"NYC Food Delivery Workers Face Paltry Pay and High Risks, Analysis Shows", 13 September 2021

New York City’s roughly 65,000 food delivery workers earn an average of $7.87 an hour before tips — well below New York’s $15 minimum wage, a survey of more than 500 app-based workers found.

More than 85% of respondents said that app-based delivery work was their main and only job, challenging the portrayal of so-called “gig” work by tech companies such as DoorDash and Uber Eats.

Nearly half of the respondents said they’ve been in a crash while doing a delivery...

E-bike thefts and assaults worsened during the pandemic, respondents said, with 54% of the workers surveyed saying that they’d had their wheels stolen...About 30% of those who have experienced bike theft said they were physically assaulted during the robbery.

And 42% of workers found payment unreliable, with money coming late and tips sometimes whittled down or missing, the study found. Even with tips, average pay amounted to $12.21 an hour, the report determined...

DoorDash...said in a statement that the “claims in this study are misleading and directly contradicted by the facts.”

“Nationally, Dashers earn over $25 per hour they’re on a delivery and Dashers earn $33 per hour they’re on a delivery in Manhattan. Dashers receive 100% of their tips, and on average, Dashers deliver for fewer than four hours per week, fitting delivery around full time jobs, caring for friends and family, going to school, and more,”...

A representative for Uber Eats, another San Francisco-based tech company, did not immediately respond to requests for comment...