Final Thursday, Walmart’s Spark app prompted Chastity Lopez to take an image of her face to confirm that she was the one utilizing her account.
Lopez has needed to do the identical factor over the previous two months since Walmart began utilizing the function nationally to confirm the id of supply employees like her. However on Thursday, it rejected her picture thrice, then deactivated her Spark account.
“It mentioned the lighting wasn’t good, and I used to be in pure lighting,” Lopez, who had delivered for Spark in upstate New York, informed Enterprise Insider. “I even went exterior with the solar. Nonetheless, nothing.” Lopez now cannot tackle deliveries for Spark, which she’s been doing since 2021.
BI spoke with one other Walmart Spark employee who mentioned they had been deactivated instantly after making an attempt to finish the id verification late final yr. The motive force, who works in Alabama, mentioned that they emailed Spark assist in regards to the subject a number of instances over a month. The motive force requested to not be recognized on this article for worry of retaliation from Walmart.
Gig employees for apps like Spark, Instacart, DoorDash, and Grubhub typically have their accounts suspended with little discover or clarification. Staff have informed BI that even getting a straight reply from the businesses about whether or not they violated any insurance policies within the first place will be subsequent to inconceivable.
Walmart has been testing its Spark facial recognition function in choose markets since not less than final summer season and began utilizing it nationally in November. The verification device, which was developed by a 3rd occasion, periodically asks customers to take a selfie. Walmart then compares that to a beforehand submitted picture from the motive force’s government-issued identification.
The rollout comes after some Walmart Spark drivers had been discovered utilizing a number of accounts underneath false identities to say extra orders and earn more money.
“The third-party id verification device is working as meant. Drivers have as much as three makes an attempt to go the selfie test,” a Walmart spokesperson mentioned, including that “after the third failed try they’re faraway from the platform.”
“If a driver believes they had been mistakenly deactivated, they will submit an attraction and our crew will assessment,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Different customers have reported Spark freezing them out of their accounts after they tried to finish the verification, based on a dozen posts during the last a number of months on a Reddit web page for Spark drivers.
“My account was deactivated after the id verification,” one submit from November on r/Sparkdriver reads. “I feel it is because of my weight reduction and it didn’t acknowledge my biometrics” in comparison with a two-year-old driver’s license picture.
“I used to be deactivated final Monday as a result of ID verification glitch,” one other submit, this one from August, reads. “I instantly filed an attraction, and was informed yesterday that my deactivation will likely be upheld.”
Feedback on the submit, together with some that look like from different drivers in the identical place, supply alternative ways to contact Spark’s driver assist. However others are simply centered on transferring on.
“I began DoorDash,” one remark learn.
Do you’re employed for Spark, Instacart, DoorDash, or one other supply service and have a narrative thought to share? Attain out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com
