Latest updates from the Gurugram indicates that over 2,500 delivery workers of Blinkit have been on a strike since last week in response to latest changes implemented by the company where they have reduced the fixed payouts of per delivery from Rs 25 to Rs 15.
Blinkit Delivery Worker Strike Reduced Payouts
Now, news coming in about more workers are joining the cause and striking against this move in Delhi and Noida.
Earlier this Zomato-owned quick commerce company has told delivery workers, who have been on a strike against the lowering of payouts, that some of its Gurugram dark stores are being shut down permanently.
The message on the partner app said in a mix of Hindi and English, “Dear Blinkit partner, We thank you for providing your services to customers from your store. You all have not been working at the store for the past 3-4 days, and work has not started despite a lot of talks. That’s why the company is having to shut down this store forever,”.
Further adding,“Since this store is being shuttered permanently, we are disabling all of your IDs. For any issue, you can raise a ticket for support,”.
Media has reported two screenshots of such messages for the Sector 43 ES32 and South City 1 ES30 stores in Gurugram.
Dark Store Shuttered
Pouring more light on the subject, some delivery workers said that more such stores are being permanently shuttered.
But, they could not ascertain the exact number.
It appears that out of the 31 dark stores that cater to Blinkit in Gurugram, only a handful are operational at the moment with protection from local police and bouncers deployed by the company, as per the information given by a union leader last week.
Basically, the quick commerce model relies on gig workers assigned to a specific dark store in a neighborhood from where deliveries are made.
So far, the queries sent to Zomato and Blinkit on the matter remain unanswered due to lack of response.
How Did This Happen?
The hyperlocal delivery sector’s modus operandi is to cut delivery fees paid out to riders whenever the volume of orders rises in an area, said an industry executive.
This way, the delivery firms make a rough calculation such that a delivery worker gets to earn around Rs 15,000 per month in a top metro.
Reportedly, this calculation is based on the assumption that the gig worker is logged on for 10-12 hours per day for 26-27 days a month.
Further the industry executive explained, “As the number of deliveries per worker per hour rises when the platforms’ total orders in an area grow, the companies look to make their orders more profitable by cutting the payouts per order,”.
Blinkit will eventually roll out the new rate cards to all of the dark stores in each city where it is present, said a source close to the developments.
Blinkit used to pay Rs 50 per order last year to its early batch of delivery workers and Rs 25 per order to those who joined a few months back, as informed by multiple delivery workers.
Besides this, there also used to be fuel and delivery volume-based incentives, which could go up to Rs 1,400 per week in some cases on top of the per-order payouts.
But, the protesting workers are also angry as these incentives have been gradually tapered out.
Coming to revenues, Blinkit delivered 3.2 crore orders to earn Rs 301 crore of revenue in the December quarter, while suffering an Adjusted EBITDA loss of Rs 227 crore, according to BSE filings of the company.
