Wen/MaoMaoWolf ( WeChat public number: 财经 郎眼daily)

This week, a "People" magazine interview, "takeout riders, trapped in the system" article screen, the public opinion of the takeout riders has never been a time like this one side of the sympathy. In this public opinion clamor, the spearhead pointed directly at the "algorithm".

According to the "Algorithm", the algorithm is not responsible for this.

According to the logic revealed in the article "Takeout riders, trapped in the system", the logic of the "rider predicament" can be derived directly is this:

Algorithms decide to shorten the delivery time according to the historical data, and in order to avoid the order overtime the rider had to race, go against the traffic, run red lights; when the rider finished the delivery, more short time was generated. This vicious cycle allows the rider's delivery time to shrink more and more short, and the algorithm puts the rider more and more into a predicament.

But the logic of the algorithm is not that simple.

Checking the paper "Order Fulfillment Cycle Time Estimation for On-Demand Food Delivery" released by Ali's local life intelligent logistics team, it can be seen that the goal of the algorithm is how to make the algorithm more accurately fit the historical data, rather than as much as possible. shorten the delivery time. When designing the algorithm, the algorithm engineers also took into account the weather conditions, the restaurant's food time, the rider's waiting time for the elevator and other factors.

Note: Due to the complexity of the paper's description, the full version of the paper is available for those who are interested.

So who's trapping takeout riders?

In a takeout order, there are three parties involved: the platform, the takeout rider, and the user who orders takeout. All three parties are naturally profit-driven.

The platform wants more orders, more profit, and needs more efficient delivery. Therefore, the platform may artificially shorten the estimated delivery time of the rider, using the characteristics of the algorithm to play the game of this infinite cycle of deterioration.

Delivery riders want higher incomes and need to deliver more orders per unit of time. When normal driving motorcycles can not achieve a further increase in efficiency, some, or even the vast majority of takeaway riders chose to go against the flow of traffic, running red lights, and even see through the needle in the traffic.

Users who order takeout want to receive it faster, and of course, no spills would be perfect.

With three parties*** working together, the average delivery time for a takeaway order has been reduced by 10 minutes in three years. In other words, within a distance of 3 kilometers, takeout is delivered in 20 minutes.

As for the algorithm, it was simply sampled with new data after riders chose to deliver orders faster despite weather difficulties, even running red lights and going against traffic.

Of course, what the algorithm doesn't take, the consumer definitely doesn't either.

The apparent seeming kindness is actually forcibly kidnapping consumers. Subsequently, Bai Yansong said in News 1 +1: "This is the problem of the platform and regulation, can not be directly dumped on the consumer, do so not only can not solve the real problem, and will only make the warmer and more tolerant people suffer more, which is not suitable."

From the consumer's point of view, so right. But want to completely solve the takeaway rider predicament, alone only platform rectification is not enough.

Do a simple deduction, if the platform extends the rider's delivery time, the rider will choose to slowly wait for the red light, driving slowly on the right to deliver, or will choose "since there is plenty of time, I will take two more orders?" .

The indifference of takeaway riders to traffic rules almost makes every driver traveling on the road "gnash their teeth" and "praise".

In 2019, there was a media field shooting statistics in Guangzhou. The results show that in the same road, in just 10 minutes, there are 9 takeaway electric car violations.

On the one hand, the platform certainly has an unshirkable responsibility.

According to an interview with a takeaway rider, part of the reason for these accidents is that we can avoid the safety risk by taking fewer orders, but there are also other factors. For example, usually for the sake of safety, we will wear headphones to minimize the look at the phone, but the platform will prompt you, this push single if how many seconds do not look at, will automatically reject, refused to single more, the platform will not give you a single assignment, then most riders will choose to look.

In addition to this, why is it that takeaway riders are not at all worried about the consequences of traffic violations? There was a Foshan takeaway boy in just 10 days, traffic violations 65, and his years of accumulated unprocessed violation records full of 29 pages of A4 paper.

Suppose a person driving a car finds out that if he doesn't run a red light, he'll be late and lose his 500 RMB attendance award, and if he runs a red light, he'll be deducted 6 points and fined 200. common sense would say that even with a 300 RMB spread, he'd choose not to run a red light. On the one hand, it is for the safety of life, and on the other hand, the penalty of 6 points is a disproportionate price to pay.

In other words, takeaway riders don't care at all about traffic violations and would rather trade them for more income because the cost of violating the law is too low.

Non-motorized vehicles are penalized 50 yuan for running a red light; 30 yuan for passing in a motor vehicle lane; 50 yuan for a fine of more than 15 kilometers per hour; and driving under the influence of alcohol: a fine of 50 yuan. Compared to the traffic accidents that may result, such penalties may be too light.

As Ma Liang, a professor at Renmin University of China's School of Public **** Management, said on TV, the takeaway industry creates jobs and facilitates people's lives, but the traffic violations, occupational safety, white trash, and other "negative externalities" it brings are all manifestations of market failure. In the case of market failure, it is necessary for the government "visible hand" to intervene and correct, so that the market back to the survival of the fittest in the benign order.

Without government regulation to protect the bottom line, industry development will be reduced to follow the law of the jungle, the law of the jungle, the bad money will expel the good money, and ultimately lead to the enterprise does not have the motivation and ability to improve the working conditions of the takeaway riders.

And traffic safety hazards are just one of the "hidden corners" of the takeaway industry.