My experience of being a bicycle courier

*This story was originally written in June 2021 while I was an employee at Just Eat Takeaway.com.

I’m riding a bicycle in Leiden, The Netherlands. I’ve done this a thousand times before but this time, I’m on an e-bike and a giant orange bag is on my back. The rain pours down and soaks through my jeans and shoes. Water drips from my helmet into my eyes. The wind whips across the road and for a second I think I’m losing my balance. I can’t see the directions because the phone mount case is fogged over. I have three minutes to deliver the food order in my bag and I can’t figure out which of the apartment towers I should enter. My kind companion, a Leiden courier captain, points me to the right building, and saves the day. I walk up four flights of stairs, deliver the order to the happy customer, take a deep breath and turn back to the captain. “Respect,” I say. “Seriously, respect to all of you.”

From the day I signed my contract with Just Eat Takeaway.com, I wanted to be a bicycle courier. Starting in summer 2020 I’d seen the number of orange-clad couriers in Leiden explode, but I hadn’t paid much attention until I joined the company as the Logistics Research Lead. As a researcher, my whole career has been about finding the best way to advocate for someone else’s reality, whether it be talking to them, observing them or living their reality myself. When I took the job, understanding the courier experience became my responsibility. Time to hop on a bike and deliver some food!