The Race to Deliver
How grocery delivery app workers are
A Gorillas courier arrives at the warehouse in Chinatown after delivering groceries.
BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
This is the fi fth and fi nal installment in
Schneps Media’s fi ve-part series examining
the proliferation of grocery delivery
services across the city, and how they treat
Ltheir fl eet of delivery workers. ast year, as the pandemic swept
New York City for the fi rst 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 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 fi lled the demand for groceries
delivered within fi fteen minutes of placing
the order via app, with low or nonexistent
delivery 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 benefi ts.
At most of the new grocery delivery
apps, couriers are full or part-time employees,
with set schedules and, in some
cases, benefi ts.
“Unlike many delivery and on-demand
PHOTOS BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
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 benefi ts, 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 benefi ts, co-founder Tyler Trerotola
told Brooklyn Paper, and the company has
made an effort to be “employee fi rst.”
“We’ve made a conscious decision that
we want these employees to have benefi ts,
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. 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, diffi cult 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 fi x their brake pads and make
other repairs on their bicycles at a vigil and
bike tune-up on Tuesday. He was assaulted
twice this year, he said, once violently.
He immediately called LDU’s policy
director Hildalyn Colón Hernández and
the police, he said, who came immediately
to take a report. In the past – before the
Deliveristas had gained so much attention
— it was hard to be taken seriously.
“Calling 911 for any emergency, they
never came,” he said. “If they did come,
they refused to write a report.”
Protections for workers
The biggest accomplishment, though,
has been the passage of a package of bills
promising more protections in the city
council, including requiring companies
to provide their delivery workers with
the insulated bags they need for delivery,
mandating that restaurants allow gig
workers to use their restrooms, allowing
delivery workers to set limits for how far
they are willing to go to make a delivery,
and providing a clear breakdown to
customers of how their tips were being
distributed.
“There’s gonna be improved enforcement
next year, but it helps, it helps,”
Ramirez said, of the bills. “Baby steps,
little by little.”
From their inception, some of the apps
have abided by the rules set by the council
bills, providing gear, paying at least
minimum wage to their employees, and, in
some cases, providing a breakdown of tip
distribution on the apps. Given the small
12 November 25, 2021 Schneps Media