A user on the American forum Reddit has revealed that the author, claiming to be a backend engineer at a major food delivery platform, risked violating a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to expose how the platform systematically deceives consumers and exploits delivery drivers through a cruel algorithm. The whistleblower claims to have already resigned and posted the article using public Wi-Fi in a library and a disposable laptop.
(Note): The revelations on Reddit are anonymous, much like the fantasies on PTT. Their authenticity still needs to wait for more information to be revealed.
He vehemently criticized the company's management for treating drivers as "human assets" rather than parents struggling to pay rent. He detailed four shocking internal mechanisms, such as assigning a "despair index" to delivery drivers. If a driver frequently accepts low-paying, low-value orders late at night, the system deems him short of money and refuses to deliver higher-paying orders. The logic is simple: if they know this guy is willing to work for $6, why pay him $15?
Priority delivery logic delays other orders.
Many consumers opt for Priority Delivery to expedite their meals. However, the engineer points out that this is a complete lie. He explains, "When you pay that extra $2.99, the system simply changes a Boolean value in the order code, but the delivery logic completely ignores that flag."
Even more appalling, the company conducted an A/B test to make paying customers feel that the service was faster: deliberately delaying non-priority orders by 5 to 10 minutes. This means that the company is not profiting by improving its service, but by degrading its standard service to earn millions of dollars in net profit.
Cruel and desperate scores, exploiting delivery workers who have no other choice.
The most controversial allegation in the exposé is that the platform has a hidden metric for delivery drivers: a "despair score." The algorithm tracks drivers' order-accepting behavior. If a driver frequently goes online late at night and readily accepts low-priced, low-value orders (e.g., $3), the system marks them as highly desperate. Once flagged, the system deliberately stops assigning high-value orders to that driver.
"The logic is simple: since we know this guy is willing to run for $6, why pay him $15?" The whistleblower explained that high-tipping orders are reserved for casual drivers who only log on occasionally, in order to keep them on the platform and gamify their experience, while full-time drivers are ruthlessly exploited.
Welfare funds were used for anti-union lobbying.
As labor regulations tighten, many bills are showing regulatory response fees or driver benefits charges. Consumers often assume this is helping delivery drivers, but in reality, 100% of this money goes into the company's pocket. The engineer revealed that this funding flows directly into an internal cost center called Policy Defense, dedicated to hiring top lawyers to lobby against delivery drivers forming unions. "The money you're paying is actually supporting lawyers who are making your delivery drivers homeless."
Tip theft 2.0: Subsidize the company with your kindness
Although the platform no longer directly forfeits tips, the engineer accused them of using predictive models to dynamically lower base pay. If the algorithm predicts that a customer is a "generous tipper" (for example, likely to give $10), the system will lower the base pay for that order to $2; conversely, if it predicts that the customer will not tip, the system will raise the base pay to $8 to ensure someone delivers the food.
This article, originally published on ABMedia , exposes a scam by an American netizen: the priority delivery system assigns despair scores to delivery drivers, exploiting them the more they are short of money .
