

Postmates NYC treats their deliverymen like trash - johndoze
http://peterk.co/postmates-nyc-treats-their-deliverymen-like-trash/

======
cjbprime
The headline is significantly linkbaity. Courier job applicant was told to
arrive 5-10 mins early for interview, arrived 4 mins early and was
unapologetically told to go to the next session in 30 mins.

~~~
ethomson
The linked article does not indicate that the applicant was told to arrive
5-10 minutes early, and it explicitly says that they were to reschedule for
_another day_ , not the next session in 30 minutes.

~~~
semanticist
The linked article absolutely shows that the applicant was told to arrive 5-10
minutes early, in this image embedded in the article:
[http://peterk.co/content/images/2014/Jul/email.png](http://peterk.co/content/images/2014/Jul/email.png)

"Late arrivals will not be admitted, be sure to arrive 5-10 minutes early."

~~~
ethomson
Indeed; thank you for pointing that out.

------
ethomson
If I were a delivery company then I might decide that I didn't want to hire
the people that merely show up _on time_ , or even the people that show up a
few minutes early. I want the people who go out of their way to show up a lot,
lot earlier than they're expected to.

Even if that wasn't true, though, I suspect that I would not be interested in
hiring the guy who didn't show up early the _second time_.

------
alialkhatib
It depends on your understanding of the invitation. I agree that this is
contentious, but I could see how Postmates would argue that the invitation
_only incidentally_ states that the orientation begins at 6:00pm. The time you
are requested to arrive is 5-10 minutes before that.

This isn't about the forces of the courier market (although I'm sure there's a
fascinating market in NYC). This is about breeding a culture where
participants in that culture have a sense of punctuality that supersedes all
else. I wouldn't have been much more surprised if showing up _too early_ would
have gotten the author turned away. It's easy to show up 45 minutes early to
something if you blow out everything leading up to that appointment, which you
can do because you see it as a one-off. Being on time for every appointment
you make takes more diligence. It takes cutting people (even yourself) off
from an arguably more interesting diversion.

I wouldn't lose much sleep over this story; the author describes another
courier who's been in this situation before. He clearly failed and was given a
second chance. This isn't one of those "fail once and you're banished for
life" kinds of things. Postmates will probably keep slamming the door in these
people's faces until they show up 5-10 minutes early (ie they learn the lesson
Postmates is trying to teach).

Or, you know, they find another job, where this kind of nitpicking isn't
normal.

------
DanBlake
This reminds me of Van Halen and their "no brown M&M's clause"

[http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/232420](http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/232420)

To sum it up, Van Halen would put in their contracts that they are to be
served M&M's with no brown ones present. If they found that there was indeed
brown ones, they would not play because they felt the gig was not paying
attention to detail.

Seems to me that if you are applying for a job that basically is all about
time (delivery in 30 mins) then it is a great litmus test to not let people
who are late to the orientation have a job. These people obviously did not
care enough for the job interview- It stands to reason they likely wont care
to be extra fast once/if hired.

~~~
vcherubini
They weren't late, though? If they wanted people to show up 5-10 minutes
early, make the training at 5:50 or 5:55. Don't say 6 and really mean earlier.

~~~
thesagan
Exactly. "Early" is generally understood to mean before the "time in question"
\-- the time that serves as the frame of reference when an engagement will
occur.

Asking participants to arrive early would, at least to me, strike as a caveat
to those who might otherwise arrive late -- but not at the "time in question".

On time is on time, which is AT the stated time. Not before, not after.

------
danso
Well, if it's a courier service that hopes to distinguish itself by being
unerringly on-time...I guess this is a good way to enforce such a mentality
from the get-go. Kind of like Van Halen being a stickler about brown M&M's,
except that showing up on-time for the interview is directly related to the
services at hand.

(If the OP arrived at 5:55, then unless he knocked on the dot, he was
technically later than the "5-10 minutes early" notice. OTOH, it seems to be a
common convention that when a time is set, i.e. 6:00PM, that is the actual
drop-dead time)

------
subway
This is unfortunate, but I have to wonder why 557.png (the image of the phone
in this post) was last edited by Photoshop. :tinfoil:

    
    
      $ extract downloads/557.png 
      Keywords for file downloads/557.png:
      mimetype - image/png
      image dimensions - 1170x869
      produced by software - Adobe ImageReady
      comment - 
      created by software - Adobe Photoshop CS6 Macintosh
      mimetype - image/png
      video dimensions - 1170x869
      pixel aspect ratio - 1/1

~~~
johndoze
Here's the original. I didn't like the way it looked.

[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10272371/image.jpeg](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10272371/image.jpeg)

