Logistics platforms’ ‘new’ mode of appropriation

An analysis of four trends from inside Germany’s Q-commerce sector

Bibliographic Data

ID21189678
AuthorsHarry Parfitt (University of Freiburg), Ercüment Çelik (0009-0004-1124-2926, University of Freiburg)
Year2025
Volume19
Issue2
Publication date2025-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWork Organisation Labour & Globalisation (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1745-641X • E-ISSN: 1745-6428
PublisherPluto Journals (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0009
OpenAlexW4411856705
LanguageEN
References cited24

This article investigates the ‘newness’ of platformised logistics labour through an ethnographic study of a Q-Commerce platform – ‘Smart Groceries’ – in Germany. Because conditions at ‘Smart Groceries’ seemed comparatively good, the authors were forced to question the centrality of ‘gigification’ to platform logistics labour. The article draws on participant observation and 16 in-depth interviews with workers and suggests that logistics platforms’ ‘new’ mode of harnessing labour to capital represents an intertwining of four trends: algorithmic management, flexibilisation, the ‘explosion’ of the factory and the incorporation of migrant labour. These trends foster alienation, precarity, fragmentation and exploitation, respectively

Appropriation · Business · Industrial organization · Operating system · Political science · Regional science · Sociology · Computer Science · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Philosophy · Sharing Economy and Platforms