'We Are Not Machines': Zomato's 10-minute Food Delivery Plan Rakes Up A Storm, Faces Backlash
Food delivery app Zomato came up with the idea of 10 minutes delivery plan. The company has been facing backlash from people and from its delivery partners alike. On Tuesday the company was forced to clarify the road safety of delivery partners as its plans to start instant 10-minute food delivery faced backlash.
After food delivery app Zomato came up with the idea of 10 minutes delivery plan, the company has been facing backlash from people and from its delivery partners alike.
On Tuesday, Zomato was forced to clarify the road safety of its delivery partners as its plans to start instant 10-minute food delivery faced backlash on social media.
Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal, who had on Monday announced the company¡¯s plans to start a pilot of ¡®Zomato Instant¡¯ with four stations in Gurugram from next month, took to social media to clarify that there are no penalties for late deliveries and no incentives for on-time deliveries for both 10-minute and 30-minute deliveries.
The 10-minute delivery will be for specific nearby locations, popular and standardised menu only, he said in a series of tweets.
Hello twitter, good morning :)
¡ª Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) March 22, 2022
I just want to tell you more about how 10-minute delivery works, and how it is as safe for our delivery partners as 30-minute delivery.
This time, please take 2 minutes to read through this (before the outrage) :D
(1/2) https://t.co/PKKn97NhTf pic.twitter.com/NAfw20K1rF
He was responding to criticism directed to the company over its plans of starting instant deliveries as it would put the delivery partners at risk on the roads.
Workers association slams Zomato
The Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers (IFAT) has asked Zomato to ensure that delivery workers are taken care of.
A statement given by IFAT General Secretary Shaik Salauddin said that companies such as Swiggy, Zomato, Blinkit, and others are assuring delivery within a set period.
Amid competition, Zomato is trying to be the fastest to provide groceries and meals to acquire more customers, putting the lives of delivery partners at stake.
He added that while the companies are luring customers with the ¡°fantasy of instant delivery¡± but are washing their hands off issues by concealing matters.
¡°It is incentive-driven work conditions that these platforms actively shape which incites the delivery workers to chase those incentives targets that motivate delivery workers to resort to such acts,¡± he said.
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"Zomato should understand the stress and pressure it creates with these new services it launches forgetting that the workers are not machines. Many of their delivery workers work for more than ten hours and the platform actively engages such work practices by not setting any cap on maximum hours that a delivery worker can log in. Long prolonged working hours on the road adds to the risk of being prone to accident," the statement said.
He also urged Zomato to look at delivery workers as human beings and not as data points, adding that the company should understand the stress and pressure it creates with the new services it launches.
¡°Many of their delivery workers work for more than ten hours and the platform actively engages such work practices by not setting any cap on maximum hours that a delivery worker can log in. Long prolonged working hours on the road adds to the risk of being prone to accidents,¡± he said.
Dangerous and unnecessary
Zomato is facing a severe backlash on social media, as people have criticised the company for risking the safety of its delivery partners who work for long hours without much incentive.
Some have even accused the company of the inhuman treatment of its delivery partners and their exploitation.
The 10-minute delivery model by Zepto, is emulated by Swiggy, Blinkit. And now Zomato. These companies refuse to acknowledge their delivery providers as employees, and hence you see words like "drivers" "captains" "riders" being used for them. 1/n
¡ª kushal (@kushchronicle21) March 21, 2022
The 10-minute delivery offer from @zomato is both dangerous and unnecessary: more than anything, it will endanger the lives of both riders as also people on roads and so something best avoided. No one is in such a rush or such an idiot to decide what to eat only 10 mins before!
¡ª SUHEL SETH (@Suhelseth) March 22, 2022
Placed my order for Mutton at 6PM
¡ª sudhanshu' (@whoshud) March 22, 2022
Zomato at 6:10PM pic.twitter.com/rBcL96jTwR
"This 10 minute delivery from Zomato is dangerous and inhumane" yells corporate guy, who just told the ad agency that he needed the creatives 'yesterday'.
¡ª Kajol Srinivasan (@LOLrakshak) March 22, 2022
Dear @zomato, I will not use your app if you implement this 10 minute food delivery nonsense. Those who order food online can comfortably wait for 30-40 minutes. Pl do not put your riders under stress and at grave risk, just to appear ostensibly different from your competitors.
¡ª Prabhash Ranjan (@pranjan12781) March 22, 2022
#Zomato Delivery Partner on it's way with 10 minutes order. pic.twitter.com/2LVAefXTzV
¡ª Ispider Man (@Alone_Mastt) March 21, 2022
After becoming a frequent customer of Blinkit, one of Zomato's investments in the quick commerce space, Goyal said he started feeling that the 30-minute average delivery time by Zomato is too slow, and will soon have to become obsolete.
"If we don't make it obsolete, someone else will," he asserted.
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