Who "shares" the income of the delivery riders?

Official statistics show that by the end of 2023, the number of people in mainland China who are flexibly employed has reached 200 million, accounting for 14.3% of the country's employed population.

Not only are there many people, but the income of flexible workers seems to be becoming more and more "substantial".

At the beginning of this year, many media reported on the deeds of the Shanghai takeaway brother who earned 1.02 million yuan in 3 years of food delivery. In fact, can delivery riders really earn that much?

(The picture comes from the Internet)

A number of riders reported that they had encountered "harsh deductions" from the platform

According to Xiao Dai, a veteran delivery rider in Shanghai, he once encountered an "unfair deduction" caused by a complaint. The delivery process was based on the actual order, but after arriving at the destination, he knocked on the door, and the customer shouted through the door that it was okay to hang it at the door. Unexpectedly, after the order operation was completed, the customer complained that he had the wrong delivery address and was fined 60 yuan.

The rider Xiao Li also mentioned that after he arrived at the merchant recently, the merchant said that he would have to wait for a few minutes to deliver the meal, "I waited for almost 10 minutes and was not well, and after reporting to the stationmaster, I left, and I couldn't pick up the goods, nor did I deliver them to the customer." Xiao Li recalled, "But the platform judged that I was operating in violation of the rules, and there was a meal damage fee of 86 yuan!"

Another rider revealed to reporters that he had received an order to deliver to an office building during the lunch rush hour, and mistakenly placed the order downstairs instead of the company's front desk. A few minutes later, the customer called, the rider apologized to the customer, and the customer was understanding. "But then the App decided that I delivered it early, and I called the customer service but it was not processed. The rider felt that the handling of the platform was too harsh.

Bad reviews and complaints are directly related to workers' wages. In recent years, some platforms have set up a service point mechanism instead of direct deductions and fines, changing the deduction for workers in new employment forms to point deductions, and evaluating the service quality of workers according to the accumulated points of the month, and then determining the corresponding salary incentives.

Xiao Jia, the person in charge of a platform site in Dongcheng District, Beijing, told reporters that the platform has set a basic score of 100 points for riders, and in the distribution process, riders can get positive bonus points if the service meets the standards, and they can also get extra points for participating in safety training and exemplary deeds, on the contrary, if there is overtime, bad reviews, and early delivery, they will be deducted points.

The delivery rider was inexplicably charged a "technical management fee"

In addition to the "deductions" caused by overtime, wrong delivery, early delivery and other actions judged to be illegal actions by the platform, some riders said that they were also charged some "unknown" fees on their salary details.

Before October 25, 2023, Mr. Lu was only a part-time rider at Ele.me, with flexible hours, and his salary was settled according to the amount of orders sent every day, and he was settled once a day. "Later, I learned about the unit price of the delivery rider, and I felt that it was higher than the part-time job, so I was ready to change to a delivery rider. ”

"When I first started running, [I] was quite energetic, and I could see the list of my daily runs on the mobile app. In the next two months, Mr. Lu was 29 and 30 days of attendance, respectively, exceeding the required number of days (28 days). In addition, in the monthly "single king ranking", Mr. Lu ranked 99th in October, jumped to 9th in November, and continued to rise to 8th in December.

Mr. Lu received his salary on the 15th of the following month, but the retention time of the order data details on the mobile app is also one month (from the beginning of the month to the end of the month), so whenever Mr. Lu wants to check the details of the running order on the salary payment day, he finds that the data details on the app have been cleared.

On January 9, 2024, Mr. Lu got his "salary list" from the stationmaster, but this form made him a little "confused" - his salary details for October, November and December showed that he was deducted 93.87 yuan, 380.8 yuan, and 429.26 yuan in the name of "technical management fees" respectively, and in addition, the "other deductions" in December showed that 380 yuan was deducted.

"It's no wonder that I calculate the unit price based on the salary I get, and it feels lower than what I negotiated before. Mr. Lu asked his fellow riders and found that the delivery riders were charged a "technical management fee", which was roughly a few hundred yuan per month, while the crowdsourcing riders did not reflect the existence of such fees.

Subsequently, Mr. Lu asked the stationmaster why the "technical management fee" was charged, and the stationmaster first said that it was a tax, but Mr. Lu checked that his individual income tax payment record was 0, and then the stationmaster was vague and never clear. There was a conflict between the two parties, and in desperation, Mr. Lu proposed to resign.

The cost of clothing at the station is increased compared to the rider mall

Wear conspicuous overalls, wear a protective helmet, and ride an electric scooter with a packed lunch box...... Everyone is familiar with the appearance and outfit of the delivery riders who walk the streets every day, but what is not known to most people is that the cost of these equipment is generally borne by the rider.

It is understood that full-time riders must wear a full set of gear, but for crowdsourcing riders, some food delivery platforms do not seem to be demanding. One rider explained that when wearing a full set of professional equipment to deliver food, it will reduce the psychological pressure of customers when they open the door, and "there is a sense of security". The full set of delivery gear can be purchased online at the Rider Mall or at the station, but the price will be slightly higher.

Some riders open the rider's exclusive app in the mobile phone in front of the reporter in the rider mall, from the top, helmet, incubator, raincoat pants four-piece set of "rider equipment", to fleece and thickened sweatshirts, windproof jackets, thermal vests, popular cotton clothes and other warm wear, to a variety of shoes, as well as mobile phone holders, waterproof bags, data cables, power banks, etc., there are all the items that may need to be used in the distribution process.

"A basic set of lines is sold for more than 200 yuan in the App store, and the site is more than 100 yuan (money). Some riders reported that most riders would choose to buy directly at the site, and the reason for this was that they said that they would get their hands on it faster, and they were worried that if they didn't buy from the site, they would be "wearing small shoes" in the future.　

The algorithm assessment is too "rational", and the rider's voice is weak

Overtime, evaluation, dispatch, reward and punishment mechanism...... The invisible hand behind these seemingly accustomed rules is the platform's algorithms. Algorithms are the core rules of the operation of platform companies, which not only improves the efficiency of labor management, but also brings challenges, making the protection of workers' rights and interests difficult, and the delivery riders have no bargaining power with the platform.

"The most common reasons for being complained about are overtime, lost food, breakage, or the rider reporting that it has been delivered. "But not all of the factors that lead to bad reviews come from the riders. In the reporter's street sweeping interview, many riders said that during the peak period of dining, especially in the cold, high temperature and some bad or even extreme weather, the store will often burst orders, and they can't wait for a long time to get out.

In addition to the difficulty in estimating the delivery time of the merchant, most of the expected delivery time given by the background algorithm is based on the best route planned by the navigation software, but the actual road conditions are often more complex and time-consuming.

The reporter also found that most of the interviewed riders did not know their salary composition and which may be "deductions", and even whether they signed an agreement with the platform or agents and whether there was a labor relationship.

At the end of 2023, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the Guidelines for the Publicity of Labor Rules for Workers in New Forms of Employment, which further requires platforms to disclose to workers in new forms of employment who rely on platforms, such as rules and regulations, standard contract clauses, algorithm rules and operating mechanisms, which are directly related to the basic rights and interests of workers, such as order allocation, remuneration and payment, working hours and rest, occupational health and safety, and service specifications.

The protection of the rights and interests of food delivery riders has increasingly become the focus of attention from all walks of life, and a more reasonable system should be set up for the assessment of riders, rather than just relying on cold algorithms, so that the management of the food delivery industry may be more standardized. (Source: China Labor Daily, Labor Daily, Workers Daily)