The development comes as over 2,500 Blinkit delivery workers have been on strike in Gurugram since last week, after the company said it reduced the fixed payouts per delivery from Rs 25 to Rs 15.
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New Delhi: Amid ongoing protests by the delivery partners against the recent changes made to incentive structures, Zomato-owned quick commerce platform Blinkit on Monday said it is permanently shutting some of its dark stores in Delhi and Gurugram.
“Dear Blinkit partner, We thank you for providing your services to customers from your store. You all have not been working at the store for the past 3-4 days, and work has not started despite a lot of talks. That’s why the company is having to shut down this store forever,” Blinkit said in a message in a mix of Hindi and English.
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“Since this store is being shuttered permanently, we are disabling all of your IDs. For any issue, you can raise a ticket on support,” the company added in the letter.
Only A Few Dark Stores Are Functional
Out of the 31 dark stores that cater to Blinkit in Gurugram, only a handful are now functional with protection from local police and bouncers deployed by the company.
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Why Blinkit Workers Protest?
The development comes as over 2,500 Blinkit delivery workers have been on strike in Gurugram since last week, after the company said it reduced the fixed payouts per delivery from Rs 25 to Rs 15.
Some of the delivery executives claimed that they have received the intimation regarding the closures of dark stores on the Blinkit delivery partner app. The company also stated that no work is going on around the stores for the past 3 to 4 days.
The message from Blinkit stated that the delivery worker can no longer work with the platform because the dark store they were associated with has been shut down.
What Are Dark Stores?
Quick-commerce platforms have specific locations that are called ‘dark stores’ where they store and package their products for delivery. From the dark stores, the delivery workers are allowed to deliver packages.
The board of Zomato last year approved the acquisition of Blinkit for Rs 4,447 crore in an all-stock deal.
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The delivery workers started protesting after Zomato implemented modifications to the remuneration arrangement for Blinkit workers. As part of the updated structure, delivery personnel will receive no less than Rs 15 for each delivery within a 1 km radius, compared to the prior rate of Rs 25. Moreover, if the distance traveled for a delivery exceeds 1 km, the workers will be compensated based on the distance traveled, with a rate ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 14 per km.
The workers started protests launched 12 April and the agitations have mainly affected the services in Delhi and Gurugram.
