Due to pay cuts for delivery drivers, New York City is experiencing a Frito-Lay shortage. (iStock)
New York City is reportedly experiencing a massive Frito-Lay shortage after the company cut pay to delivery drivers, prompting many to quit, but the company claims all its snacks are being delivered as scheduled.
Last year, Frito-Lay, which is owned by PepsiCo, began decreasing drivers’ pay by as much as 33 percent, according to the New York Post. This change meant many employees would lose $30,000 a year.
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The change came as part of a more salary-driven structure, which nearly eliminated commission opportunities. “This is a national initiative with the aim of aligning all sales associates,” a Frito-Lay spokesman told the Post. “Participating sales representatives have on average seen an increase in overall compensation.”
While drivers in other regions may have benefited from the pay adjustment, the Post reports this isn’t the case in New York. Add that to the fact that the company is already facing a national truck driver shortage and the result is many stores across the city left without Doritos, Cheetos, Lays, Ruffles and other products produced by Frito-Lay.
At the Brooklyn depot, about 35 of the 140 drivers there have quit since the pay changes were announced last August, and 12 of 105 drivers at the Bronx depot have done the same, according to the Post.
Business owners wondering why they haven’t received their orders in months aren’t having any luck reaching out to the company, either. “I call the distribution center and no one answers,” the owner of the lobby newsstand at a Park Avenue office building told The Post.
Drivers on other routes say some desperate store owners have gone so far as to intercept them and ask to buy extra bags of snacks. “Bodega owners with a few stores are asking for my help, but I won’t if it is not on my route,” one driver in Brooklyn told The Post.
The pay cut has forced many drivers who still work for the company to pick up other jobs on the side to subsidize their income. Some have turned to freelancing as Amazon drivers while others are working for Uber on the weekends, the Post reports.
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Fed up with the interruption in delivery, one local businessman, Han So, who owns 33 delis in Midtown Manhattan, said he was told to order his products online as a work-around. But So isn’t happy with this option. “I’m done with them,” he said of Frito-Lay.
A spokesperson for PepsiCo told Fox News: "We have the city of New York's snacks ready to go. All sales routes are running as planned over the course of the week. As usual we work with retailers to address any service needs."
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