How grocery delivery app workers are
A Gorillas courier arrives at the warehouse in Chinatown after delivering groceries. Photos by Gabriele Holtermann
BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN AND GABRIELE
HOLTERMANN
This is the fifth and final installment
in Schneps Media’s five-part
series examining the proliferation of
grocery delivery services across the
city, and how they treat their fleet of
delivery workers.
Last year, as the pandemic swept
New York City for the first time and
forced businesses to close temporarily
or altogether, there was one industry
that seemed to be perfectly suited
to survive: food delivery.
Demand for grocery delivery
through apps like Instacart soared,
and Bronx-based giant Fresh Direct
launched an express delivery option,
where customers could choose from a
limited number of products available
in just a few hours.
New Yorkers were also ordering
more meals through apps like Uber
Eats and DoorDash to get meals from
restaurants, which were largely pickup
and delivery only.
New quick-commerce grocery delivery
apps are at the nexus of those
two markets. Companies like JOKR,
Gorillas and Fridge No More have
expanded rapidly in the last year as
they filled the demand for groceries
delivered within 15 minutes of placing
the order via an app, with low or
nonexistent delivery fees and no order
minimums.
At the center of all of those businesses
are the delivery workers. Couriers
zipping by on electric bicycles
with insulated bags strapped to their
backs have become ubiquitous in
the city in the last decade, and now
passers-by might be seeing a host of
new uniforms and branded e-bikes as
quick-commerce apps continue their
steady march forward.
Employees, not contractors
Those uniforms and e-bikes mark
a stark contrast between apps like
JOKR or Gorillas and apps like Uber-
Eats. The majority of delivery workers
who deliver for UberEats and
DoorDash are contracted or “gig”
workers — essentially freelancers.
They pick up work when it’s available,
but aren’t employed by the company
formally — there’s no time off,
benefits, or guarantee of hours, wages
or tips.
At most of the new grocery delivery
apps, couriers are full- or parttime
employees, with set schedules
and, in some cases, benefits.
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.34 COM | NOV. 19 - NOV. 25, 2021
“Unlike many delivery and ondemand
service companies, all our
workers are full-time and part-time
W2 workers who are provided minimum
wage on an hourly basis,” a
Gorillas spokesperson said. “On top
of that, they receive 100% of their
digital tips at the end of each month,
and customers are made aware of
this at every transaction. In addition
to compensation, they’re entitled to
workplace benefits, paid breaks in
compliance with local regulations,
and the opportunity to return to
the warehouse to refresh after each
delivery.”
Gorillas riders are also provided
with a company e-bike and
gear including helmets, riding
gloves and a vest, according to their
website.
Couriers for JOKR are also employees
with benefits, co-founder Tyler
Trerotola told Schneps Media, and
the company has made an effort to be
“employee first.”
“We’ve made a conscious decision
that we want these employees to have
benefits. We want them to feel part of
the company,” he said. “The nature of
this business is very much a consumer
focused business. It’s very much
about experience.” He added that
having happy employees is not only
beneficial to those employees; it also
furthers the customer experience.
Dangers on the job
Demand for fair working conditions
and more protections under the
law exploded last year, driven mostly
by Los Deliveristas Unidos, a collective
comprised mostly of immigrant
delivery workers who banded together
as they worked long, difficult
hours through the pandemic without
the protection or hazard pay offered
to so many essential workers.
Even outside of working long hours
in the cold, without the guarantee of
an hourly minimum wage or tips, the
job is dangerous. Many workers are
hit and injured by cars while riding
through the streets, and their electric
bicycles — which can cost up to $2,000
– are often the target of violent thefts.
Last month, 51-year-old Sala Uddin
Bablu, who was working for Grubhub,
was murdered while sitting in a lower
Manhattan park during a shift.
Manny Ramirez, a delivery worker
and organizer with LDU, helped
his fellow workers fix their brake
pads and make other repairs on their
bicycles at a vigil and bike tune-up on
THE RACE TO DELIVER