THE RACE TO DELIVER: How grocery delivery app wo
By Kirstyn Brendlen and Gabriele
Holtermann
This is the fifth and final installment
in amNewYork Metro’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 Bronxbased
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 pick-up 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
fifteen minutes of placing the order via
app, with low or nonexistent delivery
Caribbean L 26 ife, NOV. 26-DEC. 2, 2021
fees and no order minimums.
At the center of all of those businesses,
over the user experience of placing
an order on an app or the variety of
items available, are the delivery workers.
Couriers zipping by on electric
bicycles with an insulated bag strapped
to their back 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
and Gorillas and UberEats. 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 guarantee
of hours, wages, tips, no time off
or benefits.
At most of the new grocery delivery
apps, couriers are full or part-time
employees, with set schedules and, in
some cases, benefits.
“Unlike many delivery and on-demand
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 Brooklyn Paper, 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 consumerfocused
business, it’s very much about
experience. Having happy employees —
and employing them is furthering that
customer experience. And then also,
obviously, be better for that employee.”
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
of mostly-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
A Gorillas courier arrives at the warehouse in Chinatown after delivering groceries.
Photo by Gabrielle Holtermann
A Gorillas courier rushes out the
warehouse in Chinatown to deliver
groceries. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann