Scenario & Implications
03.10.2021
Brainstorming/Mapping out scenario
We at first had a little difficulty in how to approach our scenario so we started our process by creating a timeline and mapping out possibilities. This helped our thinking and narrowing down ideas.
03.12.2021
Our Scenario
Eileen, a stay at home mother of two, realizes that she forgot to get groceries the other day. In a rush, Eileen decides to make an order through Instacart, hoping that it’ll arrive before dinnertime.
Kevin, an experienced Instacart shopper, sees Eileen’s order and decides to take it. As Kevin approaches the store, he realizes it the weekend, and it is very crowded. Because of this, he moves very slowly through the store and struggles to find stuff. Finally, Kevin manages to check out with Eileen’s order. He looks on the Instacart app to see where he needs to delivery his groceries. He realizes that Eileen lives a bit far from his location, so it will take him even longer to complete the order. Feeling frustrated at the fact that he doesn’t have control over this, Kevin finally lugs the groceries into his car and begins the drive. He finally delivers the order to Eileen’s doorstep, but Eileen is already frustrated by how long it took for the groceries to come because it is nearly dinner time. Because of this, Eileen reduces the tip and gives Kevin 4/5 stars on her order.
Kevin checks the Instacart app again and is devastated to find that Eileen has ruined his 5 star streak and halved his tip. Although his rating is still quite high, the imperfect score means that Kevin is blocked out from high-paying orders and that he will have to work even harder to reach his target wage for the day and be in good favors with the instacart algorithm again.
Eileen manages to cook dinner in the nick of time and realizes that the late order did not affect her as much as she thought it did. She enjoys her dinner, unaware that she had made a huge impact on Kevin’s livelihood.
Implementation//Implications
What form would our solution take?
- Improved rating systems on the delivery app, one that doesn’t completely shut off a worker when they recieve one 4 star review.
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What are the implications for the future?
- There might be an oversaturation of delivery workers on the app as people lose their jobs and turn to the gig economy. (We can already see this starting to happen), which will encourage even smaller tips.
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Pitch
Client: Instacart
Problem: We are addressing the tipping and rating issue. Many workers have dealt with tips being taken away or being too small and poor ratings for the hard work they are doing (while also putting themselves at risk in a pandemic).
Solution: Enhance communication between consumer and shopper? Make a minimum tip that is sufficient to the order…? or the tip is built into cost? Better connect grocery store delivery service to actual grocery store and build in the service tip/fee into cost? Improve the algorithm so it does not punish workers for ratings..?
Implications: Improve pay/treatment of essential delivery workers and improve relationship between companies and workers. Improve overall experience with grocery delivery services for both consumer and employees.
