The Financial Fallout of Being Deactivated from Delivery Work

Steve McDougall earned about $900 a week delivering for Uber Eats and DoorDash, whizzing through the heavy traffic of Gloucester, Mass., on an e-bike.The flexible hours allowed him to tend to his 15-year-old daughter and two parents with disabilities.“It’s not great money, but it’s freedom,” said Mr.

McDougall, 40.“I get to come home a lot during the day.

I get to go to my daughter’s softball games, practices, doctor’s appointments — anything I need to.”In November 2023, he received an email from Uber notifying him that his account had been deactivated.It cited “fraudulent activity,” but did not elaborate.

He immediately appealed.“I just wrote a little comment saying, ‘I work six days a week for you guys, I’ve never done anything wrong,’” he said.Three months later, Uber sent Mr.McDougall an email stating that a review concluded that activity on his account “was fraudulent” and did not reactivate his account.

He had completed 1,720 deliveries on the app over more than three years.Relying just on DoorDash deliveries, his income dropped to $500 on a good week, he said.According to data from Public First, a tech industry group, about 7.3 million Americans earn money by working through an app, like Uber, Lyft, Instacart or DoorDash.

The way companies decide to suspend a worker is largely unregulated.For drivers who rely on apps for all or most of their income, deactivation can be a push toward the financial brink.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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