My boss is an app

March 24, 2021·46 min·4 clips

Amazon left driver Julia Soler stranded in a snowbank after taking their packages, exposing the risks of being an independent contractor.

Groceries are waiting in New Jersey. Julia has food to deliver there, but the system tells her to take it all back to Philadelphia. The waste is right there. The reporter cannot know exactly what happened next, though the groceries likely ended up in the trash like the ones seen earlier. Then the rating problem kicks in. Drivers are judged by successful deliveries, so bringing groceries back can hurt Julia even when support is the one telling her to do it. That is the bind. Independent contracting says she runs her own business, but the decision sits somewhere inside the app. She does not really get to choose. If she keeps delivering, she may be late. If she turns around, her rating may still take the hit. The contradiction is hard to miss. The worker is called independent, then boxed in when the job is actually happening. Deactivation is the shadow over the whole thing. A lower rating can make a driver more likely to lose access, so one strange grocery route becomes a real threat. Julia is not deactivated. The host says she is a strong worker, which may help her stay on the platform for now. But staying is not moving up. Julia says she is always just going to be a driver there, even though she wants to run her own business someday. The app looks efficient from a distance. Up close, the automated boss can burn food, time, judgment, and workers' mental health.

As heard by us

An app-run job looks efficient until groceries, time, and the worker all pay for it.

The episode tracks Julia Soler, a North Philadelphia driver for Amazon Flex, through one grocery run and shows how an app can function like a boss. Support tells her what to do, her rating can still take a hit, and even a well-meant choice can bring her closer to deactivation.

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Why you'd press play

If your boss is an app, this one follows the consequences all the way to the curb.

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