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all right folks, i'm about to post a thread that's going to endanger the last reliable source of income i have. spoiler: it's yet another example of a gig economy startup brazenly mistreating its workers. let's go!
for a couple years i've been picking up transcription gigs on this platform called rev (dot com). i've transcribed over 64,000 minutes across 1,700+ jobs. i enjoy these gigs, and i like to think i've gotten pretty decent at it.
rev advertises itself as being one of the cheapest transcription services around. a flat rate of $1 per audio minute!
you:
but in order to be profitable, they must pay transcriptionists less than that.
yes that is correct!!!
you:
but in order to be profitable, they must pay transcriptionists less than that.yes that is correct!!!
the exact rate that freelancers on rev get paid for a job is set by an algorithm, but the vast majority of jobs typically came in around $0.45-0.50 per audio minute, with $0.45 being the baseline.
this was the case until last friday, anyway.
this was the case until last friday, anyway.
you see, last friday, rev cut their base pay to their transcriptionists for $0.30 per audio minute — A FULL THIRD — with practically ZERO WARNING. no email, just before a long weekend... almost as if they were trying to slip it past us.
as a quick aside, industry standard for transcription is 4 minutes of work for every 1 minute of audio, which works out to $6.75 per hour under the $0.45 rate, and $4.50 under the $0.30 rate. don't forget that's pre-tax!
rev refers to their contractors as "professional transcriptionists" and "transcription experts" in their marketing copy. do you expect a professional transcriptionist to work for $4.50 an hour before tax? i sure don't!
so if any customers of rev are wondering why they're getting shoddy work back or the turnaround time has gotten higher, you can thank the company for cutting transcriptionist pay by 33% overnight. 
to be clear, this is NOT to say that people are doing shoddier work because they're getting paid less! what's happening is that people with less expertise are taking on jobs that experienced folks were handling before this pay cut.
but regardless of experience, a pay rate of $0.30 per audio minute for transcription is beyond insulting. if you don't believe me, try transcribing just a few minutes of audio sometime and see how long it takes you.
why am i posting this thread? because this MASSIVE pay cut has raised a shitstorm internally, but externally there's crickets. because gig workers deserve better. and because i think rev's customers should know what's up.
by rev's own numbers, this 33% pay cut affects THOUSANDS of freelancers — some who might be transcribing for pocket money, and some who completely depend on this income (hi!). yet they couldn't even send an email about it.
if you've worked with rev in the past and been happy with the results, that's thanks to us transcriptionists on the ground, doing a great job *in spite of* below market pay. and now they've slashed it to below rock bottom.
the CEO of rev, jason chicola, has publicly mentioned that @ThisAmerLife and @Gimletmedia are customers. i wonder what they'd think if they heard only 30 cents of each dollar they pay for a podcast transcript goes to the transcriptionist!
please signal boost and share this thread. i want this to get in front of the people most likely to use rev — media, podcasters, researchers. it's scary to come forward like this. i don't want it to be for naught.
if you're a customer who stands with the transcriptionists at rev, contact support@rev.com and share your concerns. please speak out against this outrageous 33% pay cut that is going to hurt both contractors and customers alike.
rev also has an @ on twitter if you prefer that route. i'm not @'ing it for obvious reasons. let them find this thread because it got big enough that they actually have to issue some kind of public statement about it.
this part's for you, tech twitter: the "algorithm" that sets the pay rate on rev begins and ends with human beings. in this case, it ends with freelancers fighting to get by. and it begins with executives, product managers, and engineers.
right there with instacart's current bullshit, the rev pay cut is yet one more blatant example of why we need labor organizing for tech workers and gig workers alike @techworkersco @GigWorkersRise
maybe you, tech worker, feel that you have little power in your big organization. but i promise you that you have more power than the freelancer living hand to mouth who doesn't get a say in ANY of this.
i could talk for hours about this and more, but i'm going to leave this thread here for now. if you made it down here, thank you for sticking with me all the way through. please share this far and wide
small update: the rev forum moderator has logged on and i received a message that a post of mine was flagged and removed by staff. the text of this post:
"Just dropping in to say that I can promise you all that we are not the only ones angry about this anymore."
"Just dropping in to say that I can promise you all that we are not the only ones angry about this anymore."
we're 
getting press!!! thank you so much to everyone who has boosted this and is making their opinion heard, and so much love to my fellow rev transcribers https://gizmodo.com/transcription-platform-rev-slashes-minimum-pay-for-work-1839784941
getting press!!! thank you so much to everyone who has boosted this and is making their opinion heard, and so much love to my fellow rev transcribers https://gizmodo.com/transcription-platform-rev-slashes-minimum-pay-for-work-1839784941
a rev customer has made a petition for customers in solidarity with rev transcriptionists! https://twitter.com/hexatekin/status/1194062845681393664
UPDATE: gizmodo has posted a follow-up where a rev contractor describes issues with rev and what it's like to work for them in detail. read the entire thing, it's 
on point https://gizmodo.com/there-is-a-point-where-a-person-cant-do-anymore-1839808189
on point https://gizmodo.com/there-is-a-point-where-a-person-cant-do-anymore-1839808189
