No Grocery Is Worth a Life: Rethinking 10-Minute Deliveries

Every 10-minute promise hides a rider risking his life for our convenience.

"Police cannot reach in 10 minutes, neither can an ambulance. Then why do companies pressurise us to deliver grocery items in 10 minutes?"

This one line from a Blinkit delivery partner hit harder than any marketing slogan ever could. His interview, aired on Mumbai TV, quickly went viral, not because it was shocking, but because it was so painfully true. Behind the bright promise of 10-minute deliveries lies a story of impossible deadlines, unsafe roads, and workers who are pushed to trade safety for speed.

The delivery partner explained how the reality of India’s cities makes such promises nearly impossible. Traffic snarls, heavy rains, and even the small delays at apartment gates turn ten minutes into a dangerous race. For the rider, every red light skipped and every risky turn taken isn't about efficiency, it's about survival in a system that values a stopwatch more than a human being.

The internet responded with rare empathy. People admitted what many had been quietly thinking.. we don't actually need groceries in 10 minutes. Thirty minutes is perfectly fine, an hour even, because no one’s dinner depends on a packet of chips or a bottle of soda. Comment after comment echoed the same thought.. convenience is already there, why overcomplicate it? The riders are not machines, and treating them as such strips away basic humanity.

And yet, the other side of the story tells us something about perception. Around the same time, Bilawal Sidhu, a Texas-based professional, discovered Blinkit and called it "mind-blowing." His post praising India’s quick commerce went viral as well, a reminder that what feels exploitative from the inside can look revolutionary from the outside. Innovation has always carried this duality: admiration abroad, discomfort at home.

So what are we really chasing here? The thrill of being the fastest, or the responsibility of being fair? Quick-commerce companies have changed the landscape of shopping forever, but the bigger question lingers. Should 10-minute deliveries be the ultimate symbol of progress, especially if they leave a trail of invisible costs behind them?

Technology can dazzle us, but progress is only meaningful when it is sustainable. Ten minutes might sound like the future, but when it comes at the cost of risking lives, maybe it is time to ask whether the clock we are racing against is even worth it.