Imagine you are lounging at home, ordering groceries. You expect them to be delivered in some hours or days. But lo and behold, you find the delivery person standing outside your doorstep 10 minutes after you place your order. You double-check to be sure that they are not the superhero Flash. No, the delivery person is a human who has just done his job stupendously fast.
Is such a fast delivery putting that individual at risk? That is the focal point of debate that has surrounded Grofers' latest offering — To deliver groceries in 10 minutes. Netizens have slammed the company for endangering the life of their delivery partners for the sake of profit by asking them to drive fast and break traffic rules as well.
Grofers founder Albinder Dhindsa penned a response to such criticism which he shared on his Twitter handle. Dhindsa explained that their partner stores are located within two kilometres of their customers, and that means the company can deliver 90% of orders within 15 minutes even if the delivery person drove under 10 kmph. The packing of the ordered items can also be done within two and a half minutes thanks to their technology. And the company has reported zero rider accidents in the last two months since the launch of the 10-minute grocery delivery.
He described Grofers as not the company "built on the back of exploitation of the poor", but "by creating large swathes of employment, and generating tremendous amounts of value for all stakeholders."
He ended the note by saying, "It breaks my heart that instead of celebrating innovations (and startup success) coming from India, some of us stay cynical/envious of people who are trying to break the status quo. We need more people who dare, and less of those who pull them down."