Lieferando and Getir are cooperating across Europe – sounds like boring company news, but it’s not. It basically contains everything you need to know about delivery services, how they work and what their future will look like. But the news also gives cause for critical self-reflection. About what kind of capitalism you promote with your shopping behavior, probably without being aware of it.
Another way of putting it is: What price are we willing to pay for our convenience? Also: what social price? This is primarily reflected in the wages paid to the drivers. In addition to the quantity that the customer orders, i.e. the size of the shopping basket, the personnel costs are the decisive factor in the overall calculation, the business, but also the socio-political. The lower the wage, the more exploitative the employment relationship. However, the more attractive the offer for customers. This makes delivery cheaper.
This is where the dilemma of the modern city dweller, who considers himself particularly enlightened (the services only operate in big cities), begins. If he orders the food courier, like the sultan once did for his servant, by digitally snapping his fingers in order to quickly satisfy his need for a can of Coke or a convenience meal, he is promoting exactly what he inwardly seems to be reluctant to do: an exploitative employment relationship.
And that of all times at a time when almost every western company is also following social pressure woke capitalism pays homage to attentive capitalism, in which everyone, to put it bluntly, shows an attitude, becomes climate-neutral and genders. With digital finger snapping, however, capitalism is becoming more likely cringeugly because it divides society into rich and poor.
The services do not actually fit to Germany
An example? Gopuff from the USA, one of the first lightning-fast suppliers, doesn’t pay its drivers by shifts, but by orders. They are nothing more than day laborers in one of the richest countries in the world. Getir is not much better. According to the press, the Turkish service, allegedly the inventor of so-called quick commerce, paid its couriers an hourly wage of 30 lira in its home country at the beginning of the year, the equivalent of around 1.56 euros today. Yes, the wage level in Turkey is lower than in Germany, but it’s still not that much.
This same service is now teaming up with Lieferando, a provider that delivers food from restaurants to your home. Lieferando itself is one of the victors of a takeover battle that raged on just these restaurant suppliers a few years ago and is now part of the British-Dutch group Just Eat Takeaway.com. The same consolidation is underway among the quick commerce providers, of which Getir is one of the strongest, also thanks to low labor costs in the home country.
The increased minimum wage increases the pressure on the providers, they have to join forces
The cooperation is a consequence of this. In this way, both reduce their personnel costs in Germany and increase their shopping baskets. No, dumping wages like in Turkey are not possible in Germany. Fortunately, this is prevented by German labor law. In fact, the increase in the minimum wage is even increasing the pressure on delivery services to join forces. The fact that Getir will also take over Gorillas, the most controversial German super fast supplier because of its working conditions, is apparently imminent.
For the time being, however, Getir drivers are now also driving orders from Lieferando to the customers and Lieferando is offering Getir groceries, filling the shopping baskets. Competition between providers will gradually decrease, which will increase prices for customers. Terrible? Not really. The vast majority of people in the big city could also go to the supermarket around the corner. They are so dense there that the super fast services don’t really fit in Germany. At least one provider will probably establish itself. Only: The convenience will soon have its price.