Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

For Delivery Workers in Latin America, Affordable E-Bikes Are a Superpower

reasonstobecheerful.world

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 123 posts

Re: For Delivery Workers in Latin America, Affordable E-Bikes Are a Superpower

#101

Post by miunau »

thrownaway2323 wrote: post #91
rob74 wrote: post #59

So, a 50 year old former "business manager in a government role" is now working as a delivery worker in Colombia, and the fact that the company gave him a loan for an e-bike (they didn't even provide it to him!) is listed as a "reason to be cheerful"?! I swear this is the most depressing thing I read this week so far, and that's something if you consider how depressing the news has been recently...

>So, a 50 year old former "business manager in a government role" is now working as a delivery worker in Colombia, and the fact that the company gave him a loan for an e-bike Millions of venezuelan migrants are in a similar situation. It is not uncommon to see former university professors with PHDs, lawyers, engineers with decades of experience, etc. to find themselves in another country working as Uber drivers and o…

This goes for European countries as well. Even well-educated people, from whatever country locals deem undesirable at that moment, in general do not get the chance to work in jobs that suit their education. Sometimes these people have benefited from taxpayer funded education in that host country, but the prevalent racist attitudes exclude them from even getting job interviews. E.g. Finland is losing lots of immigrants they have spent lots of money educating to this- not helped by the policies of the current government- people they need to stay in order to plug the plummeting birth rate are forced to leave the country because there is nothing there for them besides rejection after rejection, or jobs that do not match their education.

Re: For Delivery Workers in Latin America, Affordable E-Bikes Are a Superpower

#102

Post by barnabee »

jollyllama wrote: post #71
Gigachad wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing is being done because it’s not an actual issue. No one is dying from being hit by delivery bikes. They are just annoying. Meanwhile elderly drivers regularly have incidents that kill entire families and we shrug and say nothing can be done.

If that's the case, then the comparable motor scooters should be deregulated as well.

They are noisy and pollute. Not the same at all.

Re: For Delivery Workers in Latin America, Affordable E-Bikes Are a Superpower

#103

Post by thfuran »

1-more wrote: post #87
dfxm12 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like one of those stories in the US about a community crowdsourcing a ton of money for a little girl to get some life saving surgery that would be covered by socialized health care in almost any other country in the planet. These stories are cheerful for capital.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OrphanCrushingMachine via https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/orphan-crushing-machine

Hah, as if a mere $20,000 would be enough to pause the machine for long enough to pull out 200 orphans.

Re: For Delivery Workers in Latin America, Affordable E-Bikes Are a Superpower

#104

Post by thfuran »

1-more wrote: post #89
avgDev wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, stories like this occur in countries with socialized healthcare. People often do come to the US for niche specialized healthcare that is cutting edge. US healthcare is great for the wealthy and those who can afford it. It isn't great for everyone and in general ranks average or poor in some cases.

When someone criticizes US healthcare, they are almost always using "healthcare" to mean "the care that everyone receives on average" and not "the healthcare received by those with good insurance." Private jets fly from around the world to The Cleveland Clinic and The Mayo Clinic every day, but that's not what's at issue for most people.

And the routine care at sites like the Cleveland Clinic is often not particularly good even with good insurance. But they do have a lot of fancy specialists.

Re: For Delivery Workers in Latin America, Affordable E-Bikes Are a Superpower

#105

Post by jollyllama »

barnabee wrote: post #102
jollyllama wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's the case, then the comparable motor scooters should be deregulated as well.

They are noisy and pollute. Not the same at all.

I meant electric mopeds.

Re: For Delivery Workers in Latin America, Affordable E-Bikes Are a Superpower

#106

Post by analog31 »

Fradow wrote: post #15
rererereferred wrote: post #4

Small off-topic, I see those boxed backpacks and think of their shoulders. On motorbike the box rests in the back of the seat but here all the weight is in the shoulders. People who have done some mountain hiking knows that the weight of the backpack should be mostly in the waist, thanks to the waist belt (sorry if I don't use the right term, I've done most my hiking in Spanish ;) ). I don't know how weight distribut…

I can see numerous reasons why you'd want the backpack rather than a box on the bike for food delivery (may not apply for other deliveries): - no need to fuss when you mount/dismount your bike, your backpack is already on your shoulders. Speed is key. - the focus is not on carrying capacity, it's on speedy delivery. There's only so much food in their backpack. - because of the time waiting for orders / going to the r…

Maybe there's an issue with the box getting stolen.

Re: For Delivery Workers in Latin America, Affordable E-Bikes Are a Superpower

#107

Post by yesfitz »

josefresco wrote: post #86

Recently spent about 2 weeks driving to Boston every day and 100% of the delivery vehicles I noticed were gas powered scooters. Maybe the electric bike delivery people don't ride on the road?

Boston where? This article is about Latin America.

If you're interested in e-bike delivery in Boston, Massachusetts though, there was a pilot program starting in August of 2024: https://www.boston.gov/departments/transportation/boston-del...

Re: For Delivery Workers in Latin America, Affordable E-Bikes Are a Superpower

#108

Post by pyuser583 »

avgDev wrote: post #72
dfxm12 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like one of those stories in the US about a community crowdsourcing a ton of money for a little girl to get some life saving surgery that would be covered by socialized health care in almost any other country in the planet. These stories are cheerful for capital.

To be fair, stories like this occur in countries with socialized healthcare. People often do come to the US for niche specialized healthcare that is cutting edge. US healthcare is great for the wealthy and those who can afford it. It isn't great for everyone and in general ranks average or poor in some cases.

I've known Canadians facing severe health issues who stay in the US because it's more affordable when you consider the higher wages.

That's not true for everyone, but I'm not talking about the super-rich either. Just plain middle class.

Re: For Delivery Workers in Latin America, Affordable E-Bikes Are a Superpower

#109

Post by teachrdan »

kibwen wrote: post #30
Fradow wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see numerous reasons why you'd want the backpack rather than a box on the bike for food delivery (may not apply for other deliveries): - no need to fuss when you mount/dismount your bike, your backpack is already on your shoulders. Speed is key. - the focus is not on carrying capacity, it's on speedy delivery. There's only so much food in their backpack. - because of the time waiting for orders / going to the r…

Counterpoint: when biking, you generally desire to have your center of mass be lower rather than higher, for better stability and handling.

The tradeoff is that the higher you carry the bag (i.e. on your shoulders), the more space you have when maneuvering between cars. You can imagine how, if your bag was at the same level as the bike saddle, it would be more likely to get pinched when cycling through traffic. A clever cyclist could even stand upright with the bag on their back to get a few more inches of clearance when need be!

Re: For Delivery Workers in Latin America, Affordable E-Bikes Are a Superpower

#110

Post by brokenmachine »

Gigachad wrote: post #32
brokenmachine wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Australia too. They don't follow any road rules and ride on the footpaths at insane speeds. They're not actually legal - I believe the law is that if they can go over 17kph without pedalling then they must be registered, have indicators, etc. But nobody seems to do anything about it. I guess some elderly pedestrians must die before something is done.

Nothing is being done because it’s not an actual issue. No one is dying from being hit by delivery bikes. They are just annoying. Meanwhile elderly drivers regularly have incidents that kill entire families and we shrug and say nothing can be done.

From my very first google:

"In the five-year period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2020, there were 14 deaths reported to an Australian State or Territory Coroner where an electric e-micromobility device, including e-bike, e-scooter and electronic self-balancing device, contributed to the death"

"Seven of the 14 deaths were related to e-bikes); 7 deaths were in Queensland and 5 in Victoria (by jurisdiction of investigation); 6 deaths were in the age group of 35–44 years; 5 were females."

"Last year the state recorded eight deaths related to personal mobility devices, including e-bikes and e-scooters, quadrupling the number from the previous year, with more than 3000 people presented to 26 emergency departments."

https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/unaware-huge-war...

In addition, the reporting is lacking in this area.

"Often, e-bike injuries are grouped with other road users: motorcycles, bicycles and e-scooter therefore making it difficult to track its use, correlates of it and any injury or harm from it."

Post reply on HN