‘It’s a nightmare’: couriers mystified by the algorithms that control their jobs
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From pay shortfalls to being dropped by apps, drivers face a range of issues – often with no way to fix them. Most days a thicket of couriers can be seen around the McDonald’s in Northern Ireland’s Ballymena, waiting for orders and discussing the mysteries of the systems that rule their working lives.
![[Robert Booth]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2024/11/14/Robert_Booth.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
This week gig workers, trade unions and human rights groups launched a campaign for greater openness from Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo about the logic underpinning opaque algorithms that determine what work they do and what they are paid. The couriers wonder why someone who has only just logged on gets a gig while others waiting longer are overlooked. Why, when the restaurant is busy and crying out for couriers, does the app say there are none available?.
![[Deliveroo courier and gig workers campaigner James Farrar]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5eec596f06bfcc106fb5876f5dc8e922f963b098/1207_642_3722_2233/master/3722.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“We can never work out the algorithm,” one of the drivers says, requesting anonymity for fear of losing work. They wonder if the app ignores them if they’ve done a few jobs already that hour, and experiment with standing inside the restaurant, on the pavement or in the car park to see if subtle shifts in geolocation matter.
“It’s an absolute nightmare,” says the driver, adding that they permanently lost access to one of the platforms over a matter of a “max five minutes” wait in getting to a restaurant while he finished another job for a different app. Sometimes he gets logged out for a couple of hours because his beard has grown, confusing the facial recognition software.
“It’s not at all like being an employee,” he says He is regularly frustrated by having to challenge what appeared to be shortfall in pay per job – sometimes just 10p, but at other times a few pounds. “There’s nobody you can talk to. Everything is automated.”.
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