This Element is an excerpt from Smart Pricing (ISBN: ) by Jagmohan Raju and Z. John Zhang. Available in print and digital formats. When “ pay.
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- When your boss is an algorithm | Financial Times
- BUY A WATCH
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- SELL YOUR WATCH
Kedari and Ganesh pull their crate into the compartment and squat on their haunches against a tinny blue wall. Fans sit motionless in the stilted air, their protective grills thick with years of grime. Crows caw noisily outside. Kedari suddenly leaps to his feet. Picking up a single tiffin, he passes it through the window to a dabbawala in an adjacent train.
Later he explains that he has calculated the tiffin will arrive at its destination earlier by this alternative route. The train jerks from the platform. The carriages rattle past thick vegetation and higgledy-piggledy houses crammed up against the tracks. A little way down the line, those who are not inured to it smell Mahim Creek before they see it.
A black, open sewer, choked with mangroves and poisoned by industrial effluent, it is teeming with slum life. Kedari and Ganesh muscle their crate off the train, along the platform, up the steps and out on to a busy flyover. They rely too on close connections with Shiv Sena, a pro-Marathi Hindu nationalist party that has dominated Mumbai politics for two decades. In return, the dabbawalas provide a loyal voting bloc.
The dabbawalas have also become the subject of Indian academic inquiry. Dr Pawan G Agrawal is not a medical practitioner. He owes the Dr in front of his name to the PhD he earned studying how the dabbawalas operate. With a TED talk to his name, Agrawal is now a regular on the lecture circuit, coaching multinationals in the theory and practice of dabbawala logistics.
He travelled with us in the luggage compartment. Outside on the street, boys are playing cricket. Inside, the office is so fiercely air-conditioned that the heavily sugared chai brought to guests is cold by the time it arrives. Agrawal sits behind his desk, arms outstretched in a welcoming gesture. He hands over his card, which lists, in addition to his PhD, so many qualifications and awards that it is concertinaed into three sections to accommodate them all.
A shelf behind him is crammed with plaques. Agrawal has a neat, pencil-thin moustache, a round face and an infectious smile. There is something of a Dickensian character about him. Asked to explain the essence of the dabbawala system, he slips into a minute monologue, broken only when he stands up — first to put on a Gandhi cap by way of a prop and later to slam two tiffin tins on the table ditto.
What can we learn from them? I get the message my father is dying. I will not immediately rush out. I will adjust my job, adjust my tiffin. In his book, Masters of Supply Chain Management , Agrawal says the dabbawala service began in when a Parsi banker employed a young man from near Pune to deliver a lunchbox from his home to his Mumbai office. Slowly the service expanded and more dabbawalas were recruited from villages near Pune.
The dabbawalas traced their ancestry to soldiers who fought alongside the 17th-century warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, founder of the Maratha empire. For many in modern-day Maharashtra, Shivaji is still remembered as a defender of Hinduism against Mughal invasion, a legacy that resonates in the religiously charged and sometimes violent politics of Mumbai. That is one reason the dabbawalas support Shiv Sena, a party that backs Marathi rights against what they present as the onslaught of migrants from other parts of India.
For the dabbawalas, Shivaji is a source of pride but also a reminder of how far they have fallen. Our elders used to carry swords in the name of Shivaji. Customers of the dabbawalas almost universally praise the service. Reema Kothari, who has used dabbawalas to deliver a lunchbox to her financier husband for 20 years, says her tiffin went missing once. Even once in 20 years would be one error per roughly 12, deliveries.
He even ups the ante by quoting a different figure: Because error is horror. He pauses to let his words hover in the air. Like the Harvard Business Review, Agrawal emphasises community. So people are important. Because they are from the same community, this is good. This means that we will not be responsible if the watch is lost or damaged in the course of transit. Your Warranty is personal to you and is non-transferable. The Warranty is in addition to your legal rights.
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When your boss is an algorithm | Financial Times
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Where your part exchange allowance exceeds the purchase price of the Goods, we will issue you with the appropriate credit by bank transfer. Where your part exchange allowance is less than the purchase price of the Goods, you can pay the outstanding balance using another method listed above. Our Sell Your Watch terms and conditions also apply; or Finance options: We have a commercial relationship with a credit provider offering various finance options. If we or our credit provider decline your application, you can either pay for the Goods using another payment option or cancel your Order.
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As a consumer, a manufacturer's warranty is in addition to your legal rights in relation to goods that are faulty or not as described. Advice about your legal rights is available from the Citizens' Advice Consumer Service website www. Please take the time to read and understand these terms. As a consumer, the warranty we provide is in addition to your legal rights in relation to Goods that are faulty or not as described.
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All Watches sold by us are subject to our categorisation as detailed in the glossary available on our Website. All our Watches are tested prior to sale to ensure that the advertised water resistance is accurate. It is important to note that the indication of the degree of water resistance in meters is a technical norm which does not correspond to an exact depth. Where your watch is certified as Water Resistant its water-resistance is ensured by a series of seals. Before any contact with water, it is essential to ensure that the crown and pushers of your watch are pushed in or screwed down, depending on model.
When your watch is under water, do not activate the push-pieces for the chronograph function, the minute-repeater or the second time zone. After swimming, make sure to rinse your water-resistant watch in fresh water so as to neutralise the potentially corrosive effects of sea-water or chlorine. The water-resistance seals of your certified Water Resistant watch undergo natural deterioration due to ageing.
It is therefore recommended that you have a regular water-resistance check performed once every year if your watch is worn during sporting activities or frequently comes into contact with water, or once every two years when worn in normal conditions. Never try and open the case yourself. In the event of water or condensation appearing under the glass, take the watch as quickly as possible to an authorized maintenance centre to prevent further damage.
You acknowledge that the date of manufacture may be significantly earlier than the Paperwork date. If the Goods are sold without Paperwork, it can be difficult for us to calculate the Age of the Goods, particularly for vintage Goods. While the Age has been given in good faith calculated by reference to the serial number if reasonably practicable, owner information or other indicators , you acknowledge that the Age of the Goods listed on the Website is an estimate only. If the Goods are sold without Paperwork, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made by us in relation to the accuracy of the Age of the Goods.
If no exchange can be made on the day a credit note will be issued for the original purchase price. Please refer to clause 13 m. This does not affect your usual consumer rights. Purchases made online may only be exchanged or refunded within 14 days of purchase if they are in an unused condition. Goods purchased online will come with a tamper-proof returns sticker which allows for the Goods to be tried on and examined for any faults.
Returns will not be accepted if this sticker has been damaged or removed so please examine the Goods thoroughly to ensure you are completely satisfied with the product before removing this. In the event that Goods are returned to you following a refused sale, packaging and insurance will be your responsibility. Watchfinder relinquishes all responsibility for the safe delivery of Goods in this instance. You shall send the goods back or hand them over to us without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your cancellation from this contract to us.
The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. Return postage, packaging and insurance will be your responsibility and you must follow our reasonable instructions. We recommend you use a tracked mail system and retain proof of postage. You must insure the Goods to their full value. You must ensure that you pack the Goods appropriately to prevent damage during transit.
You must return any Goods that are Faulty including Paperwork, links, user manual, service papers and box as applicable promptly and within 14 days of advising us of the relevant Faulty Good. If your Goods are Faulty on delivery and you are based within the UK, we will refund your reasonably incurred return postage costs provided you comply with our reasonable return instructions and you provide us with a copy receipt. If you are based outside of the UK, a courier will be selected at our discretion and postage and insurance costs will be payable by you.
We will charge for postage, packaging, insurance and all other taxes, fees and charges applied by customs incurred for work carried out under warranty if you are based outside of the UK. In all cases, you remain responsible for ensuring that you pack your watch appropriately to prevent damage during transit. You must take reasonable care of the Goods and you must return any Goods that are Faulty including Paperwork, links, user manual, service papers and box as applicable promptly and within 14 days of advising us of the relevant Faulty Good.
All refunds payable under this clause 11 d shall be paid 14 days of the Goods including Paperwork, links user manual service papers and box as applicable being returned to us following your election to receive a refund. You acknowledge that the Paperwork where supplied substantially increases the value of the Goods and that its absence or damage will affect the value of the Goods.
We reserve our rights to reduce any remedies under clause 11 d if Paperwork is missing or damaged. Given our reliance at times on third parties and a world-wide shortage of watchmakers, you acknowledge that a reasonable time for completion of a repair may extend to several months for Events Outside Our Control, for example where manufacturer involvement is necessary to carry out the repair including in the sourcing of parts.
If you buy several Goods from us as part of the same Order, and only some of these Goods are Faulty, you may return the Faulty Goods in accordance with this clause 11, but this does not entitle you to return other Goods which are not Faulty. Or better for the workers? Both, argue Tanaka and Netessine. Unlike human store managers, algorithms do not use hours to reward the people they like, or the people they are related to, or the people who look like them. Tanaka says his algorithm is also a more reliable boss because it is better at forecasting demand: They are not subject to the chaotic scheduling common in many retail jobs, where employees are sometimes sent home early because the shop is unexpectedly quiet, or told to wait by the phone.
Many people have no idea how shambolic some jobs are at the bottom of the labour market, she says: But she warns against taking it too far. Not everyone buys the idea that algorithms will treat people fairly. While Percolata can predict demand and schedule workers up to a month in advance, Tanaka believes that retail jobs will eventually become so flexible in response to fluctuating demand that they become part of the gig economy. Deliveroo has just decided to try the same approach. This summer it started to trial a new system in a few London zones, where couriers are not scheduled in advance but can log in to work whenever they want.
They gain flexibility but shoulder the financial risk — borne previously by the company — that they will wait around unpaid when demand is slow. That is fine for people such as Anja Bosio, a year-old student, who rides for Deliveroo because she loves to cycle, and usually only at busy times. She used to work as a waitress but she prefers to be out on her own, where the only demands come from the algorithm on her phone.
But the new piece-rate system has panicked couriers such as Bhone Kyaw, for whom Deliveroo is a full-time job. He and his partner have a five- and a four-year-old; she works for Deliveroo too but only on weekends when her mother can look after the kids. But Kyaw fears that Deliveroo will impose the new system as planned after the trial ends in mid-September. Earlier that morning, he had worked for three hours and received five jobs. A few months ago, he was knocked off his motorbike and had to pay for the repairs because his third-party insurance did not cover the incident.
Is the problem that couriers like Kyaw are trying to use Deliveroo as a full-time job when it is simply not designed for that purpose? Deliveroo treated him like an employee when it suited them. Deliveroo sent him this email: We will not return your deposit and process your final fees until you have worked your notice period, returned your equipment and shown that you have removed all Deliveroo stickers from your delivery box.
When Kyaw sent screenshots to prove he had told them he was sick, they reinstated him. Some gig-economy workers and unions are bringing this question to court. This is the kernel of the argument the law firm Leigh Day made on behalf of the GMB union against Uber, which was heard in a London employment tribunal earlier this summer. James Farrar, an Uber driver who was one of the claimants in that case, submitted a long witness statement detailing all the ways in which he said the algorithm controlled him.
Martin Warren, a partner and head of labour relations at the Eversheds law firm, says the gig economy poses a profound challenge to the way the law defines jobs. Many gig workers simply do not fit neatly under an employee or a self-employed label. That is the question to pose. Policymakers, meanwhile, are flummoxed. Robert Rubin, former US Treasury secretary, summed up their dilemma at a recent Hamilton Project think-tank discussion on the gig economy.
Gig-economy companies provide undoubtedly popular services to consumers, and many workers clearly value the flexibility to work when they want. Make us treat workers as traditional employees, the companies say, and all that will go away. Uber does not set shifts or allocate zones for its couriers or partner-drivers to operate in. Over 30, people have partnered with Uber in London so they can be their own bosses and make money on their own terms. A Deliveroo official said: We were having these same arguments years ago. Trade unionists, factory workers and Taylor himself were summoned to Congress to testify about this strange new system.
Edward Vreeland, a Republican congressman, asked him whether piecework was not the fairest way to pay. The boss sets the price, the speeder sets the pace, the strong, stout, energetic young man sets the standard of life for his older brothers. The organisation of men has been driven out in every way, and the men are helpless.