What the Apps That Bring Food to Your Door Mean for Delivery Workers
It’s sad to me that TFA can paper over what a massive step-up these apps are from the previous status quo, and how much better they will continue to become, in large part because of the independent contractor nature of the delivery people.<p>What was once an entirely untracked and mostly underground exploitation of illegal immigrants is now an app which tracks every minute worked, every task completed, which workers can turn on and off at their own whim. Somehow the fact that workers have to provide a social security number is spun as a negative.<p>Any app that can create features which make the service better will result in higher wages and tips per delivery, and riders&#x2F;drivers can shift from app to app (sometimes within a single day) to follow these trends.<p>Talk to the actual couriers and they don’t want to be employees, because this very frequently is not a full time job. For the people it <i>is</i> a full time job, conversely, they are the ones least likely to be hired if shoe-horned into employment status.<p>Last week I had dinner delivered by a young woman driving while her son did homework in the passenger seat. This was apparently someone who needed to make some extra cash for a few hours each evening, and the cost of child care would obviously significantly reduce (if not eliminate) any income. The flexibility of being able to jump in the car and earn crucial dollars without the massive overhead of an employment contract is very valuable, and helping a lot of people.<p>I think we need to keep perspective that food delivery is just about the least skilled (lowest training required) job you can find in the US, and these apps are upending a traditionally extremely exploitative market with <i>software</i> that can never steal the driver’s wages, or racially discriminate against the driver, or be verbally abusive, etc. while at the same time providing potential work for millions of people at the click of a button.