In South Korea, some couriers are paying for same-day deliveries with their lives
- Demand for their services has skyrocketed amid the coronavirus pandemic, as fewer people venture out to bricks-and-mortar shops
- But long hours for low wages – just US$0.70 per package in some cases – are driving a growing number of couriers to an early grave
“I wasn’t too surprised when I heard the news,” said Kim, a courier who quit two months ago. “The working environment was inhumane to the point I would go to the side and cry sometimes.”
According to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the deceased man had worked nine to 10 hours a day and delivered an average of 400 packages per shift over his two-decade career with CJ Logistics Corporation, one of the nation’s largest delivery companies.
His death, as well as those of 13 others, has sparked calls for better labour protection for delivery workers, whose workloads have skyrocketed amid the Covid-19 era as conglomerates promise consumers more same-day deliveries than they can handle.
With fewer people shopping outdoors during the pandemic, many apps and online retailers such as Coupang – which coined the term “rocket delivery” – are seeing unprecedented demand, further burdening delivery workers in a digitally-savvy country which last year saw some 97 per cent of people in their 20s using internet shopping, according to Statista.
Kim, who lives in the Seoul suburb of Anyang, said he worked from 7am to 9pm – on a good day.
