In July, when the Met Office issued its first ever ‘red alert’ for extreme heat in England – the highest level, signalling a national emergency – Shaf, a food courier, knew he’d be on his own.
Shaf is habitually plugged into multiple food delivery apps, but that day he avoided Deliveroo – a market leader – logging on only briefly to see if the company had lengthened its expected delivery times or raised its delivery fees, which incentivise couriers to complete journeys quickly to amass as many orders as possible. It hadn’t.
Instead, Deliveroo encouraged its riders to ‘keep hydrated’, offering free cold drinks at McDonald’s and KFC for couriers taking their orders. But Shaf avoids these restaurants due to the long wait times for orders, which are unpaid.
