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Meal delivery boom: evenings in the shoes of an Uber Eats courier

2021-02-23T05:28:21.828Z


Never had the French ordered so many home-delivered meals as since the curfew was introduced. What are the evenings like


Turquoise (Deliveroo), blue (Stuart), yellow (Glovo) or orange (Just Eat) tunics… After 6 p.m. and the start of curfew, more and more of them, cooler bags on their backs, pour into the almost deserted streets of cities to ensure the delivery of meals to homes.

All platforms combined, the unions in the sector estimate that more than 50,000 couriers are now active in the country.

In the midst of the Covid-19 health crisis, they have become the essential link between restaurants with desperately empty rooms and consumers cloistered at home.

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Who are they ?

What is their daily life?

That of their clients?

To understand this, we donned the voluminous Uber Eats outfit for two evenings, without first informing the American giant.

The company, which we contacted subsequently, claims 40,000 independent delivery people.

We also tried our luck at Deliveroo, but it was the Uber subsidiary that approved our file the fastest.

The company checks that the candidate has indeed created a microenterprise (delivery people are not employees, but on their own, except in rare structures) and that they present a clean criminal record extract.

First lesson: before making money, you have to start by spending it: 70 euros for a brand new cooler bag, even if some models can be validated, like that of Picard, in vogue in this community composed of 95% of 'men.

It is 6.30 p.m., we start our app which rings almost immediately.

Fluorescent helmet, six-speed bike and sports underwear, here we are. / LP / Arnaud Journois  

When you press the "GO" button to go online at the foot of the Parisian headquarters - Today in France, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, Thursday February 18 at around 6.30 p.m., our application rings almost immediately, displays an amount and a distance to travel to deliver two meals.

Orders accepted.

Fluorescent helmet, six-speed bike and sports underwear, here we are.

“You have to check the content!

Smiles the sales clerk at Okito, a Japanese establishment, pointing to the label stapled to the cardboard bag.

Twenty minutes later, guided by the smartphone strapped to our wrist, the two bags are deposited and the counter is unlocked on the application: 6.30 euros.

This amount is calculated from the pick-up (1.90 euro), the deposit (0.95 euro per customer) and the distance (0.81 euro per km).

"With the curfew, I earn around 70 euros per evening"

As the session progresses, the total at the top of the screen increases.

Addictive to the point of becoming the permanent obsession of the road liners.

Like the bonuses linked to profitability that we will discover a little later.

This combo encourages all recklessness: red lights burned, passages on the sidewalks ... And the prevention videos offered by the platform do not change much.

“With the curfew, I earn about 70 euros in the evening, against about 40 in normal times, explains Benoni, also in the colors of Uber Eats, waiting in front of the McDonald's in Alésia, in the south of Paris.

There is no one on the road, and a lot of controls.

"The high school student, PSG cap and frank look, does not intend to trade his mountain bike against an electric model or a scooter, the classic ascent in the profession:" I do not intend to do that for long.

I live in my parents' house.

I earn 300 euros per month when I do the evenings or 1300 euros full time.

It's flexible, it's good for me.

With this contribution, I want to launch businesses in e-commerce.

"

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This kid from Savigny-sur-Orge (Essonne) has the calves of his ambitions, as evidenced by his record day for Valentine's Day: “156 euros collected between 12 pm and 7 pm and 100 km traveled”.

For the "permanent", the job is rather synonymous with "galley", the first term used by Ahmed (the first name has been changed), in his thirties, who rides an electric bike for Stuart: "I have been working since 10:30 am this morning and 'I'm at 39 euros

(Editor's note: around 8 p.m.)

.

I also work in a pizzeria, but not full time.

I arrived from the village two years ago.

It's raining, it's cold, we're waiting… Look around, there are only migrants.

"

"They are a bit invisible, unfortunately"

A provider of Deliveroo apologizes: “I come from Western Sahara, I do not speak French.

"He explains earning just" 50 euros per day, not counting the cost of the scooter ".

Some platforms check the language level with their little hands, but many workarounds exist (account loan, rental, etc.).

Uber Eats tells us, however, that a survey conducted by Ipsos among its delivery men shows a "satisfaction rate of 78%", while specifying that "70% of delivery men use the firm in addition to an activity or income already existing.

"

A few streets away, in front of Woodiz Pizza, the atmosphere is relaxed.

The boss fills our bottle of water.

The reception of customers is just as courteous.

Special mention to this young man who offers us a puncture-proof bomb on Friday, after a few sidewalks climbed with a little too much ardor, between Bastille and the Porte de Charenton.

“I went down the four floors, because it saves you from going up and it makes me feel guilty for the pizza, laughs Céline, Woodiz's client.

We only order once a month, a little more since curfew, when we don't have time to go shopping.

"

The reception of customers, many of whom confided in ordering more since the curfew, is courteous./LP/Arnaud Journois  

“In principle, I tried to go at least on foot to McDonald's at the end of the street, but there we can no longer go out, grimaces Ben, in the 15th.

We don't talk much with the delivery people.

They are a bit invisible, unfortunately.

»At the end of our last run of the evening, from Madama, a Japanese restaurant in Montparnasse to Les Ors des Invalides, Raphaël, a 19-year-old student, admits on the landing of the 4th floor (no lift) that he« does not is not a fan of Uber and would not like to do this job ”:“ It's complicated, especially in winter, with competition.

And what's more, it's poorly paid.

"

"It's the coronavirus party here"

Riding in Paris during this period also means taking the pulse of a numb city, when the flow of workers dries up.

The precariousness of couriers then intersects with the misery of the homeless who line up during a food distribution or debate in front of a Burger King the best speech to make the sleeve.

A few half-open windows betray here and there an evening violating the constraints of the moment.

At 10 p.m., the city goes out, even for two-wheeled snails.

The app turns in the void for 1.5 hours of useless marauding between Place de Clichy and Porte de Clignancourt, after putting on waterproof pants to fight the freezing rain.

The police headquarters have introduced a delivery ban in order to fight against the Covid and the noise pollution that exasperates residents.

We didn't know.

We find a perfect illustration of the discomfort caused by the delivery activity the next day, in the inner suburbs, in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis), in front of a collective kitchen used by several restaurants.

A security guard is agitated to prevent the tide of two-wheelers from spreading too far in front of the neighbors.

"It's the coronavirus party here", launches a helmeted delivery man, among the thirty who elbows in front of the glass counter.

Twenty minutes of waiting, to which is added a half hour lost a few streets away, in Vincennes (Val-de-Marne).

"Is this your first weekend?"

Don't take McDonald's, this is the m…!

says a colleague with the sporty silhouette, while the passage of an unmarked police vehicle accused of fining poorly parked scooters adds to the nervousness.

Today there is the bonus from eight races.

This is what makes my income vary so much from one evening to another, from 30 to 80 euros ... "

Assessment of the second evening: after 4:40 and 39.5 km covered, return to the starting point included, our jackpot amounts to 45.28 euros, / DR  

This setback as well as the first hour of sailing with our eyes riveted on a desperately silent phone put us out of time for the expected 10 euros premium.

The app comes alive one last time for a long race: 10 km from Saint-Mandé (Val-de-Marne) to the north of the capital, loaded with burgers dripping with cheese.

Sheared thighs, it's time to take stock, at 10:30 p.m., after a shot taken without the slightest voluntary pause.

The day before, we had collected 23 euros for five races by working in dotted lines.

This time, after 4:40 and 39.5 km traveled, return to the starting point included, our jackpot amounts to 45.28 euros, including 5.08 euros in tips, from which 22% tax will have to be deducted.

Barely the hourly minimum wage, a touch of adventure, the aches and dangers of the road as a bonus.

Source: leparis

All business articles on 2021-02-23

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