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

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

#81

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

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...

Your glass is half empty.

Whatever it is is better than the same thing with loud gas motorbikes being everywhere.

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

#82

Post by conductr »

kibwen wrote: post #31

For this use case you really care about reducing the lifetime total cost of ownership, which means making the bike as reliable, serviceable, and repairable as possible. I love e-bikes, but IME they have a long way to go to get to same level as normal bikes in this regard. It's good that the bikes in the article are locally-built, but I'd like to know whether or not they emphasize using standardized parts with high av…

They article quotes $1400 for these bikes as initial investment. Add that to my personal assertation that anyone working on a bike should be handy enough to DIY for all things related to service/repair. Bikes are not hard to work on at all. If you agree with that, then you should be able to convert a standard bike to an e-bike with a couple hundred dollar kit that is readily available. Unless there's some kind of market capture here where they can't access the cheap parts I have access too via Alibaba/Amazon, this could easily be a DIY with a few simple tools and some research on YT. I've done this myself with no special electronic experience (however, I did service my own BMX bikes when I was a kid/teen).

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

#83

Post by bobthepanda »

conductr wrote: post #82
kibwen wrote: post #31

For this use case you really care about reducing the lifetime total cost of ownership, which means making the bike as reliable, serviceable, and repairable as possible. I love e-bikes, but IME they have a long way to go to get to same level as normal bikes in this regard. It's good that the bikes in the article are locally-built, but I'd like to know whether or not they emphasize using standardized parts with high av…

They article quotes $1400 for these bikes as initial investment. Add that to my personal assertation that anyone working on a bike should be handy enough to DIY for all things related to service/repair. Bikes are not hard to work on at all. If you agree with that, then you should be able to convert a standard bike to an e-bike with a couple hundred dollar kit that is readily available. Unless there's some kind of mar…

The only issue with the cheap kits is that they seem to be much likelier to catch fire.

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

#84

Post by conductr »

bobthepanda wrote: post #83
conductr wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They article quotes $1400 for these bikes as initial investment. Add that to my personal assertation that anyone working on a bike should be handy enough to DIY for all things related to service/repair. Bikes are not hard to work on at all. If you agree with that, then you should be able to convert a standard bike to an e-bike with a couple hundred dollar kit that is readily available. Unless there's some kind of mar…

The only issue with the cheap kits is that they seem to be much likelier to catch fire.

You can buy well built kits that are inexpensive. If you buy the cheapest available on Alibaba then maybe there's some risk of this

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

#85

Post by marcosdumay »

brokenmachine wrote: post #21
tim333 wrote: post #13

In London e-bikes have basically take over delivery of small stuff. A decade or so ago they tended to use motor scooters but there are a lot less restrictions on e-bikes.

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.

> if they can go over 17kph without pedalling

And there's the excessive reactionary regulation that makes people not comply with the rules.

If you put some reasonable speed limit and look at the other important factors like weight, you won't need to register anything that runs as fast as a child on skates, and can focus on what is really the problem.

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

#87

Post by 1-more »

dfxm12 wrote: post #66
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...

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

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

#88

Post by rob74 »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #81
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...

Your glass is half empty. Whatever it is is better than the same thing with loud gas motorbikes being everywhere.

Ok, fair enough, then maybe they shouldn't have picked this 50 year old guy who used to have a management job but was then forced to flee his country and work as a delivery worker, but a 22 year old who used to sell drugs but now makes an honest living (maybe they couldn't find one?).

But yeah, that aside, I can definitely sympathize with reducing the number of loud stinking gas motorbikes and scooters. Maybe also give loans to users of gas chainsaws, leaf blowers etc. etc. to replace those too...

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

#89

Post by 1-more »

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.

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.

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

#90

Post by kjkjadksj »

andrepd wrote: post #42
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…

Delivery workers should fuck up their backs because otherwise (1) customers would get their shitty fast food and soggy fries 15s or 20s later, and (2) boxes would eat into the profit of the shareholders.

Reminds me of seeing amazon workers struggle to drag those plastic boxes full of deliveries around the sidewalks of the neighborhood while UPS provides a hand truck. I get it, a hand truck cost more than that 10 cent box they abandon all over town.
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