Food Delivery Riders Face Uncertainty and Danger on the Job

Recently, a delivery boy in his 50s in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province died suddenly, scaring his colleagues. Ma Chuang, a “Beijing drifter” who was once reported by the media as having “a family of six, five of whom deliver food in Beijing”, said his family had left the food delivery industry due to the dangers and uncertainties of the job.

Ma Chuang’s family had been in the food delivery industry for several years, but after his father had a car accident while delivering food, they decided to leave the industry. The insurance company only paid RMB 3,000, which was not enough to cover the costs of the accident.

Ma Chuang’s Story

Ma Chuang is 29 years old and is from Zhumadian, Henan. After leaving high school, he worked as a “screwdriver” in a Dongguan electronics factory. In 2015, under the introduction of his cousin, Ma Chuang went to Beijing and entered a Western restaurant as an apprentice.

Ma Chuang worked hard to learn about Western food seasoning, recording the taste, shape, and name of spices in a small book and memorizing them over and over. It took almost a year for him to become more proficient.

In 2018, Ma Chuang got married, and in June 2019, he opened a pizza shop with the financial support of his family. However, the shop went into debt and had to close due to the epidemic in 2020.

Life as a Food Delivery Rider

After his business failed, Ma Chuang’s father persuaded him to try being a food delivery rider. Ma Chuang started learning how to deliver food from his father and eventually became a Meituan crowdsourcing rider.

Ma Chuang said that delivering food would make a good income and give him more freedom in time. However, he also felt “squeezed” by the tightening of food delivery times and the uncertainty of the whole delivery process.

Ma Chuang’s mother also joined the takeaway team in 2022, and they would often work together. However, the job was not without risks, and Ma Chuang had seen people driving to deliver orders while spraying bottles due to fever.

The Dangers of Food Delivery

On September 6, a middle-aged delivery boy was found dead near the Yajule Garden Community in Yuhang District, Hangzhou. It is understood that the delivery person was a well-known person in the neighborhood who did many takeaways a day and worked 16 to 18 hours a day.

Some delivery workers are dissatisfied with their hard life and are calling for changes in society. Others have chosen to resign due to the dangers and uncertainties of the job.