The hidden story of a rapid delivery grocery rider

On my very first shift, one of my colleagues introduced himself by telling me he’d “shot dead twenty-five people” during his time in the army, and my line manager confided in me that they were regularly drinking on the job. Perhaps it was the alcohol that gave them a loose tongue, soon sharing personal information about colleagues that would be a sackable offence to discuss in any reputable firm. But ethics aren’t the priority here, speed is. Riders are expendable, worked to the bone until they inevitably quit. That’s life in the world of rapid grocery delivery.

Soon enough I realised I was being hustled. Everything relied on good quality, well-maintained equipment, but many bikes were faulty and battery life was very bad, meaning sometimes no working bikes were available. I’d already seen too much; the cracks in the infrastructure, and what riders did to survive. Their ploy seemed to be to keep a low profile, hoping other keener, newer riders would take the heavy loads. Many pretended to be on phone calls; others hung out smoking fat joints of that particularly potent London skunk just outside the warehouse doors, so when the call “rider needed” came, they’d be furthest away from rising to the call.

Everyone seemed knackered. Delegation of tasks came from assistant managers, who worked hard to keep their teams happy, but it did seem as though the nicer, more honest riders were taken advantage of, whilst those that had learned to game their job, as the job surely gamed them, got more of a chill ride.

My temper started to flare. Tired and aggrieved, I lost my shit when someone was cheeky to me after I called them out for slacking off (I had not yet realised that slacking off was the name of the game for most employees). It was clear to me that nobody wanted to be there, and everyone was sick of hiding the cracks. Lots of people were getting sacked, very quickly. I learnt that my 20-something warehouse manager was the fourth person in the role this year.

I lasted two weeks before I was physically broken. I just didn’t go back. This is a company that sees its staff as expendable. You’re good when you’re new; they break you, and then you’re gone. It’s impossible to last more than a few months in that kind of work environment. It chews kids up, they are as disposable bikes the company is based on.

With speed of rapid grocery delivery the focus, I honestly think there will be a number of big court cases coming down the line within a matter of years. Councils will be flooded with complaints; wised-up employees will organise themselves quickly. Whistle-blower articles like this will be shared as a warning bell; but will anyone listen? Will anyone care? After all, we need to feed our kids, so we can’t all bite the hand that feeds us.

But this kind of approach to the gig economy, with its convenience and low costs only possible with masses of funding, huge economies of scale and outsourcing as standard, will not be truly sustainable until robots are on the factory lines, and stacking the shelves, and delivering the goods in super-fast time. Make no doubt, this time will soon come; but in the meantime, we have humans to dispense with.

Note: In this recent Guardian article, Bubble bursts for rapid grocery delivery as UK firms shed workers, are delivery companies feeling the pinch? If you enjoyed this article, follow Camdenist for more.