As the clock strikes 7 in the evening, engineers working at a reputed Internet service provider, near Dondaparthy in Visakhapatnam, shut down their tabs and laptops, sign off and start packing their bags to leave. But for 21-year-old Kona Naveen Kumar, a trainee engineer, the day isn’t over. It signals the start of a second innings. He packs his bag, starts his bike and opens his tab to log on to another website.
Instantly his tab/ phone starts to vibrate and notifications keep popping up. He sets aside his duty bag and shoulders the delivery bag of an online food giant and speeds to a restaurant to collect an order. Naveen is one among the many who work as part-time delivery boys for online food ordering companies.
Customers may bother him by confusing the routes or by giving the wrong location, the lift may not work sometimes at apartments, he may have to negotiate traffic snarls, but there is always a smile on his face at the doorstep, where he delivers the food parcel.
Whatever may be the situation, the only target for Naveen and others like him, is to deliver the food hot and on time and at the right place. And all that he desires is the payment for the food orders and a good feedback for his service. "A good feedback motivates me to go ahead to take up another order," he says.
His second innings of the day starts around 7.30 p.m. and goes beyond midnight. It is the same with Srinivas, Ramesh and Rahul, who, despite having a steady IT or ITeS job, have starting working for giant food delivery companies and this is the latest fad that is picking up among youngsters.
Working on part-time basis, each one of them earns around ₹1,500 a week, which roughly works up to ₹6,000 to ₹7,000 a month. "I deliver five to six orders a day. If I work for a couple hours more, I can earn up to ₹10,000," said Mr. Ramesh.
While for many such as Naveen and Ramesh, this new type of job is a requirement, as they have to earn more to keep the family at home smiling and in good health, for some it is the only source of income, and for others it is an avenue to earn some decent money for a better lifestyle.
Lack of proper employment opportunities and financial conditions have forced a number of youth to take up the job of food delivery boys, part-time or even full-time in Visakhapatnam.
"This is a very user-friendly job. If we sign in, we get delivery orders and if we sign out, there won’t be any orders. No one will bother you and it depends on how much you wish to earn," said K. Rajesh, a food delivery boy and a degree student.
There are even cases of several employed persons leaving their jobs and joining as food delivery agents. One such case is that of 39-year old D. Gowrish, a resident of Gopalpatnam. A father of two, Gowrish was once an employee of an insurance company. Impressed by the food delivery field, he joined as food delivery boy.
"Unable to take the pressure, I quit the job and now I am working full time as delivery boy and earning close to ₹32,000 per month," he said.
Craze for jobs
There are over 1,500 to 2,000 delivery boys working for each online food giant. A few companies have even stopped recruiting since the last couple of months. Whenever a company announces vacancies, demand for the jobs is said to be too high.
New trend
Online food deliveries have become a trend now and a huge hit among foodies, as the online facility gives option of choosing food from a number of restaurants. Homemakers, students, working men and women say that they are attracted towards the offers and discounts being provided by the companies.
"Initially we will have number of options to select what type of food, we are interested to have. North Indian, South Indian, Chinese, Mexican etc. And the other is, irrespective of time and month, we have offers, discounts from various restaurants, apart from the option of promo-codes. It is saving time and money. During weekends, we stopped going to restaurants after the advent of online food delivery," said M Sarada Devi, a railway employee and resident of Beach Road.
