Some Uber Eats delivery drivers in Japan are deliberately rejecting job requests to gamble on a chance of winning a jackpot from a different order.

Although this practice has caused headaches for customers and restaurants, those familiar with the delivery industry say the drivers should not be fully blamed.

The gambles seem to have started after Uber Eats revised its algorithm on compensating delivery drivers and remained mum on the calculation methods.

Some say the drivers’ intention is to punish Uber Eats, not the customers or restaurants.

CATCHING A ‘WHALE’

On the night of Jan. 4, about 50 people on motorcycles and bicycles were lined up in a row in the central Shibuya district of Dogenzaka in Tokyo.

They were delivery drivers for Uber Eats, and they all stared at their smartphones waiting for a “whale” to appear.

A “whale” is a single high-paying delivery job, and drivers flocked to the area that night, prompted by a message posted on X late on Jan. 2: “I’ll show you how to catch a whale!!”

When a food order is placed, Uber Eats automatically sends the delivery location, reward and other conditions to the smartphone of a delivery person based on their location.

The delivery person can decide whether to accept or decline the job. If it is declined, Uber Eats will offer the delivery to another person nearby.

If a certain amount of time passes without anyone accepting the request, the reward, usually several hundred yen per delivery, can jump to several thousand yen.

“If you wait in front of this particular ramen restaurant and keep ignoring delivery requests, there is a high probability that you will catch a ‘whale,’” the Jan. 2 post said.

It was not clear what the post was based on.

Nevertheless, delivery drivers began to gather in front of the restaurant from Jan. 3, according to a 39-year-old deliveryman who usually uses Dogenzaka as his base of Uber Eats operations.

On Jan. 4, even motorcycles with license plates from outside Tokyo traveled to the shop for the possible delivery, the man said.

The man said he got lucky and caught a “whale,” a delivery to the Meguro area, about 3 kilometers from Dogenzaka. From Meguro, he hauled in two more “whales.”

That night, the man made 18,000 yen ($116) in two hours.

But basically, “whales” are few in number, and there are always battles among delivery drivers.

“I think there were a lot of people who didn’t even get one,” the man said.

DISHES WASTED

This chase for “whales” has caused financial damage for some restaurants.

A 47-year-old woman who runs an izakaya restaurant in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, spent an anxious evening on the night of Jan. 6.

Shortly after 7 p.m., she received an order from a customer for a delivery of a “special” pork rice bowl worth 3,500 yen, featuring extra meat, extra rice, and topped with cheese and green onions.

As she was preparing the dish, she thought, “The customer must be very hungry.”

However, after 90 minutes, no one had come to pick up the order, and the food was getting cold on the counter of the restaurant.

She phoned the Uber Eats office but only got a busy signal. It took about 30 minutes to get through.

“The delivery person hasn’t shown up,” she complained. By that time, she saw the order being automatically canceled.

The Uber Eats representative told her: “We don’t have enough delivery people. … The proceeds will be credited to your account, so you can rest assured.”

It was a waste to throw away the food, so she and her child ate the pork rice bowl together the following day.

According to the woman, such delays and no-shows began around Christmas last year.

This year, food orders were canceled on three straight days because of the missing Uber Eats drivers, she said.

One order of “mazesoba” mixed noodle dish was canceled after she waited for two hours for a delivery driver to arrive.

The noodles had hardened and were in no condition to be eaten, so she had to throw away the meal.

“Sales are important, but I cook because I want people to be happy, so I’m losing motivation and my heart is about to break,” she lamented.

‘DELIVERY WORKERS’ STRIKE’

Food delivery services spread rapidly in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the system linking restaurants, customers and delivery staff is more fragile than one might think.

Toshiaki Tsuchiya, 48, a veteran delivery driver who has made more than 5,000 Uber Eats deliveries in six years, said the reason behind the “whale” hunts is “the opaqueness of the calculation method for compensation.”

Compensation for Uber Eats deliveries is determined by an algorithm that combines the distance of the delivery, the expected time required, and the number of delivery drivers in operation at the time.

Uber Eats does not disclose details of the calculation method.

On Dec. 2, the calculation method was revised, and Uber Eats said the change would not alter the level of compensation.

But Tsuchiya disagrees.

“Many delivery workers feel that the change has lowered the level of compensation,” he said.

“Under such circumstances, high-paying deliveries that used to be unthinkable now appear from time to time,” he said, referring to the “whales.”

Forgoing lower-paying delivery requests in favor of such high-paying ones “is like a labor strike,” Tsuchiya said.

‘BLACK BOX’ ALGORITHM

In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, Uber Eats Japan acknowledged there were a number of delivery delays and cancellations during the year-end and New Year holidays.

The company said “demand for orders greatly exceeded the supply of deliveries” and it “will continue to improve services to optimize the balance between order demand and delivery supply.”

Uber Eats Japan also said compensation to drivers “will be determined based on a composite of various factors,” as in the past.

Hiroshi Nakazato, a former senior official of the Fair Trade Commission who is now a professor at Tokyo Keizai University, said: “The opaqueness of the algorithm is causing suspicion among delivery workers. It could be called a ‘black box.’”

He added, “As a result, consumers are at a disadvantage because they do not receive the food they ordered.”

Nakazato urged the company to “provide full explanations so that delivery workers can understand the basis for the calculations.”

(This article was written by Midori Iki and Hiroshi Nakano.)