Lots of space, high workload
In concrete terms, this means that the capacity for sorting and distributing parcels, as well as the infrastructure for parcel lockers, will be significantly expanded. Although that cover-up is not just a hurrah story.
“The confusion creates a sharp contrast, especially in the Netherlands. Logistics real estate takes up a lot of space, but usually employs few people,” says Alex van Breedaminnovative entrepreneur and part-time professor of Logistics at Antwerp Management School (AMS)the KULeuventhe UHasselt and IESEG (Paris).
“An asset of e-commerce is that warehouse work can easily be automated, which responds to the trend towards reshoring or strengthening domestic production sectors so that they do not become dependent on geopolitical developments.”
Anonymous warehouse owner Decathlon: ‘Anyone who does this job for too long does not remain a normal person’
In addition, automation in e-commerce partly alleviates the shortage of workers, says Van Breedam. “With this consideration: the automation process is running at full speed, the machine determines the rhythm and then it is up to the employee to follow that pace. The workload is extremely high. Focusing on cobots, with the emphasis on ‘co’, is important.”
It is “a dog’s breed” according to a warehouse worker with a Maghreb background who prefers to remain anonymous. The man works in a sports store depot Decathlon. “Standing up all the time, handling heavy loads and repetitive tasks at a fast pace.”
“In addition, I hardly have any social contact with colleagues and my manager often communicates in command style. Over time, an alienation settles under your skin. Honestly, anyone who does this job for too long does not remain a normal person.”
Migrants fill bottlenecks
According to Van Breedam, it is not surprising that few feel called to work or remain as a warehouse worker. “Companies must therefore inevitably rely on migrant workers. This is a socially sensitive debate, but the shortage of workers in logistics will not decrease by itself.”
This is the spread of e-commerce: online shopping is booming, but at the same time suffers from a major lack of logistics manpower due to atypical working hours, poor working conditions and low wages. Logistics professions are shortage professions according to the Flemish Employment and Vocational Training Service (VDAB). Vacancies for warehouse workers and freight handlers such as forklift drivers are very difficult to fill.
Annika Flaten (UNI-Europe): ‘Flexibilization means low-paid jobs in poor working conditions that migrants are expected to fill’
Flanders is no exception in this. The shortage is squeezing many European countries and opens the door to migrant workers. “E-commerce is a labor market in which predominantly posted Eastern Europeans work,” says Annika Flaten of the European Trade Union Federation UNI-Europe.
“European policy makers often argue that labor migration is necessary to accommodate the further flexibilization of labor markets such as e-commerce. But that line does not make sense. This flexibilization means low-paid jobs in poor working conditions that migrants are expected to fill.”
According to Flaten, we have no need to exploit people in precarious jobs. “On the other hand, there is a need for high-quality employment statutes in a fully-fledged sector. After all, that is what e-commerce has become: a fully-fledged economic sector where there should be no room for lawlessness, exploitation or blurring of norms.”
A million parcels a day
E-commerce is no longer a new phenomenon, but it did experience a significant growth spurt when the Minister of Health Maggie The Block (Open Vld) uttered the words “stay in your room”. It is March 2020 and during the first corona lockdown, non-essential shops were forced to close their doors.
The customer literally did not give up and started shopping online in no time. And not just a little, because no fewer than 336 million items were delivered in that first year of lockdown. BIPT figures immediately show a doubling of parcel and express services in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the previous year.
The number of parcels delivered has skyrocketed since the corona crisis: 31 parcels per year, per Belgian
Since then, vans have been driving back and forth at breakneck speed to deliver parcels to homes. On average, Belgians receive a parcel every twelve days. The number of parcels has really skyrocketed in the last ten years. This involves a fourfold increase in quantity: from an average of 6 to 31 packets per year per inhabitant. Although that is small beer compared to European leader Germany with 56 packs per inhabitant.
In 2022, the number of parcels sent in Belgium decreased slightly. The slight dip of 0.6% is due to inflation and caused Belgium to clock 362 million parcel and express shipments. This equates to almost a million pieces per day.
However, the small decrease in the number of parcels does not affect the turnover of Belgian parcel and express mail, because in 2022 a all time high achieved with a proceeds of 2.12 million euros. That is an average of 182 euros per Belgian per year, five times more than in 2010.
Truckization
With the rise of internet shopping, the number of vans on the street is also increasing unabated. Even to the extent that we can talk about one vanizationsays Alex van Breedam.
And there are actually quite a few vans chugging around Sstatistics Flanders: about 540,000 light trucks for 6.8 million Flemish people. “Or a van for twelve residents,” Van Breedam calculates. “Seems like a world record to me, right? Few countries can match this. With one van for every twelve inhabitants, we are already above the European average of one per fifteen inhabitants.”
But are all those vans driving around with parcels ordered online? “No figures are known for Flanders,” says Van Breedam. “Although there is a strong suspicion that the share of e-commerce transport is barely 5%.”
The majority of light trucks appear to still be used for construction sites or repairs. In addition, certain vehicles, such as SUVs, benefit from a tax-favorable regime when they are converted into vans.
Van Breedam expects that if e-commerce continues to grow rapidly and fast deliveries remain the norm, vanization and the associated social nuisance will continue. Because couriers are under pressure to deliver as many parcels as possible in a short time, their driving behavior causes a lot of inconvenience in villages and city centers.
Everyone courier
In any case, vanization due to e-commerce is already a thorn in the side of trade unions. To the extent that the socialist trade union ABVV Transport actually one Black Book of Parcel Services published.
“Camionettization opens the door wide to a loss of quality in the labor market,” says deputy federal secretary Tom Peeters. “A van driver does not need a truck driver’s license. This means anyone can become a courier.”
“A van does not require a tachograph to check driving and rest times. We notice that low-paid Eastern European drivers buy a van with a sleeping cabin and thus drive around the country without regard to rest times and other rules,” says Peeters.
Tom Peeters (ABVV Transport): ‘There are countless vans and parcel deliverers driving around with the logo of GLS, PostNL and DPD, and yet those companies do not employ a single driver’
ABVV Transport speaks in the black book about an explosive increase in self-employed drivers. “Although there are countless vans and parcel deliverers driving around with the logo GLS, PostNL and DPDyet those companies do not employ a single driver,” says Peeters.
Peeters states that this often concerns bogus self-employment. “The companies require drivers to sign up for a package of at least four full-day rounds. For example, the self-employed drivers must recruit staff themselves or work together with at least three other self-employed people. These are entrepreneurs who often employ people with a migration background in appalling conditions. circumstances.”
Peeters speaks of a serious price drop in parcel delivery, especially after the corona crisis. “That’s how one started race to the bottom. Companies that want to get the most out of it set up mailbox companies, engage in undeclared work and hire people without papers. Only profit comes first.”
“Why do many drivers allow that to happen? Well, it’s either going along with those unfair practices or being out of work.”
