Slowdown worries hit food delivery partners

Until about three years ago, Mohammad Jafar, 42, made a living by selling cars in a dingy lane in Jogeshwari. As his clients began to dwindle, the cars started to gather dust and Jafar had little choice but to search for a new livelihood.

With the economy in the doldrums, full-time jobs were getting harder to come by, but Jafar chanced upon a new type of job — delivering food for online platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato.

It didn’t pay as well as his previous line of work — his earnings shrunk from Rs 10,000 to Rs 6,000-7,000 a month — and didn’t come with the benefits of full-time employment, such as medical insurance. On the upside, however, it did seem to offer more autonomy than office work. He could choose his work hours, and things seemed settled. Three years of crisscrossing the city on his Hero Super Splendor, delivering food from pricey restaurants to plush homes, Jafar is today not so sure. The gig economy, once seen as a godsend for those laid-off from regular jobs, appears to be in a recession of its own.

Zomato has been around for over a decade and Bengaluru-based Swiggy turned five this month. These two firms, along with the app-based cab services Ola and Uber, have long been the bedrock of India’s gig economy. But now, it seems, cracks are appearing.

Slump time

When Jafar began working with Zomato, the company would pay him Rs 80 per delivery. Soon, it fell to Rs 60, then Rs 40, and now he earns just Rs 35 per delivery. “The buzz is that new recruits are being offered just Rs 20 per delivery. That is measly,” says Farooq Ahmed, who lives in south Mumbai and also delivers food for Zomato. Adds Jafar: “In many drop locations we end up paying more than what we earn per delivery. I earn less now but what else can I do?”

Swiggy, too, has slashed its rates per delivery. A Swiggy delivery partner, who did not want to be named, said that when he started working with the company, a year and a half ago, he was paid Rs 40 per delivery. Last October, some Swiggy delivery partners went on strike, demanding that this be raised to at least Rs 60. Today they’re paid just Rs 35.

Zomato and Swiggy also offer their delivery partners bonuses for completing a certain number of deliveries or working hours. For instance, Zomato offers a bonus of Rs 300 for delivering 11 orders and Rs 575 for 17 orders in a single day. While this has remained more or less steady, Swiggy has slashed its bonuses too. A delivery partner, who did not wish to be named, says the company earlier offered a monthly bonus of Rs 3,000 for remaining logged in at least 12 hours a day. This has been cut to Rs 2,000. A similar weekly bonus was also slashed from Rs 600 to Rs 400.

The slump in the food delivery mirrors the experiences of Uber and Ola drivers, the companies at first attracted huge numbers of workers with incentives before tightening the screws, leading to widespread protests by drivers over falling profits and the lack of benefits.

Economist Prasenjit Bose is of the votary that this model of employment is not sustainable in the long term. “This works only for companies. They have zero liability and can sack employees when demand falls. With customer numbers falling, such jobs will become scarce,” he said.

Engineers in their midst

In developed countries, the gig economy mainly serves as an additional source of income. In India, however, where unemployment hit a 45-year high of 6.1 per cent in May, it is a primary source of income for thousands who would otherwise be jobless. Today the food we order through an app, given the state of the economy, could be delivered by anyone from a college-going teen to an engineer.

Most ‘delivery partners’ are from the middle class and lower-middle-class families, some are barely out of their teens and others are in their mid-30s, but the only things they all have in common are unemployment and a knack for manoeuvring through traffic on two-wheelers. A delivery partner with Swiggy, who did not wish to be named, says, “There are engineers and diploma holders among us as there are no jobs.”

The delivery life

Girish Sawant looks like your average Mumbai college student. The 22-year old is pursuing a post-graduate degree, and a year ago, began working as a delivery partner with Swiggy to ease the financial pressure on his working parents. He attends classes early in the morning and spends the next 12 hours delivering food, earning Rs 35 a delivery. Things don’t always go smoothly. There have been times he has had to wait for more than half an hour for payment. This eats into his time to pick the next order. “If I ask the customer to hurry up, they threaten to lodge a complaint against me,” says Sawant.

Another issue a delivery partner faces is discrimination. At many of the buildings Sawant visits, he is not allowed to use the regular lift and must instead use one reserved for domestic workers. “Some guards don’t let us use the regular lift, even if the other one has broken down or is too slow. But if there is a delay, the customer blames us and refuses to listen,” he says.

Risking life and limb

Mirror had earlier reported that from March 13 to April 13, 5,797 food delivery partners across platforms were booked for traffic violations, including rash driving, riding without a helmet, riding on footpaths, parking violations, jumping signals and even riding drunk. While riding or driving drunk is inexcusable under any circumstances, and some food delivery partners might indeed ride dangerously, a lot of traffic violations can also be due to the incessant pressure they are under to bring hot food to your doorstep. In an email interview, Mohit Sardana, COO, Zomato, said, “We have made training on road safety a mandatory step and a key part of our curriculum. We do not commit unrealistic time slots to our users, therefore, ensure that our delivery partners are not hard-pressed on time and do timely deliveries.”

“We are always in a hurry. We have to deliver the food on time or we won’t get the incentive. On top of that, customers will complain. How can we survive?” asks Akram Sheikh, 23, who quit his studies after Class 12 and joined the workforce. He now targets 14 to 17 deliveries a day. According to a Swiggy spokesperson: “The safety of our delivery partners and other commuters and pedestrians is of utmost importance. We are committed to urging our delivery partners to abide by the rules.”

In February 2018, Swiggy launched Smiles, a programme to help delivery partners with medical expenses and personal loans, among other facilities. “Swiggy operates in a way that is built for convenience, keeping the needs of consumers and delivery partners in mind,” added the spokesperson.

Source : https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/food-entertainment/food-services/slowdown-worries-hit-food-delivery-partners/71064079