Logistics platforms’ ‘new’ mode of appropriation?: An analysis of four trends from inside Germany’s Q-commerce sector
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...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Pluto Journals
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation |
| Online Access: | https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0009 |
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| _version_ | 1849423367582515200 |
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| author | Harry Parfitt Ercüment Çelik |
| author_facet | Harry Parfitt Ercüment Çelik |
| author_sort | Harry Parfitt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6577cf77d62349adb0d6bdfc4eb53770 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1745-641X 1745-6428 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Pluto Journals |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation |
| spelling | doaj-art-6577cf77d62349adb0d6bdfc4eb537702025-08-20T03:30:37ZengPluto JournalsWork Organisation, Labour and Globalisation1745-641X1745-64282025-05-0119226127710.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0009Logistics platforms’ ‘new’ mode of appropriation?: An analysis of four trends from inside Germany’s Q-commerce sectorHarry ParfittErcüment ÇelikThis 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.https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0009 |
| spellingShingle | Harry Parfitt Ercüment Çelik Logistics platforms’ ‘new’ mode of appropriation?: An analysis of four trends from inside Germany’s Q-commerce sector Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation |
| title | Logistics platforms’ ‘new’ mode of appropriation?: An analysis of four trends from inside Germany’s Q-commerce sector |
| title_full | Logistics platforms’ ‘new’ mode of appropriation?: An analysis of four trends from inside Germany’s Q-commerce sector |
| title_fullStr | Logistics platforms’ ‘new’ mode of appropriation?: An analysis of four trends from inside Germany’s Q-commerce sector |
| title_full_unstemmed | Logistics platforms’ ‘new’ mode of appropriation?: An analysis of four trends from inside Germany’s Q-commerce sector |
| title_short | Logistics platforms’ ‘new’ mode of appropriation?: An analysis of four trends from inside Germany’s Q-commerce sector |
| title_sort | logistics platforms new mode of appropriation an analysis of four trends from inside germany s q commerce sector |
| url | https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/workorgalaboglob.19.2.0009 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT harryparfitt logisticsplatformsnewmodeofappropriationananalysisoffourtrendsfrominsidegermanysqcommercesector AT ercumentcelik logisticsplatformsnewmodeofappropriationananalysisoffourtrendsfrominsidegermanysqcommercesector |