The gig economy is one of Silicon Valley’s greatest tricks of the past decade. Armed with smartphones, cars, bags, bicycles, employees can register and log in — to pick up passengers, perform household chores, look after pets, deliver groceries. Companies, including Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, praising the model’s versatility for shift workers. It also allows companies to neatly forego paying benefits that traditionally accompany employment in the US: health care, paid time off, and workers’ compensation. Last year, companies funded a successful ballot initiative in California. put the principles of the performing economy into law. Similar efforts are underway in Massachusetts, Illinois and New York.
But a new kind of business, which has emerged to the fury of capitalists in US cities including New York and Chicago this fall, has played down the play. An array of “instant delivery” startups — Jokr, Buyk, 1520, Fridge No More, Gorillas, Getir — promise to deliver super-fast, convenience store-style products right to your doorstep. city residents. The companies say orders will arrive 30, 20, 15 or even 10 minutes after a customer presses the Buy button on their apps. And the delivery people who make the deliveries, mostly by e-bike, are not contract workers or contractors – they are employees.
Adam Wacenske, head of operations for Gorillas in the US, said: “It would be very difficult for us to guarantee 10-minute delivery without a service person. At just 18 months old and armed with over $1 billion in funding, the German startup is a formidable veteran of instant delivery. Gorillas employees receive health care benefits and paid time off, and most work full-time, he said. The company says commuters get the gear they need – including trams, reflective vests and raincoats – for free.
These startups typically rent out small storefronts in crowded, urban areas and offer small warehouses of 1,000 to 2,500 products each — another departure from the likes of DoorDash, UberEats, Instacart and Shipt, which tends to operate virtual. Inside storefronts, workers, as well as employees, stock, pick, and bag items to fill orders, which tend to be smaller than the typical weekly or two-way grocery inventory. once a week. Transporters are on duty to get them to their destination. Both DoorDash and GoPuff, another delivery company, operate similar warehouses for convenience items, but they only hire warehouse workers, with the delivery people still working as independent contractors. create.
Companies have benefited from an increase in funding for food and beverage delivery businesses, which have raked in $16 billion in 2021 to date, according to CB Insights. Cash allows some companies to subsidize groceries delivered, so they’re cheaper than what customers can pay at the store, said Jackie Tubbs, an analyst with CB Insights who researches the industry.
Jordan Berke, founder of Tomorrow Retail Consulting, who previously ran e-commerce in China for Walmart, said companies are shifting trips to convenience stores, gas stations and small supermarkets. . They are built on the theory that, when it comes to delivery, there is no such thing as too fast. They have grown rapidly during the pandemic, as some people try to avoid leaving their homes. Berke hopes many of those customers will stick around. “What we’re seeing is instant access to what we need is an experience that never comes back,” he said.
Not all employees are happy. In Berlin, Gorillas workers complained of a lack of pay and alleged that the company’s coats and raincoats did not provide enough protection against the weather. Some German Gorillas workers have participated in “free” strikes — without union management and without legal protections —is said to have been fired after bringing some warehouses to a standstill. The stalemate has workers and labor experts questioning whether the new model is simply wear new clothes to go to gigs. “We take great pride in making sure the employee experience in the warehouse, in the company headquarters and for our racers is top notch,” Wacenske said.
In the US, workers at New York-based Buyk have complained on online forums about being paid late, with some saying they’ve quit. Chief executive officer James Walker said: “Much of the issues surrounding pay have been resolved. “I can’t say as a startup, and one that’s growing really fast, that we don’t have those growing difficulties.”
