According to media reports, it has been revealed that around 1,000 Blinkit delivery executives in the National Capital Region have recently joined competing quick-commerce firms like Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, and BB Now. This action has been taken in protest of a recent change in the payout structure that was implemented by their company.
Earlier this month, Blinkit, a company owned by Zomato, announced that they would be adjusting their payout structure for delivery executives. Instead of a fixed INR 25 per delivery plus a peak-hour incentive of INR 7 per trip, the company will now pay a minimum of INR 15 per trip, with a distance-based component. This change has been met with opposition from Blinkit’s delivery workers, who argue that it will have a negative impact on their salaries.
Multiple Blinkit dark stores, which are small warehouses, were forced to shut down in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad, and Ghaziabad for a few days due to the ongoing protest by delivery executives. Although the company attempted to resume operations, numerous dark stores in Delhi and Gurugram are still closed to customers as there is a shortage of delivery personnel. Blinkit manages more than 200 of these warehouses in the Delhi-NCR region, using them to distribute goods to customers located within a 2-3 km radius of each store.
In an attempt to address the ongoing protest by delivery executives, Blinkit distributed a special 10-day incentive rate card in some locations of Delhi and Noida last week. This rate card outlined that delivery workers may earn between INR 700 and INR 1200 if they meet certain order milestones.
During the same week, the company took the step of de-registering numerous Blinkit riders. Delivery executives based in Gurugram and Delhi have stated that they received a notification on the Blinkit delivery partner app, informing them that some outlets were being shut down as there had been no activity at these locations in the past three to four days.
The notification informed the delivery executives that their registration with the platform had been terminated. As a result of the protest, nearly 100 Blinkit stores were forced to temporarily shut down. However, they were able to resume operations last week.