Deliveroo rider expresses concerns over working terms and conditions

A Deliveroo rider in Dublin has expressed his growing dissatisfaction with the working terms and conditions of the food delivery company.

The employee named Alan who contacted Liveline to speak about his concerns has been working with the company for over a year and a half.

He explained to Joe Duffy that he is a student in Dublin and works Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights from 6pm to 11pm if there is work available.

Initially, his pay was "reasonably consistent" from week to week, but the fees have steadily gone down with the switch to a "per kilometre" system.

Alan earned €4.25 per delivery on weekdays and €4.75 per delivery on the weekend.

"Under the old system we’d get €4.25 per delivery during the week," he said.

He claims riders previously earned €7 per delivery after 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays but this was cancelled without notice.

Instead, riders are now paid per kilometre.

He said that employees were also made sign a new contract back in November 2017 that did not state what they would be paid.

"It just says riders will be paid, it doesn't say how much," he said.

He said riders are paid €2 euro for taking the delivery, €1 euro for delivering and some "mystical amount" depending on distance per kilometre.

Alan said he did a delivery a couple of nights ago from Kelly's Corner Abrakebabra to Roebuck Drive in Dublin which is over a 5km ride.

Listen to the full interview here:

He was paid €6.50 and then had to cycle back into town to another Deliveroo job, a cycle which he was not paid for as riders do not get paid for their return back to another job.

He said that most of the time it is not busy enough to be selective about jobs.

He told Joe that riders only have 100 seconds to accept a job when it beeps in.

Alan said that he could be cycling in the middle of city traffic in the dark and need to swipe to accept the job within 100 seconds, which he says is extremely dangerous.

He explained that he feels that no sick pay, no holidays and no bike maintenance is unfair as riders own their bikes and pay for any damage or maintenance required.

Deliveroo responded to Alan's claims by saying:

"Average riders earnings have increased. Riders earn on average €10.50 per hour, which is a 50c increase in the past three months."

"Following feedback from riders, they now receive higher fees for deliveries depending on the delivery location. This has proven extremely popular with riders."

Alan said that they do now receive a higher fee for longer jobs of longer distances.

- Digital Desk