What it's REALLY like to work for Deliveroo: HARRY WALLOP takes to the streets and discovers the surprising reality of who is willing to tip...
I am in a busy McDonald's in Covent Garden, London, 選ぶing up a 二塁打 cheeseburger with large fries and a Caesar & bacon chicken 包む with fries. The cost is £12.71, but it's not for me.
Once I have taken the paper 捕らえる、獲得する, 圧力（をかける）d 'collected order' on the Deliveroo rider app and then swiped 'go to 顧客', I realise the food's 目的地 is a mere 300 yards away. I can almost see the flat from the 入り口 of the 急速な／放蕩な food restaurant.
The 顧客 seems nice ― he has a £2 tip in coins ready for me after I climb the three storeys to his 前線 door ― so I ask him why he bothered using Deliveroo rather than popping out himself.
'It's the （人が）群がるs,' he says. 'I just don't want to 戦う／戦い through the 100s and 1000s of people out there.'
It's true. Pre-theatre throngs are lining the pavements. Still, 支払う／賃金ing £5.26 in 料金s and tip to get a £12.71 order of food seems the ultimate modern extravagance.
Watch the potholes! Harry Wallop finds out what it's like to be a Deliveroo rider
Welcome to the 21st century economy, where with a swipe of a button you can order a burger from 負かす／撃墜する the street and minutes later someone 配達するs it to your 前線 door.
I decided to go undercover as a Deliveroo cyclist for a week to find out why many riders, along with those from other 配達／演説／出産 companies, went on strike in February, complaining about poor 給料 and 条件s.
And, yet, a 最近の 報告（する）／憶測 from the 学校／設ける of 会計の 熟考する／考慮するs (IFS), a think 戦車／タンク, 示唆するd Brits were 消費するing 50 per cent more calories from takeaways than before Covid. If we're gorging ourselves on a never ending diet of burgers and pizzas 配達するd to our sofas, are those doing the 配達するing getting a fair slice of the pie?
There was only one way to find out what's going on. Deliveroo 誇るs on its 新規採用 場所／位置 that it 'is proud to 申し込む／申し出 柔軟な work with attractive 収入s'.
All I need is a smartphone, my own bicycle or moped, and the 権利 to work in the UK. I have to upload my パスポート, my 国家の 保険 number and watch five short training ビデオs about how to do the 職業, 含むing asking for 顧客s' ID if they have ordered alcohol. The total running time is no more than 15 minutes.
After six weeks, I am （疑いを）晴らすd to ride for the British company that took £4.18 billion of orders in the UK and Ireland last year ― 二塁打 the 量 it 扱うd 支援する in 2020.
That is an awful lot of food, with the 普通の／平均（する） 顧客 spending £26.30 per order and ordering four times a month. Surely, with my trusty electric bicycle I can make a decent living from 配達するing some of those meals?
First 転換: 2hr 50min
Orders: Five
料金s earned: £19.25, 加える £8.34 tips
Total: £27.59
同等（の） of £9.73 per hour
Miles cycled: 8 miles
I ride to my busy 地元の High Street, Upper Street in Islington, North London, chock-十分な of restaurants 申し込む／申し出ing takeaways, スピードを出す／記録につける into the rider app and get the message: 'finding orders for you'. Nothing. I cycle around. Nothing.
After an hour, I become a bit despondent but start playing about with the rider app.
There is a 地図／計画する showing London 分裂（する） into 井戸／弁護士席 over 500 little hexagons, each one shaded a different colour depending on how busy it is. My area is 'not busy' so I cycle a mile その上の into the centre of London to a '穏健な' area.
This 作品. Within a few minutes my phone pings, an order from Taqueria, a 公正に／かなり upmarket Mexican restaurant, for some tacos, to 配達する just over half a mile away to a man living in a smartish 封鎖する of flats. Trying to find the 入り口 is not 平易な. This becomes a ありふれた 主題 during my week.
The food I 配達する on the first night is three different Mexican meals and Korean fried chicken, not 正確に／まさに healthy, though the student who orders a chicken bowl from Chipotle, the High Street chain, does order a 味方する order of guacamole.
He waits outside his building rather than 推定する／予想するing me to traipse up to the fourth 床に打ち倒す, which I am inordinately 感謝する for, 加える he tips me.
Indeed the first evening, I earn a few tips, 含むing £3 from a woman who has ord ered nothing but 12 half-litres of 瓶／封じ込めるd spring water, and three large glass 瓶／封じ込めるs of San Pellegrino fizzy water. The 一括 must 重さを計る at least 8 kg. She told me she didn't want to go to the shops because she had a bad 支援する, after I arrived at her flat looking like a broken man.
Maybe she took pity on me. So I finish the evening having earnt the 同等（の） of £9.73 an hour. This is いっそう少なく than the 最小限 行う, recently 増加するd to £11.44 an hour for over 21s, but maybe that's because in the first hour I failed to get any orders.
Second 転換: 4hr
Orders: Five
料金s: £23.15, 加える £2.54 tip
Total: £25.69
同等（の） of £6.42 an hour
Miles cycled: 18.58
Who is eating all this takeaway food? A lot of it seems to be office 労働者s. On my second evening, three of my five orders are to swanky office 封鎖するs in either the West End of London or the City.
My first is a gut-破産した／（警察が）手入れするing 二塁打 cheeseburger from 黒人／ボイコット 耐える, a fancy 出口 on Exmouth Market, with fries and a 味方する order of 'maple sriracha fried chicken wings'. It is going to a man who 作品 for McKinsey, a famous 管理／経営 協議するing 会社／堅い.
I enter the ロビー and the receptionist waves me out, pointing to a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す along the road, where I see another couple of riders 配達するing food 小包s. We have to 減少（する） our meals on an 無人の trolley on a pavement outside the building.
I am not going to 裁判官 you, but I would 勧める you to start tipping. 特に those who earn mega bucks in the City, 令状s Harry Wallop
More riders come to 配達する. In seven minutes, 16 meals have been dropped off and a McKinsey lackey comes out to collect the groaning trolley. I ask her if it is an 異常に busy night. No, it's 基準, she says, 取って代わるing the 十分な trolley with an empty one.
I also 配達する to Bank of America, an 投資 bank 近づく St Paul's Cathedral. The Deliveroo 領収書 has a message at the 底（に届く） thanking 正規の／正選手 顧客s. The 銀行業者, who has ordered Turkish kofte, has ordered 16 times from this restaurant before.
Many City 会社／堅いs have 商売／仕事 accounts with Deliveroo, giving their staff allowances to spend on the app rather than 申し込む／申し出ing an in-house canteen. Not a 選び出す／独身 one of the 井戸／弁護士席-paid 顧問s, 銀行業者s or lawyers tips me.
My last order for the night is from an 出口 called Patty Guy, for a Mac Daddy ― a 二塁打 cheeseburger, 'tater こどもs' and Coca-Cola, costing £12 and going to a student at London 主要都市の University. すぐに after 選ぶing up the meal I ride into one of the (very many) 抱擁する potholes blighting London's roads. It is 8.50pm, dark and my 前線 wheel is now hanging loose.
Deliveroo does 申し込む／申し出 解放する／自由な 保険 to riders ― 支払う／賃金ing up to £50,000 if I die and £35 a day if I am off work sick after seven days ― but it doesn't cover broken 乗り物s. I manage to screw the bolt 支援する in with my finger and wobble my way to the student accommodation slowly. I apologise to him for 存在 late. He doesn't tip me.
Third 転換: 4hr
Orders: Three
料金s: £10.86. No tips
Total: £10.86
同等（の） of £2.72 an hour
Miles cycled: 16.3
Friday lunchtime. The rider 地図／計画する 示唆するs 列s of London are 'not busy', but with two hexagons shaded 'very busy'. I ride to one in Stepney, East London, and see some other riders go 負かす／撃墜する an alleyway, off the Mile End Road past an Islamic bookshop. I follow them.
They turn into a scruffy 中庭 with three light 産業の 部隊s with a gaggle of cyclists and moped riders waiting outside one labelled: Deliveroo 版s.
This is a 'dark kitchen'. Think you are ordering from a 地元の High Street restaurant? The chances are the food is 存在 made in one of these dark kitchens. Deliveroo has 14 in London, each making food for 多重の restaurants.
The Stepney one is cooking for Dishoom, the upscale Indian restaurant; So Noodles; Tao Tao Ju, a Chinese; 治療（薬） Kitchen, which specialises in soups and salads; Hare & Tortoise, a Japanese sushi brand; and WA Caf?, a Japanese patisserie shop amo ng others ― all out of one kitchen.
There's a water fountain for riders along with a clean lavatory, but no seating area or 避難所 if it is raining.
A mere 50 yards away ― 負かす／撃墜する an 隣接する alley ― is a larger 場所／位置 run by a company called Ghost Kitchens which I have to collect a burger from. To collect the food, riders have to walk 負かす／撃墜する さまざまな 回廊（地帯）s, past piles of food tins, 瓶／封じ込めるs of cooking oil, empty boxes and ― the time I visit ― bits of rubbish on the 床に打ち倒す.?
支援する at the Deliveroo 版s, I get chatting to a 経営者／支配人, Richard. I tell him I am struggling to get enough orders to make much money. He tells me this one 場所／位置 扱うs about 1,000 orders a day.
'Here is busy, but it is over-saturated with riders, that is the 問題／発行する.'
Deliveroo has 75,000 riders on its system. The base 料金 per order is £2.90 加える a sum 決定するd by distance. The biggest 料金 I receive during the week for a 選び出す／独身 職業 is £7.67 ― for cycling 3.1 miles.
Harry?earned a grand total of £120.38, after having ridden 105 miles and worked nearly 23 hours. That's a measly £5.27 an hour ― いっそう少なく than half the 最小限 行う
Fourth 転換: 8hr
Orders: 11
料金s: £38.02. 加える £4.50 tips
Total: £42.52
同等（の） of £5.32 an hour
Miles cycled: 39.22
A Saturday, 恐らく Deliveroo's busiest day. I am 決定するd to put in a long 転換. My first order is from a Chinese restaurant 近づく Euston 駅／配置する. I am told by the waiter I need to wait 'five to seven minutes' before the meal will be ready, にもかかわらず having 受託するd the order. I have to wait 18 minutes ― I sit on the kerb not 収入 any money.
The sun is out and people are on the street, in the parks. I 雑談（する） to a fellow rider, Amin from Morocco, as we wait for orders outside a dark kitchen. His English is good, unusual for a Deliveroo rider. He used to be a sous chef.
'But I couldn't take the 強調する／ストレス of the kitchen. I used to be paid £14 an hour. But this is freedom.'
He says he can earn £500 to £600 a week, though 収容する／認めるs that is across a six day week.
In the evening I finally earn a bit more money by 終始一貫して visiting a dark kitchen behind Pentonville 刑務所，拘置所, which is churning out Dishoom orders ― I 配達する five in a two-hour period, but they are miles apart.
One is to a わずかな／ほっそりした-looking 実業家 in a swanky flat in Bloomsbury: a Ruby Murray & daal, with g arlic naan and steamed rice, costing £24.20 and totalling 1,731 calories. It is his 36th order from Dishoom. He doesn't tip.
Next I go to a 会議 封鎖する, 配達するing some Wing-Stop fried chicken; the 顧客 doesn't complain when I can't find the 入り口 and in fact tips me £1.50. The poshness of the 演説（する）／住所 seems inversely correlated to the generosity of the 顧客.
Fifth 転換: 4hr
Orders: Four
料金s: £13.72, no tips TOTAL: £13.72
同等（の） of £3.43 an hour
Miles cycled: 22.86
Sunday brunch-time in east London. There is a gaggle of five riders outside Eggslut, a trendy egg 挟む 発生地. One tells me he has no orders, but is waiting in hope. He gets one, I don't.
I finally get a couple of orders for Chinese food, one to someone working at a fashion 蓄える／店 on 社債 Street.
'I just don't get time to go out and get lunch,' he explains as I 手渡す it over to him.
I then get an order for avocado on toast and a 'fruitilicious pancake' to go to a woman living on the fourth 床に打ち倒す of a Park 小道／航路 apartment 封鎖する.
My final order is for a Joe & the Juice serrano ham 挟む, with vegan pesto on gluten-解放する／自由な bread (£9.20) for a man living in a flat opposite Claridge's hotel ― a mere 300 yards from his nearest Joe & the Juice. He seems grumpy that I had to call him to buzz me into his Mayfair pad.
Final reckoning
I have earned a grand total of £120.38, after having ridden 105 miles and worked nearly 23 hours. That's a measly £5.27 an hour ― いっそう少なく than half the 最小限 行う. Yes, I could have earned more if I only worked at 頂点（に達する） evening times, but then I would only be working for three hours a day. It's a good thing I don't order takeaways much myself ― my week's 給料 would barely cover a family meal from Dishoom.
Eight years ago, when Deliveroo was just starting to become a 世帯 指名する, I undertook a 類似の 演習. I earned £11.20 an hour. 支援する then, I thought the 支払う／賃金 wasn't bad, but it was a myth that you were a 解放する／自由な スパイ／執行官: you had to work 確かな hours and 転換s.
Since then, the freedom has 増加するd, partly because Deliveroo has been 軍隊d to 証明する ― through a 一連の 法廷，裁判所 事例／患者s ― 労働者s are 請負業者s, not 従業員s. But the 支払う／賃金 has fallen 劇的な.
A 広報担当者 for Deliveroo says: 'Rider retention 率s are high and the 圧倒的な 大多数 tell us that they are 満足させるd working with us. We value 対話 with riders and are always 捜し出すing ways to support them.'
From a 顧客s' point of 見解（をとる）, you can see the 控訴，上告 ― the entire world's cuisine is 利用できる at a swipe. I am not going to 裁判官 you, but I would 勧める you to start tipping. 特に those who earn mega bucks in the City.
