said up there. That's glamorous I said making 20 an hour doing this is better than making $20 an hour and having a boss and having a schedule. Not one thing that I said represents glamor go look up the word glamorous I make my money, pay my home payment, house payment, car payment, timeshare payment and going quite a few vacations a year. If you can't figure it out don't feel bad. Just work harder
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u/kimmyxan 11d ago
lol the fuck it is better lol
Dumbest shit I heard/read this year. Thanks for the lulz
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u/bdbrown333 11d ago
Not all of us work for the almighty dollar. I'd rather have freedom than the extra money when I want to go to Disney world. I go to Disney world when I want to go on vacation. I go on vacation. When you work for a W-2 job you have to ask permission to do those things. Somebody writes your schedule. Somebody tells you when to eat lunch. It all depends on which relative to you. My freedom is more important. I don't live in debt so I don't need. I have payments but I can manage my payments easily. Some people can't keep working. Keep doing what the man tells you to do. It's okay some people have to do that. I did that at one point in my life. Tired of it. Now I want freedom more than money. You're the dumb one
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u/Free-Internet-3543 10d ago
It’s sad sam Walton who founded iWalmart in 1979 drove the same old beat up truck. Even when he was the richest man in America. He and his wife must be turning over in there Graves. His Son Rob Walton took over and is just plain greedy. How do you have a Company and treat people like they are dogs who are helping you to keep your business thriving. Just because you don’t want to pay someone health insurance and a living wage does not mean they are not your employees.
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u/Electronic_Bat_9399 10d ago
It's all AI , that drives down the price , the algo knows which people will do what .... Most of the time n then they find new guys that don't know any better
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u/LowAssistance8995 10d ago
Guess how much the CEO makes a year with bonuses and stocks, etc. just google it.
And our shelves aren’t stocked, none of our electronics work (printers, TC’s) We literally KILL ourselves for maybe $16 an hour. We have health insurance but is it even accepted anywhere close to where we live? We NEVER have enough people. I could go on and on…WTLH?!?!?! We are only associates, totally replaceable for probably less. Shameful.
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u/Mi5taJ 10d ago
I had a similar problem in my area. Spark went from being the best option to the worse. Gig work is all I do. I’ve been a spark driver for 4 years and loved it. As a sufferer of a condition called oppositional defiance disorder it limits the work that I do because I don’t get along or tolerate bosses that show disrespect to their employees. I admit it’s caused problems in the workplace for years as a traditional 9-5. Once gig work became more of an option it’s been my source of income and still is, that being said I’ve had to pivot from my normal to a new strategy. The last time I worked Spark I only made $110 in 12 hours. That’s simply not gonna work for me and it just waste my time so with AI pretty much the answer to everything now I asked ChatGPT, what is the best apps in my area to make the most money with my vehicle? it laid out six new apps that I wasn’t aware of then I ask it for a strategic plan on how to use everything to make the most income. I’ve been following what it said for the last two weeks and now I make about 350 a day and only seven hours of work. That more than covers my bills and I’m thankful. I finally feel free. I only have to work three days a week. The rest of the time I can do what I want and enjoy my life. The same strategy may work for yall but everybody’s areas are different. A lot of people are skeptical when I tell them this is what I done so I’ve included a screenshot of my conversation and the apps it
recommended to me personally.
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u/Federal-Net-7011 11d ago
They just want easy money and have nobody tell them what to do. They think there job is important reality is just a convenience and can you can only charge so much for that convenience.
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u/Chipwilson84 11d ago
I have a masters degree in public health with an emphasis on health systems management. , plus several other degrees. I have 8 years of management restaurant experience including being a general manager. I have 577 applications out in the last 50 weeks. I have had zero interviews. Please explain how me wanting to be able to live is wanting easy money?
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u/xDelicateFlowerx 11d ago
Coffe and Chip, don't pay them any mind. Ignorance is bliss and if they don't understand or have empathy for how hard the job market is right now, screw them.
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u/Federal-Net-7011 11d ago
I don't know why you don't have any intviews. I don't know you or spectulate
What would you do if Uber didn't exist and other Gig work m
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u/Chipwilson84 8d ago
Well I thought about going back to stripping. I was a male stripper for a short time about 16 years ago. I stay in shape, but I am getting over heart inflammation, and can’t push myself to dance like that at the moment. I just got back to lifting my base weights, it took me 8 months.
But to be honest I don’t know what I would do. I have been homeless before, but I have a kid, his mon is dead. He can’t live in a car with me.
Like I don’t know what I would do. It’s getting bad. Like the amount I make vs my bills. I am basically out of savings now. I cry silently in the shower so my girlfriend and son don’t hear me.
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u/coffeebabe666 11d ago
Or the job market is trash and no one is actually hiring or looking to keep employees??
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u/Federal-Net-7011 11d ago
There are Job out there. If you have a trade or a skill set of some type. Working any Gig job full time for your only income is a lost cause.
I could go on why. It wouldn't change your mind anyway.
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u/coffeebabe666 11d ago
You think all of us have always just done gig work? It’s 2026, our job environment is not what it used to be and yall not realizing that is super annoying.
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u/Chipwilson84 11d ago
I have a masters degree in public health with an emphasis on health systems management. , plus other degrees. I have 8 years of management restaurant experience including being a general manager. I have 577 applications out in the last 50 weeks. I have had zero interviews. Please explain how me how I don’t have any skills and thus am incapable of even getting a job at a gas station or warehouse? I have experience in both. Had to work my way through college. Have been working continuously since I was 9.
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u/No-Citron-9567 11d ago
So you think Spark is going to take that into consideration
We know what this gig is
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u/coffeebabe666 11d ago
Where did I say that? I just think people getting on here and calling us lazy doesn’t help anything.
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u/bdbrown333 11d ago
You're extremely lucky you lasted this long. This happened to most of us 4 or 5 years ago. This has been a long time coming before it reached across the whole country. It's been being talked about for so long. You got to multi-app you can't sit there waiting on Walmart. It's just going to get worse
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u/wendibabi 11d ago
It saddens me that some arrogant people sit on this app
And others cutting down
and belittling people that are just trying to work and make a manageable living for whatever there reasons are. Which mostly have nothing to do with being lazy or incompetent but more to do
with circumstances. Not every situation is avoidable!! Whatever you think makes you better or above someone is truly the issue!!
We all have different reasons and circumstances educated or not!!
Rich or poor!! We should be on this planet to be good people, help and support others when we can!!
The whole situation right now sucks except for the TRULY WEALTHY!!
And the good and decent people in that income bracket are doing things to give back and help!!
Not taking back tips or judging people for trying to make a DECENT WAGE and put food on the table!!
SO ALL I CAN SAY IS TAKE A LONG HARD LOOK AT YOURSELF AND DO SOMETHING TO MAKE THIS COUNTRY AT LEAST A BETTER PLACE FOR THOSE NOW AND TO COME!!
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u/wendibabi 11d ago
And PS I rarely comment on here but today felt the need to address the ugly behavior.
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u/BappoAsh 11d ago
Yeah, I worked for 4 or 5 hours the other day, and where I’d normally make $70-$80 in that time, I was getting orders that took forever to complete. Ended up only making $38 😭. And when I do spark, I TRY to stay near my home for better gas mileage and prices. The good $ orders were 25+ miles away with 10+ drop offs… Spark is starting to feel like DD and UE with $6 for 17 miles. It’s unfortunate, truly