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Riding for Deliveroo: Resistance in the New Economy
What is life like for workers in the gig economy? Is it a paradise of flexibility and individual freedom? Or is it a world of exploitation and conflict? Callum Cant took a job with one of the most prominent platforms, Deliveroo, to find out.
His vivid account of the reality is grim. Workers are being tyrannised by algorithms and exploited for the profit of the few – but they are not taking it lying down. Cant reveals a transnational network of encrypted chats and informal groups which have given birth to a wave of strikes and protests. Far from being atomised individuals helpless in the face of massive tech companies, workers are tearing up the rulebook and taking back control. New developments in the workplace are combining to produce an explosive subterranean class struggle – where the stakes are high, and the risks are higher.
Riding for Deliveroo is the first portrait of a new generation of working class militants. Its mixture of compelling first-hand testimony and engaging analysis is essential for anyone wishing to understand class struggle in platform capitalism.
His vivid account of the reality is grim. Workers are being tyrannised by algorithms and exploited for the profit of the few – but they are not taking it lying down. Cant reveals a transnational network of encrypted chats and informal groups which have given birth to a wave of strikes and protests. Far from being atomised individuals helpless in the face of massive tech companies, workers are tearing up the rulebook and taking back control. New developments in the workplace are combining to produce an explosive subterranean class struggle – where the stakes are high, and the risks are higher.
Riding for Deliveroo is the first portrait of a new generation of working class militants. Its mixture of compelling first-hand testimony and engaging analysis is essential for anyone wishing to understand class struggle in platform capitalism.
140 pages, Paperback
Published December 4, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 10, 2019
A short & accessible blend of first-person commentary, labour reporting, and Marxist analysis. Highly recommended for anyone interested in labour organising or the gig economy.
(I received complimentary copies of the book. This review is based on a pre-release draft.)
(I received complimentary copies of the book. This review is based on a pre-release draft.)
September 8, 2019
Callum Cant worked as a delivery cyclist for Deliveroo in Brighton for nine months, and this hugely important book tells his story: what the work was like, and how workers were able to organise themselves to exert class power in fighting a brutally exploitative mode of work. Firmly grounded in Marxist economics, the book explores how the world of work is changing and how new forms of resistance are emerging in response to new forms of exploitation. An essential read for understanding 21st century capitalism.
March 31, 2021
A friend recommended this after I told him I was riding for Deliveroo.
Overall, it was an enjoyable book. The author nails the descriptions of riding for Deliveroo and especially the social relations between employees. But the links to Marxist theory felt forced and sometimes immature. We would hear a good + useful description of reality at Deliveroo and then he'd drop a "Or as Mark Fisher put it, ..." followed by a tenuously related 3 sentence quote from capitalist realism. It is what I'd expect from an A level student.
In general, I thought he ignored the more insightful observations because it didn't fit his theoretical framework. For example, he claims to adopt a bottom-up, inductive methodology by directly experiencing workplaces and speaking to workers. Yet when his fellow employees explain that what they dislike most is waiting times at restaurants/treatment by restaurant staff, these concerns are dismissed as misguided. Even though he admits that riders spend an inordinate amount of time waiting in cramped restaurants or outside in the cold. This practice by restaurants is precisely why Deliveroo shift to a piece wage. Unfortunately the result forces the most vulnerable group to absorb the costs. Does Marxist theory really have a solution?
Imo a conventional economic framing makes more sense. We have a principal agent problem in that the entity in control (restaurants) imposes a cost on a group without control (riders who must wait for food to be made). Economic theory says the incentives need to be shifted, how about fines for restaurants with delays? Well then who is best placed to implement such a fine? The platform owner, Deliveroo. Nothing is done because Deliveroo do not incur a cost when there's a piece wage and so have no incentive to implement a system of fines for restaurant who keep riders waiting (and essentially steal their time). Thus, we can argue that piece wages are economically inefficient all within Econ 101. This only bolsters the moral imperative that Cant appeals to.
Theoretical diversity is a good thing and would have massively improved this book.
Also side point but his calls for uprising are undermined by publishing a revolutionary pamphlet via a private firm who now charge $16 for an e-book, even though it was written as a publicly funded PhD student. Socialise the losses, privatise the gains. Why not publish open access so it reaches a wider audience?
Overall, it was an enjoyable book. The author nails the descriptions of riding for Deliveroo and especially the social relations between employees. But the links to Marxist theory felt forced and sometimes immature. We would hear a good + useful description of reality at Deliveroo and then he'd drop a "Or as Mark Fisher put it, ..." followed by a tenuously related 3 sentence quote from capitalist realism. It is what I'd expect from an A level student.
In general, I thought he ignored the more insightful observations because it didn't fit his theoretical framework. For example, he claims to adopt a bottom-up, inductive methodology by directly experiencing workplaces and speaking to workers. Yet when his fellow employees explain that what they dislike most is waiting times at restaurants/treatment by restaurant staff, these concerns are dismissed as misguided. Even though he admits that riders spend an inordinate amount of time waiting in cramped restaurants or outside in the cold. This practice by restaurants is precisely why Deliveroo shift to a piece wage. Unfortunately the result forces the most vulnerable group to absorb the costs. Does Marxist theory really have a solution?
Imo a conventional economic framing makes more sense. We have a principal agent problem in that the entity in control (restaurants) imposes a cost on a group without control (riders who must wait for food to be made). Economic theory says the incentives need to be shifted, how about fines for restaurants with delays? Well then who is best placed to implement such a fine? The platform owner, Deliveroo. Nothing is done because Deliveroo do not incur a cost when there's a piece wage and so have no incentive to implement a system of fines for restaurant who keep riders waiting (and essentially steal their time). Thus, we can argue that piece wages are economically inefficient all within Econ 101. This only bolsters the moral imperative that Cant appeals to.
Theoretical diversity is a good thing and would have massively improved this book.
Also side point but his calls for uprising are undermined by publishing a revolutionary pamphlet via a private firm who now charge $16 for an e-book, even though it was written as a publicly funded PhD student. Socialise the losses, privatise the gains. Why not publish open access so it reaches a wider audience?
August 13, 2022
This book gave me even more reason to despise Margaret Thatcher so that’s always good.
March 9, 2022
A great, accessible read.
The author pulls back the curtain and reminds us that food delivery platforms are just businesses, not shiny unicorns, and these businesses only function through good old-fashioned worker exploitation.
I found the parallels of delivery drivers to dockers and builders quite astute, and that Marx’s observations in Capital apply today as much as they ever did.
The author pulls back the curtain and reminds us that food delivery platforms are just businesses, not shiny unicorns, and these businesses only function through good old-fashioned worker exploitation.
I found the parallels of delivery drivers to dockers and builders quite astute, and that Marx’s observations in Capital apply today as much as they ever did.
August 2, 2020
Callum Cant is a former Deliveroo rider currently studying for a PhD at the University of West London focusing on worker self-organisation in UK pubs, call centres and platforms. There are some interesting points in this book, which looks at the organisation by delivery drivers for Deliveroo and UberEats but the Marxist class struggle analysis is at times laughably reductive and some of his suggestions to fix the problems wholly unrealistic.
January 12, 2023
As someone who rode for deliveroo in the years of protest this book is almost a love letter crossed with large academic proposals. It's part diary and part polemic against the platform, showing the collective joy in protest and outlining how to create change within these spheres.
June 29, 2022
Marxism in 2022 in the gig economy (platform capitalism)
March 7, 2025
Excellent book that clearly explains class composition theory, workers’ inquiry and more through Cant’s own inquiry into Deliveroo and UberEats. Would recommend it just if you’re interested into learning more about food courier platforms, and the forms of struggle taking place around them, but also for those who want a basic outline of workerist (AKA operaisti) theory.
(On a further note, it was lovely to relive some of those exciting days supporting wildcat courier strikes through these pages!)
(On a further note, it was lovely to relive some of those exciting days supporting wildcat courier strikes through these pages!)
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews