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The gig-economy -- How can we be heroes?
零工經濟——我們怎么會是超人呢？
The European market is a tough terrain for food delivery firms.
對食品外賣公司來說，歐洲是個艱難的市場。
Delivery Hero has had a good run in the past couple of years.
Delivery Hero在過去的幾年里經營得很好。
In August 2020 it ascended to the Dax, the stockmarket index of Germany’s most valuable listed firms. It is present in 50 countries on four continents.
2020年8月，它上升進入德國Dax指數，這是德國最有價值的上市公司的股票市場指數。
Revenue for the third quarter was 1.8bn euros ($2bn), a jump of 89% compared with the same period in 2020.
它的業務遍布四個大洲的50個國家。第三季度營收為18億歐元(合20億美元)，與2020年同期相比增長了89%。
“We grew 100% before Corona, 100% during Corona and we will grow 100% after Corona,” says Niklas Ostberg, the Berlin-based firm’s Swedish chief executive.
“我們在新冠之前增長了100%，在新冠期間增長了100%，在新冠之后我們還將增長100%，”這家總部位于柏林的公司的瑞典首席執行官尼克拉斯·奧斯伯格說。
By number of orders Delivery Hero is more than twice as big as DoorDash, its large American rival.
按訂單數量計算，Delivery Hero是其大型美國競爭對手DoorDash的兩倍多。
Even so, DoorDash’s market capitalisation is $58bn, more than that of Delivery Hero ($31bn) and Just Eat Takeaway.com ($13bn), the two big European food-delivery firms, combined.
即便如此，DoorDash的市值仍高達580億美元，超過了歐洲兩大送餐公司Delivery Hero(310億美元)和Just Eat Takeaway.com(130億美元)的市值總和。
European shares tend in general to underperform American ones.
總體而言，歐洲股票的表現往往不如美國股票。
But another reason for investors’ caution is more specific to food delivery.
但投資者持謹慎態度的另一個原因更加具體，即食品配送。
Strict labour laws, a tradition of union organising, pricey unskilled workers and stingy customers, who buy little and tip rarely, make Europe the toughest of all continents for the business.
嚴格的勞動法、工會組織的傳統、昂貴的非技術工人和吝嗇的顧客（他們很少買東西，也很少給小費），這些使歐洲成為所有大洲中對這門生意來說最艱難的一個。
Mr Ostberg says that high labour costs have become less of a problem in Europe, because the efficiency of delivery has improved substantially in recent years.
奧斯特伯格表示，在歐洲，高昂的勞動力成本已不是什么大問題，因為近年來送貨效率已大幅提高。
European consumers have also grown less parsimonious amid the pandemic boom in online shopping of all kinds.
在新冠疫情期間各種網購興起，歐洲消費者也變得不那么吝嗇了。
As a consequence, Delivery Hero has reversed its decision to leave the German market altogether, by offloading its domestic businesses, Foodora, Lieferheld and Pizza.de, to Takeaway.com (a Dutch firm that subsequently merged with Just Eat) in order to focus on fast-growing Asia.
因此，Delivery Hero改變了徹底放棄德國市場的決定，而是將其國內業務Foodora、Lieferheld和Pizzaa.de出售給Takeaway.com(一家荷蘭公司，后來與Just Eat合并)，以專注于快速增長的亞洲市場。
In the summer it launched a new app, Foodpanda, in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich.
今年夏天，該公司在柏林、法蘭克福、漢堡和慕尼黑推出了一款名為Foodpanda的新應用。
When it comes to other labour matters, however, things may be about to get tougher still.
然而，當涉及到其他勞工問題時，情況可能仍會變得更加艱難。
If a draft proposal in the works in the European Union (EU) becomes law, as many as 4m gig workers delivering meals or ferrying ride-hailers could be reclassified as employees.
如果歐盟(EU)正在起草的一項提案草案成為法律，多達400萬送餐或開網約車的零工可能會被重新歸類為雇員。
This would entitle them to a minimum wage, sick leave and paid leave, unemployment benefits, health- and long-term-care coverage, and pension-insurance contributions.
這將使他們有權享有最低工資、病假和帶薪休假、失業救濟金、醫療和長期護理保險以及養老保險費。
The EU estimates that the reclassification could cost gig-economy firms around 4.5bn euros a year.
歐盟估計，這種重新歸類可能會讓零工經濟公司每年花費約45億歐元。
Like his counterparts in the business, Mr Ostberg insists that many of his riders choose to be freelancers because that lets them work as much as they want, whenever they want.
與他的業內同行一樣，奧斯特伯格先生堅稱，公司的許多騎手是自己選擇成為自由職業者的，因為這樣他們就可以想工作多長時間就工作多長時間。
“More or less anyone can work for us at any time of the day,” he says.
“時間可長可短，任何人都可以在一天中的任何時候為我們工作，”他說。
But such arguments are increasingly cutting less mustard.
但是這樣的理由越來越不能令人滿意。
In February Britain’s highest court ordered Uber (which runs both food-delivery and ride-hailing apps) to reclassify its drivers in London as employees.
二月份，英國最高法院命令優步（同時經營送餐和叫車應用）將其在倫敦的司機重新歸類為雇員。
Delivery Hero’s share price fell by nearly 3% on December 3rd following reports of the draft EU proposal.
12月3日，在歐盟提案草案公布后，Delivery Hero的股價下跌了近3%。
Such developments help explain why couriers are getting more assertive.
這些進展有助于解釋為什么配送員變得越來越無所畏懼。
The riders of Gorillas, a German online grocer with operations across Europe, have clashed with management for months over working conditions and pay.
Gorillas的員工與管理層在工作條件和薪酬問題上的沖突持續了數月，這是一家德國在線雜貨商，其業務遍及歐洲。
In October the firm sacked hundreds of riders who had participated in strikes, which further fuelled tensions.
10月份，該公司解雇了數百名參與罷工的騎手，進一步加劇了緊張局勢。
In late November a labour court in Germany rejected the management’s attempt to stop Gorillas riders from electing an in-house works council, which they duly did.
11月下旬，德國一家勞工法庭駁回了管理層阻止Gorillas的騎手選舉內部勞資委員會的企圖，該選舉得以如期舉行。
The firm’s executives grudgingly had no choice but to say they will work with workers’ representatives.
公司的高管們別無選擇，只能不情愿地表示他們將與員工代表合作。
All this is happening as competition in Germany intensifies.
這一切都發生在德國競爭加劇之際。
Delivery Hero will have to invest some 120m euros in German sales and marketing in 2022, reckons Jurgen Kolb of Kepler Cheuvreux, a financial-services firm.
金融服務公司Kepler Cheuvreux的Jurgen Kolb估計，到2022年，Delivery Hero將不得不在德國的市場營銷上投資1.2億歐元。
It is now competing with Lieferando, which dominates the German market (and is owned by Just Eat Takeaway.com), Uber Eats, which launched in April, and Wolt, a Finnish firm recently acquired by DoorDash for 7bn euros.
現在，它的競爭對手有在德國市場占主導地位的Lieferando(隸屬于Just Eat Takeaway.com)，今年4月成立的Uber Eats，還有一家最近被DoorDash以70億歐元收購的芬蘭公司Wolt。
Last month DoorDash launched under its own brand in Stuttgart.
上個月DoorDash在斯圖加特推出了自己的品牌。
The next few years look poised to be dog-eat-dog in German food delivery.
在接下來的幾年里，德國的外賣行業看起來將會是一場你死我活的較量。
Consumers can count on full bellies, courtesy of the gig firms.
消費者可以指望在零工公司的競爭紅利下飽腹。
Their shareholders may go hungry.
而它們的股東則可能會挨餓。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
