In my EU city, it is quite clear that these exploited workers are the major delivery service of food to the masses. The curfew means that even while I want to,

In my EU city, it is quite clear that these exploited workers are the major delivery service of food to the masses. The curfew means that even while I want to, I am not allowed to pick up pizza from the spot down the block from me because the restaurant is rightfully afraid of the city fining them. (But that restaurant-bar can serve beers so long as they sell some dry meats and cheese.) All the while, deliveroo and others have started deciding who stays open after curfew, ostensibly based on sales — but who is so naive to think this isn’t crude extortion? Neighborhood restaurants suffer while fast-food chains and more leveraged restaurants thrive. This will have long-term effects for everyone. The city knows what’s happening and does nothing, in part because what can they do? They already lost control on the pandemic situation long ago. So who bears the weight? It is primarily a migrant population working illegally and for crumbs. It’s astounding. And what am I to do? I want to help the small restaurants in my neighborhood, but even they are squeezed by these greedy companies. I refuse to be complicit, but I know that hurts independent restaurateurs. A friend of mine runs a café and gets charged 30% per order by deliveroo. Recently deliveroo started a subscription service that provides free delivery. My friend sells a cookie for 3.5€ and has it delivered to someone nearby. The benefit of the doubt says that this person has an excellent reason. The pessimist in me indicts the state of tech and startups. The sooner investors, such as the two mentioned in this article, stop pumping up these short term profiteers with absurd capital, the sooner we can start investing in long term projects that improve lives. Instead, companies like deliveroo profit by exploiting illegal workers (with the complicity of the state) and encourage only the worst of human aspirations: deliver me my matcha cookie, and don’t be late, or I’ll give you a 1-star review! My worst fear is that more logistics services like this are on the horizon. The social fabric and environment in my city can’t handle it. We need long-term and sustainable investment and not another app for lazy people.