Remember when waiting 30 minutes for food delivery was considered normal? Those were apparently the dark ages. Now, if your biryani doesn’t materialize like a genie out of a lamp within 10-minutes, it’s practically a human rights violation. Welcome to 2025, where patience is extinct and delivery partners are the new Olympic sprinters.
10 Is The Magic Number: Because 11 Minutes Would Be Barbaric???
Let’s start with a day in the life of Rajesh, a delivery partner for one of our beloved food-tech and quick commerce giants. It’s 3 PM, and he’s already completed 15 deliveries, jumped three red lights (all in the spirit of customer service, of course), squeezed through impossible gaps in traffic (physics is merely a suggestion), and received two “late delivery” complaints because he took 11 instead of 10-minute. Why? Because he foolishly stopped to help an elderly person cross the road. Clearly, his priorities need adjustment. “Sometimes it seems like he is playing a video game except they have only one life, and the restart button doesn’t work in reality.”
The Great Indian Jugaad: Breaking Every Rule in the Book
How do these companies achieve the impossible 10-minute delivery? Simple! Just throw every regulation, safety standard, and ethical consideration out the window. Here’s the secret recipe:
- Dark stores in residential areas? Check! Who needs zoning laws when you have targets to meet?
- Traffic rules? More like traffic suggestions!
- Food safety guidelines? Let’s just call it “rustic authenticity”
- Worker rights? Sorry, we can’t hear you over the sound of our app notifications
- The Customer Is Always Right (Even When They’re Horrifyingly Wrong)
Imagine it’s raining heavily, there’s flooding in parts of the city, and someone orders a single packet of chips with the expectation of 10-minute delivery. Because apparently, their life will collapse without those instant-delivery Lay’s. And heaven forbid if the delivery partner takes 12 minutes – cue the one-star rating and the dreaded complaint: “Food arrived late, day ruined!” This dire event of instant gratification of the new generation is not only putting the life of delivery partners in compromise, but this attitude is also damaging the patience level in these folks, specifically the Gen Z!
Let’s take a moment to appreciate the evolution of human empathy:
- 1990s: “It’s raining? Don’t worry about the delivery.”
- 2000s: “Take your time in this weather.”
- 2025: “Why isn’t my order here yet? Does your bike not have wings?” Ah, forget the rain fee charged by these food delivery and quick commerce behemoths!
Is The Real Cost of Your Convenience Supreme Above Everything?
While you’re tracking your order like it’s a NASA space mission, here’s what’s happening on the ground:
- Delivery partners skipping meals to meet targets
- Sleeping just 4-5 hours between shifts; recall the case from China when the delivery partner dies due to such harsh situations.
- Risking their lives navigating through dangerous traffic conditions
- Facing abuse for factors entirely beyond their control, for example, if they get late because the mall executive denied their entry into the lifts and asked them to use the staircase, whereas the last mile delivery was calculated otherwise. But hey, at least you got your coffee while it was still hot, right?
The Math That Doesn’t Add Up
Let’s break down these magical 10-minutes:
- 2 minutes: Order acceptance and assignment
- 2 minutes: Food preparation (apparently, physics works differently in dark kitchens)
- 5 minutes: Travel time (including teleportation through traffic)
- 1 minute: Building entry, customer location, delivery
- Remaining time: Questioning life choices
So, now imagine what is cooked in 2 minutes, probably the Anti-fresh foods. Now let’s wonder why our nation is becoming the cancer and diabetes capital in the world!
But Why To See The Risk Of Human Life, When The Great Indian Startup Dream Is More Important?
Venture Capitalists are throwing money at these companies like it’s confetti at a wedding. Because nothing says “sustainable business model” quite like:
- Burning cash faster than a furnace, because the fallacy of Deep discounting is a trend nowadays.
- Exploiting workforce desperation- how Mr Palicha is on the way to become Mr Murthy by employing enormous working hours for their employees.
- Ignoring basic safety regulations,
- Promising the impossible(Probably where Webvan and Getir failed, in UK, but Zepto survived)
But who cares about sustainability when you can get your momos in 10-minutes?
What’s More Problematic Is The Environmental Nightmare!
Every 10-minute delivery comes with a free side of environmental destruction:
- Excessive plastic packaging (because speed > sustainability)
- Increased carbon emissions from rushed deliveries
- More vehicles on the road
- More waste from dark kitchens
- But climate change can wait – your instant noodles can’t.
A Letter from Your Delivery Partner
Dear Valued Customer,
I know you’re wondering why your order took 11 instead of 10-minute. Let me explain:
- I had to dodge three trucks
- Navigate through a wedding procession
- Avoid hitting a stray dog
- And yes, I took 5 seconds to breathe
- My sincerest apologies for being human.
Regards,
Your “Delivery Partner” (who is actually a person with a family)
Is There Any Better Road Ahead (If We Can See It Through The Smog Of This Chilly Winter)
Is this really the future we want? Where:
- Human lives are worth less than delivery times
- Traffic rules are mere suggestions
- Food safety is optional
- Worker welfare is an afterthought
Perhaps it’s time to ask ourselves that do we really need everything in 10-minutes? Is our instant gratification worth the cost of human dignity and safety?
At last, Concluding The Math Of 10-minute delivery with A Modest Proposal,
Here’s a radical thought: What if we waited 30 minutes for our food? I know, shocking. But consider the benefits:
- Delivery partners might actually survive their shifts
- Traffic rules could be followed
- Food might be prepared safely
- Workers could be treated like humans
Or is that asking for too much in our brave new world of instant everything?
As we stand at this crossroads of convenience and conscience, we must decide what kind of society we want to be. One where:
- Human life has value beyond delivery metrics
- Workers are treated with dignity
- Safety isn’t sacrificed for speed
- Patience isn’t considered a weakness
The next time you’re about to rate a delivery partner one star for taking 12 instead of 10-minute, remember: Your convenience shouldn’t cost someone their life. And maybe, just maybe, those extra two minutes could be spent developing something we seem to have lost along the way – our humanity. Because in the end, no meal is worth a life, and no delivery is worth a soul. But try telling that to someone who’s been waiting 11 minutes for their burger.
