骑手的命运，多等5分钟就能改变吗？
Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/UrCDUKS1O8Xxe-y3aCvchQ
Author: 工号51
[ Photo of a food delivery driver on a scooter. ]
导语
从工厂跳到外卖，不过是从一个监狱跳到了另一个监狱，从一个地狱跳到了另一个地狱。资本主义总会不断地产生新商机、新职业，这次送外卖凉了，下次还会有其他的“机会”。骑手和“厂狗”、环卫工、服务员、建筑工等等无数工人一样，受着同样一套制度的剥削，唯一的出路也只有彻底打碎如今这整套吃人的制度。
本文转载自公众号“新工号51”，感谢“新工号51”对人民食物主权的支持！
Abstract
Trading the factory for food delivery, is nothing but changing one prison for another, one hell for another. Capitalism never ceases to produce new business opportunities and new jobs. The industry of food delivery is cooling down, but soon the next “opportunity” will appear. Delivery drivers and “factory dogs”, sanitary workers, waiters, construction workers and innumerable other groups of working people face the same kind of systematic exploitation. The only way forward is to thoroughly smash this system that consumes the people within it.
This article was shared from the public account “New work unit 51”. [ Translator’s note: public accounts on WeChat work like blogs. ] Thank you, “New work unit 51” for supporting the people’s food rights! [Translator’s note: This article was shared in a WeChat group with a focus on food rights and sustainable agriculture.
手上的外卖没有过去香了，我们送外卖的和点外卖的都能感觉到。这个“过去”也不是很久以前，就是2015、16年，外送这一行刚刚火起来的时候。
The people who deliver and order food can all feel it – the smell has grown stale. This “past era” ended not so long ago. It was as recently as 2015 and 2016 that the new industry of food delivery became immensely popular.
在当时，点外卖的好处对于消费者自然不用说，有着平台的补贴，精打细算一点，顿顿十元饱餐不是太难。我们外卖骑手同样，只要勤跑单，拿到一份比在工厂里拧螺丝，或者在餐馆端盘子要高不少的收入也不成问题，工作还自由。
Naturally, I don’t have to explain the benefits that food delivery had for customers back then. There were platform discounts, it was easy on the budget and easy to find a good meal for 10 RMB. For us delivery drivers, the benefits were equally obvious. As long as you kept the pace, it was easy to make way more money than what was possible while tightening screws in the factory or balancing plates. There was also more freedom.
[ Image of a toy man next to the brands of some of the biggest food delivery platforms: Eleme and Meituan. ]
不过现如今，提到这些场景，我们也就只有怀念过去了。
But today, that scene is but a beautiful memory of the past.
是谁偷吃了消费者的十元外卖，又是谁抢走了外卖骑手的工资？要明白这些，还得先搞清楚过去的外卖为什么这么“香”，为什么很多工人都跑去送外卖。
Who stole the consumers’ ten RMB meals, and who robbed the delivery drivers of their income? To find out, we must first understand why the food delivery of the past was so “delicate” and so many workers wanted to become delivery drivers.
大家都知道，美团、饿了么其实就是互联网公司。过去，像肯德基这些餐厅饭店也往出送外卖，不过比起这些互联网公司，就是小巫见大巫了。
Everyone knows that Meituan and Eleme actually are internet companies. In the past, restaurants like Kentucky Fried Chicken also offered delivery, but were soon completely outclassed by these internet companies.
这些互联网公司在线上搭建业务平台，线下雇佣骑手送餐。他们给外卖行业起了个好听的名字叫做“互联网经济”，而实际上就是通过对信息资源（消费者的需求）的垄断剥削骑手的“平台资本主义”。电商、网约车、外卖都是这个套路。
The internet companies set up an online platform, and recruit offline delivery drivers. They gave their business model the beautiful name “internet economy”, but actually used their monopoly on information (the needs of the consumers) to build a “platform capitalism” in order to exploit the delivery drivers. Online shopping, online taxi and delivery all use this method.
平台资本主义坏得很。
Platform capitalism is completely broken.
[ Image depicting starved and angry miners rebelling under righteous leadership. ]
对于传统的雇佣劳动，我们工人在几百年的时间里，通过不断地斗争迫使资产阶级政府颁布法律规定最低工资，为工伤、失业和养老提供保障。
When it comes to the conditions for hired labor, things have improved over the last few hundred years due to the relentless struggle to force the bourgeoisie government to enact laws that guarantee a minimum wage and provide protection in case of work injuries, job loss and retirement. [ Translator’s note: It is unclear exactly what government the author refers to. ]
但这些最低保障，平台资本主义通通无视。平台资本家美其名曰：“我们只是提供了一个平台，不能算做雇佣劳动”，甚至声称平台和外卖骑手之间是合作关系！
All of these very modest insurances are being completely ignored by platform capitalism. The platform capitalists laud themselves and claim that “we are just offering a platform, there is no way we count as employers”. They even go as far as to call the relationship between platform and delivery drivers a cooperative relationship!
像美团、众包不用说了，骑手跑一单是一单，底薪和社保是不可能的，就算在跑单时受了伤，由于和平台建立的是劳务关系、承包关系，不在劳动法的适用范围内，伤得再重也往往不被认定为工伤，拿不到赔偿。
Like Meituan, it’s unnecessary to bring up crowdsourcing, every delivery is counted individually. [ Translator’s note: It’s hard to make sense of this sentence. ] Minimum wage and social insurance are out of the question, and it would be impossible to be reimbursed for injuries, even serious ones. This is because the driver and the platform have a service agreement, a contractor’s agreement, which doesn’t fall within any existing framework of labor law.
即使是专送类型的骑手，薪资待遇因站而异，但至少在我身边，能有底薪保障的也很少，有时候还要以单价克扣作为代价。拥有齐全社保的骑手也同样少之又少，比较常见的就是平台给骑手买一个意外险了事。
The wages for delivery drivers might vary depending on their station [Translator’s note: Unclear what station refers to. ], but at least when it comes to those I know, very few have a minimum wage, and sometimes they even have to deduct price reductions from their own pay. Those with complete social insurance are incredibly few. It’s much more common for the platform to provide accident insurance.
骑手们失业后怎么办，年老后怎么办，生病了怎么办，都与平台无关。就算买了意外险， 获得赔偿的条件也很苛刻——不能闯红灯，必须在指定路线balabala……总之就是一个字，扣！
What should a driver do in case of job loss? When it’s time for retirement? In case of disease? The platforms insist they have nothing to do with these questions. Even with accident insurance, the conditions to actually receive reimbursement are very strict. The drivers must not run red lights, keep to designated roads, blah blah blah … to sum it up in one word: deduct! [Translator’s note: Yes, balabala means blah blah blah.]
既然从一开始送外卖就不是什么好差事，为啥有这么多工友转行去送外卖？
Since food delivery isn’t such a great job, why did so many workers change careers to become delivery drivers? [ Translator’s note: Literally, the author wrote “worker friends”. ]
说白了，还是工资相对高。数据显示，2015至2018年美团骑手的数量增加了40倍，这些骑手中，近一半人上一份工作是在工厂或餐饮业。饿了么骑手的平均月薪在4000-8000元之间，超过10%的骑手月薪超过8000元。加上不用整天闷在环境糟糕的室内，对咱苦逼的工人来说啊，送外卖还是个相对比较好的差事，起码能多赚点现金，解解燃眉之急。
Frankly, it’s because it pays better. The numbers show that the number of drivers working for Meituan multiplied by 40 between 2015 and 2018. Of these drivers, probably half worked in a factory or the restaurant industry before. The average monthly wage for delivery drivers at Eleme is in the range of 4000 RMB to 8000 RMB. More than 10% of drivers earn more than 8000 RMB a month. On top of this, they don’t have to spend all day in a stuffy building. To the industrious worker, food delivery can appear to be a pretty appealing job. At least it’s possible to earn more, and solve the most pressing needs.
[ Image of two 3D-rendered delivery drivers. ]
可在高收入表象背后，则是资本在外卖这个新兴行业疯狂的烧钱式竞争。“如果有10%的利润，它就保证到处被使用；有20%的利润，它就活跃起来，有50%的利润，它就铤而走险；为了100的利润，它就敢践踏人间一切法律。”
Behind the facade of easy money, however, competing investors are spending mounds of cash to get the upper hand in a ferocious fight for dominance over the fledgling food delivery industry. “With 10% of the profits, it can promise to be available everywhere. With 20% it starts to get warm in the clothes. With 50% of the profit, it feels ready to take a risk, and in order to acquire 100% of the profit, it doesn’t hesitate to trod on all the laws of men.”
面对一个整体饱和的市场，2010年代的资本家迫不及待地将资本转移到各种新兴平台行业，大打价格战吸引消费者，开出高工资吸引工人，目的无非是为了抢占市场，排挤对手，最终形成市场垄断。
Faced with a saturated market, the capitalists of the 2010’s began to pour money into all kinds of new platform industries. Massive price wars were fought in order to attract customers, and hefty paychecks written in order to attract workers. The end goal, however, was nothing more than to take over the market, get rid of competitors, and finally achieve a monopoly.
资本家之间的狗咬狗，给早期的消费者和工人都带来了一些福利，但明白资本本质的人都清楚，这种福利是不可持续的。
For the early consumer and the early worker, there are benefits to the dog-eat-dog world of capitalists. The situation is clear to those with an understanding of the essence of capitalism, however: There is an end to these kinds of benefits.
最早从自由竞争中胜出的外卖品牌有三家——美团、饿了么和百度外卖。2017年8月，饿了么收购百度；2018年2月，阿里巴巴收购饿了么。从此外卖行业进入两家寡头垄断的时代。经历了几年的快速发展，整个行业在供给（商家、送餐）和需求（顾客、点餐）两方面也逐渐饱和。
In the early competition, there were three food delivery brands that survived: Meituan, Eleme and Baidu Delivery. In August 2017, Eleme bought up Baidu, and in February 2018 Alibaba bought Eleme. From then onwards, the food delivery industry has been a duopoly. After a few years of rapid expansion, every aspect of supply (sellers, delivery) and demand (customers, ordering food) has gradually saturated.
[ Image of two hands, each holding a phone. One with the Meituan logo on it, the other with the Eleme logo on it. ]
垄断的形成和无利可图后资本的冷却，带来的必然是过去烧钱竞争的结束。行业回到社会平均利润，劳动力作为商品，其价格（即骑手的工资）不会高于市场价格，餐品作为商品，其价格也不会低于市场平均水平。甚至，实现了垄断的平台还可以任意操纵单价、佣金、提成，肆意剥削骑手。
As a monopoly is established and profit grows thinner, the competition inevitably reaches its end, and with it the big spending also ends. As the industry returns to profits that are closer to the average, labor once again becomes a trade good. Its value (i.e. the wages of delivery drivers) will never exceed the market price. Likewise, food also becomes a trade good again, and its price will never fall under the market average. Once the monopoly has become a reality, it becomes possible for the platform to manipulate fares, commissions and compensations at will, in order to exploit the drivers.
事实上也正是这样，最近一两年， 我们骑手都知道，一方面单价越来越低（物价却越来越高）：4、5公里的单，从5、6块降到4块、3块甚至2块；送餐时间反而从之前的50分钟下降到40、又降到了30甚至20！
This has already become reality. We drivers know that things have gotten harder over the last couple of years. To begin with, the compensation for a delivery has decreased (even though the price of goods has increased), so that a trip of 4 or 5 kilometers, which once could earn a driver 5 or 6 RMB, will now fetch 3 or even as little as 2 RMB. Furthermore, the time limit for a delivery has grown shorter; from 50 minutes per trip all the way down to 30 or barely 20 minutes!
而各种罚款却层出不穷：超时、差评、餐损、客户退款……不由分说全部都要骑手负责。高峰时段本身时间紧，出餐、交通、顾客每一环都不确定，而克扣的却只有骑手的工资，这是要逼死外卖小哥的节奏吗？
The number of penalties, on the other hand, have only grown more numerous! Exceeding the time limit, bad reviews, damaged food, cancelled orders… somehow, it’s all the driver’s responsibility. The peak hours are a short window during which the driver has to make deliveries, navigate traffic … and let’s hope there are customers to begin with! Every deduction is, of course, made from the driver’s wage. Is this work tempo meant to make the delivery drivers die from anxiety? [ Translator’s note: The author uses a diminutive, roughly “little brother delivery”, to refer to the drivers. ]
另一方面，疫情之下不少人失业，为了生计被迫加入骑手行列的人越来越多，特别是众包，很多时候根本派不到单，等上个一整天也几乎一无所获。
To make matters even worse, a lot of people have lost their jobs during the pandemic, and the number of people willing to try their luck in the delivery business has swelled. Especially in the case of crowdsourcing, some drivers might go a whole day without a single order to deliver.
这种时候，美团和蜂鸟还搞出了“段位”机制，从“青铜”到“王者”，越往上越优先派单。表面上多劳多得，然而即使大家都累死累活，有多少人能上“王者”？实际上，这种机制就是鼓励骑手内部的恶性竞争，刺激低等级骑手，给高等级骑手制造虚假的心理安慰。骑手们干得越卖命，跑得越疯狂，这幕后资本家呀，赚得就越多！
At a time like this, Meituan and Hummingbird decided to introduce a “tier” system, which ranges from “Bronze” at the bottom to “King” at the top. [ Translator’s note: I am not familiar with the company Hummingbird. ] Higher tiers are prioritized for gigs. On the surface, it would seem to produce more work, but actually it makes everyone completely exhausted. How many people actually manage to get into the “King” tier, you think? Actually, this kind of system encourages harmful competition between the drivers, and motivates drivers from the lower tiers to give the higher tier drivers fake psychological comfort. [ Translator’s note: Not sure about the second half of this sentence, maybe the author refers to flattery and favoritism. ] The drivers work harder and harder, and they run faster and faster, while behind the scenes, the capitalists keep earning more and more.
到如今，习惯了点外卖的消费者感到手上的外卖再也不香了，曾经满怀希望加入骑手队伍的我们，发现这个行业越来越艰难……资本家收起了小恩小惠，露出了青面獠牙。这个时候，我们才恍然大悟：原来在资本主义的世界，哪里有什么好事？所谓互联网新经济，也不过是资产者最新建好的血汗工厂。
Today, the take out that the consumers have gotten so used to ordering has long since lost its fragrance. Those of us, full of dreams, who once joined the ranks of delivery drivers, have found out that this industry has become a harsh place….The capitalists are done making small favours, and now bare their fangs. Now it dawns on us, that maybe there were no upsides at all to capitalism, even from the very beginning. The so called new internet economy is nothing but the newest capitalist invention to profit from the blood and sweat of others.
[ Photo of two delivery drivers on their scooters. ]
每当一个新商机出现，各路资本总会像嗅到血腥味一般涌来。最开始，为了吸引工人过来就业，吸引顾客在自己家消费，资本家不惜亏本竞争，送上些红包优惠，工人也的确能分得一点蛋糕屑；可别忘了，一旦大鱼吃小鱼的游戏结束，他们之前送出来的，一定会加倍地从我们身上榨回去。工人的日子，哪里可能越来越好？
Every time a new business opportunity appears, capitalists gather like sharks to the smell of blood. [ Translator’s note: The original doesn’t literally mention sharks. ] At the beginning, they didn’t hesitate to compete at a loss in order to attract workers and customers. They offered incentives and rewards and the workers also got to taste a slice of the cake; but never forget that once the game of battle royale is over [ Translator’s note: “Once the big fish has eaten all the small fish.”], they will come to collect on everything that was handed out – and also squeeze some interest out of us. How could the lives of workers ever keep improving like this?
从工厂跳到外卖，不过是从一个监狱跳到了另一个监狱，从一个地狱跳到了另一个地狱。资本主义总会不断地产生新商机、新职业，这次送外卖凉了，下次还会有其他的“机会”，可难道我们还要一次次地满足于资本家为了在狗咬狗的竞争中获胜才扔给我们的施舍，一次次地把命运寄托于幻想吗？
To trade the factory for the delivery bike is like trading one prison for another, or one hell for a new hell. Capitalism will relentlessly keep producing new business opportunities, new vocations, and once food delivery has cooled off, focus will shift to the next “opportunity.” Will we keep participating in the dog-eat-dog competition of the capitalists only to be rewarded with the crumbs they offer us out of charity? Will we keep pinning our future to a fantasy? [ Translator’s note: Literally “pin fate to fantasy.” ]
不，这不是我们的出路！我们骑手和“厂狗”、环卫工、服务员、建筑工等等无数工人一样，受着同样一套制度的剥削，唯一的出路也只有彻底打碎如今这整套吃人的制度。
No, this is not the way forward! The only way forward for us, the delivery drivers and “factory dogs”, the sanitation workers and waiters, the construction workers and everyone else who suffers from the same systematic exploitation, is to utterly crush this system which feeds on people.
【编者注：编辑时对原文有删减，如果作者有异议，可以联系我们删除。】
( Editor: Some parts of the original text were left out. The author is welcome to contact us about this. )
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