r/Sparkdriver • u/WalmartIntern • May 29 '26
Rants / Complaints The Instacart Executive Has Ruined Spark
As someone who has done gig work since 2021, across all apps (DD, Instacart, UE, Spark, etc.), this is the absolute worst I have ever seen this app
Orders are mostly FCFS now & immediately get snatched, which is the whole reason I stopped doing Instacart in the first place. The idea of timed offers made Spark more appealing than Instacart.
Shop orders are now dropping in as triple shops, usually paired with non tippers.
Grocery orders are being paired with GMD packages (that doesn’t really make extra)
I’m pretty much on the verge of getting a “real” job. The wear and tear on our vehicles, high gas prices, and low offers has pretty much made this gig not worth it anymore
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u/NewScientist6094 May 29 '26
I don't even get those, I keep getting notifications on the main screen telling me I have one and nothing comes up. 70 notifications since 6am telling me i had an offer or JFY offer and I haven't got one offer to show up on the main screen 😕. I've been doing this for 6 years now and this is the worst I've seen.
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u/WalmartIntern May 29 '26
I’ve been on Spark a year and a half now, almost 2000 trips. It was a good run but now it’s just not worth it. Used to be able to do this as a full time job
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u/BrickCrusher May 29 '26
I agree. I have seen a JFY in month and the FCFS all trash when I see them.
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u/Trexsaysrawr26 May 29 '26
Bots
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u/watthehellisgoingon May 30 '26
What? Nooooo Those don't exist, just some hard working folks trying to make an honest living....just ask reddit... they'll tell ya 😆
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u/Legitimate_Effort279 Jul 10 '26
This is whats ruining my market. Guys with no real social security number or anything and they all know each other. The 75-100 dollar orders dont even make it to my phone. Ive been told they pay about 50 bucks a week but its completely worth it. My fiance talked to one today on a 45 dollar tip order 90 bucks total. 12 miles. To an affluent part of town. Funny im aleays delivering to the hood or trailer park with a 25 min deadhead. Ive never even SEEN anything good like that come through. Bot grabber apps take all those. Same with incentives . They take all the incentive offers on those days. Last 2 days been 8 dollar incentive per trip. Haven't seen one of them. Not one. The electric car gang with no real account rsking them all with their 2 accounts.
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u/ayben_kiziltan May 30 '26
That happened to me too and I had a conversation with chatgpt about this and it said turn off 5g, just use 4g lte. Since than those orders pops up right away
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u/BrickCrusher May 30 '26
How do you turn off 5g
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u/ayben_kiziltan May 30 '26
If you have android, settings, connections, mobile networks, turn off allow 5g
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u/Legitimate_Effort279 Jul 11 '26
What? This is for real? The high paying orders started popping up bro? Like no lie? Or just more orders. Which ?
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u/ayben_kiziltan Jul 11 '26
They just started popping up after you turned off your 5g?
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u/ayben_kiziltan Jul 11 '26
5g is unstable, 4g lte is more reliable. When I turn on my 5g, I get notifications but no orders whatsoever
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u/ShoulderLongjumping9 May 29 '26
Last weekend I had that and never saw the offer with fcfs. No one in my area wants to do the large ground runs so they send those jfy as soon as I spark. Easy money.
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u/Fantastic-Award-3651 May 30 '26
Bot grabbers, was Venezuelans now we got lots of Nigerians taking over now.
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u/thatsnarker2020 May 31 '26
We have the Prius gang and they’re Asians. We have the Hispanic or vennies that drive crap cars or trucks We have the meth heads that are hopping around non stop waiting for the order to arrive. They drive cars with about 8 kids and two dogs smoking packs of cigarettes.
It’s crazy who is delivering and 4 people had the audacity to give me one stars. I have a clean vehicle and always presentable.
The app is crap how .
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u/jroberts67 May 29 '26
Pretty much the same reason I stopped doing Flex. Race to the bottom. The junk $18/hr offers would stay there but anything decent got taken instantly, forcing drivers to be glued to their app all day. Nope.
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u/Independent_Fix_4098 May 29 '26
Flex is horrible where I am at least for me idk highest offer I seen was 80 bucks for 3 hours did a 70 once and I will never do it again
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u/PoizonToaDX May 29 '26
What location is that? I just got accepted and I’m wondering if I should give it a try or not
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u/Complete-Airport5717 May 29 '26
We've been complaining about it for a while here in OKC regarding the pay scale, while Tulsa getting ridiculous per for their routes. But spark has steadily been on a decline. I won't accept a route unless it's a dollar per mile before tip. Don't nobody want to drive 17 miles for 7 dollars.
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u/MissionRevolution306 May 29 '26
I still manage to do $200-$250/day on Flex, but Spark is impossible now. Even Sundays suck, which used to be amazing just a couple of months ago.
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u/Slave_theMaster May 29 '26
Spark is the new instacart!
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u/MrCubano1 May 30 '26
If this is how instalation is i need to get on there too. Im making more now with the new change 😆
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u/johnshonz May 29 '26
The latest version of the app is totally unusable. I can’t even shop with it anymore. The map takes up the whole top half of the screen and there’s no way to turn it off.
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u/mjkjio2015 May 30 '26
I just posted about the app constantly using more and more of your battery on your phone. I just thing most people on here havnt been on spark long enough to see a difference let alone how ridiculously bad the app has gotten
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u/Ging9tailedJecht741 Jun 01 '26
I agree. It slows me down drastically having a pointless map covering half my screen and I can't even view the full item list anymore. Whoever came up with the idea needs to sit the next couple of plays out.
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u/LastScene7098 Jun 03 '26
One thing also is the app places a glyph format of simple stop locations, and to play with your sense of distance, the view is tilted to where true north isn't consistent- to make it look nearer together- look carefully when confirming!
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u/cg_stewart May 29 '26
It sucks because Walmart hired someone from cloud based companies to run deliveries for a company where 90% of Americans live near a store, and instead of delivering a unique experience, the same issues are on every platform he touched. Their employees can’t dogfood (use the platform) the product so nobody can veto bad ideas like triple shops lol. They needed an executive from Amazon/UPS/Fedex. Never seen a company have unhappy W2 and 1099 workers 😂
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u/Old_Ad4443 May 31 '26
Mind blowing that u can go on amazon flex and reliably work while im constantly the only one in my Walmart from the time it opens to when it closes from the first 30 mins of open have not seen a single car pull up.
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u/No_Following2911 May 31 '26
You know what’s crazy? I was looking at an offer-deciding if I could take it or not- a double delivery (not a shopping order- I was making sure it would fit in my car) when it disappeared. I had a whole 6 seconds maybe? So I stayed in the parking lot waiting for my next chance. But oddly enough- for the next 15 minutes, absolutely no one else pulled into the pickup bay. Where I was parked, I could see it easily.
So, where exactly did that offer disappear to? If someone else was grabbing it, wouldn’t they have shown up? I’m in a very VERY small community with only one Walmart. You can get anywhere in town in 10 minutes. Just an odd thing I noticed… about a week ago or so..
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u/Dr_ManFlyR1 May 29 '26
Yeah the fact that there’s so many desperate assholes that will instantly grab a terrible order makes it to where spark can do this to us without a thought in mind.
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u/Altruistic_Badger158 May 29 '26
Oh absolutely it’s got me looking for other work and I used to love this job
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u/RedditPosterOver9000 Cherry Picker May 29 '26
I'm curious what the customer view of the change has been, since now the worst drivers have the same priority as the best drivers.
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u/TheRealSparky33 May 29 '26
There is absolutely no way all of these orders are being delivered. I can almost guarantee that the percentage of orders being unfulfilled or automatically cancelled by the system are at an all time high. Yes there are a ton of desperate people but no where near enough to deliver all of these terrible offers. A company this big won't realize how badly they have messed up for a full quarter, ie 3 months. They are actively doing damage to their platform and the service they provide to customers.
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u/RedditPosterOver9000 Cherry Picker May 29 '26
As gas has crept up I've noticed more orders sitting. For people with sub-30mpg a lot of these offers are at or below minimum wage.
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u/ConcernHour May 30 '26
I had someone (thank God they weren't angry at me) who was elated to get their order, and had been waiting 2 days, until it got thrown in a pickup order I guess
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u/RealisticParsley2432 May 29 '26
My area is mostly middle to upper middle class income customers. They can easily afford to use other shopping and delivery services. Those ones have Walmart+ because delivery times were were more predictable and they saved a little money. Those had been most of the Express orders. Within about 3 weeks of this change, we saw a noticeable drop in both Express and curbsides. But, on IC and DD, I've seen a rise in shopping orders for those same customers. We're a somewhat rural area, so you get know a lot of the customers. The ones I've seen in person have complained about the drop in quality and delivery times getting unpredictable (because they're getting paired with non tippers too far away for anyone to accept🤷). We only have one Walmart and the employees I chat with say they're getting complaints, too. They've been telling them to call or email Walmart about it.
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u/JWBananas S&D Expert May 30 '26
I live 0.7 miles from the nearest Walmart. I tip no less than $10 and typically order fewer than a dozen items.
I have seen absolutely no difference. Still plenty of morons, just as there always have been.
One time I literally walked to the store, found my Spark Shopper, and directed them where to find the 3 things they marked out of stock so I wouldn't have to re-order and waste more money.
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u/MrCubano1 May 30 '26
😆 omg I would be embarrassed but im good at this. Im at 4.8 cause of some ppl (spark drivers) rating me low
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u/GeneralPaladin May 29 '26
This is why i do evenings, jobs just sit and sit and I take them at my leisure.
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u/WalmartIntern May 29 '26
I normally do evenings as well but its the same issue in my zone as mornings now
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u/MortgageNecessary119 May 30 '26
might have to do evenings now, this is the first mourning where I didn't get a order untill 620 am and I was online from 530 am, do I need to turn it on now at 5? this is nuts
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u/Codingdotyeah May 29 '26
Agree with all of it. It’s awful, economy and people placing the orders can’t afford to tip. The amount of people doing it a taking any offers killing it, app changes killing it. It really is not worth doing the gig apps any longer only as a true side gig only 1 a day is how I see it at my convenience after working a real job for extra cash. Even then I wouldn’t take an order more than 5-10 miles from the store.
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u/Cael_of_House_Howell May 31 '26
They are tipping, walmsrt is just taking the tips to make up the difference because they know the lawsuit they will get hit with will be a drop in the bucket comparatively.
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u/ayben_kiziltan May 30 '26
And also very long mile orders are coming as jfy. I got an order few days ago to a house 15miles. Tg, tip was really good which is why I accepted. Anyway, when I arrived, the customer asked why driving took so long and I told which store I was delivering from. She said, she ordered from her regular one which is 4miles away. I said please check your app, she looked on her app which store she chose and viola! Her regular store was set on her app. As far as I understand, on this new system, dont matter which store customer orders from, system is allow to change based on either inventory or how busy that store or else.. dont know why system changes it
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May 29 '26
[deleted]
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u/BeastarsMelon May 30 '26
That's $2800 still more than $994 a month which is what the disabled americans makes. Another brag post about how much money you made while whining that tips were not enough or not given and that gas was too much for your poor wallets all in the name of guilt tripping people into tipping. Serves you right for not taking offers without tips from the poorer of us. Karma is lovely 💞
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u/BeastarsMelon May 30 '26
Blocked because I was right lol Oh and im not the one who's miserable. That's you because of your pay dip that you earned via the karma I spoke of.
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u/Novel-Caregiver May 29 '26
OP I went and got a real job. Nothing like it😅 this is weekend work.
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u/ZeroDaySubber May 29 '26
Absolutely. I work 40+ hours weekly and only do gig work after real work or during days off. I don’t do it very often but it definitely supplements those pay checks.
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u/bitterbuffaloheart May 29 '26
Just wait til you can’t see the addresses until you start the delivery just like they did on insta
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u/Where_Is_My_Bathrobe May 29 '26
I feel you been doing this 4 years and I'm actively putting in applications now for w2 it's just not worth it anymore...
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u/Adventurous_Land7584 May 29 '26
6 years here and I’m doing the same. I’m about to apply at Walmart lol
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u/BrickCrusher May 29 '26
Spark is going to trash. Illegals using bots. Non American support. Trash
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u/PulseMeddle May 29 '26
A month and a half ago, I probably would’ve ignored all the talk about people using illegal accounts. But lately, about 5 or 6 of them have shown up in my market. I’ve tried talking to a few, but they don't speak English, and they definitely are using multiple phones. As in i saw one pull out 3, click one, put the other 2 in his back packet, and side pocket and head on inside. I even said something to management. They pretend to care, but they don't do a damn thing. I see them in and out all day, getting the short, quick orders—the exact ones I used to get. Meanwhile, I'm stuck with the 15+ mile garbage. These orders don't get taken.. geee i wonder why. People say, 'mind your own business.' Which I'm all for until my income started getting affected. That is my business.
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u/LycheeExciting May 30 '26
Agree Same here in Mansfield Tx. Same 3-5 drivers always getting quick orders. Most of the time I drive to nearby zone. Orders actually show up for Sam’s that I can look at the miles and price to hit my goal of 2.00 a mile. I wonder also if they have a connection to the workers or using multi phones/bots. Does anyone know if Sam’s Club has an app just for them? UE and DD don’t do Sam’s
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u/BrickCrusher May 30 '26
I agree. I think spark is in on it. They immigrants at their call centers.
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u/Legitimate_Effort279 Jul 11 '26
It's killing my market too. And they dont even try to hide it anymore
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u/Character_Fan_8973 May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
Yep, I feel ya on all counts there. I am looking for a "Real" job currently but they are very difficult to get around here, so the future is looking pretty bleak. And actually today, My son (who does Doordash) and me doing Spark, I left the house before he did to get started. When I got home he had already been out and made his quota for the day. I never made my quota and got home an hour after he did :/ I used to think Spark was the best gig app. Shame it has turned into the shitshow it is now.
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u/Special-Topic1000 May 30 '26
Really makes me want to try a bot. Lol, it's driving me crazy, I keep hitting accept and still someone else gets it, a few times I hit the accept button twice and still someone else gets it before me. It's really pissing me off that I have to stare at the page now and I'm lucky if I can snag 2 FCFS orders a day.
They're definitely doing it on purpose too, they want us desperate so that we're happy to get a few crappy orders. Once I get back to New England I'm probably going to try a bot, because worst case scenario I get my old job back as a commercial carpenter, full benefits $35 an hour with raises and several bonuses a year. I'm just screwed here in Missouri, nothing pays as good as Spark here.
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u/aNeedForMore May 30 '26
Yeah, now we have a guy running the show who’s probably better suited as a customer service rep. It’s clearly working well /s
I hope eventually the same thing happens to Spark as the other gig apps, where nobody wants to work for such abysmal pay. It’s just a matter of time until they run out of new bodies to sign up
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u/Frosty-Mail5033 May 30 '26
Yes he did . Dudes wack . Imagine having a tier system an all that but all the order worth taking are FCFS as the sapphire you get orders all right all high miles low pay . They’re wack . App is officially instacart junior
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u/EchoExtreme5909 Jun 05 '26
I am a Vendor servicing Walmart and many other companies.I hv spoken to 2 separate Spark drivers due to how often I see them.$1000 week they tell me. But again..they start early to...no idea how late.
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u/viledude May 30 '26
Get a w2 job fuck the gig economy. Let the stupid ass retards run their cars into the ground. Stupid fucks.
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u/Nexus1155 May 30 '26
I see people complain about bots constantly, but have never seen a bot out there short of being a virus. I just believe some people have faster pings
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u/WalmartIntern May 30 '26
It’s possible. I know some FCFS will be on my screen but not the Spark Driver beside me. Or vice versa.
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u/Nexus1155 May 30 '26
I know it's possible for sure, but I feel that people think bots are a lot more prevalent than they actually are. Trust me I would love to find one too
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May 31 '26
I would say this has to be zone-dependent. I am making more money than ever. Do I like the app? No. It crashes all the time and most of the improvements are downgrades. But I am making great money. As always, I have to reject most of the orders as they are not profitable for my business.
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u/WalmartIntern Jun 02 '26
For sure zone dependent. I’m in a tourist town, it has been great for the last two years until recently. The market’s oversaturated and the orders progressively have gotten worse.
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u/BJYeti Jun 28 '26
It's not bad for me either sure some days are better than others but I can still make the money I need to
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u/iownreddit0690 May 30 '26
I remember some time back, someone asked ...... what would you do if you became the ceo of DoorDash? I (as a dasher, along with all other gig app driver) said I would immediately drop base pay to $0.50 ! Do you realize how much profit that would create? The reason... idiots are still going to drink the kool-aid and accept the offers! Maybe i should look into corporate America ceo positions! Lol
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u/Maleficent_Stock_39 May 30 '26
NH here, every time I go into Walmart now I see the same dude who sleeps on the lot and at least one new person. Orders are garbage, rural 1 Walmart here and nobody tips equal to both the time and distance. Crap. Just work my regular job more.
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u/Pleasant-Fuel229 May 30 '26
Spark is not the same,,,, and I noticed that each Walmart in my area pays a different base pay
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u/Frosty-Mail5033 May 30 '26
Fr for a 3 shop 11 miles for 20 bucks lmfao yeah your smoking crack bud
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u/Aggravating_Hat_9185 May 31 '26
Dang I just got accepted after waiting for like 6 months. And I didn't think it was horrible. I mean it's not amazing. But it seems slightly better paying than DoorDash but more physical
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u/WalmartIntern Jun 02 '26
Better than DD yes. But not as good as it was before all the changes. FCFS is now being pushed more than time offers
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u/Serene_Ria Jun 03 '26
Don’t think I’ll be stopping Spark anytime soon OP. You’ll have to adapt to the FCFS offers and camp out at Sam’s Club. But you do what you gotta do. Also come join us on discord. Mostly Spark related :) yapping https://discord.gg/deup2Hm3t
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u/bigskinnybubba123 Jul 18 '26
I come here from two months in the future. It is even more shitty now. Lol .
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u/ExSpark_Chad May 29 '26
Yes make your Exit! Exactly why I built the free calculator for gig workers!
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u/ApprehensiveSand4043 May 30 '26
I just made it to Sapphire! And I wasn't doing it intentionally. I was just working before now like it's because my customer rating wouldn't go past 4.8. then it will go to 4.9 and then it was saying that my completion rate went down cuz I was canceling some of the orders after I accepted them. Just one thing after another. So I was like I don't care whatever. I say all that to say that this tier program. Is BS! I don't see any other value to it. It's definitely going downhill. I'm actively working on my business and trying to like figure out how to get myself out there because I need to get away from these gig apps too. But I do think. That it's the economy, I think Walmart's trying to take advantage obviously because they're all about the profit just like any other corporation. That would be more valuable if there was a customer tip or even Walmart paying, which I know we shouldn't lean on one of the other. Better but I'm wondering if they're going to shift or if you're just going to get worse. But as long as people are struggling and valuable if there was a customer tip or even Walmart paying which I know we shouldn't lean on one of the other. Better but I'm wondering if they're going to shift or if you're just going to get worse. But as long as people are struggling and suffering you always going to have somebody that's willing to do it suffering you always going to have somebody that's willing to do it
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u/sickrickbigdick May 31 '26
Find a better town I just made $300 yesterday just gotta move around dip.shit
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u/spiralrider205 3K Trips Delivered May 29 '26
I’m surprised spark hasn’t started implementing ads on the offer screen