In a metropolis like Buenos Aires, it is approximately 30 minutes that separate a plate from your diner when it is sent through a delivery application.
That half hour involves a complex network of actions that not only take a meal from point A to point B, but also adds a necessary economic circuit that moves money to each link in the chain.
On the side of transport apps, the picture is similar. A trip through Uber, Cabify or Easy Taxi does not end when the passenger arrives at destination. The amount paid is distributed - or not - and follows a path of different checkpoints until reaching the corresponding coffers.
The panorama differs between companies: not all have the same realities and the market needs of each one are different. Bill or position, that's the question.
Rappi, in order
At the beginning of 2018, the orange tide of dealers in motorcycles and bicycles shone by his absence in Federal Capital. Less than 365 days later, it became a typical landscape of the streets of Buenos Aires.
Rappi, the Colombian startup that has all the chips to become the next South American unicorn, is a ubiquitous presence of the urban landscape, with thousands of rappitenderos pedaling with all kinds of orders in tow.
It is a lucrative business in a city used to delivery. Currently, the average ticket for purchases within your application - which includes restaurants, ice cream parlors and supermarkets, among others - is in the order of $ 400.
Regarding the dynamics of each order, Matías Casoy, General Manager of Rappi Argentina, explains to iProUP its details: "When a user makes a purchase in Rappi, he pays through the application the price of the product plus the shipment. % of that shipping cost belongs entirely to the delivery person, while the amount of the merchandise (food, supermarket purchase, etc.) corresponds to the associated trade, Rappi receives a commission from the latter for each sale actually made ".
According to Casoy, the system is supported by two pillars to ensure its proper functioning:
- On the one hand, they work with a radius of only 4 km around the user
- On the other hand, they are integrated with all their stores attached, which allows them to operate in a synchronized manner
In a few words: the order enters and the restaurants take approximately 20 minutes to prepare it. Once it is ready, the dealer takes the order and takes it to its destination. In total, the average time of the entire operation is around 30 minutes.
When it comes to payments, the money circuit has two lanes:
- If the user pays with a card, the funds arrive at Rappi, which takes its commission and the rest is divided between the rappitendero (shipping cost) and the associated premises
- If you pay in cash, the rappitendero keeps all the cash. You can deposit it or keep it on account of what you must charge every 15 days.
This is how Casoy explains: "All the allied stores have a current account with Rappi, so the delivery person must never pay the amount in the store, in case it is paid in cash, the dealer keeps the total and, when it exceeds a limit, it can be deposited in a Rapipago / Pagofácil or it can retain that money that will be deducted from the amount that Rappi pays biweekly. "
60% of the collections received by Rappi correspond to transactions made with a credit card. While this varies according to the city in which the firm operates, the person responsible says that "there is a growing tendency to make card payments for the convenience of no money exchange."
In this line, he adds: "This is deepened due to the exclusive benefits we offer our users, such as Rappi Prime - Rappi's exclusive membership, for which all shipments are free and applies exclusively to prepaid orders; say, with card. "
For each shipment, the rapiners receive an amount that starts at 40 pesos and, as iProUP could know, they make a monthly income of around 18,000 to 20,000 pesos.
Another important aspect of the economy within the app is its Rappicréditos system. These are points earned that serve as money and can be used in all types of orders.
With respect to its operation, Casoy emphasizes that all the actors involved receive the funds that correspond to them and the company absorbs the cost, since it is a marketing initiative to build customer loyalty or attract new ones.
The same happens when specific promotions enter in which the shipment is free or is subscribed to Rappi Prime: the company pays the total amount of the delivery to the delivery person, regardless of the tip that the customer that generates the order can give.
Uber and Uber Eats, marked by judicial conflicts
Uber is, by antonomasia, the great reference of the new economy based on applications. The giant of San Francisco, considered the most valuable startup in the world, operates in Argentina with two of its modalities: the well-known transport platform and Uber Eats, its home delivery service.
Juan Labaqui, communications manager for Uber Cono Sur, clarifies to iProUP that the use of cards within their apps is restricted. Due to judicial resolutions still in force, the only exceptions in this section are international plastics and those issued by fintech platforms.
This translates into greater use of cash, which adds extra challenges to local operations.
According to Labaqui, commissions for travel paid in "cash" -of 25% - are currently not being received by Uber.
"It's a peculiarity in Argentina: in a balanced market, card payments compensate those made in cash, since it allows you to cancel all the commissions that are owed," he says.
The spokesman warns that "by decisions of the banks and the Justice of the City of Buenos Aires, payments must be made in cash, as a result of which many drivers are accumulating debt."
The company is betting that this situation, sooner or later, will normalize. Once this happens, it will charge commissions, although they clarify that "at no time is there going to be a driver driving to pay what is owed as commissions, since the enrollment will be progressive".
The use of RapiPago or PagoFácil to deposit the accumulated balance, in terms of commission debts, is not an option. According to Labaqui, they trust that the cards will be enabled sometime in 2019.
However, this situation is not necessarily rated as bad or adverse by Uber. "We do not see it as going to waste, we consider it part of the different stages of the development of the market in the country," says the executive.
Currently, a person who handles eight hours, six days a week, can receive around 36,000 pesos per month, according to company calculations. This means that this driver generated almost 9,000 pesos in commissions for the same period that the firm is not collecting.
In the case of Uber Eats, the same problems apply with the payment systems. Therefore, the users of Mendoza and Córdoba (their first markets in Argentina) are limited to the use of cash.
The platform, however, has its own dynamics. Here not only a driver (in this case, delivery person) intervenes, but also the food store, which must receive the corresponding payment for each order.
Therefore, the intermediation of Uber, even when tickets are used, is necessary. Labaqui reveals that the consumer's money reaches them, via the delivery person, and then sends it to the corresponding restaurant.
Regarding their differences with Rappi or other similar proposals, this is an initiative that is impacted by dynamic rates and peak hours. A place that receives many orders will show a surcharge, in the same way that on rainy days requesting a trip leaves more expensive, due to the logical increase in demand.
Even so, the amounts that the delivery person perceives are fixed and are clear so that there are no confusions.
Cabify / EasyTaxi: clear accounts
Recently, Easy Taxi and Cabify closed their merger worldwide, a process that is already underway and consists of several stages. In Argentina, both services have their own dynamics, since they point to two different types of drivers.
Contrary to what happens in Uber, in Cabify the credit card predominates. Victoria Langdon, PR Manager for Argentina of both brands (now under the umbrella of Maxi Mobility), reveals to iProUP that the average ticket with this payment method is around $ 210, and adds that users usually make trips longer than by taxi, where the average expense is $ 150.
In relation to how the amounts are divided with the drivers, he explains: "In the case of Cabify, it is a proportion of the value of the trip, which may vary depending on the city where we operate, for example, in Buenos Aires the driver stays with the 75% With respect to Easy Taxi, a defined amount of chips is used, which varies by city, and in Federal Capital, that amount equals six chips. "
The charges also differ. In Cabify, drivers have weekly payments. In Easy Taxi, taxi drivers pre-purchase credit in the form of "pins" and as they take trips from the app they are discounted.
By not having conflicts with the courts and, therefore, with banks, the firm can base its local operations on transactions with cards, which today account for most of its turnover. Cash, on the other hand, is not only a minor segment, but it reaches the company through deposits made by the drivers themselves.
In Easy Taxi, the management has an extra ingredient, since the cash is handled through the pre-chip model.
In the sights of the law
The phenomenon of workers "without bosses" that propose these apps is not free of controversy, since they employ self-employed people who bill for their services and do not belong to the plant.
Companies often repeat that "they have the freedom to work when they want, as long as they want". However, many specialists see these people as undercover employees, since they have no contract, no agreement protects them and, if they have an accident, the expenses are on their own.
This led workers of these services to appear in October before the Secretary of Labor to register the first union of platforms of Argentina and America: the Platform Personnel Association (APP).
"The Rappi workers began to meet and discuss how to improve our working conditions, we were called to participate with slogans such as 'be your own boss', but quickly we began to realize that the applications worked thanks to us and we could not decide anything ", the promoters of the initiative affirmed at that moment.
Juan Manuel Ottaviano, labor lawyer and legal advisor of APP, explains to iProUP that the union emerged as a tool, because "they are hired as self-employed and, therefore, have no fixed salary, work well above the legal limits to reach a decent income and do not have accident or disease insurance (ART), or breaks, or vacations. "
It is worth noting that it is not a local phenomenon. In several countries, the Justice determined that the work on platforms is not autonomous, but must be framed in the traditional labor scheme.
In July 2018, the Spanish Labor Inspectorate demanded that Deliveroo, the company with the largest presence in Europe, hire hundreds of delivery workers and pay 1.3 million euros to Social Security and surcharges not paid by its workers in Barcelona. . The claim was moved to Madrid and Valencia.
In Australia, Foodora -also from Delivery Hero- acknowledged that cyclists who provide their delivery service belong to their plant and that they owe them $ 8 million in retroactive salaries and taxes.
In Italy, the Court established that five ex-distributors must be considered as employees, with paid vacations, medical insurance and compensation under those conditions.
The same happened in France where, for the first time, the Court of Cassation in Paris considered a cyclist as part of the payroll. In this case, the company was TakeEat Easy, which went bankrupt in 2016.
Uber and Cabify have also had their conflicts: they stopped operating in the Spanish city of Barcelona after the entry into force of a decree of the Catalan regional government that requires pre-contracting the rental vehicles with driver (VTC) with a minimum of up to one time and punishes the breaches with fines of up to 1,400 euros.
It is, in short, necessary debates in the framework of new work schemes that call for flexible schedules and tasks in pursuit of greater freedom, but that collide with a reality that requires greater commitment to their workers. The saying goes: the fox loses its hair but not the tricks.
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpeg/2024/10/40595_landscape.jpeg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2025/05/42965_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2025/04/42372_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpeg/2022/03/26702_landscape.jpeg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2025/02/41978_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2025/03/42167_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2025/05/42883_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2022/01/25316_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2025/03/42307_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2018/10/324_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2024/09/40078_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2023/12/37160_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2021/10/22686_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2022/05/28181_landscape.jpg)
:quality(85)/https://assets.iproup.com/assets/jpg/2025/02/41849_landscape.jpg)