This year is Mr. Liu's fourth year as a ride-hailing company in Guangzhou. He starts work at 10 a.m. every day and finishes at about 11 p.m., with an average daily online time of about 12 hours, an average daily turnover of more than 500 yuan, and two days off every month. Excluding the cost of renting a car and charging, "I can earn more than 200 to 300 yuan a day."
"Running online car-hailing is getting more and more involved. Mr. Liu told reporters that when he first entered the industry, the order settlement was about 2.5 yuan-3 yuan/km, and now the average order is about 1.5 yuan/km after the peak period commission, and the order is about 1.2 yuan-1.3 yuan/km during the peak period. In addition to the reduced unit price per kilometer, he was also troubled by the complicated commission rules, "Some orders also include the highway fee in the driver's income, and some orders let the driver bear the coupon fee." ”
From the data released by the Guangzhou Transportation Bureau, we can also see the changes in the revenue of online car-hailing drivers. In January 2022, the average daily revenue of online car-hailing bicycles in Guangzhou was about 395.28 yuan. Two years later, in January 2024, the average daily revenue of online car-hailing bicycles in Guangzhou was about 336.49 yuan.
The income of online ride-hailing drivers is affected by market supply and demand, vehicle costs, fuel and electricity costs, etc., and the platform commission is also a key factor. The commission rules are not transparent, the commission ratio tends to be close to 30%, and the coupons issued by the platform to users are borne by the driver...... All kinds of problems have made many online car-hailing drivers feel that "there are too many routines".
01 routine:
Order reselling, high-speed fee commission, coupon is borne by the driver?
"This order shows that the total amount of the order is 198.37 yuan, which also includes the 45 yuan highway fee I paid in advance. After deducting the platform information fee and the commission, the driver's income displayed is 156.51 yuan. But in fact, after deducting the highway fee, the fare I got was only 111.51 yuan. Mr. Liu showed reporters a recent order.
The platform's commission for the order is 21.1%, and the commission deducted by the platform is about 41.86 yuan based on the total amount plus the high-speed fee. However, if the actual fare (198.37-45=153.37 yuan) is used as a commission, the commission deducted by the platform should be about 32.36 yuan.
Mr. Liu wondered why the highway fee was included in the driver's income when the platform drew commissions.
The reporter searched the black cat complaint platform and found that many online car-hailing drivers had similar experiences. An online car-hailing driver said that he ran a 52-kilometer special express order, and the total amount paid by passengers was 166.23 yuan, including 46 yuan in advance for the highway fee, and the bill showed that the platform took a commission of 18.9%. According to the total amount of the high-speed fee is 18.9%, and the commission is 31.4 yuan. "After actually deducting the highway fee, my handcar fare is only 88.83 yuan, why does the platform commission draw the high-speed fee that the driver pays for the passengers?"
There are also complaints from ride-hailing drivers that in some orders, the coupons used by passengers are also borne by the driver. An online car-hailing driver said that his order traveled a total of 24 kilometers, and the passenger should pay 84.67 yuan, and the passenger used the coupon of 26.03 yuan, and actually paid 58.64 yuan, deducting the information service fee and the platform commission, and the actual income was only 48.88 yuan.
On the short video platform, some online ride-hailing drivers also questioned: Why should the driver bear the responsibility of the coupons used by the passengers? They believe that for orders where passengers use coupons, the driver's income should be calculated according to the order amount before the discount.
In addition to the problem of high-speed fees and coupons, the phenomenon of "order scalping" has also attracted the attention of the industry recently. Gu Dasong, executive director of the Traffic Rule of Law and Development Research Center of Southeast University, posted a screenshot of the bill showing that a passenger took a taxi and paid 98.11 yuan at the end of the order. But the strange thing is that for the same journey, the driver's side shows that the passenger pays 71.46 yuan, and the driver charges 52.17 yuan. In the middle, 26.65 yuan disappeared out of thin air.
If you look closely at the driver's order page, you can see that this order is a third-party order: that is, the platform where the passenger places the order is not the driver's order platform. Rather, the platform where the passenger places the order receives the order and resells the order. The orders received by the driver's platform are already second-hand orders, and may even be third-hand orders. The platform for reselling orders charges a fee of 26.65 yuan, and the carrier platform takes a commission of 19.29 yuan, and in the end, the driver only receives 53% of the amount paid by the passenger.
"What is the attribute of the income obtained by the platform for reselling orders? Is it an information fee? The income from information fees is higher than the income of the actual carrier, who is willing to be the actual carrier?" Gu Dasong told reporters that this phenomenon of reselling orders layer by layer, on the one hand, the reseller may use the "information fee" to opportunistically and circumvent the constraints of the upper limit of the commission ratio, on the other hand, the driver may reduce his income because of the problem of reselling the order, which will lead to the unreasonable extension of the driver's working hours, resulting in potential safety hazards, and it is also easy to cause problems such as disputes between drivers and passengers.
In this regard, Gu Dasong suggested that the type, proportion and impact of the current order resale should be clarified, and relevant policies and legal measures should be taken in a targeted manner. At the same time, it distinguishes between lawful order reselling and illegal order reselling, and promptly amends the law to clarify the nature of the contracting carrier of traffic platforms that are actually engaged in online ride-hailing business.
02 Attention:
The commission will be reduced, and online car-hailing drivers will be included in the minimum wage guarantee
According to the data released by the Ministry of Transport, the upper limit of the commission ratio of major online car-hailing platform companies is between 18%~30%. As of the end of July 2023, all major online ride-hailing platforms and Internet road freight platform companies have announced a reduction in the percentage or upper limit of membership fees, and the reduction rate of major platform companies is generally between 1 and 3 percentage points.
Recently, the Ministry of Transport announced the work plan for 5 people's livelihood matters in 2024, including "carrying out actions to improve the quality of travel services in new transportation formats". Among them, it is required that by the end of April 2024, the competent departments of transportation in all cities will organize the deployment and consolidation of the implementation of the online car-hailing platform companies that operate services locally, and urge the online car-hailing platform companies that operate services locally to take the initiative to announce the upper limit of the commission ratio to the public. Before the end of June, all provincial-level transportation authorities should urge all online car-hailing platform companies to implement the requirements for the upper limit of the announcement commission ratio, smooth the channels for complaints and reports, and accept social supervision.
Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of Zhejiang University International Business School, said in an interview with reporters that an excessively high commission ratio will lead to an imbalance of interests between the platform and drivers, which will reduce the income of drivers sharply, and will also affect the competition and sustainable development of the online car-hailing industry. The ride-hailing industry is a matter for many families, and fair pricing can increase the motivation of ride-hailing drivers and help stabilize society.
"Generally speaking, the commission level should take into account the reasonable profit distribution between the ride-hailing platform and the driver, as well as the market supply and demand. Setting a reasonable percentage of the commission requires a game, i.e., a reciprocal negotiation. It is difficult for individual ride-hailing drivers to negotiate with the platform, so it is reasonable to negotiate with the platform on the commission price of a certain area through trade unions, local governments, or some autonomous organizations formed by the ride-hailing drivers, and agree on the upper limit of the commission. In the negotiation process, we should maintain openness and transparency, accept the supervision of the masses, and not take sides with one party, but let the driver and the platform have a reciprocal dialogue. Pan and Lin said.
According to Chen Liteng, a digital life analyst at the E-commerce Research Center of the Network Economic Society, the setting of the commission ratio of the online car-hailing platform should consider that there is a certain surplus after covering the costs of both the driver and the platform. The platform needs to disclose the percentage of the commission, as a community serving passengers, the rights and interests of both the driver and the platform will be damaged, so it needs to be formulated according to the specific market environment.
Gu Dasong believes that reducing the excessively high commission ratio is conducive to protecting the rights and interests of online car-hailing drivers, and at the same time, we should also pay attention to the working hours and hourly income of online car-hailing drivers.
According to the Guidelines for the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Workers in New Employment Forms of Rest and Labor Remuneration issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in February this year, workers in new forms of employment such as online delivery, travel, transportation, and domestic services are included in the minimum wage guarantee. At the same time, the daily working hours of workers in new employment forms should include the cumulative time of receiving orders on the day and the relaxation time determined by taking due consideration of the necessary online orders, service preparation, physiological needs and other factors of the workers.
"Calculating the working hours of online ride-hailing drivers should not only consider the time spent online, but also take into account the reasonable relaxation time. At the same time, ride-hailing drivers should not earn less than the hourly minimum wage in the place where they work. Gu Dasong said.
Source: 21st Century Business Herald
Author: Zhong Yuxin
Editor-in-charge: Xiao Li Fat Pig Review: Xixi Producer: When and where
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