Postmates Internal Email Support Backlog: It’s worse than you imagined

Last month we got word that the backlog of email being sent to the individual CMs (Community Managers of each city) was beyond belief… in addition to the standard support@ / couriersupport@ backlogs, which were both over a week or more on their own. Here’s when the issue was first brought to our attention.. there was nearly a 14 day backlog before the email would be seen in the system, much less assigned and given a complete response – and if a follow up question was needed to complete a resolution – it was up to a TWENTY-FIVE DAY TURNAROUND TO RESOLUTION. Here’s the initial tip we received last month, and which we thought was improving, but we received word this week that the backlog is still real:

VERY VERY IMPORTANT. PLEASE READ.
I just stopped by my local office to get some face to face explanation because nobody’s been answering my emails. The CM told me that all emails sent to any Postmates email address are going through a centralized filtering system at PM HQ. Because of the deluge of emails, this filtering system is set to batch 100 emails per day in chronological order to the recipient. If your email is the 1,276th email received, it won’t even appear in the inbox for as many as 13 days, let alone get answered promptly. The CM on duty told me she has been responding to emails from before Halloween today, so that gives you a sense of how back logged they are. They don’t even have emails available to them to answer if they’re any more recent than that.

On the one hand, I can see why this is effective: it keeps the flood controlled and allows CMs and CS to get through a day’s worth of email and do other important tasks that need doing. On the other hand, of course this is fucking infuriating in the event of urgent issues. This email filter applies to ALL Postmates email addresses, according to the NY CM on duty.

It’s official: your only recourse for dealing with an immediate administrative problem is to go to the office.

Since then we’ve gotten word over a few different days that the situation was not improving. It was not the full 2-4 weeks turnaround time that was being experienced at one point, however it’s still 2-3 weeks turnaround time for a complete resolution response.

So what is happening – why can the community manager not keep up with their own email – why must it be filtered through a larger corporate system and assigned out – meaning that the local CM can’t even search for an email you sent them unless it’s been process by the queue – up to a 2 week wait? What is going on that Postmates can’t even get this correct? It should be noted they have removed the real-time incoming phone support for couriers, too – you can request a callback from Job Support if you’re on an active job with an issue, however the wait time for that callback can be 1-4 hours, all while your customer is possibly waiting – which is, of course, better than nearly a month if you sent an email instead.

At least in Los Angeles, their local postmates office is up front and honest with their auto-responder put in place while they moved offices – which is something nearly all Postmates cities have experiences, as they’re not the best at keeping office rent up to date and on time, and keep finding cheaper, even shared, office space.. which works out well, because office hours for most cities are 1-2 hours each day, and sometimes only 3 days per week. With an in-office work schedule like that – what exactly are these Community Managers doing that occupies so much of their time that they can’t reply to 100 emails in 8 hours a day?

Of course, there were previously company sponsored (and staffed) Facebook groups, however they went away quickly due to independent contractor / employee status issues with the message of “We removed the Facebook groups to have a better communication system and support system through email.”

Also, remember that it’s not only delivery couriers that are effected, the Customer Service/Call Support remote workers have also had their team leads/manager and real-time support removed from them, as well. What gives, Postmates?

And, since the support system will leave you in tears, either literaally or wishful thinking, we thought we’d leave you with a bit of humor:

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