The Pandemic sent to the road many of those who were out of work, increasing the number of Uber Eats couriers in Lisbon. The ECO joined them and heard the stories of those on the street.
Around noon, when hunger strikes, Murilo, Vítor, Gabriela and two or three other couriers, all Brazilians, wait for a meal order to deliver. They are close to two fast-food restaurants half a dozen steps from Saldanha. In times of Pandemic and on the way to the fifth week of the State of Emergency, social isolation or teleworking are norms that the Uber Eats couriers cannot follow. And there are more and more couriers on the streets of Lisbon these days.
“More people are delivering food because now there’s no other job. Many Brazilians work in restaurants, but as the restaurants are closing and without a work contract, people come to work for Uber Eats,” says Murilo, sitting on the rented scooter he uses to make the deliveries.
And there are more requests now? “Not anymore. People are saving because the economy is going down. The first and last week of the month are the strongest because that’s when people have money. But I’ve been here since 11:00 today and I haven’t received any orders yet. Right now there are a lot of couriers on the street and fewer orders,” he says.
A few meters behind, Gabriela’s cell phone, 30 years old, already gave the signal. She picks up an order at a sandwich restaurant to go deliver it a few streets down and she too has the same opinion. “In the first weeks when the outbreak started there were a lot of orders because people weren’t worried about the money yet. Now it’s not like that anymore. Some colleagues who had already stopped making deliveries are coming back because they lost the jobs they had,” she laments.
Vítor, who’s around, never delivered before. At the age of 25, he was a chef in a small restaurant in Santa Apolónia that employed ten people. With the State of Emergency, it’s closed – and there’s no plan to open. Without a salary, he started working at Uber Eats a month ago. “I work about 12 hours and at this time I do between 40 and 50 euros a day. But then you have the expenses. The bike rental, the fuel, the Uber Eats account and the delivery commission. In total it’s about 150 euros of expenses per week” Vítor says, as he looks at the application on his mobile phone waiting for his next order.
Anything goes to make deliveries. Even tuk tuks
And in this time of Pandemic you are protected with mask and gloves? “Only helmet!” answers Vítor, in an excellent mood, without showing much concern about the outbreak. Gabriela is more thoughtful: “at first I wore a mask and gloves, but with the increase in price I stopped wearing them. I would have to change the gloves for every request I made and that would be very expensive.”
In another area of Lisbon, in Santos, Carlos (Portuguese with a fictitious name) laughs. “Go and buy masks or alcohol. It’s a robbery! The Indians have alcohol on sale for 10 euros. But I have to work. If I don’t work, how can I put food in the house?” he asks, after putting three hamburgers in his backpack to go to the Lapa area for a service that takes him less than ten minutes. And the business? “In a day, 40 euros is already very good. Before the virus, I did a little more. Maybe another 20 or 30. Now there’s more people on the street, people who had an open account but weren’t delivering, and now they’re back on. And there are also people coming from tuk tuks and Uber.”
This is the case of Henrique, a Brazilian of Italian descent, or a “brasiliano” as he calls himself. Henrique is 34 years old and has been in Portugal for about a year and a half managing a fleet of cars at Uber. With the beginning of the Pandemic and the consequent fall of customers, he changed to Uber Eats and now makes the deliveries with the car.
A little further away, Rita, a 23-year-old Portuguese woman, stands out among the other couriers. She’s a woman in the middle of a service mostly done by men and makes the deliveries in a red tuk tuk that the municipal police wanted to seize a few days ago in Rossio, she tells ECO. The officer claimed she couldn’t make deliveries with this kind of vehicle. Rita defended herself by saying that the tuk tuk was registered in her personal name and was not doing a tourist service at the time, even though she had a license to do so. The exchange of arguments ended with a fine of 120 euros for bad parking.
More tips. And even an Easter “banquet”
But these days, parking and traffic are no longer a problem in Lisbon. According to a group of five couriers it is now much quicker to make deliveries due to less traffic: “We are still on the street working and there are people who appreciate it. At Easter there was a family who made an order and said that the food they had ordered was to be delivered to the courier as a way of thanking him for working at Easter,” says Hugo, a Brazilian communications student from Rio de Janeiro.
Between arguments about President Bolsonaro’s performance in his country and praise for the way the Portuguese press has helped the Government fight the Pandemic, Hugo concludes that it is all about scale and politics. Brazil has over 200 million inhabitants and a very complex political system compared to Portugal, which has 10 million and a much simpler system.
Politics aside and already in the Amoreiras area, Renan Ribeiro shares the coincidence of having the same name as the goalkeeper of Sporting CP. In a year and a half he’s already made almost 7,000 trips, “thank God without any fall,” he jokes. And the business? Renan complains that in Amoreiras there are only four restaurants open and that makes the orders in that area have decreased a little.
In relation to the Pandemic, Renan made some considerations about billing, protection and friends who were left without work. “At first there was more work, but now it’s going back to the way it was before. What has increased is the tip! I make about 10 euros a day in the application,” he says to ECO and continues “I am careful to wear a mask and gloves and avoid touching the elevators and door handles as much as possible. And I have a friend of mine who got unemployed and is now trying to get a license from Uber Eats but there’s always a way to use other people’s accounts, paying a commission to that person for the deliveries he makes.”
Lunchtime is over and by 4pm Renan hasn’t had orders in the Amoreiras area for some time. “I’m going to Chiado and see if there is better.”