Designing Food Delivery Gig-platforms for Courier Needs: the Case of Batched Orders

ABSTRACT The food delivery gig-platforms such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo increasingly batch orders, i.e., couriers deliver multiple orders in one trip to optimize order delivery. Prior studies investigate the topic of batching orders from a theoretical perspective, i.e., optimization, without taking contextual elements and worker preferences into account. In our paper, we elaborate on the couriers’ perspectives and needs in batched order delivery based on a qualitative study. We identify several criteria used by couriers to accept and reject the batched orders. We propose an alternative order batching solution that supports courier needs.