I was there. When delivery gig jobs were popular, but nowhere near as common as they are now. I used my camperized van with 6' of standing space inside, so I could make the big deliveries that nobody else could. At points I was hauling tens of thousands of dollars in medical equipment, maybe even hundreds of thousands in some massive loads.
After the first month though, I came out with the experience to never take delivery jobs as an independent contractor, and ESPECIALLY using your own vehicle.
It's not worth it. Some people gravitate to it because they think it's cool to be able to make your living driving around all day. But let me tell you, it's not. Even if you love driving, the system is designed to take advantage of gig workers and their own capital assets, particularly the costs of automobile ownership.
At the end of it, when I complained about how little I was paid I was told by the person who ran the dispatch, that I needed to better plan my deliveries to be more efficient so I could make more money.
Um... I spent most of my idle time sitting in my van WAITING FOR DISPATCH to send me. There was nothing wrong with the way I was delivering, or the routes I took. It was dispatch who was 100% in charge of dispersing jobs and matching me to them. Period. Yet the very person in charge of doing that was gaslighting me.
The money didn't cover the costs of maintenance and operation. And that's not even considering being exposed to situations like the kid who tore off my bumper trying to pass me in a burst of speed in the opposing lane on my left when I had been signaling to make a left turn for a very long time, and was even at an intersection where I had to turn. He tried to lie about it all, of course, claiming that I "appeared" out of a driveway which I couldn't possibly have had access to.
And this situation, signalling to make a left turn then having some asshole think he can race you and beat you by speeding beside you in the direction you're turning, is unfortunately a common occurrence in this city. And it's much more horrifying on a two-wheeled vehicle than in a big van.
How many situations like that do you think you can mentally handle through the course of your career? Not much.
But the point of all that is simply to give you a small window into the exploitive field of deliveries in today's age.
The takeaway is... There is only ONE THING standing in the way of further capitalist erosion of any industry, and exploitation of its workers. That is the Union.
Stand with your posties and the CUPW. They are not just fighting for Canada Post workers. They are fighting for stability and the elimination of exploitive gig work for ALL workers, starting with their industry first. With the big boom in Skip, Uber, etc., so many unwary souls are falling into the trap of delivery work which doesn't pay the bills, which they become trapped in.
We need to end exploitive practices for all, and give all people hired to work for somebody else's profit a fair living.
https://jacobin.com/2025/10/canada-post-strike-gig-economy
#cdnpoli #abpoli #union #Solidarity #labour #unionstrong
