If you’re in San Francisco, and worked for Instacart between 2017 and 2020, make sure you check out the story down below about their payment to Shoppers.

For the rest of you, Happy belated Lunar New Year if you celebrate it. It’s officially the year of the Rabbit, which immediately makes me think it’s time to get moving and hustle, but it turns out, the rabbit symbolizes a time of introspection, rest, and tranquility. Not sure they knew many gig workers when they decided that, but let’s see if we can do both this year.

Last issue, we asked you if you had any goals for 2023, and two resounding themes came through: First, “Be my own boss” and second “Increase my profit”. That perfectly summarizes the year in my eyes. We are not even a month into the year and yet, there is a lot going on. In my calendar, this is the year of the gig worker – a year of grit, work ethic, and personal freedom.

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Top Headlines

This week's top headlines from the Gig Economy

Instacart to pay $5.25M in San Francisco labor settlement

This story is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, if you’re one of the 5,000 Instacart Shoppers entitled to this payout, kudos to you. Go grab that money while it’s there.

Mostly though, this story feels like the beginning of a new trend. One where big gig marketplaces are forced to take a second look at how they treat their workers. I’m optimistic that this will have positive ripple effects for gig workers on every app.

Read Full Article on Winsight Grocery Business

DoorDash expands Starbucks partnership with plans to reach all US states by March

This story doesn’t feel all that noteworthy considering Starbucks has been available on Uber Eats for a while now, but it does highlight some pretty heated competition continuing between these two delivery giants. If DoorDash wanted my attention, they’d be giving a free coffee to the Dasher who’s picking up that Starbucks order. Long days can be made better with caffeine!

Read Full Article on TechCrunch

Uber’s New Math: Increase Prices And Squeeze Driver Pay

Uber can’t catch a break… but that might be their own doing. After posting positive revenue growth in their last quarterly earnings report, this article does a good job asking some tough questions. Are they profiting simply by squeezing worker pay and increasing customer fees? Ultimately, you would know better than most whether it feels like your take home pay is getting hit. Meanwhile, Uber is also experimenting with new revenue sources from advertising in-app and in-cars. Let’s keep the pressure on them to make sure some of those dollars are flowing back to Uber Earners.

Read Full Article on Forbes

Grubhub Partners with RapidSOS to Enhance Driver Safety through Faster & Smarter 911 Response

GrubHub is upping their game to make drivers feel safer. In-app, GrubHub drivers can now instantly access 911 services, or just get a safety agent on the line to help them through an uncomfortable situation… like walking up to a creepy house or down a dimly lit street.

These new features are now live in a few key cities, and will be nationwide by the middle of the year.

Read Full Article on PR Newswire

Get ready for a gig-worker boom that could make it harder for contractors to earn a living

1 MILLION MORE GIG WORKERS! We touched on this in the last issue of the Gig Life, and it’s definitely a trend to watch this year. As unemployment rates go up, there’s a good chance that more people turn to gig work.

Some of you have been doing gig work for a while and will find ways to keep your edge as more competition comes into the space.

In parallel, there are companies like Moves building new ways to help you make more money while you're already working. They currently have a new program that allows you to earn by referring other gig workers to Sign Up to Moves. Gig Life readers can drop their name and email address here for early access.

Read Full Article on Business Insider

Video Spotlight

Youtuber - Your Driver Mike

(Subscribe to his channel here)

TOP 5 Tips To Make MORE Money Driving For Uber (2023)

Check out this good highlight video where Mike covers his top 5 tips for making more money on Uber in 2023. He has a good sense of what’s changing on the Uber driver app to keep your strategies current.

Watch on YouTube

What Should We Cover?

We love to chat with gig workers. Let us know what kind of news and articles are relevant to you so we can help to deliver the content you need.