Working at Flink delivery service: Riders’ Experiences

We publish here the words of some Dresden Flink Riders.

It starts with the experiences of our member Prince, with whom we will soon be taking Flink to the labor court:

(Zur deutschen Übersetzung: hier klicken)

I am Prince, a student of hydro science and engineering in Dresden. I would like to share my experience at Flink with you.
When I first joined the company there were no problems and I actually had a good time until at a point the environment started shifting fundamentally. Along with working conditions and regulations changing from day to day it got increasingly difficult to get any direct communication with the responsible people like bosses or regional management. Not only did they suddenly stop giving us enough shifts for us to make a living from it, the amount and the weight of the orders that we had to carry on our backs also exploded. This mistreatment had a bad effect on our motivation.
The transporting of goods to the customer turned out somewhat chaotic: We started to fix the much too heavy bags in front of our bikes in addition to the backpacks and had to ride this way in heavy storm and rain. Sometimes our smartphones got wet, my phone was damaged and I didn’t receive any compensation because I could not prove the cause instantly on the spot.
With the first big wave of firing we got nervous – who would be next if our friends had just been dismissed from one day to another? Our colleagues were not terminated in any proper or respectful way, actually they only realized when they could not log into the system anymore. In general the rapid changes of digital tools, apps and contacts were confusing – often difficult to access payrolls.
One day a particular incident occurred to me when working with Flink: I had supposedly been fired and was taken out of their system without even knowing it. I had to go through a lot of stress and uncertainty not knowing what was going on before they finally sent me a formal termination letter.
After going through this experience with Flink I realized that a lot of foreign riders in delivery companies are dealing with similar situations. In my opinion there should definitely be proper protection, legal support and monitoring of the working conditions in such precarious jobs.

Anonymous quotes from other Riders:

“At the beginning, the work at Flink was actually quite ok, we were allowed to take a lot of leftover food and had a good time together. Then suddenly came the shock: wage payments were not made, the contractually agreed working hours were no longer adhered to and masses of colleagues were dismissed from one day to the next. Since then, the inconsistencies have been piling up.”

“As drivers at Flink, we have become accustomed to the normal madness. With backpacks that are far too heavy, we have to drive out even in constant rain and storms without appropriate work clothes, according to the motto ‘delivery first, work safety second’.”

“I have often seen Flink repeatedly rely on the fact that we do not know our rights. Laws that have to be posted have only been posted in German, responsibilities are often unclear when complaints are made, or the Support ‘answers’ after two weeks with meaningless phrases. Every month I have to recheck my payroll and correct it on my own.”