Ten minutes. That’s how many minutes it takes for a packet of chips to reach your doorstep through a quick-commerce grocery app. That’s how many minutes the company asks you to wait. That’s how many minutes you are ready to wait. It takes more than ten minutes for you to get a packet of chips from your hostel vending machine. But then, how is it possible for Blinkit, Zepto, or Swiggy Instamart to get your flavour of choice along with other items neatly packed and delivered right at your doorstep through the peak hours of Chennai traffic and heat in ten minutes? Have you ever wondered about how these companies make it possible? Do they secretly possess ultra-speed space ships to deliver it, or do they have ‘delivery captains’ with super powers? The answer is an obvious ‘no’.
These companies depend upon delivery agents without job security, fair pay, a safe work environment, and insurance coverage to fulfil these tasks. But what if it takes another five more minutes? What could possibly happen to you? Nothing. Absolutely nothing, except that I would have to watch the first ten minutes of that movie without a snack. But what could happen to the person on the other end? Your ‘delivery partner’ who rides through the unsafe city traffic at a dangerous speed with possible traffic violations, just to get you a movie snack? He gets fired!
A recent Reddit post from a former part-time worker at an established quick-commerce app shared his experience working in these dark stores, where they have to work in small, constricted rooms stacked with products, sometimes in cold freezers, where it is physically impossible to work. “We’re expected to run non- stop while picking orders. Like, actually run and not walk fast. You’re dodging other pickers, turning sharp corners, and racing against a timer”. This severely hostile working environment often leads to accidents on a daily basis, while everyone is running to keep up with their timers. They work with a timer called Per Picking Item (PPI), which tracks the time elapsed for each order, and if it has exceeded the limit, they are expected to log out and leave. Though the companies claim that they own numerous dark stores in one city alone, it is not possible for a worker to deliver an order in ten minutes without overspeeding and violating other traffic rules. Since most of their customers hail from top-tier cities, which have an inevitable level of traffic at any point in time. The companies are neither accountable nor do they provide compensation for violations and accidents that occur frequently on the roads.
The legal status of your delivery captains in their workspace is much scarier. The companies do not even acknowledge them as workers; they are classified as independent contractors or gig workers. In simple words, companies do not have to provide them job security, paid sick leaves, fixed monthly salaries, or medical insurance. Traditional labour laws like the Industrial Disputes Act (1947) and the Factories Act (1948) do not apply to gig workers as they are classified as independent contractors, excluding them from minimum wage protection, overtime compensation, and other statutory benefits for regular employees.
While Indians spend around 64,000 crores rupees on quick commerce apps in 2025, leading to a revenue of 10,500 crores rupees. This revenue is altogether shared by the big three (Zepto, Blinkit, Instamart), while the gig workers earn peanuts. Instead of owning up by providing fair wages for their work, the companies now try to transfer this burden onto the customers, asking them to pay a tip for their struggling delivery partner, whom they don’t pay enough!
Convenience is never an evil. But is it really worth getting a chip packet delivered in ten minutes by pushing a worker to their limits? This system of convenience is not an achievement to be proud of from any angle. Because it is not built on efficiency, but on exploitation in clear sight!
— Edited by Lakshmi Yazhini, design by Alphin Tom
Article 19 