(credit: Mapbox)
In a sign that freewheeling, well-funded Bay Area startups are becoming more cost-conscious, the on-demand grocery delivery service Instacart recently told its couriers that it would be cutting pay rates by as much as 63 percent.
According to the Wall Street Journal, San Francisco drivers who pick up bags at grocery stores, for example, will make $ 1.50 per drop-off rather than the previous $ 4. Instacart has also made a 50 percent cut, down to $ 0.25, on the commission that it pays per item to drivers when they are shopping in-store.
“After these changes our shoppers will earn, on average, an effective rate of $ 15 to $ 20 per hour, which is both in line with historical levels and strongly competitive within our markets,” Hyeri Kim, an Instacart spokeswoman, told Ars in a statement.
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