Melanie says she earned $2 an hour and every step was tracked on an app   :(

7 October 2018
Sydney Morning Herald


Melanie Young was looking to earn some extra money for her young family - all she had to do was download a smartphone app.

Two days later she was walking several kilometres delivering marketing material for some of Australia’s best-known companies, as the app tracked her movements.

Young was a catalogue distribution walker, an independent contractor according to those who hired her - not an employee.


Melanie Young worked for Salmat as a letterbox distribution walker.

As an independent contractor for industry leader Salmat, she could be owed as little as $20 for nine hours of work collating and delivering pamphlets, well below minimum wage.   

In Young’s case she wasn’t even paid that.   :(


Now, the catalogue distribution industry is facing allegations of exploitation, with features such as monitoring apps indicating a closer employment relationship between companies and contractors.

Young, hired by an area-representative-contractor on behalf of Salmat, lasted just four weeks before deciding it was not worth her time.

“You would log into the app and accept the contracts on the app, then it would give you a countdown for when it had to be completed, it was like a little GPS,” she says.

“You would send all your data [from the app] to your area representative, otherwise they said you wouldn’t get paid. It would record your start time, pause time and the time you finished, I think they would know how long it took for each of us to finish a contract.

“A contract would usually be about $20, but it was taking so much time, sometimes six to seven hours to sort the catalogues and three to four hours to deliver them, I worked out I was making about $2 an hour.” 

After nearly 100 hours of work Young estimates she was only owed $150-200, but she never received any payment.   :(


“They [contractor] never asked for my banking details and when I told them I was quitting and needed to be paid, the lady went on holidays, she never got back to me," she says.

“Eventually I gave up, the only bonus is I dropped a clothing size.”   :(

According to a Salmat area-representative-contractor in Melbourne, independent contractors are typically paid directly by Salmat.

Salmat argues that independent contractors such as Young are not bound by the minimum wage as they are free to work how they please and accept or decline any contract.

Legal experts say Salmat’s model raises questions about whether the walkers are really contractors or employees.

Tess Hardy, a senior lecturer at Melbourne Law School and co-director of the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law, says she would be surprised if Salmat wasn’t worried.

“Some suggest that the nature of letter distribution work is so unique that it falls outside the boundaries of the relevant employment regulations. Similar arguments are being made in the gig economy,” Hardy says.


Coles and Woolworths say they are looking into their relationship with Salmat.

“But in reality, the work is not that unique. Rather, it seems that Salmat – either directly or via a subcontractor – are engaging people to perform menial tasks in exchange for payment.

“The workers do not appear to be operating any genuine business of their own.”

Young did not have an ABN while working for Salmat, typically a requirement of independent contractors.

For its part Salmat told investors recently that the app – known as Salmathub - was a “true differentiator” that had “excellent uptake and response from users in the field and clients”.
Investigation continues

Fairfax Media revealed in September that the Fair Work Ombudsman is investigating Salmat. Major clients including Woolworths and Coles have said they are also looking into their relationship with the company.

Hardy believes that, according to the information available, Salmat’s role and the exact contractual arrangements remain uncertain.

“If Salmat is paying the walkers directly, then it may be that Salmat is found to be the true employer. In any case, the fact that Salmat has engaged the walkers via a separate entity does not make them immune to liability.

“For example, where the head contractor has set the contract price at such a low level that it makes it impossible for the relevant employer to comply with their award obligations, then it is quite possible that the head contractor will be taken to be ‘involved in’ the contravention and liable as an accessory under the Fair Work Act.”

Junk mail...junk paid exploitation....endorsed by industry and government.

what a great opportunity.

you get to work on your physical fitness as you walk . you get a dose of vitamin D

you could download podcasts and listen to them as you walked and you could increase your knowledge.

you could smile and strike up conversations with randon people in their front yards and tell them you are available for odd jobs.

you could make a flyer of your own detailing this and put it in every letter box along with the coles and woolies flyers.

my chinese friend (who did my landscaping) started like that. dropping off door to door flyers to do rubbish removal and garden clean ups.

the dude just brought his third house.

he cant believe how easy it is to make money in australia.

he may be available to mentor whiteknight, if whiteknight can get off of the "get up ' website

Promoting your own business is a different matter...exploiting people is another.

Pedro Curevo wrote on Oct 8^th, 2018 at 7:02am:

Promoting your own business is a different matter...exploiting people is another.

fair enough, but you have to have strong personal boundaries about what you will , and will not allow other people to do to you.

now, if you are industrious enough to walk 6 hours a day, then why not push a mower and earn 50 an hour doing lawns.

again, my brother in law gave up a job as a bank manager and did EXACTLY that.
dropped off flyer, picked up work.
makes nearly as much as in the bank AND he can listen to podcasts whilst he works AND he is physically fit AND he knocks back more work all the time.

its just so EASY to do well in australia.

the whiteknight mentality needs to be eradicated.
it is literally destroying peoples lives

aquascoot wrote on Oct 8^th, 2018 at 7:08am:

Pedro Curevo wrote on Oct 8th, 2018 at 7:02am: Promoting your own business is a different matter...exploiting people is another. fair enough, but you have to have strong personal boundaries about what you will , and will not allow other people to do to you. now, if you are industrious enough to walk 6 hours a day, then why not push a mower and earn 50 an hour doing lawns. again, my brother in law gave up a job as a bank manager and did EXACTLY that. dropped off flyer, picked up work. makes nearly as much as in the bank AND he can listen to podcasts whilst he works AND he is physically fit AND he knocks back more work all the time. its just so EASY to do well in australia. the whiteknight mentality needs to be eradicated. it is literally destroying peoples lives

Unscrupulous employers who continue to break the law need to be eradicated.

They are literally destroying people's lives.

greggerypeccary wrote on Oct 8^th, 2018 at 7:17am:

aquascoot wrote on Oct 8th, 2018 at 7:08am: Pedro Curevo wrote on Oct 8th, 2018 at 7:02am: Promoting your own business is a different matter...exploiting people is another. fair enough, but you have to have strong personal boundaries about what you will , and will not allow other people to do to you. now, if you are industrious enough to walk 6 hours a day, then why not push a mower and earn 50 an hour doing lawns. again, my brother in law gave up a job as a bank manager and did EXACTLY that. dropped off flyer, picked up work. makes nearly as much as in the bank AND he can listen to podcasts whilst he works AND he is physically fit AND he knocks back more work all the time. its just so EASY to do well in australia. the whiteknight mentality needs to be eradicated. it is literally destroying peoples lives Unscrupulous employers who continue to break the law need to be eradicated. They are literally destroying people's lives.

employ yourself !!!
stand on your own 2 feet and be the type of person who can move forward with courage and discipline

aquascoot wrote on Oct 8^th, 2018 at 7:18am:

greggerypeccary wrote on Oct 8th, 2018 at 7:17am: aquascoot wrote on Oct 8th, 2018 at 7:08am: Pedro Curevo wrote on Oct 8th, 2018 at 7:02am: Promoting your own business is a different matter...exploiting people is another. fair enough, but you have to have strong personal boundaries about what you will , and will not allow other people to do to you. now, if you are industrious enough to walk 6 hours a day, then why not push a mower and earn 50 an hour doing lawns. again, my brother in law gave up a job as a bank manager and did EXACTLY that. dropped off flyer, picked up work. makes nearly as much as in the bank AND he can listen to podcasts whilst he works AND he is physically fit AND he knocks back more work all the time. its just so EASY to do well in australia. the whiteknight mentality needs to be eradicated. it is literally destroying peoples lives Unscrupulous employers who continue to break the law need to be eradicated. They are literally destroying people's lives. employ yourself !!! stand on your own 2 feet and be the type of person who can move forward with courage and discipline

You're missing the point, as usual.

Unscrupulous employers continue to break the law, yet you refuse to condemn them for it.

In fact - you make excuses for them, and blame the workers who are ripped off.

You're part of the problem.

One of Gina's workers, eh?

aquascoot wrote on Oct 8^th, 2018 at 7:18am:

greggerypeccary wrote on Oct 8th, 2018 at 7:17am: aquascoot wrote on Oct 8th, 2018 at 7:08am: Pedro Curevo wrote on Oct 8th, 2018 at 7:02am: Promoting your own business is a different matter...exploiting people is another. fair enough, but you have to have strong personal boundaries about what you will , and will not allow other people to do to you. now, if you are industrious enough to walk 6 hours a day, then why not push a mower and earn 50 an hour doing lawns. again, my brother in law gave up a job as a bank manager and did EXACTLY that. dropped off flyer, picked up work. makes nearly as much as in the bank AND he can listen to podcasts whilst he works AND he is physically fit AND he knocks back more work all the time. its just so EASY to do well in australia. the whiteknight mentality needs to be eradicated. it is literally destroying peoples lives Unscrupulous employers who continue to break the law need to be eradicated. They are literally destroying people's lives. employ yourself !!! stand on your own 2 feet and be the type of person who can move forward with courage and discipline

YEAH!!  Everybody do that and there's be no employees and thus no business or industry!!  Become a nation of shopkeepers and a coffee shop every second shopfront will make terrific competition!! Think of the benefits for the consumer..... market forces will reduce coffee down to about $0.02 a cup....

aquascoot wrote on Oct 8^th, 2018 at 6:19am:

what a great opportunity. you get to work on your physical fitness as you walk . you get a dose of vitamin D you could download podcasts and listen to them as you walked and you could increase your knowledge. you could smile and strike up conversations with randon people in their front yards and tell them you are available for odd jobs. you could make a flyer of your own detailing this and put it in every letter box along with the coles and woolies flyers. my chinese friend (who did my landscaping) started like that. dropping off door to door flyers to do rubbish removal and garden clean ups. the dude just brought his third house. he cant believe how easy it is to make money in australia. he may be available to mentor whiteknight, if whiteknight can get off of the "get up ' website

And get paid SFA to do it  ::)

Grappler Truth Teller Feller wrote on Oct 8^th, 2018 at 7:57am:

One of Gina's workers, eh?

delivering harvey norman flyers :D LOL

Distributing flyers to yourself to promote your business you are rewarded, (or advertise in the local paper if for self), the flyers concerned are for large companies who make a substantial profit from advertising...they should be able to pay a contractor a better outcome than $2hr.

The only cost effective way to deliver junk mail is by moving faster than walking, shorter time factor use a little motorbike then you have to have the cash to buy one...even then its fairly minimal paid work the advertising companies make it sound like easy work in their promo's.

Posties used to deliver junk mail....then many people stuck 'No Junk Mail' on their letter boxes and the nasty habit was dropped...non-viable for the PO....at least in my area.

Gnads wrote on Oct 8^th, 2018 at 11:27am:

aquascoot wrote on Oct 8th, 2018 at 6:19am: what a great opportunity. you get to work on your physical fitness as you walk . you get a dose of vitamin D you could download podcasts and listen to them as you walked and you could increase your knowledge. you could smile and strike up conversations with randon people in their front yards and tell them you are available for odd jobs. you could make a flyer of your own detailing this and put it in every letter box along with the coles and woolies flyers. my chinese friend (who did my landscaping) started like that. dropping off door to door flyers to do rubbish removal and garden clean ups. the dude just brought his third house. he cant believe how easy it is to make money in australia. he may be available to mentor whiteknight, if whiteknight can get off of the "get up ' website And get paid SFA to do it  ::)

Chinese dude friend 'started' like that?  What did he move on to after a week or so???  That's the real story - not how he picked up his first buck in Australia... what did he do AFTER he started that way and worked out it wasn't paying?

Pedro Curevo wrote on Oct 10^th, 2018 at 4:46am:

Distributing flyers to yourself to promote your business you are rewarded, (or advertise in the local paper if for self), the flyers concerned are for large companies who make a substantial profit from advertising...they should be able to pay a contractor a better outcome than $2hr. The only cost effective way to deliver junk mail is by moving faster than walking, shorter time factor use a little motorbike then you have to have the cash to buy one...even then its fairly minimal paid work the advertising companies make it sound like easy work in their promo's. Posties used to deliver junk mail....then many people stuck 'No Junk Mail' on their letter boxes and the nasty habit was dropped...non-viable for the PO....at least in my area.

Raven?  Raven?  That you???

Why the long name?  Peter Raven???  "Put that first name down in his file, Igor - we're closing in on him!")...

Anyway - that was part of the Brave New World of Australia Post - 'contracting' out for the mailies to deliver junk mail .. the new 'business paradigm' ....

Quote:

I worked out I was making about $2 an hour.

Put that "employer" in jail.

Yeah, pretty much "slave labour" ... perhaps it's no surprise then that we sometimes receive two or more identical copies of the flyers - the walker getting the job done 2 or 3 times more quickly.

Now I feel bad that I reported the multiple copies to the distribution company. Probably got the poor walker fired.
:(

Quote:

Raven?  Raven?  That you??? Why the long name?  Peter Raven???

More crow than raven.... :)