DoorDash said Monday they’re doing something different in New York City: They hire about 60 delivery people as employees, instead of independent contractors. Deliveries will travel by e-bike for quick deliveries — within 10 to 15 minutes — in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. The service marks DoorDash’s first foray into a new category of “instant” assistive application delivery. A handful of competing companies, including European-backed startups Gorillas, Buyk and Jokr, have been operating in New York since late summer, and also hired couriers as staff to complete their fast delivery.
DoorDash, like other “contract economy” companies that emerged in the 2010s, often relies on armies of contract workers to make deliveries. Drivers or cyclists log into the app to work when they want and log out when they want, a flexibility that DoorDash says is appealing to most of its couriers. According to Max Rettig, the company’s vice president of global policy, 90% of these “Dashers” work less than 10 hours a week. But they receive very little of the traditional job protections: health insurance, workers’ compensation, paid time off, or eligibility for unemployment benefits. The performers must also purchase and maintain their own equipment, including cars, bicycles, and special bags to keep food warm. Generally, they don’t get paid for the time they spend using the app waiting for a new order to arrive.
That changed for a handful of DoorDash workers when the company began operating a “dark convenience store” in Manhattan Monday morning. Only DoorDash warehouse employees — who are also employees — and couriers are allowed into the “DashMart” convenience store, one of about 25 stores nationwide. By employing employees, DoorDash hopes to ensure that one person is on hand to deliver every incoming order within a guaranteed 10 to 15 minute timeframe.
The result will be “two levels” [delivery] Hildalyn Colón, policy director at Los Deliveristas Unidos, said: a group represents 4,000 primarily Central American and Mexican immigrants who provide app-based services in New York City. “Why do you treat them differently?”
Gustavo Ajche, a delivery cyclist for GrubHub and DoorDash and the leader of Los Deliveristas Unidos, says even couriers don’t have enough protections to ensure that they can stay safe while they’re at it. do your job. Express delivery companies are “pushling workers to move faster to deliver something in less than 15 minutes,” he said. “It’s dangerous, it’s not safe for workers.” According to Los Deliveristas Unidos, 12 delivery people have been killed on the roads of New York City by 2021. Last year, 24 cyclists in New York died in traffic crashes and more than 5,000 were injured.
Couriers will initially work an average of 25 hours a week, according to DoorDash’s Rettig. They will be eligible for benefits, but only those that come with part-time work. Those benefits include travel benefits, access to an employee assistance program that will provide short-term counseling and assessments, and free access to DashPass, a DoorDash membership program that offers to members have lower delivery fees for their custom meals. Full-time employees will also receive medical, dental and vision insurance, and can accrue paid time off.
Deliveries will earn $15 an hour plus tips, and get e-bikes, helmets, jackets, and other delivery gear for free. Technically, they will be hired through a new DoorDash subsidiary called DashCorps.
