90% of my bookings have been canceled in the last two days and with the current economic down turn, what if anything is Rover doing to help sitters (and therefore itself)?
The truth is nothing!! Running ads or posting on social media will do little to stem the tide of what is going on in the world right now. Sorry your business has been affected but everyone else has too.
Not only is the actual answer Nothing ... If you go to CL and search gigs, I'm fairly confident that the search results shown will be similar to mine (Titled "DOG SITTERS WANTED- BE YOUR OWN BOSS - MAKE EXTRA $$$ " Click to open& you'll see the unmistakable Rover photo and text to recruit new sitters.
Of course, Rover does this consistently every month of every year, but their timing couldn't be poorer as it was posted March 18 (after schools were closed, National Guard put on alert, CDC, WH administration, and state governor making other related announcements)
No one including Rover is going help us and from what I've read there is no way to get unemployment as you are an independent contractor and considered self employed. I've read that if you have filed as a S corp, but I don't understand I haven't even filed my taxes yes and don't know how and am supposed to have an apt this Thursday for tax help but don't know if it's cancelled due to corona. So far I haven't seen anything that will help gig workers, not to be doom and gloom, but I think we are pretty much screwed.
Trust me, you are not a Subchapter S corporation. So don't bother looking into that.
I read about it in this article so it's not like I pulled this idea out of my butt - https://www.business2community.com/human-resources/yes-can-collect-unemployment-youre-self-employed-01498888
I didn't mean it in a bad way. Just something you don't have to worry about/spend a lot of time researching. As you can see, it is far more complex to set up the Subchapter S; that entity has to file a separate corporate tax return. Independent contractors are SOL w/ respect to drawing unemployment
Also kudos for doing some research. Only hope for gig workers is the check from the Federal government under discussion and if the state is thinking of expanding unemployment because states control that.
Rover is doing nothing so take that into consideration as you continue letting them take 20% of your hard work. Also check out this article detailing Rover’s financial position. https://www.geekwire.com/2020/inside-rovers-pet-friendly-seattle-hq-people-dogs-stretch-company-aims-growth/ (https://www.geekwire.com/2020/inside-ro…). I would say they are likely able to offer minor financial assistance to their walkers. I have messaged them directly and they took weeks to respond before finally admitting they have no responsibility to the workers driving the companies business. Let the people contracting you know of Rover’s inaction so they can decide who to financially support.
The articles reads like they had writer spin in Rover's favor. Unmistakably expanding into Rover's foothold territory, Wag offers overnight boarding, sitting, day care,walks,drop-in (and sets Low comp. rate for ICs).
Thanks, Bryce, for the article. It is all about the success and growth of the company and its focus on dogs. Not about people, especially no mention of the legions of workers who actually carry out the service. As for comp, you'll notice at the very end, it says Rover has not been profitable yet.
Bryce, Thanks for sharing the article. In it, CEO Aaron Easterly said that for a majority of Rover service providers, “this is not intended to be a full-time job.” So, not holding breath for financial help from rover. Karen, Great point! Unprofitable. before&after acquisition of D.V. in 2017
Deb, with 500 employees worldwide and all that office space? What do those employees do? They aren't making improvements to the platform and website resources. They aren't actively communicating with their service providers. No wonder they can't make a profit on $432 million.
Maybe if they didn't spend millions of dollars on their new office space they would be profitable. And the reason they haven't gone public is no one will sponsor a losing business - handwriting is on the wall - time for a senior management change
We are not employees of Rover - we are in business for ourselves. If you haven't been running this as a business, you've been doing it wrong.
I Really Hope they start running TV ads. That is the least they could do. I will be calling, since I have not been able to find any info regarding how this will affect us. I will be Devastated if I have to give up pet sitting.
Things have really changed in a week. I'm actually debating cancelling all mine through April 30. I don't want anyone in or out of my house. I can not believe Rover has not address this issue yet.
Is anyone else extremely disappointed that Rover has completely failed to offer any financial support to it’s Sittter community? AirBnB set a great example of how to treat their “Bread-Winner” community. Why has Rover failed us so miserably?
Rover is not our employer. We are in business for ourselves. It is up to us as business owners to prepare for the unexpected. Rover doesn't owe us anything. Be prepared because the virus isn't going anywhere, and the later half of the year is going to be worse.