Any delivery worker in New York City will tell you it’s hard work, navigating busy streets and dealing with unpredictable conditions. What made it worth it though was being able to choose how I work and what jobs I take between the different apps. But the city’s inconsistent and confusing laws have left me feeling like they’re falling short of their promise to help delivery workers. It’s time lawmakers make sure its rules apply the same way to all delivery work, no matter what we’re delivering.
When it comes to making deliveries, I’ve tried it all — from picking up meals from restaurants to delivering groceries and dropping off packages. That’s why when the city first announced the new minimum pay for delivery workers, I was excited. After doing this work all over the city I was happy about the change — I figured it would just mean more money in my pocket.
However, the new rules have been confusing — whether that’s different scheduling requirements that we have to navigate to fewer slots to work when I wanted to.
Worse, it quickly became clear though that a lot of delivery work was somehow completely left out. Now we know it actually only applies to delivery from apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats. Work that I do delivering groceries on apps doesn’t earn the same pay. This doesn’t make sense. There needs to be a solution for all delivery work, no matter the app or the type of delivery.
Like a lot of delivery workers, I switch between multiple apps all the time. Sometimes I’m just closer to grocery stores on one day and take out orders on another. It was a letdown to realize that a lot of my work on certain deliveries didn’t count towards this new pay raise. That’s not fair and it feels like the city didn’t think about how workers like me actually make a living.
Delivering in the city has its challenges no matter what we’re delivering. We all deal with the same conditions on roads, the same weather and the same hustle. To earn as much as I can, I switch between these apps depending on what orders are available and where I am in the city. If there aren’t many food deliveries in my area, I decide to take grocery orders. By only guaranteeing a certain wage for my work doing deliveries, the policy has left me guessing what I’ll earn doing groceries, creating more financial strain and confusion for many of us that rely on multiple delivery apps.
Lawmakers have to wake up to the reality of how everyday New Yorkers live, how many of us work multiple gigs. It seems like the city has finally heard this and is working on fixing this issue, but it is really important that they move quickly to deliver for us. The law has to be fair and cover everyone the same way – whether we’re delivering bags of groceries or containers of Chinese food.
New Yorkers depend on us to keep up with their busy lives, and we all deserve to be treated with the same respect and fairness. We put in hard work day in and day out, so it’s not right that some of our work is treated differently for no real reason.
Every day that goes by without fair pay means another day of uncertainty. The city needs to fix this arbitrary rule and make sure that we are all treated equally — it’s just common sense.
Mamadou Salane is a delivery worker from the Bronx.
