# Delivery drivers have one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. It's gotten worse.



## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gig-workers-fear-carjacking-other-100056638.html





*Delivery drivers have one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. It's gotten worse.*

Cyrus Farivar
Sat, April 24, 2021, 6:00 AM


Just before Christmas last year, Willy Solis, a 42-year-old residential construction worker-turned-delivery driver, was hired to take a late-night $100 bottle of cognac to an apartment complex in Denton, Texas. Once Solis found the apartment, he met a stocky man who gave a name that not only didn't match the ID he showed, but it also wasn't the name of the person who placed the order. Confused, Solis called Instacart's phone support line.
Solis said that that angered the customer and his three male friends and that they ordered him to hand over the cognac. Even though he had qualms about it, Solis, under the direction of the Instacart supervisor who was still on the phone, gave them the bottle.
Solis sped off in his 2018 Nissan Sentra before the situation escalated. It wasn't the only recent time he had felt unsafe. Solis, who has worked for DoorDash, Shipt, Grubhub and other gig economy companies, said he also delivered to an apartment in Haltom City, outside Fort Worth, where a female Uber Eats driver was murdered in January.
Solis said that since then, he has stopped working after 9 p.m. and has considered carrying a gun. But he fears that if he violates gig companies' rules not to carry firearms, he could risk losing his job.

"I'm very fearful every time I go out," said Solis, who makes $800 to $1,000 a week before expenses and taxes. "I don't want to lose my life over a $100 bottle of cognac or a fast food order."








Willy Solis is an Instacart driver in Denton, Texas. (Nitashia Johnson / for NBC News)
Solis is one of 15 gig economy workers who spoke with NBC News and said they feared for their safety as violence against the industry has spiked during the coronavirus pandemic. Police in several major cities, including Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., say carjackings and car thefts, particularly against gig economy drivers, rose during the pandemic.
Some drivers say that despite the companies' best efforts, they are changing their hours, avoiding certain areas and even carrying weapons, like wasp spray, Mace, Tasers and firearms, to protect themselves.
"As the danger grows more and more, that's what's pushing me more towards the possibility of doing it," Solis said about carrying a gun.
It's a pattern that especially affects minorities working in the lower-paying jobs, said Veena Dubal, a professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, who has extensively researched the taxi industry and the gig economy.
"A lot of these workers are subordinated racial minorities, and they are likely to bear the brunt of physical violence, because they are in public doing this kind of work," she said.
The problems have become widespread enough that the major tech companies have been stepping up to address them. Uber recently instituted safety measures to protect drivers, including more verification requirements for people who set up accounts with gift cards or other anonymous payment systems.
DoorDash spokesperson Campbell Matthews said in an email that the company is "deeply troubled by reports of increased crime" and that it intends to add an "emergency assistance button into the Dasher app to help connect Dashers to emergency services."
In a statement, Grubhub spokesperson Grant Klinzman echoed Matthews' remarks, saying the safety of the company's drivers "is our top priority" and that the company was "ready to support law enforcement investigations ... as they take steps to address the unacceptable spike in vehicle thefts."
Lyft spokesperson Ashley Adams said that the company considers safety to be "fundamental" and that "we are working closely with law enforcement to help keep drivers safe."
Instacart expressed similar concerns but said it hadn't "seen an increase in carjackings or assault towards shoppers."
"We take the safety and security of the entire Instacart community very seriously," Natalia Montalvo, a company spokesperson, said by email. "Shoppers have many resources available to them to ensure their safety and protection while shopping and delivering on the Instacart platform."
*Rising crime*
The attacks on drivers, which appear to have started last year, may be part of a larger trend of a rise in violent crime in major cities, according to research in November by the Police Executive Research Forum.
Chicago police found that there were 424 carjackings from January through March, more than double the 198 carjackings the same time last year. In San Diego, carjackings more than doubled last year, to 97, from 44 in 2019. In Minneapolis, carjackings also more than doubled, to 97, in the first three months of the year, compared to 39 in the first three months of last year. In Washington, carjackings more than quadrupled in the first quarter of this year from the first quarter of last year, to 102.
Such growth has happened elsewhere, too. In Cincinnati, 38 vehicles were stolen from Jan. 1 through March 20 in the "CUF" neighborhood near the University of Cincinnati. Emily Szink, a police spokesperson, said "many of those cars were left running and were delivery drivers," estimating them to be two-thirds of the 38 reports, or about 26.
But the spikes aren't universal: Police in Sacramento, California; Phoenix; Lansing, Michigan; and Dallas say they haven't seen such rises. It isn't clear why some cities are experiencing more of this type of crime than others.
Even before the rise in violent crime against gig workers, being a delivery driver was identified as one of the most dangerous jobs in America — typically as a result of traffic accidents — according to an analysis last year of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.
Last month alone, several high-profile events shook the gig worker community. In New York City, Francisco Villalva Vitinio, a DoorDash delivery worker, was killed after he refused to give up his e-bike, which he needed for work, to would-be robbers. Authorities said Mohammad Anwar, 66, an Uber Eats driver, died at the hands of two teenage girls who investigators said used a stun gun on him in Washington. Days earlier, in Chicago, Javier Ramos, an Uber driver, was shot in the head and killed; police said his killer was a passenger he had picked up after 3 a.m.
*Child kidnappings*
On Feb. 6, Jeffrey Fang, 39, a DoorDash driver in San Francisco, left his silver Honda Odyssey minivan running while he made a delivery — leaving inside his 4-year-old daughter and his 2-year-old son, who speak only Mandarin. When he returned, he found a strange man sitting in the driver's seat.








Jeffrey Fang's mini-van was stolen with his two young children inside as Fang tried to make a DoorDash delivery this past February. (Nina Riggio / for NBC News)
Fang said he dragged the man, who he said snatched his cellphone, out of the car and chased him on foot to get his phone back. Fang lost the man, ending up a short distance away. When he returned, he discovered that his minivan had been stolen with his children inside. (The children and the car were recovered hours later, unharmed.)
"There are a lot of things that people need to know," Fang said, speaking of gig work in general. "It's not simple, and it's at times dangerous."
Small-town America isn't immune. In Rapid City, South Dakota, a 20-year-old DoorDash driver named Danielle — whose last name is being withheld as she fears reprisal from the company — said she has felt unsafe.








Danielle's two-year-old is a passenger when she works as a DoorDash driver. (Danielle)
She said that last month, when she was making a delivery with her 2-year-old son in the back, five men surrounded her car. As she sped away with her son in the back, "they tried opening my car doors and banging on my windows." The incident left her shaken, and she said she is thinking about buying a handgun, which she isn't legally allowed to do until her next birthday.
"I would feel a lot safer taking my son with me if I were carrying," she said. "In a time of need, I will be able to use it and defend myself and my son."
*Deaths*
Early on the morning of March 23, Javier Ramos, 46, an Uber driver, was found shot in the head in Chicago's Lawndale section, less than 8 miles north of Midway Airport. Police rushed him to a hospital; he was pronounced dead just over four hours later.
Lenny Sanchez, a longtime ride-share driver and labor organizer based in Chicago, tweeted the next day that Ramos had "tried to fight off his attackers." Ramos appeared to have been left for dead, having been run over by his own car, seemingly after a struggle.
Since the beginning of the year, Sanchez and the Independent Drivers Guild, a union, have been sounding the alarm online and at in-person rallies about carjackings of gig drivers in Chicago. He said many drivers he has talked to are scared and have changed how, where and when they work. Some gig workers are considering taking stronger measures.
"Drivers are brandishing their weapons to us. A lot of them are arming themselves," Sanchez said.








Image: US-NEWS-UBER-VERIFICACION-ROBO-AUTOS-S-TB (Chris Sweda / Zuma Press)
While Sanchez applauded Uber's new efforts this year to keep drivers safer and said his group is seeking additional safety measures, he worried that Lyft drivers in Chicago and elsewhere face renewed threats, pointing to the recent killing of a Lyft driver in St. Louis.
He said he thinks Uber's changes have had an effect. "We know it won't be perfect, but we would like to see more, and we would like to see Lyft do more," he said. "We are seeing the criminals switch over to Lyft."
Lyft didn't respond directly to Sanchez's claim. Adams, the company spokesperson, said by email that it was "working to proactively identify" accounts that "we determine to be high-risk."
"In doing so, we look at a variety of account attributes, including the use of anonymous payment methods, which are more frequently linked to fraudulent accounts," she wrote. "Actions we take include temporarily and permanently deactivating accounts, as well as requiring additional validation before being able to order a ride."
Hortencia Ramos, Ramos' cousin, said her family has been devastated by his death, particularly his 9-year-old daughter. She described Ramos as an "entrepreneur always looking to set an example for his daughter," an observant Christian and someone who had a daily fitness and workout routine.
She said her family has been very disappointed with how Uber has handled her cousin's death; she said no one from the company had reached out to even offer sympathy, much less anything more substantive.
Jodi Kawada Page, an Uber spokesperson, said in a statement: "We are deeply saddened by this news. Our thoughts are with Javier's loved ones and we've reached out to the family to offer our support."
*Law enforcement efforts*
Law enforcement agencies have been stepping up. Chicago police have expanded a "vehicular hijacking task force" with state and federal agencies. Since the beginning of the year, Chicago police have published 30 news releases describing indictments of carjacking suspects, including those alleged to have targeted gig workers. The police department has even published two-page flyers in four languages — English, Spanish, Polish and Chinese — explaining how victims should respond to minimize harm.
Similarly, the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington reported a steady increase in carjackings, as well. In 2019, there were 142; last year they jumped to 345. There were 47 carjacking-related arrests in the first three months of this year, compared to just two during the first quarter of last year.
Police have put out flyers alerting people to the dangers of leaving their vehicles running while making deliveries.
"Over the last few months, we have worked to partner with delivery companies to get the word out to their drivers," Kristen Metzger, a police spokesperson, said by email.
The early efforts by police departments seem to be resulting in change. Last month, Cincinnati police even put up electronic signs to remind drivers to "Lock Car & Take Key," among other safety messages.
"Thefts of delivery driver vehicles left running have started to trend downwards, which means our messaging is working," Szink, the police spokesperson, said by email.
*Longer consequences*
But gig workers who have been victims may need more time before they feel safe again. Back in San Francisco, Fang has been taking a break from gig work. After the harrowing kidnapping of his children, supporters raised over $100,000 through GoFundMe, and DoorDash donated several thousand dollars to his family directly.








Jeffrey Fang (Nina Riggio / for NBC News)
Still, Fang remains fearful of going back to work. During his time as an Uber driver, he said, guns were pointed at him multiple times. Nowadays, he carries a Taser in his car.
"Prior to the Taser, I had a knife in the car, but that was stolen," he said. "Especially after the February 6 incident and the spate of anti-Asian violence, I'm looking into getting a firearm."
When the pandemic hit and passenger rides largely dried up, he switched to food delivery, because he thought he would make more money and it would be safer.
"I felt it was OK to take the kids, even though I knew it was a risk, but I had no child care, and I felt the risk was minimized," he said, adding that he tried to stick to wealthy neighborhoods. His car and his children were taken in Pacific Heights, one of San Francisco's richest areas.








Jeffrey Fang (Nina Riggio / Nina Riggio for NBC News)
Fang said he would like DoorDash's and other companies' leaders to consider the needs of working parents, particularly those who feel the need to drive at peak evening dinner hours.
"If they're getting paid six figures with ergonomic furniture and break rooms and all that — if you ask me, how about setting up child care service for dinner hours, like 4 to 10 p.m.?" he said. "So the driver can drop them off? For a billion-dollar company, that shouldn't be too costly."
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## Gone_in_60_seconds (Jan 21, 2018)

It's important to do a cost benefit analysis before considering whether this is worth doing. It seems the criminals like the cover of darkness to be active, so avoiding evening hours past 8 pm is important. That's why for delivery gigs, there better be tips otherwise its a lot of risk for very little return. I usually proactively refuse delivery request, when the probably of tip is unlikely. Seems this is usually the fast food restos, which should be avoided like the plague.


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## MHR (Jul 23, 2017)

I do worry about the ones that take their tiny children with them.

We have a couple of ladies in my territory that take their 3 and 4-year-old daughters with them and it pains me every time I see them. I feel it's one thing to put your own life possibly in harms way but quite another to add your children to the mix.


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## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

I switched to deliveries and feel much safer. I also drive in a smaller town that has very few bad neighborhoods. I have never come close to any of these experiences.


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## touberornottouber (Aug 12, 2016)

I don't believe rideshare companies should be allowed to tell drivers they cannot carry legal firearms. We aren't employees and it is our own vehicles. Further I am waiting for the family of a slain driver to sue over it and try to make the company liable since the driver was forbidden from having a firearm.



MHR said:


> I do worry about the ones that take their tiny children with them.
> 
> We have a couple of ladies in my territory that take their 3 and 4-year-old daughters with them and it pains me every time I see them. I feel it's one thing to put your own life possibly in harms way but quite another to add your children to the mix.


I don't see how it can be legal to take young kids. Doesn't it mean leaving them unintended when you go inside the restaurant or grocery store? There's no way this should be allowed. I mean I feel for them on the child care situation but you can't leave a two year old in the car while you walk up three flights of stairs to deliver a happy meal. Come on now...


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## MHR (Jul 23, 2017)

touberornottouber said:


> I don't see how it can be legal to take young kids. Doesn't it mean leaving them unintended when you go inside the restaurant or grocery store? There's no way this should be allowed. I mean I feel for them on the child care situation but you can't leave a two year old in the car while you walk up three flights of stairs to deliver a happy meal. Come on now...


The ladies I run into are actually taking the child in and out of the car with them. 

It takes time to get a child in and out of a car seat along with the food order so I'm not sure how they're making any amount of money. 

And yes, to your point, it is illegal in some states to leave a child unattended. I think it all depends on the age of the child. I no longer have young children so I've not looked into that.


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## touberornottouber (Aug 12, 2016)

MHR said:


> The ladies I run into are actually taking the child in and out of the car with them.
> 
> It takes time to get a child in and out of a car seat along with the food order so I'm not sure how they're making any amount of money.
> 
> And yes, to your point, it is illegal in some states to leave a child unattended. I think it all depends on the age of the child. I no longer have young children so I've not looked into that.


I would say taking young children to random strangers houses to do deliveries is arguably child endangerment. As the article shows this kind of work is very dangerous. It's not all that different than a police officer taking their two year old on calls! It's about the same risk.

Hopefully these people are able to take the $300 monthly payments they are getting from the government and somehow leverage that to get out of doing this kind of gig work.


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## MHR (Jul 23, 2017)

touberornottouber said:


> I would say taking young children to random strangers houses to do deliveries is arguably child endangerment. As the article shows this kind of work is very dangerous. It's not all that different than a police officer taking their two year old on calls! It's about the same risk.


It's bad enough being a grown woman delivering food to random strangers so I understand what you are saying.

We never know who is on the other side of that door.


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## Lissetti (Dec 20, 2016)

I've seen more occasions of those Instacart shoppers leaving their kids in the car while they are in the grocery stores. I figured what's going on because I've seen kids in cars alone when I arrive at the store and on two occasions, as I left, an Instacart shopper who I had just seen in the store filling orders, is leaving the same time as me and goes to that car with the kids inside. I will say it's always older kids like 7 to 10 years old. They are usually engrossed in a video game, the internet, or watching a movie.


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## Invisible (Jun 15, 2018)

Lissetti said:


> I've seen more occasions of those Instacart shoppers leaving their kids in the car while they are in the grocery stores. I figured what's going on because I've seen kids in cars alone when I arrive at the store and on two occasions, as I left, an Instacart shopper who I had just seen in the store filling orders, is leaving the same time as me and goes to that car with the kids inside. I will say it's always older kids like 7 to 10 years old. They are usually engrossed in a video game, the internet, or watching a movie.


Leaving kids or pets alone in a car is dangerous, especially with extreme heat/cold. The people who bring their kids probably have no other choice, like they can’t afford childcare or no friend/family member to watch them.


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## Lissetti (Dec 20, 2016)

Invisible said:


> Leaving kids or legs aloe i a car is dangerous, especially with extreme heat/cold. The people who bring their kids probably have no other choice, like they can’t afford childcare or no friend/family member to watch them.


Yep, but what I've seen is younger kids with an older female child being around the age of 10 years old, supervising the rest. Another time it was two 9 or 10 year olds. One car had the windows partially down. My guess is maybe the older child had the key to turn on the car? 🤷‍♀️

While not the safest option, I myself remember at the age of 6, at times, being a Latch Key Kid, which is practically unheard of in these times.


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## SHalester (Aug 25, 2019)

Add to my list of reasons to never opt for food delivery.. 

and anybody who leaves an infant or toddler in a car should be hog tied and rolled in tar and then feathered.


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## New2This (Dec 27, 2015)

Another Uber Driver said:


> Fang said he would like DoorDash's and other companies' leaders to consider the needs of working parents, particularly those who feel the need to drive at peak evening dinner hours.
> "If they're getting paid six figures with ergonomic furniture and break rooms and all that — if you ask me, how about setting up child care service for dinner hours, like 4 to 10 p.m.?" he said. "So the driver can drop them off? For a billion-dollar company, that shouldn't be too costly."


So he wants Rohit to watch his kids?

Talk about child endangerment. 🤦‍♂️


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

Another Uber Driver said:


> Small-town America isn't immune. In Rapid City, South Dakota, a 20-year-old DoorDash driver named Danielle — whose last name is being withheld as she fears reprisal from the company — said she has felt unsafe.
> 
> Danielle's two-year-old is a passenger when she works as a DoorDash driver. (Danielle)












It's gratifying to know that since her last name was withheld that there is no possible way that Door Dash can identify her.


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

MHR said:


> We never know who is on the other side of that door.


Except, apparently, door expert @Amos69.

----------------------
Hey, speaking of delivery, I did one delivery, decided it wasn't for me, and disabled it in the app. After discovering that the service was spontaneously and inexplicably re-enabled every week I finally got Uber support to delist me from ever delivering again. That worked. Fast forward a year. I went online for the first time in months last week, and amazingly got two delivery hits. Unsolicited, Uber added me back as a delivery driver. They must really really think I've got the right stuff to deliver! Makes me feel warm and fuzzy.


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## Invisible (Jun 15, 2018)

Lissetti said:


> Yep, but what I've seen is younger kids with an older female child being around the age of 10 years old, supervising the rest. Another time it was two 9 or 10 year olds. One car had the windows partially down. My guess is maybe the older child had the key to turn on the car? 🤷‍♀️
> 
> While not the safest option, I myself remember at the age of 6, at times, being a Latch Key Kid, which is practically unheard of in these times.


That’s good at least there’s an older kid in the situations you’ve seen.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Darrell Green Fan said:


> I switched to deliveries and feel much safer. I also drive in a smaller town that has very few bad neighborhoods. I have never come close to any of these experiences.


A BAD PERSON MAY BE STUCK IN YOUR SMALL TOWN . . .AND GET OUT USING YOUR CAR !


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## Alltel77 (Mar 3, 2019)

tohunt4me said:


> A BAD PERSON MAY BE STUCK IN YOUR SMALL TOWN . . .AND GET OUT USING YOUR CAR !


Very true!


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## Amos69 (May 17, 2019)

_Tron_ said:


> Except, apparently, door expert @Amos69.
> 
> ----------------------
> Hey, speaking of delivery, I did one delivery, decided it wasn't for me, and disabled it in the app. After discovering that the service was spontaneously and inexplicably re-enabled every week I finally got Uber support to delist me from ever delivering again. That worked. Fast forward a year. I went online for the first time in months last week, and amazingly got two delivery hits. Unsolicited, Uber added me back as a delivery driver. They must really really think I've got the right stuff to deliver! Makes me feel warm and fuzzy.


Every door does something.


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## SpinalCabbage (Feb 5, 2020)

Amos69 said:


> Every door does something.


Do they though?






j/k


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Amos69 said:


> Every door does something.


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## MCR2020 (Oct 23, 2020)

touberornottouber said:


> I don't believe rideshare companies should be allowed to tell drivers they cannot carry legal firearms. We aren't employees and it is our own vehicles. Further I am waiting for the family of a slain driver to sue over it and try to make the company liable since the driver was forbidden from having a firearm.


i would never carry a gun, but i don't think it's unreasonable for other ride share drivers to carry, especially late night and city drivers. if the only thing that's stopping you is that you are worried about violating terms of service, go ahead and carry. odds are you're never going to have to use it. but, if you do and you get deactivated, that's a payday for you. can you imagine how much money you could raise off a go fund me for defending yourself with a firearm and then getting deactivated by uber? early retirement.


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## Darrell Green Fan (Feb 9, 2016)

tohunt4me said:


> A BAD PERSON MAY BE STUCK IN YOUR SMALL TOWN . . .AND GET OUT USING YOUR CAR !


While this is obviously true, and I take precautions by parking facing out and never leaving my car running, delivering in my area is very low risk. I'm aware and careful but life's too short spend time worrying about what MIGHT happen in such a low risk situation.


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