Domino's Called Out For Setting Up 'Survivor Challenge' Encouraging Drivers To Work 60 Days In A Row
This seems exploitative.
TikTok / @denyciadawn Today’s world is full of hot-button social and political issues. One of the oldest persistent issues that has been polarizing opinions in the United States lately is that of labor reform.
Whether it’s the minimum wage or the four-day work week, it’s obvious why labor rights and reform is an issue that is so important to so many.
One viral video has only furthered this conversation as it exposes one of the ways low paid workers are being taken advantage of.
A TikTok user has called out Domino’s Pizza locations for hosting a 'Survivor's Challenge.'
TikToker @denyciadawn explained how the contest worked and showed a poster for it on her TikTok.
In the video, @denyciadawn explains that the contest demands that each driver work every day for a minimum of 3 hours each day and deliver a minimum of 6 deliveries for 60 days straight for a chance to win $10,000.
In the midst of difficult and important conversations about Americans’ relationships with work and wages, Domino’s locations in Indiana and Kentucky may have made a PR nightmare for themselves by allegedly promoting a tone-deaf, exploitative raffle program.
If true, the competition dangles money in front of their underpaid employees and tells them that they can have it if they work tirelessly, without a single day off for two months straight.
The Domino's PIzza drivers could be forced to work for even longer.
If there are multiple drivers still participating after 60 consecutive days, then they are to KEEP GOING. The contest will only conclude after 90 days if there are still multiple drivers participating, at which point they will start the contest AGAIN.
That’s right, this was intended to be a repeatable event, so that, in case you didn’t work yourself to death the first time, you can try again.
Possibly the most insulting part of the contest is that if multiple drivers make it to the 90 days, then they have to SPLIT THE MONEY.
$10,000 dollars could be a game-changing amount of money for one of these drivers but is pocket change for over a dozen combined stores.
At the time of writing, @denyciadawn’s original TikTok has over 218,000 views and she has posted several more videos to her account elaborating on the contest and showing the locations that were promoting the contest.
Most, if not all of the stores have pulled their advertisements for the poorly thought out contest.
The contest almost certainly won’t be happening because of all of the negative press it has generated.
Ultimately a contest like this is extremely exploitative and feeds off of the fact that the people who are working these jobs aren’t being paid very much and are desperate for the $10,000 that the stores can simply dangle in front of their faces.
It’s difficult to say that this contest was anything but a ploy to get people to work harder and longer for little to no payoff or expenditure for the vast majority of the employees.
Thankfully people like @denyciadawn are drawing attention to ridiculous practices like this one and are discouraging future attempts to abuse the poorly paid drivers at Domino’s restaurants.
Dan O'Reilly is a writer who covers news, politics, and social justice. Follow him on Twitter.