Quick Commerce isn't creating jobs, it's creating Quick-Pay traps

Amidst the debate around gig work being "exploitative", we must accept that India needs all opportunities we can create to put food on people's tables with dignity. That said, it'd be wrong to say Q-Comm is creating “jobs”.

In truth, Q-Comm is not creating jobs at all. It’s creating “traps”. Here’s why.

A job, in the truest sense, must have three attributes: a learning curve, an earning curve, and a career path. The first teaches you more than you knew yesterday. The second rewards you more than you earned last year. And the third gives you a future. A future you can look up to, not just survive in. The mix of these three attributes makes a job, a job. Without these, it's anything but. It could be sad. But it is what it is.

Step inside a McDonald’s, and you’ll see the roadmap pinned on the wall. The boy who starts by mopping the floor today knows he can move to the counter, then to the kitchen, then to procurement, and one day even become a floor manager. Every rung of the ladder is visible. Every step compounds into something higher. A mop can turn into a career. The career track is so clearly written, it’s there for even the patrons to see.

Or take a Call Centre. The girl reading out scripts today can be a supervisor tomorrow. Then a training lead, then a QC manager, then head of Ops. Pay scales rise, from ₹2 lakh for entry agents, to ₹5 lakh and more for mid-career managers. Experience leads to authority, learning leads to leadership. The ladder may be tough, but it exists.

The same is with every domain in the world. Even a beautician or a carpenter has a clear career path. Start as a make-up artist, move up the chain as a “stylist”. Start as a woodcutter, move up as an “interiors expert”. There's a way.

But where's that career path for a delivery “partner”? Where is that learning curve? What about the earnings? There’s nothing. He is not even on-roll. He is a per-order cost. A widget in the algorithm.

He’s not learning any skill. He isn’t solving even the travelling-salesman problem. His job to just ride in a 2 Km radius. All day, everyday.

There’s no earning curve. Per-order payouts are going down, and will only decrease with time. The “average monthly income” may seem like ₹25,000, but strip out the expenses and it gets scary. And it’s only going to get worse.

There’s no career ladder to climb. A rider today is a rider tomorrow. No promotions, no operations, no leadership. Just riding in and out of the dark store. That’s pretty much it.

And here’s the darker irony.

While creating these dead-end gigs, QComm kills “real” jobs. Every shuttered kirana. Every corner store that loses footfall. Every small business that gets hurt. It kills self sustaining “real entrepreneurship”, and respectable jobs that had a future. According to my calculations, each shop closure kills 5 jobs. And how many does it create? Maybe one.

This is perhaps why Mr. Goyal repeatedly calls gig work "temporary". While that might sound like a cop out, it’d be seriously wrong to attack him for it. After all, as mentioned above, India needs all opportunities we can create to put food on people's tables with dignity.

But yes, we could indeed benefit if regulators stood up and did their job. It’ll help everyone.

People leave what could be better careers in the long run for the quick paying scheme that is the delivery job.

P.S. You just read an honest (and hopefully valuable) article for free. If you like reading my writings, consider making donations. Amounts don't matter, gestures do. Here's a big cheers to all my Patrons!

Read more articles here.