So, as far as I can see, the meme “summoning my pizza slaves with a bourgeois app” has achieved legendary status on Hexbear, mostly as a form of satire, to make fun of it. That’s the full version I could find:
“I do self-criticism constantly because I’m trapped in a Maoist cult where comrades (white terrorists) criticize me mercilessly for having a fascist credit card (VISA Silver Signature Rewards). They won’t let me order vegan pizza anymore because the phone is fascist and “summoning my pizza slaves with a bourgeois app” is “bad vibes”
Now, I find myself in a country where these delivery apps have arrived relatively “recently”, sparking a vast social and political uprising. Workers are indeed treated extremely poorly, with NO job security, and they operate in a legal grey area (like, they are de facto employees, but they are treated as auto-entrepreneurs… neoliberal dream to destroy workers’ rights).
Adding to this, the working conditions can be quite perilous. In my city, traffic is notoriously chaotic, and cycling is dangerous. But not potentially dangerous, bodies-on-the-street-every-month dangerous. While we do have a well-established public transportation system, the city’s bike infrastructure is still quite underdeveloped, and cars dominate the roadways.
I’m aware that there is no ethical consumption under capitalism and yadda yadda. However, I find this particular form of consumption especially horrible. This is a highly walkable city with a wide range of food options readily available, making it unnecessary to rely on food delivery apps. And it really does feels like “summoning my pizza slaves with a bourgeois app". Mostly racialized workers, working dangerously in grey areas of law.
Have you normalized food delivery in your lifestyle? How do you deal with it? How do you navigate these ethical concerns?
It might not apply to your country’s conditions but here in mine lots of restaurants run delivery services parallel to the third-party Uber services and the like.
So, for example, most pizza restaurants here will have their own staff who they employ as kitchenhands etc. that also get tasked to do delivery or, when it’s peak hours, they have dedicated delivery staff on shift.
Instead of ordering from an app like Uber, I will intentionally order from restaurants directly because the money goes directly to the business and to paid staff who have better working conditions than what Uber offers.
my shoes were probably made by prison labor, but i need shoes and i can’t afford fancier ones.
i don’t need instant treat delivery, nor can i afford it, but if i could, i still wouldn’t use it.
in the situation you describe, i would not order pizza even if i could afford it, that crosses the line from “no ethical consumption” into “fuck the workers! i want my treats!!” territory
If you can order from a place that has their own delivery crew instead of through an app, do that.
If you absolutely MUST have something delivered (don’t scream at me, there’s probably cases we could justify) its probably okay to do sometimes.
But I’m gonna say if you’re able to get the things yourself and constantly use an app based delivery service… there’s some self reflection that needs to happen.
