These delivery boys ride on big takeaways

Thiruvananthapuram: The online food delivery aggregators have given wings to the aspirations of local youth in the city. They have shed the tag of delivery boys and have rebranded themselves as delivery executives. The only requirement to join the business is a pan card and a motorcycle with valid documents. With flexible working hours and a digital platform to work on, more youngsters are boarding the online food aggregator crew.
When Uber Eats was launched in the capital, Harikrishnan K, a biotechnology graduate was slogging away as a finance executive in a bank. The promise of quick bucks was way too much to resist and Harikrishnan joined Uber Eats as delivery executive along with his four friends. Three months later, he is nurturing dreams of starting a restaurant of his own in the city and has already saved over Rs 3 lakh.

“I joined Uber Eats and quickly started earning about Rs 1,000 per day and understood that working for about 10 hrs a day would fetch me about Rs 1,500 per day. For the first two months I worked very hard and then I noticed that there is an additional way to earn more money by referring friends. So, we began adding more friends through our referrals and many others followed. As Uber Eats gained popularity, a mass recruitment took place at and the referral bonus inflated to about Rs 3,000 per referral,” said Harikrishnan who has made Rs 2 lakh just through referrals. He along with his four friends are now preparing to set up their own restaurant in the city.

Vibin Williams who also joined Uber Eats around its inception added that he brought a two-wheeler and a new smartphone through his earnings from Uber Eats. “You earn Rs 10 when you pick up the order and every 1km, you earn Rs 3. The time between 12pm to 3pm and 7pm-10 pm are called boosted hours with double bonus earnings. For a trip that would give you Rs 30, you get Rs 60 and for every successful completion of 10 orders, you get an additional bonus of Rs 200,” he added.

Vibin further stressed that most of the people working in the business are graduates from engineering and other science streams. “Sometimes, we get treated in a humiliating manner by customers. This attitude needs to change. We are also doing a respectable job that earns us a good deal of money and at times even more than those taking on executive jobs for a living. We deserve the respect,” he added.

Arun Antony, an employee of Zomato which went online across the capital last week said that the delivery business was an easy job that earns easy money. “I worked as a delivery boy in a pizza outlet and compared to that we have less workload and more earnings and benefits. You can take an off whenever you want to. There is also a bonus of Rs 1,200 for working 11 hours on weekends and even if there is no order, you can earn Rs 3,000 if you stay online on the app for 10 hours, six days a week,” he said.

There is more to come. Foodpanda is scheduled to start the business this week and Swiggy is also claiming its space and pooling more executives.

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