Thoughts on the quick-commerce outrage
Every few weeks, someone on Twitter fires off a well-meaning but misinformed hot take:
“Why do we even need 10-minute grocery delivery? We’re risking the lives of delivery partners for convenience.”
On the surface, this sounds noble. Ethical. Thoughtful.
But let’s be honest — it’s mostly ignorance wrapped in moral superiority.
The people making these tweets have no clue how hyperlocal delivery actually works in 2025. They’re still mentally stuck in the 2008 Domino’s era, where a guy on a bike would cover 10 km just to deliver a pizza.
So when they hear “10-minute delivery,” they imagine a poor rider tearing through traffic, cutting across highways, putting their life on the line so someone can get milk faster.
That’s not how any of this works. At all.
⸻
What Quick Commerce Actually Looks Like
The 10-minute delivery model doesn’t depend on speed. It depends on systems.
Here’s the actual process under the hood:
1. You place an order.
2. The app immediately finds the nearest dark store (usually within a 1–2 km radius).
3. A picker — guided by software — collects your items in under a minute.
4. The items are packed instantly and handed off to a delivery partner who’s already nearby.
5. The route is pre-optimized. The rider is not in a rush. He’s just part of a finely tuned machine.
No chaos. No dangerous races.
⸻
Riders Aren’t The Ones “Delivering Fast”
This is the part people get wrong.
The 10-minute promise is not carried by the rider. It’s carried by the system.
Dark stores. Picker algorithms. Batching logic. Inventory intelligence. Rider allocation that filters by distance, traffic, and current load.
These are what make 10-minute delivery possible — not the desperate hustle of a gig worker trying to keep his job.
If anything, modern quick-commerce platforms are designed to avoid dangerous situations. They don’t assign a 10-minute order if it physically can’t be done safely. The whole thing breaks if one piece — especially the rider — is under duress.
So no, it’s not “deliver in 10 mins or get fired.” It’s: “We’ll only give you orders you can reasonably deliver in 10 minutes, because the system makes sure of it.”
⸻
Outrage Without Insight
Moral outrage is easy when you don’t know how anything works.
People love sounding ethical online. But rarely do they take the time to actually understand logistics, dark store operations, or real-world incentives.
The reality? These delivery systems are safer and more optimized than anything we’ve seen before. In fact, the average Zepto or Blinkit rider is traveling shorter distances than your neighborhood restaurant delivery guy.
It’s not exploitation. It’s evolution.
⸻
The Real Flex: Systems Thinking
From the second you hit “Place Order,” an invisible web of decision-making kicks in — engineered, optimized, and orchestrated for speed without chaos.
So instead of asking, “Why do we even need 10-minute delivery?”
Ask a better question:
“How the hell did we even make this possible?”
Because that’s the kind of systems thinking we should be studying, not tweeting over.
⸻
TL;DR:
• 10-minute delivery isn’t fast because riders are rushing — it’s fast because the system is smart.
• Dark stores, optimized picker workflows, and smart rider allocation make it seamless.
• The outrage is well-intentioned, but ignorant of how modern logistics actually works.
• If anything, this model is safer than traditional food delivery.
• The real lesson here? Great systems make the impossible feel effortless.