OpenCourier: an Open Protocol for Building a Decentralized Ecosystem of Community-owned Delivery Platforms
This vision paper targets inequities in the delivery and gig economy, but it is conceptual without implementation or results.
The paper proposes a decentralized network protocol for delivery platforms to address power imbalances, information asymmetries, and value misalignments in the gig economy, aiming to inspire more equitable and worker-centered systems.
In this vision paper, we outline a blueprint for a decentralized network for the delivery industry, powered by an open protocol. By presenting the network's key components and layers, alongside hypothetical scenarios, we illustrate how the network and the protocol may function in practice. Through this decentralized approach, we aim to address three major issues that mark the current platform-based delivery economy: power imbalances between the platform and workers, information asymmetries caused by opaque decision-making, and value misalignments. Our goal is to provoke dialogue and inspire future work toward more equitable, transparent, and worker-centered futures in the delivery industry, the broader gig economy, and related domains.