So, as far as I can see, the meme “summoning my pizza slaves with a bourgeois app” has achieved legendary status on Hexbear, mostly as a form of satire, to make fun of it. That’s the full version I could find:
“I do self-criticism constantly because I’m trapped in a Maoist cult where comrades (white terrorists) criticize me mercilessly for having a fascist credit card (VISA Silver Signature Rewards). They won’t let me order vegan pizza anymore because the phone is fascist and “summoning my pizza slaves with a bourgeois app” is “bad vibes”
Now, I find myself in a country where these delivery apps have arrived relatively “recently”, sparking a vast social and political uprising. Workers are indeed treated extremely poorly, with NO job security, and they operate in a legal grey area (like, they are de facto employees, but they are treated as auto-entrepreneurs… neoliberal dream to destroy workers’ rights).
Adding to this, the working conditions can be quite perilous. In my city, traffic is notoriously chaotic, and cycling is dangerous. But not potentially dangerous, bodies-on-the-street-every-month dangerous. While we do have a well-established public transportation system, the city’s bike infrastructure is still quite underdeveloped, and cars dominate the roadways.
I’m aware that there is no ethical consumption under capitalism and yadda yadda. However, I find this particular form of consumption especially horrible. This is a highly walkable city with a wide range of food options readily available, making it unnecessary to rely on food delivery apps. And it really does feels like “summoning my pizza slaves with a bourgeois app". Mostly racialized workers, working dangerously in grey areas of law.
Have you normalized food delivery in your lifestyle? How do you deal with it? How do you navigate these ethical concerns?
Pizza places, at least in the US, have delivered for a long time, to the point where even 20 years ago it would be weird if they didn’t have employees doing deliveries. It long predates services like Uber Eats and Door dash, although those may have taken over delivery or inserted themselves as middlemen in the ordering process.
That said, from what I’ve heard pizza delivery is a bad job that pays pretty much nothing other than tips, so maybe it’s always been bad.
The scam is that on paper it looks like good money if you don’t count the car expenses.
I’ve heard most places make you pay for gas too
Pizza delivery was honestly a great job if you had a shitty old Toyota you could work on yourself, was reliable and got good gas mileage.
Me and the guy who drove the 80s CR-X were crushing it. Literal shoeboxes full of cash, untaxed and untracable. Sushi comped. Whatever the fuck we wanted to do on our days off. The people with car payments on a new Chevy that needed a new transmission at 60,000 miles, or the people who god forbid drove actual TRUCKS all over the city to deliver a pizza… not so good. They were miserable and for good reason. The tires alone - which you will be going through - cost EASILY 4x as much on any newer car than some old hatchback on 14s. If you don’t change your own oil, well first of all this job probably isn’t for you, but it’ll cost you easily an extra $30-40 a month for the increased oil capacity of a larger engine.
I reckon I spent an easy $10 a day on gas, making 40mpg. You double or triple that, you’re talking up to $900 a month on gas… It gets out of hand super quickly. High MPG is probably your #1 key to success or failure in driving for a living.
I think 90% of the Lyft/Uber trap is that you basically have to have a $10,000+ car (probably $15,000+ these days) to even get in on it. Destroying THAT car is a lot different from some old shitbox that’s maybe worth $1,500, and if it comes down to it you can get a new engine or a transmission for that much anyway.