The fragile ‘art’ of multi-apping: Resilience and snapping in the gig economy

Abstract

Doing food deliveries while working on multiple platforms at the same time is a common phenomenon amongst couriers, to the point that it has its own moniker: multi-apping. Workers extol the opportunity to earn better money, and also the skills needed to do so. Platforms are turning a blind eye since it allows them to argue in court that riders are self-employed. This entrepreneurial mindset has nevertheless drawbacks for couriers whose accounts can be deactivated if they are late or if customers report them. Understood as resilience against unpaid labour, multi-apping represents, in fact, work intensification. As platforms ‘sub-contract’ the risks and costs resulting from inefficiency in time use, it becomes the couriers’ responsibility to remove unpaid time through multi-apping. Rather than representing a form of resistance or subversion, multi-apping is not only the inevitable result of work intensification. In a vicious circle, it brings about more work intensification.