From snow to heat, extreme weather events pose outsized risks for food delivery workers

But what does that mean for the people transporting food from point A to point B? Around the world, millions of food delivery workers regularly go up against the elements to maintain their income during severe weather, biking across town in ankle-deep floods after a hurricane or through a haze of smoke during wildfire season.

As climate change accelerates, one of the most prevalent weather risks delivery workers face is extreme heat. New research shows that food delivery orders surge as temperatures inch up, and provide a crucial way for vulnerable populations to avoid heat health threats like dehydration and heatstroke. The problem? A large portion of that heat exposure transfers directly from consumers to those making the deliveries—and many workers lack mitigation options or health insurance to protect them.

Get it while it’s hot

China hosts the world’s largest market for food delivery, with around 12 million riders reaching more than 500 million urban citizens across the country.

A study published in the journal Nature Cities found that residents in China frequently tap into this network of delivery services when a heat wave hits.

Analyzing food delivery data on one of the main platforms across 100 Chinese cities from 2017 to 2023, the researchers documented an almost 13 percent surge in lunchtime orders when temperatures rose from 68 degrees Fahrenheit to 95 degrees. Users were more likely to be female, high-income and older. On average, these deliveries helped residents avoid the equivalent of 3.6 hours annually of walking in the heat.

However, around 45 percent of that avoided heat exposure transferred directly from consumers to the delivery riders. It’s not a one-to-one ratio largely because the workers are only going one way and often bundle deliveries for efficiency, but this time in the heat could put them at high risk of exhaustion and other heat-related ailments.

A similar study published in November analyzed food delivery data on a major platform from July and August of 2015—the hottest months of the year—in the cities of Shanghai and Hangzhou, China. The researchers found that a 9-degree increase in temperature led to about 9 percent more orders each hour for couriers, and that during heat waves, the couriers worked 6 percent longer than they did at average temperatures. Workers making food deliveries amid unsafe levels of heat is a well-documented trend around the world, including in Paraguay, India and the United States.

In August 2023, journalist Gina Jiménez wrote a story for Inside Climate News about how food delivery workers around the U.S. are dealing with extreme heat on the job.

“It feels like you are standing in an air fryer or a microwave,” Hector Mejía, a 30-year-old who had been doing DoorDash deliveries in Phoenix for around a year, told her. “It’s almost hard to breathe.”

Incentives and exposure

An influx of people placing food orders during bad weather often results in something called “surge pricing,” which means that users must pay more for their delivery. These incentives and high demand can push workers to deliver under dangerous conditions such as the historic New York City flooding Hurricane Ida left behind in 2021, The City reported.

However, working during these high-demand periods doesn’t always translate to extra income, according to the November study. Though workers in Shanghai and Hangzhou saw more orders per hour, they also experienced a more than 20 percent increase in delays because orders are often spread out across the city. Some apps penalize workers if they accumulate too many delays.

Monetary gains can also be undermined in other ways: “Driven by extended working hours and heat exposure, food couriers faced health risks that far exceeded any additional income they earn during heat waves,” the study’s authors wrote in an article for Harvard Business Review.

In the U.S., the nonprofit Los Deliveristas Unidos is working with the New York City government to implement hubs built out of existing newsstands where workers can recharge their ebikes—the most common delivery vehicle in many urban areas—or take a break, particularly in extreme weather. The New York City Comptroller’s office released a report in September outlining the growing risks for outdoor workers such as delivery riders in extreme weather events, which emphasized the need for more protections.

“In extreme heat, smoke from wildfires, snowstorms and floods, a largely immigrant workforce of color risks serious injury performing the outdoor jobs that New York City relies on,” Ligia Guallpa, co-founder of Los Deliveristas Unidos, said in a statement. “That includes the city’s 65,000 app delivery workers—who now face the increasing threat of climate change among the many factors that make their occupation one of the most dangerous in the city.”

But the onus is also on app companies to help protect their gig workers, experts say. For example, in India, food delivery companies Swiggy and Zomato have each set up hundreds of rest points with water and washrooms for employees to recharge during long, hot days. The authors of the study published last week also recommend that companies establish mechanisms that provide delivery workers with heat allowances and subsidies, health insurance and training programs to recognize and mitigate heat stress.

Some experts have suggested autonomous delivery vehicles could step in during extreme weather, but people working in food delivery fear they could be replaced entirely by this mechanical fleet, Context News reports. And even these robots have been known to get stranded in the snow.

Credit: contributed

Credit: contributed

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