The online grocery service Instacart has been playing nasty games with its workers' pay.

Last September, they eliminated the tips feature from their checkout page, replacing it with a flat 10% "service fee." However, unlike the tips, the service fee is not paid to individual workers, but goes directly to Instacart.

After protests, Instacart restored an option for tips - but it's now linked to a button hidden below the service fee section. In other words, Instacart has fooled users into thinking that the "service fee" is actually a tip. Those who aren't fooled and dig deeper then have to decide whether to pay an additional tip on top of a high service charge. Predictably, workers' tips (and thus wages) have plunged since the change. 

Companies shouldn't be stealing tips from workers. Tell Instacart to restore the tips feature to the front of the checkout page. 

2016 was a banner year for Instacart, which sealed a partnership and then an investment from Whole Foods.

Yet that growth clearly came at the expense of its personal shoppers. Early in the year they received a pay cut of up to 50% in some cities. Then came the "service fee" change. Then in January 2017, pay rates were cut yet again under a new dynamic pay structure. It's clear that Instacart believes that cutting worker pay is the way to increase growth - CEO Apoorva Mehta said as much in a Buzzfeed article.

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