>The article points out that for many DoorDash workers, they aren't getting paid a positive sum, even if they count their time as worth zero.
This just doesn't pass the smell test. It's much, much more likely that their method is flawed than it being the case that a bunch of workers pay DoorDash to work for them.
Instead of posting your personal idea that this must be wrong because it seems extreme, you could read the very lucid and clear article giving exact numbers on how they calculated this and why they are confident in this calculation.
The article says they gathered their data from a non-random sample of 200 drivers. I think the “smell test” is more accurate. Or DoorDash’s own claims, that drivers make $18 an hour.
Their sampling is biased, but DoorDash muddies their own claims by saying that pay is per "active hour". It's possible they're not counting time that drivers still need to allocate towards their work, making it inaccurate. I imagine you at least have to spend time pulled over to look at and accept an order (or break the law) so even that time getting in and out of traffic is probably not counted in "active hours". Imagine working retail and your employer only counting your time actually spent at the till when they say you're paid $20 an hour. You could be doing a whole lot more work than that but they don't consider it in that calculation.
This just doesn't pass the smell test. It's much, much more likely that their method is flawed than it being the case that a bunch of workers pay DoorDash to work for them.