u/X--The_Lion

They are refusing to use my GPS generated mileage logs (through Everlance) as proof of use of my vehicle during the generation of self employment income. Their reasoning is that "there is no way to prove that all of those miles were used for buisiness." But then they ask me if I have fuel receipts. Little pieces of paper that are barely legible and don't even have my name on them in most cases. In most cases I refuel late at night after most stores have closed so that I can just wake up and roll out the next day. And we all know the likelihood of getting a receipt from the pump itself is very slim. I would think that mileage logs that correlate directly to the dates and times that I was actively delivering orders would be a more verifiable source of proof.

I am the only earner in our household. My daughter is intellectually disabled and home schooled. My mobility impaired wife stays home with her. As of May, I was making about $2,000-2,400 per month before expenses up until May. Working 8+ hours per day 5 days per week. Around 70-80 miles per day. Sure, I could have worked more if conditions were perfect. But they weren't. I had to be home sometimes.

Our redetermination was supposed to be completed in May but the case worker dropped the ball and let the case lapse supposedly due to high case load. At that time my income was within the limits. But on June 1st our benefits were terminated. They nearly completely ignored our case until about 4 weeks ago. At that time they used my earnings from June before any expenses whatsoever to deny benefits.

From June 10th through today I have been working 12+ hours per day, 250+ miles per day average, 7 days per week. Aside from a day here and there that I either simply can not get out of the bed or I have had to cut a day short for vehicle maintenance. I've only had 3, maybe 4 actual days that I have taken off of over the past three months where I can actually rest. And my earnings before expenses are what they are currently using to deny my claim.

But the more I work, the higher my expenses are. The more I earn from working, the lower my benefits are, regardless of my expenses.

I've been getting the "We suggest heading to the drop off location" notification during every single delivery over the past several days. And the customers haven't been able to see my progress along the route. It just shows them that I'm parked at the store after either shopping or curbside pick-up. It's not hindering my ability to complete orders, it's just annoying. The Spark app itself is showing my accurate location on my end, but the customers are seeing my location as sitting at the store and not moving, even when I am at their door dropping off the order.

I'm not new to the in-store location tracking within the app. I know how the app sometimes tells you that you are too far away from the item to mark it as unavailable, and I know how to "by-pass" the location tracking when it does that. But the past couple of shops that I've done today have had a new, even more annoying version of that. The app wouldn't let me scan items unless I was at the location that showed on the store map. We all know that the in-store tracking is wildly inaccurate? But to mix that "function" with a store that is going through a full remodel where items are shuffled around every single day and then force you to be in a certain location to even be allowed to scan an item that you are physically holding in your hand? It took me well over an hour to complete a 35 item shop on my second to last order today. The final offer I ended up calling support to cancel because it was mostly salads/greens that were all marked as clearance because they expire today and the location on the in-store tracking that it wanted me to be to mark the items as unavailable was behind the deli counter. And the deli has been entirely shut down and blocked off for the past few days because they are totally rebuilding the section and replacing the cases, coolers, ovens and fryers.

I called Spark support and they suggested calling Spark support to report the issue and request that a support ticket be opened. I asked them to cancel the order due to app malfunctions and they did. I got my partial compensation for the offer. My metrics weren't impacted. And I ended my Spark session for the day.

I have not the patience for such dumb-fuckery this day....

I wish I had taken screenshots, because I still can't comprehend the logic behind it. I received a FCFS curbside offer for $20 base and $4 tip for 19 miles and 35 items. I checked the details and it was to a customer that I regularly deliver to. She always drops me $20 cash after delivery. So I accepted the offer and headed to the store. When I got there and checked in I noticed that two GMD stops had been added. 1 for 5 items and another for 2 items. But when I checked the details I saw that all 3 orders were to the same customer. The GMD orders were for 5 pet food items and 2 24 packs of Coke. She normally orders the same exact 42 item order, every single week and it has always been $26 base plus her $4 tip. But this time her main order was only 35 items plus the extra 7 items in the GMD. When I showed up she asked me why the pet food and cokes couldn't be delivered and had to be shipped this week. Imagine her confusion when I told her that they did "ship" the items and I had them with me. The kicker is that she ordered all of the 42 items at the exact same time.

So it seems that Spark omitted 7 bulky items from the order, told the customer that they would be shipped, sent me an offer for the 35 "deliverable" items, then snuck in the other 7 at the time of pick-up and paid me $6 less than they have every other time I have delivered them.

Today she dropped me $26 cash instead of the normal $20. And told she was about to "call those assholes and get an explanation for this bullshit."

I called and got the blanket response about having the right to decline any offer.