The fragile ‘art’ of multi-apping: Resilience and snapping in the gig economy

Cosmin Popan
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Cosmin Popan: Department of Sociology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

Environment and Planning A, 2024, vol. 56, issue 3, 802-815

Abstract: Doing food deliveries while working on multiple platforms at the same time is a common phenomenon amongst couriers, to the point that it has its own moniker: multi-apping. Workers extol the opportunity to earn better money, and also the skills needed to do so. Platforms are turning a blind eye since it allows them to argue in court that riders are self-employed. This entrepreneurial mindset has nevertheless drawbacks for couriers whose accounts can be deactivated if they are late or if customers report them. Understood as resilience against unpaid labour, multi-apping represents, in fact, work intensification. As platforms ‘sub-contract’ the risks and costs resulting from inefficiency in time use, it becomes the couriers’ responsibility to remove unpaid time through multi-apping. Rather than representing a form of resistance or subversion, multi-apping is not only the inevitable result of work intensification. In a vicious circle, it brings about more work intensification.

Keywords: Gig economy; multi-apping; work intensification; resilience; labour agency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:56:y:2024:i:3:p:802-815

DOI: 10.1177/0308518X231209984

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