While reading the editorial of Friends of Dense Discovery #335, where Kai shared his experience trying to order a pizza from a local restaurant—only to discover the delivery was outsourced to a service like DoorDash—I couldn’t help but reflect on the broader implications of our reliance on these platforms. This reflection deepened as I revisited Anne Helen Petersen’s article, "The Gig Economy Is a Trap."
The gig economy promises us convenience: just a few clicks, and life feels a little easier. But have you ever stopped to think about what it really costs?
Anne Helen Petersen sums it up perfectly: this business model thrives on making things cheap and fast for consumers, but it does so by taking a big cut from workers and classifying them as "independent contractors." No benefits, no protections, no stability.
Economist David Weil calls this the "fissured workplace"—a system where the pursuit of convenience and low prices comes at the expense of workers’ rights and the quality of the service itself.
Blame the System, Not the Worker
When something goes wrong—a delayed delivery, a bad experience—what’s the first thing we do? We blame the worker.
We call them lazy, unmotivated, or rude. But the truth is, the system sets them up to fail. It prioritizes speed and profit over fairness and quality, and then leaves workers to take the heat when things fall apart.
Why Do We Keep Using These Services?
Here’s the hard truth: we rely on these exploitative systems because we’re stuck in the same economy that created them.
We’ve been conditioned to believe our time should always be spent working or recovering from work. Tasks like helping a friend build furniture or shopping in person now feel like luxuries we can’t afford. So, we turn to convenience—not because we want to, but because we feel like we have to.
And as a society, we’ve decided we want more for less:
- More convenience.
- More technology.
- More stuff.
But none of it at prices that feel out of reach. The problem? Making something cheaper and more accessible almost always makes it worse—for the workers, for the product, and for us.
How Do We Break the Cycle?
If we want better services, fairer workplaces, and a more sustainable economy, we need to stop blaming individuals and start questioning the systems.
It’s not an easy shift, but it starts with small choices:
- Supporting businesses that treat workers fairly.
- Reflecting on our own habits and choosing quality over convenience when we can.
- Pushing for systemic changes that protect workers and create sustainable business models.
Convenience isn’t inherently bad, but the way it’s built today often is. If we want a better future, we need to rethink how we consume—and how we value the people behind the services we rely on.
What do you think? How do you balance convenience with fairness in your own life?
Picture from Precious Madubuike on Unsplash
Comments