... And the Panda Goes to War!!


Yeah, folks, I am talking about the strike by Food Panda riders, which had started from Monday. I, for one, actually felt the bite because during the days when I work on producing stocks for Bollywood Begum, I would order my dinner as soon as I reach home. Not to mention the motorcycles of Food Panda riders parked at the entrance to the lift lobby at my condo - that sorts of reminds me to place my order - what a sinister campaign by the food delivery company 😃.

 However, from Monday, I did not see even one Food Panda rider around. Everyone is on strike. Even those who had not planned to join the strike may have had to do so because of peer pressure because food delivery is indeed a `peer business'. You survive by relying on tips and information that you get from your peers. That is how the business is designed - just like taxi drivers, e-hailing drivers - you need to network to survive, like it or not. 

 So, the riders are off the road. The claim was that the company had cut their take home income. I have no idea about that, as much as I tried to understand the mechanics from what I read on the Net, I could not understand the changes in the scheme. But what I do know is that something must have snapped badly for the riders to strike. And people react badly when their rice bowl is at stake. That is what is happening, right now. 

 Firstly, no one works for free. To all those `free riders' out there, NO ONE WORKS FOR FREE! Everyone needs the basics in life and now that list includes income. Secondly, in the current scheme of work, or gig economy, as they call it, no one would stay on in a job that does not pay attractive money. People move to greener pastures. Thirdly, the trend to work full time, in a permanent job is slowly fading as more and more millennials enter the job market. Millennials have different life priorities - they live for themselves and what they believe in. They do not focus on accumulating wealth as Gen X had done, they do not see `settling down' in life as a priority, because they shun unwanted responsibilities. Unwanted responsibilities could include towards own family, unproductive relationships, buying a house, getting married...you name it. So, they prefer to earn on the go, jobs like e-hailing drivers, food delivery riders are very attractive to them because of the time flexibility that goes with the money.  The societal lifestyle is changing with this changing employment landscape.

 So, 12,000 food panda riders would not be earning money riding to deliver food for Food Panda, but remember, in gig economy, people do multiple jobs. In all likelihood, those riders would have some other source of income or could just join any other food delivery companies. There are dime a dozen now, with even home based entrepreneurs offering food delivery services. May be for a short while income could be less but eventually they would figure a way out.

 Now, what does that mean to the company? Food Panda, I believe was the leader in the market. In the span on a week, the company would have lost that lead. The riders were not only the stakeholders involved, there are the restaurants to consider. Many restaurants would have managed to reach out to customers who may not even have heard of them, now with the strike, those restaurants may choose to go with other food delivery companies, if they have not already done so. For, they, too would be facing a fall in revenue. Customers? Trust me, I would be looking at Grab Food and Honest Bee. May be Dah Makan as well. Finally, competitors. There is a saying in Tamil, when a village breaks into two, it's the performing troupe that gains. Meaning instead of doing one performance per village, they get to do two performances in the same village and gain from both sides. The competitors now can woo all the trained Food Panda riders, restaurants and customers. May be some of the Food Panda employees as well. Then again gig economy as of now is not regulated, considerably a `free market' which eventually would reach a supply - demand balance. Now, who said pandas do not go to war and win?

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