There’s something beautiful about the Checkers Sixty60 as a service. At the same time there’s something very ugly about what makes the service possible. The ability to get groceries from the comfort of your home is a life saver for some. Imagine the delivery benefits for someone with mobility challenges due to a sickness. Imagine an elderly person who can be assisted to get her shopping with ease.
The Checkers Sixty60 service is not just for convenience. It is also an income generator for the brave and those with entrepreneurial mindset. What cannot be denied, however, is that the service comes at a great cost to human lives.
There’s a high risk attached to a quick delivery on a motorbike in South Africa. While risk cannot be detached to anything in life that has to be weighed against a return.A very ugly part seems to be related to the income generated by someone who places so much risk on his life to earn a living. It has been suggested that the income of many drivers of delivery motorbikes is not equivalent to the service and the risks attached to it.
Checkers Sixty60 was supposed to be an innovation. Current reports, however, suggest it’s a double edged sword. As it enables convenience it is also a risky and unthankful way of generating income. Creators of the service and those who are profiting from it ought to reflect about the impact on human lives. They need to avoid the thinking that was adopted by the founder of Uber who was prepared to do whatever it takes to make a profit.
Innovation is great when it truly makes a difference in people’s lives. Regulators ought to think deeply about designing laws that will save lives in the delivery sector. The fact that some people have been avoiding getting jobs in the delivery sector due associated risks should serve as inspiration to create better working conditions.
What has been done to address the risks faced by delivery motorbike drivers?
Users of these services ought to also raise their concerns about labour practices in the delivery sector. Failure to raise a concern also renders them complicit in the abuse by businesses that enjoy profits from this sector. As society adopts technology for everyday life, it will deliver great benefits that will make life better.
Businesses that design such services should be celebrated and rewarded. At the same time, technology adoption will also deliver bad life experiences for some. Society is not obliged to accept everything that seems good while destroying lives. Laws can be designed to reduce harm.
Society enjoys the benefits that come with extra income from Airbnb, at the same time it has been accepted that it negatively impacts the affordability of property for locals. Uber has enabled many to access mobility services almost anywhere. In South Africa the service has also heightened the risk for drivers. Is it not time we start to slow down the speed of innovation to understand and address negative externalities before they harm society?
The faster we innovate the more harm we see in society. At some point the innovation process needs to value humans above beautiful and convenient things. We need responsible innovation if all of us are reap its benefits. Currently some people are enjoying innovation while it's destroying lives.
Wesley Diphoko is a technology analyst and the Editor-In-Chief of FastCompany (SA) magazine.
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