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Dozens of us crowd around the coffee shop’s tables, eyes glued to our phones, waiting for something — anything — to come through. Our cube-shaped bags clutter the floor of the Tim Hortons at Dundas St. W. and Spadina Ave., a popular waiting spot for food delivery couriers. An occasional “ping” cuts through the idle chatter, jolting us to attention. I snatch my phone, hoping for a notification — but my screen is blank. It’s another courier’s order and he’s already bolting out the door, bag in hand. It’s my first week working as an courier and despite it being peak time for deliveries on a Thursday afternoon, I haven’t received an order in over three hours. I turn to the driver next to me. Is my app malfunctioning or am I doing something wrong? After all, the app’s city map shows I’m in a “hot spot,” a high-demand area during high-demand hours. He shrugs. He spent $10 on his to the city, he tells me, and has only made $8 on Uber Eats all day. “Too many drivers and not enough orders,” he says. Toronto’s sidewalks and congested streets have never felt more crowded with food couriers. Spurred by a pandemic surge in delivery app usage, the food courier workforce has ballooned, increasingly made up of newcomers and for whom few other job options exist. In 2023 alone, Statistics Canada says the workforce for delivery apps like Uber Eats grew by a . Toronto Star reporter Ghada Alsharif spent six weeks working as a Uber Eats food courier. In taking a job as a delivery worker for Uber Eats, the city’s most popular food delivery app, I joined the ranks of an oversaturated workforce, where on any given night, a surplus of food couriers outnumbers the available orders. Behind the boom lies a troubling trend: couriers’ pay and behaviour are governed by opaque algorithms that determine wages based on hidden criteria. Using artificial intelligence technology, these platforms keep drivers tethered to the app, waiting unpaid for their next order. For drivers, the results are unpredictable and too often unfair. Data obtained by the Star shows Uber Eats’ platform can offer two food couriers different wages for the exact same trip. Labour advocates charge that the app collects data on driver behaviour and can use it to decide who it can pay at a lower rate, allowing the company to pocket the difference and boost its revenue. This concept is widely referred to as algorithmic wage discrimination. “The app has total control over how a worker gets paid,” says Veena Dubal, a University of California law professor whose research focuses on the gig economy. “Minimum wage and the idea that hard work should lead to economic security, can be — and are being — destroyed by these A.I. systems.” The Ontario government’s legislation aimed at for digital platform workers won’t take effect until 2025 — and even then, workers say it will fail to address the most of gig work. Uber says my experience as a food courier “was atypical” and didn’t match that of an average Toronto delivery driver. The company denies allegations of algorithmic wage discrimination, stating that it does not use a driver’s “past behaviours” to determine who it can pay at a lower rate. Uber says it’s transparent with drivers about potential earnings. The company says delivery workers choose the platform for its flexibility and their ability to “earn money on their own terms.” I worked as an Uber Eats courier for six weeks. I wanted to understand the costs behind the convenience of app-based delivery and gain insight into how gig work is evolving as algorithms call the shots. Many of the food couriers I worked alongside were young international students struggling to earn an income while they make their way through school. Others were refugees or undocumented workers, navigating precarious lives. Of the dozens of workers I spoke with, almost none of them have permanent status in Canada. Most were afraid to speak openly about their experiences with Uber Eats or other apps they deliver for out of fear of jeopardizing their livelihoods. I rented an electric bike and set out to complete at least 100 orders. The goal was to collect independent data that could shed light on how drivers’ wages are determined. But I soon discovered I’d get far fewer orders than expected, a struggle many couriers say is becoming all too common. After my first 20 hours on the Uber Eats app as a food courier, I made just $28.98. In my first weeks delivering food there were hours and even days when I wouldn’t get a single order. Hot spots on the app could change at any moment. When I followed the prompts and biked to one of these locations, like in Liberty Village, it vanished the moment I arrived. A new hot spot appeared on the other end of the downtown core at Yonge and Dundas, nudging me to wait on sidewalks crowded with couriers competing for the same jobs. The more time I spent on the app, the more I felt like a player in a game where I couldn’t figure out the rules. But every courier I met had their own theory on how to beat the game. Some swear by logging in and out of the app to trigger more orders. Others insist on keeping the app open at all times without interruption. Many advise ignoring the heatmap altogether and heading to quieter areas with less competition. Some say to keep biking around instead of waiting in one spot for too long — “the app will think you’re taking a break,” they say. One thing became clear: chasing orders was part of the job. “This is the gamification of work,” said , economist and director of the think tank Centre for Future Work. Employing and data scientists, Uber has talked about how the company has experimented with video game techniques and other tactics to incentivize drivers to stay on the road for more hours. However, Uber told the Star this characterization was “misleading,” and that its data science team was “focused on making offers more transparent and improving the Uber Eats app.” As soon as I logged into the app, I was met with flashing heat maps signalling high demand areas, performance goals tied to rewards programs and countdown timers pressuring me to accept rides while I was in the middle of biking in rush hour traffic. I noticed that I was more likely to get orders if I was constantly on the move. To test this theory, I logged on to the app and stayed in a hot spot for seven hours. Not a single order came through. When asked about this experience, Uber Eats said it “does not require a delivery person to be moving to receive trips.” I changed my strategy and biked in circles around the city during peak lunch and dinner hours. More orders came in this way than when I’d stop and wait at hot spots. Over six weeks, I spent 140 hours and 22 minutes on the app in search of work. But I was paid only for 15 hours and 49 minutes — the time Uber Eats determined I was actively delivering orders. One courier I met on the road was a 28-year-old from India who had been delivering food for over a year trying to pay off his MBA tuition. Unable to find a steady job, he worked on multiple delivery apps, but said it wasn’t uncommon to go six hours between receiving orders. Sometimes, he earned less than $10 over an eight-hour workday. “I’m OK to do hard work, but I’m not making any money,” said the driver. What are the conditions like as a food delivery courier? Toronto Star reporter Ghada Alsharif spent six weeks delivering Uber Eats to find out. Like most of the couriers I spoke to, he asked not to be quoted by name for fear that he will face repercussions from delivery platforms or jeopardize his chances of finding better opportunities in the future. Having work appear scarce creates a sense of competition that makes drivers less selective of what orders they take, said labour relations lawyer Ryan White of Cavalluzzo LLP. “This feeling of scarcity might lead delivery workers to think, ‘If I don’t take this assignment, even if it’s not an assignment I want ... someone else is going to,’ ” White said. Uber spokesperson Keerthana Rang said it’s “difficult to comment on experiences a specific delivery person has because many factors play a role in earnings, like time of day, demand in the area, weather.” Delivery workers “control where and when they work, they are free to use other apps at the same time as they’re on Uber, choose which deliveries to accept, and they can deliver using their own vehicle, by bike, or on foot.” I felt anything but in control. As I spent more time on the app, another change occurred. Instead of simply allowing me to “accept” an order immediately, the app started prompting me to request to “match” with it, meaning the app would first determine whether I was the best fit for the delivery before giving me the job outright. More often than not, I’d lose the match to another driver. The power to choose was not mine. Uber says “there are a number of factors that determine how a match is made, including the proximity to the merchant and estimated delivery times.” One driver suggested I rush to the restaurant as soon as I got a “match” request, in a bid to be the closest to the location when the app made its decision — more guessing, more waiting. Often, after a few match requests were given to other drivers, finally receiving an order I could accept felt like a small victory — one that kept me eager and engaged. Control for drivers is an illusion — it’s really “all in the hands of the apps,” White said. “Workers don’t get to determine their terms and conditions of employment and they don’t get to set the prices that they’re working for.” Toronto was the first city in the world where Uber Eats operated, launching onto the food delivery scene in 2015. On a bitter February evening in 2022, a group of Uber Eats delivery workers gathered at Wychwood Barns Park near St. Clair Ave. W. and Christie St. Soaked in freezing rain, they huddled together to test an algorithm that had become their boss. They ran a simple experiment: logging into the app simultaneously mere inches apart, they strived to document how pay varied for identical orders. When one driver received an order, they took a screenshot capturing the pay and details before declining the job. If one of the other drivers was then offered the order, they did the same thing, creating a side-by-side comparison. The Star analyzed the data of six delivery workers collected by Gig Workers United, a network of app-based couriers advocating for better workers’ rights. Out of 21 assignments offered to at least two drivers in the group, all but one — 95 per cent — revealed pay discrepancies for the same job. For one delivery, from a Harvey’s at St. Clair and Bathurst to a location near Casa Loma, the first driver was offered $6.81. The second was offered $6.18 — a nearly 10 per cent pay difference for the same delivery. In many cases, the pay difference for identical deliveries was less than 10 cents, an amount that may go unnoticed. But given the thousands of drivers and orders around the world, if Uber were to “skim off a few cents” from each delivery, the difference could result in “millions ... of dollars in profit across millions of rides globally,” Dubal said. Dubal has spent more than a decade researching the ride-hailing and gig economy and how these platforms affect workers’ rights, livelihoods and legal protections. Her research, which includes interviews with drivers and analysis of their pay patterns, has found the business model the couriers participate in ultimately relies on an imbalance of power and information. Artificial intelligence technology determines what an Uber Eats worker gets paid. Platforms like Uber use these complex algorithms to streamline customer service while maximizing profits and also dictating worker pay, speed and behaviour. It has fostered a system, Dubal says, where workers performing the same task with the same skills under identical conditions can receive different pay. Dubal’s research documented this alleged algorithmic wage discrimination among rideshare drivers in the San Francisco Bay area, comparing the fares they received to what other drivers got. The data from the Toronto food couriers’ experiment, she says, adds to a growing body of evidence that “proves that Uber Eats has created a system where workers do not earn the same amount even if they’re doing the exact same thing.” “This upends the notion that there should be and is an assumption of equal pay for equal work.” Uber has denied the app uses an individual worker’s past behaviour to set different wages. “Uber Eats does not send lower-paying upfront offers to a delivery person with a history of accepting them. Anything written in your story otherwise would be false,” Rang said. The Uber spokesperson said that any variation of earnings between drivers for the same trip “is likely due to the technical limitations of GPS. “GPS Satellite visibility, location settings, and device orientation are some of the reasons why phones next to each other might have different geolocation results.” According to Dubal and Stanford, Uber Eats is applying a concept similar to one it popularized: consumer price discrimination, sometimes called dynamic or surge pricing, where customers are charged different prices based on what companies think they’re willing to pay. Now, critics say it appears it’s being used to set couriers’ wages. This raises serious concerns, particularly given the vulnerable demographics of many workers, Stanford said. Among the couriers I spoke with was a refugee from Eritrea unable to work legally in Canada, who said he had no choice but to rely on income from food delivery apps despite earning dismal wages. “I do this or I die,” he said. In February, Uber reported its first annual net profit since the company went public in 2019. The company booked a net profit of $1.9 billion in 2023, compared with a loss of $9.1 billion in 2022. Uber says the company’s “profitability has come from the ever-growing volume of trips, which has resulted in our revenues growing faster than our costs.” Hours after announcing its first-ever annual profit, Uber’s CEO told investors on a conference call that the company is increasingly focused on offering drivers’ orders and rides based on their “behavioural patterns.” “I think what we can do better is targeting different trips to different drivers based on their preferences, or based on behavioural patterns that they are showing us,” said CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, saying it will lead to shorter wait times for customers, happier drivers and a more efficient system. “That is really the focus going forward: Offering the right trip, at the right price to the right driver.” Landed immigrants accounted for nearly 60 per cent of people who provided either personal transport or delivery services through an app or platform in 2023, according to data from Statistics Canada. Toronto was the first city in the world where Uber Eats operated, launching onto the food delivery scene in 2015. Uber was competing against other companies such as DoorDash and Hurrier. To ensure there were enough couriers available at all times to meet customer demand, delivery platforms offered workers incentives to keep engaging with their apps. Companies offered “boosts,” which multiplied courier earnings if they delivered food in areas seeing a surge in demand, recalls Brice Sopher, who has spent nearly a decade as a bike courier in Toronto. “Uber paid so well in the beginning that you didn’t even care about tips — it was that good,” said Sopher, who is also the vice-president of Gig Workers United. When the pandemic hit, the use of online food delivery platforms surged as customers were confined to their homes and restaurants shuttered their doors. In June 2020, Uber scrapped a payment structure that had offered couriers clear pay based on pickups, drop-offs, distance and time. It was replaced by algorithmic pricing. Drivers could no longer see how their base pay was being calculated. For example, I have no way of knowing why a 2.5-kilometre delivery earned me $4.06 before tip, while a nearly identical 2.3-kilometre delivery paid $6.08. Uber maintains the changes made wages more transparent. Before accepting a delivery, drivers can see fares, including estimated tip, trip distance, estimated time to completion and locations for pick-up and drop off. “The delivery person is in control in determining whether they wish to choose or decline the offer,” Uber’s spokesperson said. The upfront fare and estimated time calculated by the app often failed to account for delays beyond my control, from waiting for food that wasn’t ready at the restaurant to climbing flights of stairs at a condo tower because the elevators were down. When these incidents happened, my deliveries took longer but my pay stayed the same — this meant I would be earning less money per hour. Uber said it aims to “minimize delivery person wait time by adjusting expected merchant preparation time based on actuals.” Demographics of the gig-economy workforce have also changed. Data shows that the surge of ride-hailing and delivery gig workers has been driven largely by newcomers. Landed immigrants accounted for nearly 60 per cent of people who provided either personal transport or delivery services through an app or platform in 2023, according to data from Statistics Canada. One courier I spoke with, a 19-year-old university student from India, came to Canada in search of a good education and better living standards. Instead, he says he’s barely scraping by, struggling to pay his tuition at Niagara College. These days, he considers himself lucky to make $50 on a weekend shift. He searched for work for six months. “When I couldn’t find anything I started doing Uber (deliveries) full-time,” he said. With low barriers to entry, app-based delivery jobs can be appealing to newcomers who are often shut out of other jobs in the labour market, Stanford said. High levels of immigration “combined with the weakening of the labour market, means there are more people willing to do this lousy work than there were two years ago,” he said. “They’re desperate and the platforms take advantage of that.” Over six weeks, I hustled to complete 56 orders. I spent more than 140 hours glued to the app and biking around the city in hopes of coaxing an order out of an algorithm, and made just $243.82, plus another $73 and change in tips. This money is being donated to charity. In the end, I earned a shocking $1.74 per hour online. Uber says the average delivery person in Toronto is engaged four times more on an hourly basis than I was during my six-week experiment. And the company reports that the median driver earnings in Toronto in late 2023 was $33.35 per “engaged hour.” Uber says earnings “must be calculated against engaged time” because a delivery person can have multiple food-delivery apps open at once to optimize their earnings. Even by that standard, my earnings fell short. I made approximately $15.41 per engaged hour before tips, below Ontario’s $17.20 minimum wage. The per-hour pay fluctuated on each order. For one delivery, I made the equivalent of $34 per hour. On another, a paltry $6.95 per hour. In fact, on roughly half of the orders I delivered, I earned the equivalent of less than minimum wage. The effort didn’t even cover my expenses. Renting an e-bike alone cost me $460 for those six weeks. Food-delivery apps keep drivers tethered to the phones, waiting unpaid for their next order. The Ontario government has brought forward legislation meant to improve working conditions for gig workers such as food couriers and ride share drivers. The Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act will require companies to provide workers with a description of how their wages are calculated, and will guarantee gig workers earn minimum wage — but only for engaged hours. But the legislation, introduced in 2022, does not come into effect until summer 2025. “It is important that the government get this right, which includes consulting with workers, digital platforms, the legal sector, and other affected stakeholders,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour said. Some cities have taken steps to regulate platforms such as Uber. City staff had recommended limiting how many drivers could work for the app-based ride-hailing companies at 80,429. That proposal is now in doubt. City staff had recommended limiting how many drivers could work for the app-based ride-hailing companies at 80,429. That proposal is now in doubt. Earlier this month, Toronto city staff the number of rideshare licences in a bid to address the ride-hailing industry’s negative impacts on traffic, emissions, and public transit. A staff report concluded that drivers’ median income, when accounting for all the time spent on the app, was just $5.97 an hour after costs such as fuel and insurance — a figure Uber disputes. The city’s executive committee voted to to the drawing board. Other cities, such as New York City, have focused on guaranteed wages for drivers. By paying drivers a guaranteed wage, Stanford said the hope is that this will dissuade companies from courting a surplus of workers to compete for orders. Critics say that delivery apps for years have gotten around paying drivers minimum wage by misclassifying gig workers as independent contractors — excluding workers from the full set of rights they would otherwise be entitled to as employees. Organizations like Gig Workers United and RideFair TO have been advocating for gig workers to be classified as employees, which would grant them access to essential benefits, including employment insurance and minimum sick days. App companies have pushed back saying this would undermine couriers’ flexibility to work across multiple platforms and to set their own schedules. Sopher, who has worked on more than one app at once, described the experience as “degrading.” “It’s like working two or more jobs at the exact same time and still not making enough money,” he said. “You only do it because you have to.” In Uber’s 2023 annual report, the company said its business “would be adversely affected if drivers were classified as employees, workers or quasi-employees instead of independent contractors.” Dubal warns that the ripple effects of this algorithm-driven system, in which drivers have minimal protections, extend far beyond food delivery. This same technology is already playing a significant role in managing jobs in some distribution warehouses, from scheduling shifts to assigning tasks and even reportedly firing employees. For six weeks, I knew I had the option to log off whenever I wanted, to step away from the relentless chase for orders. But for a growing number of workers, their primary — often sole — source of income is determined by an app, with wage rates and assignments beyond their control. Sopher, who has all but given up on delivery work, fears that if companies like Uber continue to misclassify delivery workers “you’re going to have a permanent two-tier employment regime in Ontario.” “It’s all of the worst parts of being an employee and all the worst parts of being an independent contractor rolled up in one.”Manyise who was a radiographer by profession died on Sundayafter an InterAfrica bus he was travelling in rammed into a stationary trucknear Dabuka along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway. He was among the seven passengers who died on the spot. Hisbrother Dr Maseko Manyise confirmed the death in a telephone interview with TheMirror. Manyise was buried in Mavhungwe area under Chief Nyajena on Thursday. Weare saddened by the untimely death. He was a minister in the church, an exceptionalcommunicator and was remarkable in the way he solved problems. He was asociable man and he impacted the lives of people through his sound advice andinspiration,” said Dr Manyise. The deceased was working at Fort Street Medical and DentalSurgery in Bulawayo. He did his primary education (Grade 1-3) at Chiwawa inNyajena from 1985 to 1987. He transferred to Nyajena primary and completedGrade 7 in 1987. He went to Nyabata High for his Ordinary Level education.He joined the Army in 1998 and fought in the DRC war from 1999-2000. He trainedas a radiographer during his stint in the Army. He obtained a Theology Degree in 2022 from the NationalUniversity of Science and Technology. He retired from the Army in 2021 andjoined the private sector as a radiographer based at Fort Street Medical andDental Surgery in Bulawayo. The deceased who was a member of the Mutendi -ZionChristian Church (ZCC) is survived by his wife Rejoice Chihanga and twochildren, a girl (20) and a boy (15). Masvingo MirrorQuest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Cirrus Logic, Inc. ( NASDAQ:CRUS – Free Report ) by 67.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,466 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,201 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Cirrus Logic were worth $679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in Cirrus Logic by 9.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 8,444 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $776,000 after buying an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cirrus Logic by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,363,188 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $588,977,000 after purchasing an additional 128,393 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in Cirrus Logic by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 45,404 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,645 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Cirrus Logic in the 1st quarter worth about $176,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Cirrus Logic during the 1st quarter valued at about $278,000. Institutional investors own 87.96% of the company’s stock. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several research analysts have issued reports on CRUS shares. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Cirrus Logic from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cirrus Logic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays cut their target price on Cirrus Logic from $120.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Cirrus Logic from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Cirrus Logic from $165.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.50. Cirrus Logic Price Performance Shares of CRUS opened at $104.82 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.77 and a beta of 0.96. Cirrus Logic, Inc. has a one year low of $74.83 and a one year high of $147.46. The business has a fifty day moving average of $116.23 and a 200 day moving average of $123.04. Cirrus Logic ( NASDAQ:CRUS – Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The semiconductor company reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $541.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $520.53 million. Cirrus Logic had a net margin of 17.19% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. Analysts expect that Cirrus Logic, Inc. will post 5.21 EPS for the current fiscal year. Cirrus Logic Company Profile ( Free Report ) Cirrus Logic, Inc, a fabless semiconductor company, develops low-power high-precision mixed-signal processing solutions in China, the United States, and internationally. The company offers audio products, including amplifiers; codecs components that integrate analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital-to-analog converters (DACs) into a single integrated circuit (IC); smart codecs, a codec with integrated digital signal processing; standalone digital signal processors; and SoundClear technology, which consists of a portfolio of tools, software, and algorithms that helps to enhance user experience with features, such as louder, high-fidelity sound, audio playback, voice capture, and hearing augmentation for use in smartphones, tablets, laptops, AR/VR headsets, home theater systems, automotive entertainment systems, and professional audio systems. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Cirrus Logic Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Cirrus Logic and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
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SINGAPORE: Throw out old stereotypes of a game only for nerds or retirees, chess is now firmly mainstream . The 2024 World Chess Championship in Singapore, still ongoing at the time of writing, is livestreamed to millions. The showdown between world champion Ding Liren and 18-year-old challenger Gukesh Dommaraju receives global media coverage. Recent Nobel Laureate Demis Hassabis – a former child chess prodigy himself – was in town to open their first game. Charismatic top players such as Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura – the current World Number 1 and 3 – do not fit the conventional image of chess grandmasters. Chess influencers stream games and analyses, making chess dynamic and entertaining even for casual viewers. Technology – from internet chess platforms to social media – has made it easy for people to learn, play and connect online. The surge of popularity can also be attributed to the chance convergence of factors, like the COVID-19 pandemic – during which lockdowns and movement restrictions drove more people to play chess – and the 2020 Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit. The rising global tide has not left Singapore behind. Grassroots chess events have proliferated, with initiatives such as the Aliwal Chess Club gaining attention even on mainstream media. Participation among young children and youth has similarly surged, with year-on-year increments in enrolment for chess courses and tournaments organised by the Singapore Chess Federation and private operators. PARENTS MAY HOPE FOR COGNITIVE BENEFITS Some parents may be wondering if this might be a good time to sign their children up to learn chess . Many who do believe that it can shape young minds in profound and positive ways, or hope it can enhance academic performance. It is easy to understand why. After all, a game of chess is fundamentally about strategic thinking and problem-solving. Players plan multiple moves ahead and anticipate consequences. A typical three- to four-hour game requires concentration and patience, increasingly rare qualities in our digital world of instant gratification and short attention spans. At higher levels of competition, preparation involves knowing and adapting to one’s opponents, taking into account their style of play, strengths and weaknesses, and their possible preparation against oneself. These skills should transcend the chessboard. RESEARCH DOESN’T BACK UP OUR BELIEFS However, a sense of healthy scepticism with regards to these seemingly logical beliefs is important. Just as in chess, one should assess positions objectively and analyse even “obvious” moves and captures. Surprisingly, there are only a handful of rigorous and well-designed research studies on the effects of chess on children. And they suggest no effect when it came to attention, focus or creativity. The most important study was on primary school children in Bangladesh in 2016, conducted by Monash University researchers, led by Associate Professor Lee Wang Sheng, my former Raffles Institution chess teammate and one of the top players of Asia in his youth. The primary positive effect was that the children who learned assessed risks better and were less risk-averse than those who did not. The Monash University study and another large-scale trial conducted on over 4,000 children in England also found no significant evidence that learning chess enhances mathematical abilities, reading nor science. In adults, playing chess (and other games such as mahjong and weiqi) is associated with better cognitive health, reducing the risk of dementia as well as slowing cognitive decline. However, most of the published research studies are small and not designed to demonstrate a causal relationship. CONSIDER THE EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Where chess can benefit players is in the social platform it provides for children and adults from diverse backgrounds to connect. The sport transcends age, ethnicity, language and cultural barriers, creating a meritocratic and inclusive environment. I remember going to chess clubs as a teenager – then mainly in community centres – after school and over the weekends, playing games for fun or participating in local tournaments. Social status did not matter – one was respected for one’s skills and sportsmanship. I made many acquaintances and friends over chess, many of whom I remain in touch with or work closely with today. Maintaining one’s composure under pressure, and coping with loss and failure – often repeatedly at a young age – are invaluable experiences for building resilience. Such losses are “safe failures” and can teach children to view setbacks as stepping stones for growth rather than reasons to give up. Moreover, being able to objectively track one’s improvement with effort – by achieving better results in tournaments or defeating formerly formidable opponents – boosts self-confidence and a sense of accomplishment that extends beyond the game. These emotional and social development benefits are not unique to chess, of course, but present in many other sports and interactive games. ALL SPORTS AND GAMES HAVE POTENTIAL DRAWBACKS But just like these other sports and games, chess is not without potential drawbacks. The risk of children and youth becoming overly competitive or experiencing undue pressure is always present, especially if parents or coaches emphasise winning too strongly. Excessive focus and time spent on chess can also lead to reduced physical activity, a narrower range of interests, and in some cases, poorer academic performance. I found Basic Military Training during National Service gruelling because of the lack of physical fitness. At various points in junior college and university, my results were subpar, usually after taking time off for overseas chess tournaments. My parents and some of my teachers expressed concern about my academic progress, but (perhaps) wisely chose to support and respect my passion for the sport. It is important to ensure that chess supplements, rather than replaces, a well-rounded lifestyle that includes physical exercise, diverse social interactions and other recreational activities. SO, SHOULD I SIGN MY CHILD UP FOR CHESS? From my admittedly biased perspective, there is little harm and much potential benefit in introducing children to chess. However, it is essential not to have unreasonable expectations about the cognitive or academic benefits of the game, and children should never be pressured to continue if interest wanes. If they develop a passion for the game, providing a supportive environment and offering opportunities – be it enrolling in school chess clubs or participating in local age-group events – can at the minimum enhance their skills and broaden their interests. For some – which include my fellow chess enthusiasts and myself – it can be a transformative experience that positively shapes lives. Professor Hsu Li Yang is the President of the Singapore Chess Federation and Vice Dean of Global Health at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore.
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Technology and TV writer Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to ManchesterWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you. The winner of Strictly Come Dancing for 2024 will be revealed very soon. The final of the BBC competition airs tonight (December 14) and the result will be announced in the episode . After 13 weeks of intense competition and demanding routines, just four couples are left standing . The bookies have named a clear favourite - and offered odds on the rest of the finalists ahead of voting . Advertisement Advertisement But as we prepare to wave goodbye to another series of Strictly Come Dancing tonight as another star has their name etched into the history of the show, you might be wondering what awaits the winner. Especially as rival autumn reality show I’m a Celeb was revealed to have no cash prize . Stay up-to-date with the latest UK news and culture with our free UK Today newsletter. It has been reported in recent years, including by Hello! Magazine in 2023, that there is a cash prize for the winner. The celebs reportedly get a flat fee of around £25,000 for participating in the show, with the money upping to £40,000 if they make it past week four and £60,000 for reaching the quarter-finals. But the winner will walk away with an even bigger prize of £100,000, according to reports. And of course they will also get to lift the Glitterball Trophy. Advertisement Advertisement It is rather simple, the Glitterball Trophy gets its signature name from the fact it looks like a glitter ball (also called a disco ball or mirror ball). It is circular and sparkly in a way that invokes being on a dance floor. Who do you think will win Strictly Come Dancing in 2024? Share your pick of who will hold the Glitterball Trophy tonight by email: [email protected] . National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.
Dozens of us crowd around the coffee shop’s tables, eyes glued to our phones, waiting for something — anything — to come through. Our cube-shaped bags clutter the floor of the Tim Hortons at Dundas St. W. and Spadina Ave., a popular waiting spot for food delivery couriers. An occasional “ping” cuts through the idle chatter, jolting us to attention. I snatch my phone, hoping for a notification — but my screen is blank. It’s another courier’s order and he’s already bolting out the door, bag in hand. It’s my first week working as an courier and despite it being peak time for deliveries on a Thursday afternoon, I haven’t received an order in over three hours. I turn to the driver next to me. Is my app malfunctioning or am I doing something wrong? After all, the app’s city map shows I’m in a “hot spot,” a high-demand area during high-demand hours. He shrugs. He spent $10 on his to the city, he tells me, and has only made $8 on Uber Eats all day. “Too many drivers and not enough orders,” he says. Toronto’s sidewalks and congested streets have never felt more crowded with food couriers. Spurred by a pandemic surge in delivery app usage, the food courier workforce has ballooned, increasingly made up of newcomers and for whom few other job options exist. In 2023 alone, Statistics Canada says the workforce for delivery apps like Uber Eats grew by a . Toronto Star reporter Ghada Alsharif spent six weeks working as a Uber Eats food courier. In taking a job as a delivery worker for Uber Eats, the city’s most popular food delivery app, I joined the ranks of an oversaturated workforce, where on any given night, a surplus of food couriers outnumbers the available orders. Behind the boom lies a troubling trend: couriers’ pay and behaviour are governed by opaque algorithms that determine wages based on hidden criteria. Using artificial intelligence technology, these platforms keep drivers tethered to the app, waiting unpaid for their next order. For drivers, the results are unpredictable and too often unfair. Data obtained by the Star shows Uber Eats’ platform can offer two food couriers different wages for the exact same trip. Labour advocates charge that the app collects data on driver behaviour and can use it to decide who it can pay at a lower rate, allowing the company to pocket the difference and boost its revenue. This concept is widely referred to as algorithmic wage discrimination. “The app has total control over how a worker gets paid,” says Veena Dubal, a University of California law professor whose research focuses on the gig economy. “Minimum wage and the idea that hard work should lead to economic security, can be — and are being — destroyed by these A.I. systems.” The Ontario government’s legislation aimed at for digital platform workers won’t take effect until 2025 — and even then, workers say it will fail to address the most of gig work. Uber says my experience as a food courier “was atypical” and didn’t match that of an average Toronto delivery driver. The company denies allegations of algorithmic wage discrimination, stating that it does not use a driver’s “past behaviours” to determine who it can pay at a lower rate. Uber says it’s transparent with drivers about potential earnings. The company says delivery workers choose the platform for its flexibility and their ability to “earn money on their own terms.” I worked as an Uber Eats courier for six weeks. I wanted to understand the costs behind the convenience of app-based delivery and gain insight into how gig work is evolving as algorithms call the shots. Many of the food couriers I worked alongside were young international students struggling to earn an income while they make their way through school. Others were refugees or undocumented workers, navigating precarious lives. Of the dozens of workers I spoke with, almost none of them have permanent status in Canada. Most were afraid to speak openly about their experiences with Uber Eats or other apps they deliver for out of fear of jeopardizing their livelihoods. I rented an electric bike and set out to complete at least 100 orders. The goal was to collect independent data that could shed light on how drivers’ wages are determined. But I soon discovered I’d get far fewer orders than expected, a struggle many couriers say is becoming all too common. After my first 20 hours on the Uber Eats app as a food courier, I made just $28.98. In my first weeks delivering food there were hours and even days when I wouldn’t get a single order. Hot spots on the app could change at any moment. When I followed the prompts and biked to one of these locations, like in Liberty Village, it vanished the moment I arrived. A new hot spot appeared on the other end of the downtown core at Yonge and Dundas, nudging me to wait on sidewalks crowded with couriers competing for the same jobs. The more time I spent on the app, the more I felt like a player in a game where I couldn’t figure out the rules. But every courier I met had their own theory on how to beat the game. Some swear by logging in and out of the app to trigger more orders. Others insist on keeping the app open at all times without interruption. Many advise ignoring the heatmap altogether and heading to quieter areas with less competition. Some say to keep biking around instead of waiting in one spot for too long — “the app will think you’re taking a break,” they say. One thing became clear: chasing orders was part of the job. “This is the gamification of work,” said , economist and director of the think tank Centre for Future Work. Employing and data scientists, Uber has talked about how the company has experimented with video game techniques and other tactics to incentivize drivers to stay on the road for more hours. However, Uber told the Star this characterization was “misleading,” and that its data science team was “focused on making offers more transparent and improving the Uber Eats app.” As soon as I logged into the app, I was met with flashing heat maps signalling high demand areas, performance goals tied to rewards programs and countdown timers pressuring me to accept rides while I was in the middle of biking in rush hour traffic. I noticed that I was more likely to get orders if I was constantly on the move. To test this theory, I logged on to the app and stayed in a hot spot for seven hours. Not a single order came through. When asked about this experience, Uber Eats said it “does not require a delivery person to be moving to receive trips.” I changed my strategy and biked in circles around the city during peak lunch and dinner hours. More orders came in this way than when I’d stop and wait at hot spots. Over six weeks, I spent 140 hours and 22 minutes on the app in search of work. But I was paid only for 15 hours and 49 minutes — the time Uber Eats determined I was actively delivering orders. One courier I met on the road was a 28-year-old from India who had been delivering food for over a year trying to pay off his MBA tuition. Unable to find a steady job, he worked on multiple delivery apps, but said it wasn’t uncommon to go six hours between receiving orders. Sometimes, he earned less than $10 over an eight-hour workday. “I’m OK to do hard work, but I’m not making any money,” said the driver. What are the conditions like as a food delivery courier? Toronto Star reporter Ghada Alsharif spent six weeks delivering Uber Eats to find out. Like most of the couriers I spoke to, he asked not to be quoted by name for fear that he will face repercussions from delivery platforms or jeopardize his chances of finding better opportunities in the future. Having work appear scarce creates a sense of competition that makes drivers less selective of what orders they take, said labour relations lawyer Ryan White of Cavalluzzo LLP. “This feeling of scarcity might lead delivery workers to think, ‘If I don’t take this assignment, even if it’s not an assignment I want ... someone else is going to,’ ” White said. Uber spokesperson Keerthana Rang said it’s “difficult to comment on experiences a specific delivery person has because many factors play a role in earnings, like time of day, demand in the area, weather.” Delivery workers “control where and when they work, they are free to use other apps at the same time as they’re on Uber, choose which deliveries to accept, and they can deliver using their own vehicle, by bike, or on foot.” I felt anything but in control. As I spent more time on the app, another change occurred. Instead of simply allowing me to “accept” an order immediately, the app started prompting me to request to “match” with it, meaning the app would first determine whether I was the best fit for the delivery before giving me the job outright. More often than not, I’d lose the match to another driver. The power to choose was not mine. Uber says “there are a number of factors that determine how a match is made, including the proximity to the merchant and estimated delivery times.” One driver suggested I rush to the restaurant as soon as I got a “match” request, in a bid to be the closest to the location when the app made its decision — more guessing, more waiting. Often, after a few match requests were given to other drivers, finally receiving an order I could accept felt like a small victory — one that kept me eager and engaged. Control for drivers is an illusion — it’s really “all in the hands of the apps,” White said. “Workers don’t get to determine their terms and conditions of employment and they don’t get to set the prices that they’re working for.” Toronto was the first city in the world where Uber Eats operated, launching onto the food delivery scene in 2015. On a bitter February evening in 2022, a group of Uber Eats delivery workers gathered at Wychwood Barns Park near St. Clair Ave. W. and Christie St. Soaked in freezing rain, they huddled together to test an algorithm that had become their boss. They ran a simple experiment: logging into the app simultaneously mere inches apart, they strived to document how pay varied for identical orders. When one driver received an order, they took a screenshot capturing the pay and details before declining the job. If one of the other drivers was then offered the order, they did the same thing, creating a side-by-side comparison. The Star analyzed the data of six delivery workers collected by Gig Workers United, a network of app-based couriers advocating for better workers’ rights. Out of 21 assignments offered to at least two drivers in the group, all but one — 95 per cent — revealed pay discrepancies for the same job. For one delivery, from a Harvey’s at St. Clair and Bathurst to a location near Casa Loma, the first driver was offered $6.81. The second was offered $6.18 — a nearly 10 per cent pay difference for the same delivery. In many cases, the pay difference for identical deliveries was less than 10 cents, an amount that may go unnoticed. But given the thousands of drivers and orders around the world, if Uber were to “skim off a few cents” from each delivery, the difference could result in “millions ... of dollars in profit across millions of rides globally,” Dubal said. Dubal has spent more than a decade researching the ride-hailing and gig economy and how these platforms affect workers’ rights, livelihoods and legal protections. Her research, which includes interviews with drivers and analysis of their pay patterns, has found the business model the couriers participate in ultimately relies on an imbalance of power and information. Artificial intelligence technology determines what an Uber Eats worker gets paid. Platforms like Uber use these complex algorithms to streamline customer service while maximizing profits and also dictating worker pay, speed and behaviour. It has fostered a system, Dubal says, where workers performing the same task with the same skills under identical conditions can receive different pay. Dubal’s research documented this alleged algorithmic wage discrimination among rideshare drivers in the San Francisco Bay area, comparing the fares they received to what other drivers got. The data from the Toronto food couriers’ experiment, she says, adds to a growing body of evidence that “proves that Uber Eats has created a system where workers do not earn the same amount even if they’re doing the exact same thing.” “This upends the notion that there should be and is an assumption of equal pay for equal work.” Uber has denied the app uses an individual worker’s past behaviour to set different wages. “Uber Eats does not send lower-paying upfront offers to a delivery person with a history of accepting them. Anything written in your story otherwise would be false,” Rang said. The Uber spokesperson said that any variation of earnings between drivers for the same trip “is likely due to the technical limitations of GPS. “GPS Satellite visibility, location settings, and device orientation are some of the reasons why phones next to each other might have different geolocation results.” According to Dubal and Stanford, Uber Eats is applying a concept similar to one it popularized: consumer price discrimination, sometimes called dynamic or surge pricing, where customers are charged different prices based on what companies think they’re willing to pay. Now, critics say it appears it’s being used to set couriers’ wages. This raises serious concerns, particularly given the vulnerable demographics of many workers, Stanford said. Among the couriers I spoke with was a refugee from Eritrea unable to work legally in Canada, who said he had no choice but to rely on income from food delivery apps despite earning dismal wages. “I do this or I die,” he said. In February, Uber reported its first annual net profit since the company went public in 2019. The company booked a net profit of $1.9 billion in 2023, compared with a loss of $9.1 billion in 2022. Uber says the company’s “profitability has come from the ever-growing volume of trips, which has resulted in our revenues growing faster than our costs.” Hours after announcing its first-ever annual profit, Uber’s CEO told investors on a conference call that the company is increasingly focused on offering drivers’ orders and rides based on their “behavioural patterns.” “I think what we can do better is targeting different trips to different drivers based on their preferences, or based on behavioural patterns that they are showing us,” said CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, saying it will lead to shorter wait times for customers, happier drivers and a more efficient system. “That is really the focus going forward: Offering the right trip, at the right price to the right driver.” Landed immigrants accounted for nearly 60 per cent of people who provided either personal transport or delivery services through an app or platform in 2023, according to data from Statistics Canada. Toronto was the first city in the world where Uber Eats operated, launching onto the food delivery scene in 2015. Uber was competing against other companies such as DoorDash and Hurrier. To ensure there were enough couriers available at all times to meet customer demand, delivery platforms offered workers incentives to keep engaging with their apps. Companies offered “boosts,” which multiplied courier earnings if they delivered food in areas seeing a surge in demand, recalls Brice Sopher, who has spent nearly a decade as a bike courier in Toronto. “Uber paid so well in the beginning that you didn’t even care about tips — it was that good,” said Sopher, who is also the vice-president of Gig Workers United. When the pandemic hit, the use of online food delivery platforms surged as customers were confined to their homes and restaurants shuttered their doors. In June 2020, Uber scrapped a payment structure that had offered couriers clear pay based on pickups, drop-offs, distance and time. It was replaced by algorithmic pricing. Drivers could no longer see how their base pay was being calculated. For example, I have no way of knowing why a 2.5-kilometre delivery earned me $4.06 before tip, while a nearly identical 2.3-kilometre delivery paid $6.08. Uber maintains the changes made wages more transparent. Before accepting a delivery, drivers can see fares, including estimated tip, trip distance, estimated time to completion and locations for pick-up and drop off. “The delivery person is in control in determining whether they wish to choose or decline the offer,” Uber’s spokesperson said. The upfront fare and estimated time calculated by the app often failed to account for delays beyond my control, from waiting for food that wasn’t ready at the restaurant to climbing flights of stairs at a condo tower because the elevators were down. When these incidents happened, my deliveries took longer but my pay stayed the same — this meant I would be earning less money per hour. Uber said it aims to “minimize delivery person wait time by adjusting expected merchant preparation time based on actuals.” Demographics of the gig-economy workforce have also changed. Data shows that the surge of ride-hailing and delivery gig workers has been driven largely by newcomers. Landed immigrants accounted for nearly 60 per cent of people who provided either personal transport or delivery services through an app or platform in 2023, according to data from Statistics Canada. One courier I spoke with, a 19-year-old university student from India, came to Canada in search of a good education and better living standards. Instead, he says he’s barely scraping by, struggling to pay his tuition at Niagara College. These days, he considers himself lucky to make $50 on a weekend shift. He searched for work for six months. “When I couldn’t find anything I started doing Uber (deliveries) full-time,” he said. With low barriers to entry, app-based delivery jobs can be appealing to newcomers who are often shut out of other jobs in the labour market, Stanford said. High levels of immigration “combined with the weakening of the labour market, means there are more people willing to do this lousy work than there were two years ago,” he said. “They’re desperate and the platforms take advantage of that.” Over six weeks, I hustled to complete 56 orders. I spent more than 140 hours glued to the app and biking around the city in hopes of coaxing an order out of an algorithm, and made just $243.82, plus another $73 and change in tips. This money is being donated to charity. In the end, I earned a shocking $1.74 per hour online. Uber says the average delivery person in Toronto is engaged four times more on an hourly basis than I was during my six-week experiment. And the company reports that the median driver earnings in Toronto in late 2023 was $33.35 per “engaged hour.” Uber says earnings “must be calculated against engaged time” because a delivery person can have multiple food-delivery apps open at once to optimize their earnings. Even by that standard, my earnings fell short. I made approximately $15.41 per engaged hour before tips, below Ontario’s $17.20 minimum wage. The per-hour pay fluctuated on each order. For one delivery, I made the equivalent of $34 per hour. On another, a paltry $6.95 per hour. In fact, on roughly half of the orders I delivered, I earned the equivalent of less than minimum wage. The effort didn’t even cover my expenses. Renting an e-bike alone cost me $460 for those six weeks. Food-delivery apps keep drivers tethered to the phones, waiting unpaid for their next order. The Ontario government has brought forward legislation meant to improve working conditions for gig workers such as food couriers and ride share drivers. The Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act will require companies to provide workers with a description of how their wages are calculated, and will guarantee gig workers earn minimum wage — but only for engaged hours. But the legislation, introduced in 2022, does not come into effect until summer 2025. “It is important that the government get this right, which includes consulting with workers, digital platforms, the legal sector, and other affected stakeholders,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour said. Some cities have taken steps to regulate platforms such as Uber. City staff had recommended limiting how many drivers could work for the app-based ride-hailing companies at 80,429. That proposal is now in doubt. City staff had recommended limiting how many drivers could work for the app-based ride-hailing companies at 80,429. That proposal is now in doubt. Earlier this month, Toronto city staff the number of rideshare licences in a bid to address the ride-hailing industry’s negative impacts on traffic, emissions, and public transit. A staff report concluded that drivers’ median income, when accounting for all the time spent on the app, was just $5.97 an hour after costs such as fuel and insurance — a figure Uber disputes. The city’s executive committee voted to to the drawing board. Other cities, such as New York City, have focused on guaranteed wages for drivers. By paying drivers a guaranteed wage, Stanford said the hope is that this will dissuade companies from courting a surplus of workers to compete for orders. Critics say that delivery apps for years have gotten around paying drivers minimum wage by misclassifying gig workers as independent contractors — excluding workers from the full set of rights they would otherwise be entitled to as employees. Organizations like Gig Workers United and RideFair TO have been advocating for gig workers to be classified as employees, which would grant them access to essential benefits, including employment insurance and minimum sick days. App companies have pushed back saying this would undermine couriers’ flexibility to work across multiple platforms and to set their own schedules. Sopher, who has worked on more than one app at once, described the experience as “degrading.” “It’s like working two or more jobs at the exact same time and still not making enough money,” he said. “You only do it because you have to.” In Uber’s 2023 annual report, the company said its business “would be adversely affected if drivers were classified as employees, workers or quasi-employees instead of independent contractors.” Dubal warns that the ripple effects of this algorithm-driven system, in which drivers have minimal protections, extend far beyond food delivery. This same technology is already playing a significant role in managing jobs in some distribution warehouses, from scheduling shifts to assigning tasks and even reportedly firing employees. For six weeks, I knew I had the option to log off whenever I wanted, to step away from the relentless chase for orders. But for a growing number of workers, their primary — often sole — source of income is determined by an app, with wage rates and assignments beyond their control. Sopher, who has all but given up on delivery work, fears that if companies like Uber continue to misclassify delivery workers “you’re going to have a permanent two-tier employment regime in Ontario.” “It’s all of the worst parts of being an employee and all the worst parts of being an independent contractor rolled up in one.”
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