Algorithm Opacity

The various companies active in the industry present themselves as “tech startups”
offering a technology that connects restaurants, customers and couriers. Essentially, all
that the restaurants, customers and couriers see is an app on their terminals (phones,
tablets, computers) and all that they can control is the user interface of (it must be said:
often buggy) software which keeps everything (distance and price calculations, routing,
available couriers etc.) hidden from the user. This is problematic for all three parties for
many reasons, but it is particularly outrageous for the couriers in light of their employer-
employee relationship with the company. We discuss this relationship elsewhere, but
here we want to point out that the “Algorithm” (in quotation marks and capitalized
because that's precisely how it's referred to) which regulates and manages opaquely
and inhumanly the working life of couriers is kept under layers and layers of secrecy in
an apparently conscious effort to deify and mystify it as some untouchable entity
(Ivanova et al., 2018). Importantly, the parameters of the algorithm are not part of the
contract between Mjam and the couriers.

Take for example the drop-off distances. Two years ago it was being
communicated to the couriers that the drop-off distance was 1,5 km i so-called Luftlinie,
or a direct line from point to point, not an actual 1,5 km route on the street, which could
be significantly longer1. A courier would be sent to a restaurant to pick up a meal and
after that would be sent to a customer no more than 1,5 km away from that restaurant
(or approx. 2,1 km actual distance). A year ago, when Mjam replaced Foodora as the
new brand sometime in 2019, it was communicated informally and ex post facto that
the the maximum drop-off distance was 3km (or, a 4,2 km route). In late 2019 the
couriers found out again informally that the drop-off radius was the equivalent of a 14
min bicycle route using google maps (which can be up to 4,9 km in road distance).
Lately, reports from couriers are coming that these distances have again been
expanded, but as of yet no formal or informal communication has come from Mjam.

Adjusting the maximum order radius (within the aforementioned limit) happens on
the fly, as a way to balance supply of orders and demand from couriers to carry out the
received orders. Couriers have noticed that their last order of the shift sends them far
away from the city center and deep on residential areas. Presumably, the algorithm,
responsible for the efficiency of the operation, acknowledges that the courier will not be
needed for further pick-ups from restaurants.

1 A study in the USA found this ratio between straight-line and actual distance to be 1,4 (Boscoe
et al., 2012).
 2 Re f e re n c e s

References
Boscoe, F. P., Henry, K. A., & Zdeb, M. S. (2012). A Nationwide Comparison of Driving
Distance Versus Straight-Line Distance to Hospitals. The Professional Geographer :
The Journal of the Association of American Geographers, 64(2).
https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2011.583586
Ivanova, M., Bronowicka, J., Kocher, E., & Degner, A. (2018). The App as a Boss? Control
and Autonomy in Application-Based Management. Arbeit | Grenze | Fluss - Work in
Progress Interdisziplinä- Rer Arbeitsforschung Nr. 2. http://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-
euv/frontdoor/index/index/docId/388
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