Summary: Delivering food is to race against death, to compete with traffic police, and to be friends with red lights. The rider is stuck in the system, what kind of algorithm do we need?
Produced | Dali Finance
Algorithm and inverse algorithm, speed and the pursuit of profit, security and death contest. Every day happens in the "takeaway" industry where we order food.
In the era of big data, we have unprecedented convenience in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation. This is the product of the big data precision algorithm. It is a small takeaway, and it is also sent to us enthusiastically based on accurate calculations. In the hands, but technological change does not seem to improve the efficiency of the delivery staff. The delivery guys have said that they are "very hurt". They are squeezed by the algorithm. Who can save the delivery guys?
The Meituan takeaway platform, while pursuing efficiency, increases the risk of cycling. Time is efficiency, and delivery time determines the quality of service. Due to the delivery time, the delivery staff went retrograde, ran red lights, and ran rampage. Takeaways rely on orders to eat, time control, and every second is the guarantee that the takeaway industry provides users with the best experience. Blindly squeezing and pursuing efficiency, and the pursuit of profit, make the food delivery industry the target of crusade. Today, "Dali Finance", talk about Meituan's algorithm and public relations response.
01
Meituan's public relations response, wanting to pass the customs smoothly, the outside world does not agree
The cold algorithm, the lack of care, the so-called precision reforms of Meituan, why the frequent slaps did not solve the fundamental problem of the weakness of the takeaway riders?
Frozen three feet, not a day's cold, the pressure of the takeaway brother finally broke out. Recently, a popular video of "Three Questions about Wang Xing" has continued to be broadcast on major video websites. But the 46-second video is eloquent and thought-provoking? Why do customers who order a meal refund without considering the actual situation? Once a rider has a bad review, he will immediately be banned from the Meituan platform for one day. What kind of operation is it? Questions are basically borne by the rider silently. What is the basis? For a time, Meituan, which had been questioned recently, was once again pushed to the forefront.
In the long-term algorithmic squeeze, Wang Xing, the three-time takeaway brother, got vented, but it seemed to no avail.
In fact, this is not the first time that Meituan has become a crisis of suspicion by exploiting riders. According to a data from September 2018, Guangzhou traffic police investigated and dealt with nearly 2,000 takeaway riders’ traffic violations. Among them, Meituan Occupies "half of the country."
Delivering food is a physical job. If you walk around 20,000 or 30,000 cloths a day, those who can work harder and run more can earn more. This determines that if the "little buddies" want to become the so-called "single king", they must deliver as many orders as possible during the prime time (noon, evening meal), which also results in, for example, "daily delivery of 1 kilometer and 10 minutes," Orders that are not overtime are compressed into 9, 8, 7, or even 5 minutes or less by Meituan’s advertised and proud "high-efficiency algorithm". In order to avoid possible harsh responsibilities from customers, the brothers complete platform tasks. , Had to take the risk, retrograde, speeding through the red light, risking his life in the wind and rain.
Regarding the character’s manuscript, under the pressure of public opinion, Meituan gave a response. At first glance, it seemed to be a perfect PR essay. It wanted to “pass” smoothly, but after careful consideration, Meituan’s response was no "Pragmatic" public relations rhetoric.
02
The biggest problem in Meituan, balancing the interests of all parties
Balancing the relationship and contradictions among the four, and the interests of the food delivery platform, merchants, delivery staff, and consumers are the most difficult issues for Meituan. How to resolve the crisis, how to appease the riders, and how to make consumers eat hot The food is the takeaway that needs to be solved, not the delivery time of the rider.
Meituan gives the rider the problem of balancing interests every time. This method is not clever.
Among the improvement measures, the most controversial one is "give the rider 8 minutes flexible time", which seems to give the rider a full expansion of the latest meal delivery time, but a careful examination of the taste is no different from a word game. Note the trickyness of the word "elasticity" in it. The flexible time given by Meituan this time is 8 minutes. In an interview with Xinhua News Agency by a Tianjin takeaway brother, “The delay time is only one minute longer than the original system, but I still dare not slow down.” Meituan’s flexibility of 8 minutes is only 1 minute longer than the 7-minute delay displayed on the previous user interface.
The rider chasing time, dare not delay a minute, how to liberate the takeaway? In the end, Meituan gave the balance of checks and balances to the algorithm of the Source of All Evil, but the principle of the algorithm must be to maximize the benefits of the platform . Meituan still did not jump out of its inherent thinking circle.
The second response from Meituan is even more shocking. Meituan once again talked about their technical problems, claiming to strengthen their security technology and algorithm team to make key improvements, and to develop a black-tech Bluetooth headset helmet, so that the rider can control the order situation through language; The buddies have bought precious time, but after careful consideration, this is a "public relations" response that avoids the most important things. The rider brother’s safety accidents happen frequently. Isn’t it the oppression of the ruthless algorithm? The little brother’s deductions are crying without tears, can it be solved by a helmet?
Can this helmet solve the problem of the system algorithm? When can it be released to riders for free?
Meituan’s third response is to introduce a reward model for riders. What are the rules? How to reward, who will pay the money? It is not clear whether it is a consumer or Meituan. Please implement it, Meituan, please don't escape, please face the problem squarely. It is said that the last illness is cured, please give full consideration to the demands of my brother and listen to the voice of consumers.
In fact, the sincerity and attitude to solve the problem does not lie in the humanity of the algorithm, but in the person who created the algorithm.
03
Improve the "human rights" of the takeaway brother and give more attention
At this point, media public opinion has fallen, and they still see that Meituan is not pragmatic, does not implement it, and has no humane solution to the problem. Instead, it quietly hangs the pot behind consumers and riders. Meituan listed companies have not balanced the interests of all parties. No matter how high the market value is, they are all castles in the sky.
Meituan’s so-called algorithm that has accumulated for many years, in its nickname is that it can get more orders for the takeaway brother, but it is essentially a nearly perfect "profit grabbing system" that cannot stand scrutiny. In an article about Meituan Intelligent Delivery The introduction of the command system pointed out that the optimized algorithm has reduced the platform's capacity loss by 19%, and the optimization is nearly one-fifth. It may be that the original amount of food delivered by 5 takeaways can be solved by 4 riders.
The essence of capital is to obtain profit, but if pure capital is not morally restricted, the world will be extremely chaotic. The takeaway boy is overdrafted and risking his life’s crazy delivery. The algorithm that is touted at a high place cannot be blamed, and it is perfunctory. Coping on the surface will not solve the problem substantively.
Regarding the reasonable demands of the takeaway brother, the delivery time limit that is so pressured that it can’t breathe may be just the tip of the iceberg. A brother who ran the crowdsourcing list of Meituan on the Internet broke the news. After a delivery order, customers questioned why his timeout was so long. Time, and he looked at the phone in a puzzled way, and there were still 10 minutes before the delivery time limit. After consulting for approval, he looked at the customer's mobile phone, and the customer's mobile phone was actually very different from his mobile phone delivery time.
This must be an accurate algorithm again, another "good show" made on a customer-centric basis. This is no longer the cold-blooded algorithm, it is simply cold-blooded to the freezing point. The takeaway boy is an important part of the delivery process. , Indispensable and should be respected, but consumers are also kept in the dark and have lost their right to know. Meituan’s skillful move with two birds with one stone is really "awe-inspiring."
Meituan's stringent algorithm standards are not the last straw to crush the rider's heart, but also extend to areas beyond the delivery task, and even make many riders helpless. Please Meituan, take the rider brother as a human being! Give a lot of human care.
Even though Meituan does its best to put the solution to the "resolving port" on the delivery staff and pays great attention to the user experience, it is still accused by public opinion of cold-blooded one after another, and users often complain that the food will be "spread a bag", the root cause It is a simple and rude transfer of contradictions to the rider without overall consideration. This is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst, and the problem has not changed.
04
Issues in development to promote industry-wide participation
If you want to completely change the various problems encountered by the existing takeaway riders, not one party can solve it. Looking at the overall situation, this is a systemic deep-seated problem in the industry. Scientific algorithms must be artificially involved in order to improve efficiency. The delivery time is compressed, but the upper threshold must be set, and more intervention items must be set, such as the rainy day model, which greatly increases the delivery time, so that the buddies can rest assured and ride slowly; at the same time, the "sent or not" The decision is left to the little guys to participate.
Other participants in the society should also effectively link up. Regulatory authorities strengthen the education of foreign sales platforms, guide riders to regulate travel, navigation map operators, introduce more scientific route calculation models, and stand on the front line to avoid brothers" To worry about how to go,” and as a consumer, take a look at the weather outside before ordering takeout. In extreme weather, leave a message to the delivery staff “Go slowly and pay attention to safety”, which will surely bring gender-like warmth. Trade unions and labor inspection departments must take action to take care of the little takeaway buddies from disadvantaged groups.
As the core of the entire distribution process, Meituan, please come up with a substantive and complete solution, the only interest-only cold algorithm, you should think about it carefully.