The Blinkit Zomato drama explained, with protests, shut shops and threats to delivery partners
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Are you one of those who are addicted to lying in bed and ordering groceries from various aggregator apps and getting them delivered while you take a 10-min power nap? Well, it looks like you might have to wait a little longer now.
What?
If you reside in Delhi or Delhi-NCR and have ordered groceries or other items from Blinkit, you may experience longer delivery times or unavailability of items due to heavy demand or store maintenance. So, what exactly is behind this ‘heavy demand’ or ‘store maintenance’ prompts on Blinkit?
Delivery partners of Zomato-owned Blinkit (previously Grofers) are protesting against the new ‘change in payment structures’.
Zomato is the problem
DailyO spoke to a delivery partner who has been working for Grofers (now Blinkit) for the last five years, Rajendra Agarwal* (*name changed). Agarwal says that their workload has increased drastically since Zomato’s takeover.
- According to him, when the company was still Grofers, the delivery partners did not have to work under this kind of pressure.
- Now, according to him, his managers (from the dark store, where Blinkit stores its groceries), often force him to make the delivery on time.
How can I deliver in 10 minutes when the distance itself is 4-5 km?
– Rajendra Agarwal*
The issue of getting an order delivered on time and the work pressure on a delivery partner is not new. Other delivery partner apps like Swiggy or Zepto are also time and again dragged through the mud for exerting too much pressure on their delivery partners.
Blink Blink: What’s the new fiasco with Blinkit?
Agarwal says that the new payment structure is quite vague as of now. But according to him, his managers have told him and other delivery partners that according to this new structure, they will now get Rs 15 per delivery, which previously was Rs 25.
‘If you don’t like it, quit’
Rajendra says that his acquaintances who work as delivery partners have received a strict warning against the strikes. “If you don’t like the new payment structure, leave the job; but don’t think of sitting on a strike here”, says, Manager of the Warehouse, according to Rajendra.
The delivery partner also said that the new payment structure eats into his savings. The company never paid for the petrol used during the delivery process; and now, they have reduced the payment too.
‘Service unavailable’
Several Blinkit users from Delhi and Delhi-NCR have been facing issues with their delivery, and Rajendra attributes it to the strike. According to him, due to the strike, several of the company warehouses have been closed and the company can’t get their items delivered because there is no delivery partner available.
Moneycontrol reported that around 2,500 Blinkit delivery workers paused work in Gurugram in protest. Due to the protest, 31 “dark stores” — distribution centres catering exclusively to online retailers, have been shut. The report adds that 600 workers also met with a company executive, though both parties are yet to resolve the issue.
Support on Twitter
BJP leader and former Delhi MLA Kapil Mishra extended support to Blinkit workers operating in the Delhi-NCR region. In a tweet, he said that the company is doing “injustice” to workers.
BharatPe co-founder and former Shark Tank India judge Ashneer Grover also recently tweeted that the problem is not about Rs 15 per delivery, but Blinkit’s business model.
What is Blinkit saying?
Blinkit released an official statement saying, “We have introduced a new payout structure. It compensates them according to the effort they put in while delivering their order. This is an opt-in exercise, and our teams are on the ground to answer any question from the partners.”
Blinkit also denied the effect the strike had on deliveries.
Firstly, not all areas have been affected by the strike. Only Gurugram and Noida remain majorly affected currently. We are working with the authorities to ensure that those of our riders willing to work in these areas are allowed to work safely.
– Blinkit Spokesperson
