When the company “Go Puff” hit Connecticut, it appeared to be a better option than driving for Uber Eats or DoorDash. Drivers save on gas as they drive their vehicle from the warehouse to the customer’s home and back to the warehouse. Drivers had the option to schedule a block or work on demand. The difference was when you’re scheduled a block the company gave you guaranteed hourly pay. However, when you worked on demand, and business was slow, you could sit in front of the warehouse all night, and go home broke.

The company also had a weekly bonus based on how many deliveries you delivered. In the beginning, business was so slow, that If you completed 10 deliveries the company would pay an additional 15 dollars. Complete 10 more earn an additional 20 dollars, and so forth up to 40 deliveries.

Did away with first come first serve

Things started to pick up and the company stopped offering drivers first come first serve offers. If you weren’t on a scheduled block, you wouldn’t get an order unless someone who was on a scheduled block wasn’t at the warehouse when an order came in.

Drivers sat in front of the warehouse for hours and went home broke. To obtain a scheduled block you had to request it on a certain day and time. After you requested the block you had to pray Go Puff granted you the hours you requested. Which is why several drivers just worked on demand.

As business grew Go Puff realized it wouldn’t be hard for drivers to complete 40 deliveries. So they stopped awarding drivers for every delivery milestone they reached. They started awarding drivers for only the last driver milestone they reached. They then upped the ante on how many deliveries you had to make before you received a bonus. First, it was 10 and then changed to 40. Eventually, they did away with giving bonuses altogether.

Guarantee pay turned into Wait Pay.

Go Puff guaranteed scheduled drivers a certain amount per hour. That meant if business was slow, and they didn’t earn that amount, Go Puff would put up the difference. This guarantee pay turned into “Wait Pay”. Which meant drivers now made 22 cents for every minute they waited outside the warehouse.

However “Wait Pay” stops as soon as the driver receives an order, delivers that order, and returns to the warehouse. This system made it easy for Go Puff to stop paying drivers Wait Pay by simply giving drivers orders that go in different directions.

Reduced the amount earned on deliveries

Drivers received a memo saying that they were going to receive more money for making deliveries farther away from the warehouse. However, they forgot to mention they would less pay for orders closer to the warehouse. Go Puff charges customers 4 dollars to have their orders delivered to them. This fee is the same regardless of how close you are to the warehouse. I just saw a Go Puff driver post a screenshot of himself making 5 deliveries and only to receive 7 dollars. In the past, this driver would’ve made 20 dollars. 7 dollars is not even a 1.50 per stop. Which should be criminal.

I find it amazing how this company comes from Philadelphia and uses black and brown people to help build their business. After the business was built they took back everything from the people who helped them build it. Drivers worked into the wee hours of the morning. They worked in high-crime areas. They worked during bad weather and even worked during COVID-19. Just to walk away from less than they came in with.