Abstract
The recent spread of digital platforms has produced new dynamics in the relationship between work and the city. The aim of this article is to analyze urban flows of app-based delivery workers in the São Paulo metropolis to explore empirically the conditions under which this work is inscribed in the city. We argue that the dispersion of thousands of workers throughout the metropolis, supported by an algorithmic management, can only be carried out through an incisive control of time, territory, and of the work itself, as well as through the workers’ intense vulnerability. Using data obtained by means of ethnographic incursions, interviews, and by the development of cartographic material, we seek to discuss the dynamics of (re)production of central-peripheral inequalities along with work that is spatialized under the centralized management of platform companies.
digital platforms; work; urban flows; control; precariousness
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Screenshot of the Rappi app provided by a delivery worker in January 2023. It shows the worker’s ranking in the app, with an 80% acceptance rate, 88% completion rate, and a customer rating of 4.9. There is also a quantification of the hours worked in relation to the hours that were previously scheduled in the app.
Screenshot of the iFood app provided by a delivery worker in April 2022. The completion rate for this delivery worker is 53%, which, according to him, already makes it difficult to receive orders through the app
Screenshot from Google Maps, accessed via a link (with 103,854 views in March 2023) shared with delivery workers on WhatsApp for them to choose from which submarket they want to pick up orders for delivery.
Screenshot from iFood, provided by a delivery worker in June 2022. Highlighted is the time the screenshot was taken and the time by which the delivery worker should arrive at the restaurant to pick up the order.
Screenshot provided by a delivery worker in January 2023, indicating work hours from 10 to 12 hours per day. Scheduling of work hours is necessary for delivery workers using Rappi.
Screenshot from WhatsApp, provided by a delivery worker, reminding them of the times when they can fill out a Google Forms questionnaire to inform their work hours. Since each OL company has a limited number of delivery workers per zone in each shift it is important for workers to fill out the surveys as soon as they become available in order to try to secure their desired hours and zones
Screenshot from the iFood Pedal app. The name and code have been omitted to protect the identity of the delivery worker.
Cartographic elaboration by the authors. The addresses of iFood Pedal bases were obtained from fieldwork conducted from January to September 2022 and from the website: https://entregador.ifood.com.br/.
Bicycle pickup point operating with a temporary structure at the back of a parking lot on Augusta Street. Photo by the authors on February 14, 2022.
Waiting points in the parking lot of the Itaquera shopping mall, East Zone, in an area reserved for delivery workers, mostly motorcycle delivery workers. Photo by the authors, 7 Jan 2023.
Barão de Itapetinga Street, in the city center, with a greater presence of bicycle delivery workers. Photo by the authors, 14 Mar 2022.
Map created by the authors. The best regions for deliveries by bicycle were delimited by the authors based on an image available at: <htttps://entregregador.ifood.com.br/dicas-ifood/melhores-regioes-para-entregar-de-bike-em-são-paulo/>, published in January 2021. The best regions for deliveries in general (by motorcycle and bicycle), called “Top Places” by iFood, were delimited based on an image available at: <http://entregador.ifood.com.br/quero-fazer-parte/top-ligares/>, published in July 2020. iFood’s criteria for the construction of both images were not explained.
Screenshot from the Strava app. Image provided by delivery worker. It shows that the delivery worker always had to return to the República sub-praça to be available to receive new calls, even after taking the order to the Cambuci, Jardim Paulista and Campos Elísios areas
Map created by the authors, based on data and routes provided by an iFood delivery worker.