A Delhi citizen worked as a delivery rider for Blinkit and Zepto for a whole week to directly understand directly the operational difficulties of courier personnel. Aum Vats published his delivery impressions on X through consecutive posts which explored quick-commerce company strengths and weaknesses. The viral post has not received any public response from Blinkit or Zepto, however, Vats reported that Blinkit’s delivery service Operated more efficiently than Zepto despite Zepto’s organized dark store setup.
Last week, I took on a new project at hand – Understanding the rider's journey in the Q-comm. industry.
I spent a week delivering orders for @ZeptoNow and @letsblinkit , and here are some insights and potential improvements both of them could make. pic.twitter.com/ca5jhHME34---Advertisement---— Aum Vats (@aumvats) April 1, 2025
The photos posted by Vats displayed the internal facilities of Blinkit and Zepto delivery centers. The goal of his research was to better understand the conditions of employees working in these delivery operations. Vats determined that Blinkit provided superior service to its customers mainly because Eternal operated a a more organized workplace structure.
In another post, he mentioned “While Zepto scores higher for its store conditions (based on my observations at the dark store visited), the overall rider experience at Blinkit seems more mature.”
Vats mentioned, “When an order is placed, it is packed by a team of packers and is ready for pickup at a designated area (called Pigeon Hole). The rider swiftly collects the order within a minute, verifies items, and marks it as “ready to deliver.” The rider then receives the customer’s name and address. Notably, phone numbers are not disclosed to riders, which is commendable (I confirmed with the store in charge by portraying a fake scenario1 that I needed it, but was essentially denied under any circumstances). Suggestions: One thing Zepto could do to shave off 50 seconds is replace Bar-codes with QR-codes, just to increase scanning efficiency. Blinkit needs to fix this a lot: there’s not much clear indication in-app or at the store pickup. No cross-checking of the order being picked up either.”
He mentioned issues of both Blinkit and Zepto on his x handle. He wrote, “One issue that I did come across while delivering with Zepto was erroneous distance calculations. The attached order details below show I’ve been compensated for 1.4km while the actual distance was 3.5km, I tried asking the store in charge but received no response. Blinkit was fairly accurate in these terms.”
Aum Vats also mentioned, “Zepto required me to submit proof of delivery before handing off the final order, and riders appreciated it as well. While Blinkit doesn’t have it, riders were indifferent to it as well. However, I see a lot of messages in the local Blinkit riders group that are proofs of delivery being sent by riders for orders incases where they had to submit it someplace or asked to leave at the doorstep.”
Aum Vats mentioned the features of Blinkit and wrote, “Blinkit has reporting features for poor roads and unsafe areas, which Zepto lacks entirely.”
He also mentioned, “Blinkit store staff did ask me to follow a dress code: Blinkit t-shirts, full-length pants, and shoes. Zepto’s, however, did not emphasize dress code. Blinkit provided a t-shirt immediately after my first delivery, whereas the Zepto store manager informed me of a two-week wait.”
