Professional Socialization and Community

The ‘gig economy’ has created two categories of workers within food delivery app riders/drivers, divided partially by the different demographics of workers discussed in the previous article. The first category is those who work part time. This category is mostly made up of young students, using delivery apps as work on the side. These are most likely the students previously discussed that joined the apps for extra money. Because this group has been the largest percentage of the delivery worker labour market, there is a very high turnover rate. A growing section of the deliverers are not in the part time category, and are pushing the job towards ‘professionalization.’ These deliverers treat the food delivery apps as a full time job. Full-time deliverers often choose to focus and optimize on a single platform, and thus often choose to apply for the more selective platforms. They see themselves as more serious than those working part time. The drivers/riders looking to ‘professionalize’ are generally not students. They fit into four broad categories, each of which has a particular feature pushing people out of the traditional job market. First, those without qualifications, or no higher education degree. Next, people who felt discriminated against in other hiring processes. Third, those who did not like the normal work and schedule of the traditional labour market. Finally, 1/4 of delivery riders surveyed in East Paris said that this was the only job they could find. 

The professionalization of working for food delivery apps has lead to a distinct professional socialization and community. Deliverers are forming friendships as well as professional relationships with each other. On the more professional side, newsletters have been created specifically for delivery. New anglicisms have also pervaded the field in France, like ‘biker’, ‘shifts’ and ‘no-show.’ On the casual end of these new social structures, jokes and even memes are shared between delivery workers.  

While the memes above apply to any delivery app, communities of deliverers often even focus around a single app. Rivalries sometimes form between platforms, and in a sense delivery becomes a social game. The ‘gamification’ of the apps Working for a specific app becomes part of the way deliverers construct their social identity, as it affects who they work and often associate with.