After finishing his work at a quarter past midnight, Hichem (at the employee’s request, the first name has been changed) went to bed at 2 am. But that didn’t stop this bike courier at Flink, a home delivery company, from accepting our interview request at 10 a.m. the same day. It must be said that the staggered hours, Hichem knows: he is a former bicycle courier from Deliveroo and Uber Eats, whose model inspired that of the actors of “quick commerce”.
Like Cajoo, Getir or Gorillas, Flink is one of those start-ups with rapid growth that promises individuals to have their shopping delivered in a handful of minutes by two-wheeled delivery people, leaving from stores that do not welcome the public, the “dark stores”. With a major difference compared to Deliveroo and others: at the German Flink, as with its competitors, all the deliverers are employed as employees.
It was not so much the protective status of the CDI that prompted Hichem to join the start-up, but rather the remuneration: “When I worked for Deliveroo and Uber Eats, once the charges were paid as a freelancer, I had almost nothing left. » However, salaries are not very high at Flink and other home delivery companies: around the minimum wage, with premiums for evening and Sunday work.
Delivery in ten minutes
At Cajoo, remuneration is around 10 euros gross per hour, to which is added a conventional bonus and a 20% increase for work in staggered hours. For 35 hours, Hichem earns 1,200 and some euros. Another major difference with Deliveroo et cie: the deliverers wait warm in the warehouses, not on a piece of sidewalk. And they get paid by the hour, regardless of how many customers order.
But working conditions remain difficult, according to Ludovic Rioux, general secretary of the CGT Lyon delivery union: “Even if the employees sign on permanent contracts, it’s not much better than at Deliveroo. There is a lot of work in the evenings and on the weekends, because that is when there are the most orders. »
Above all, the promise of delivery in ten minutes, the first selling point of most of these platforms, subjects delivery people and order pickers to a high level of stress. ” Since there are not enough warehouses yet, we may find ourselves making trips of 5 or 6 kilometers “, sighs Hichem. All with bags whose weight varies between seven and twelve kilos.
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