A Day in Life of a Chinese Food Delivery Worker

Earlier than she turned a driver, Ms. Liu, 48, spent a decade working manufacturing unit jobs. In a single, she glued tiny elements into smartphone audio system, and in one other she trimmed the sides of wood doorways.

The breadwinner of her household, she lives in a small city close to Shanghai and was interested in gig work as a result of the pay appeared good. “I’ll dwell the life I would like by way of my very own efforts,” she writes on her social media profile.

Quickly after beginning as a driver, Ms. Liu scored the most important paycheck of her life: 10,583 renminbi, about $1,500. That was nearly 3 times what she had made in manufacturing unit work. She began to consider she may in the future make sufficient cash to not solely help her husband and son, but additionally assist her dad and mom and siblings who dwell in a rural village distant.

Immediately, nonetheless, these targets are slipping away from her.

The economics of her job have worsened significantly. Ms. Liu works for Meituan, which controls 70 p.c of the marketplace for meals supply in China. The corporate had two million extra drivers in 2023 than in 2021, its newest information exhibits, and on common is paying its drivers much less per order.

Drivers are underneath intense stress to make deliveries, working pink lights if that’s what it takes. Late orders can imply penalties and low buyer rankings, which might result in smaller paychecks.

In current months, movies of overwhelmed drivers crying out for assist have popped up on China’s web, and the federal government, extremely uncomfortable with public shows of discontent, has been working to control the trade. Beneath a take a look at program, gig employees in sure cities will obtain expanded social safety protection. And Meituan is attempting to require obligatory breaks throughout lengthy shifts.

However for now, Ms. Liu’s work life is not any much less arduous than ever. That is what it seems like.

8:59 a.m.

Ms. Liu indicators on to the Meituan app, which robotically takes out -$0.41 for day by day accident insurance coverage. Quickly she is assigned her first batch of deliveries — she has to choose up and drop off three orders.

9:40 a.m.

Every order comes with its personal deadline. Ms. Liu mentioned she was as soon as fined 40 p.c of her earnings on one supply as a result of she was a minute late.

Immediately is off to a very good begin: She is on time for all three orders within the first batch, although she arrived a mere three minutes early for the final one. Shut name.

She earns about $0.50 for every order.

The job may be bodily taxing. This constructing initially of her day has an elevator, however most don’t. Ms. Liu usually has to run up stairs to make her deadline.

The streets additionally take a toll. She has damaged no less than two scooters and has had a number of site visitors accidents racing to make deliveries. “It brings me to tears to speak about these experiences,” she mentioned.

Ms. Liu comes throughout a bunch of different drivers ready for assignments, a typical scene in her city because the variety of supply employees has elevated. She remembers when orders would are available nonstop. Now she feels fortunate she’s not sitting and ready.

10:15 a.m.

Her subsequent set of orders is available in. It’s 5 this time!

The arbiter of how a lot work a supply driver will get is the Meituan algorithm. Ms. Liu has no concept the way it works — however she is aware of she needs to remain on its good facet.

She as soon as damage her leg whereas working, however didn’t take day without work, not eager to be marked as inactive. To keep away from low rankings on the app, drivers adjust to extra requests from prospects, like selecting up a pack of cigarettes and taking out their trash.

Immediately, for efficiently delivering this second set of orders, Ms. Liu earns $2.66.

1:31 p.m.

After working by way of the lunch rush, she decides to take a break. She eats a can of porridge she introduced together with her. She usually packs lunch to economize. She devours it in a single minute.

The calls for of her job imply she not often sits down for meals together with her household, even dinner. On the eve of the final Lunar New 12 months, when many households have been gathering to have fun, Ms. Liu’s husband, son and in-laws needed to look forward to her to get off work.

2:51 p.m.

Uh oh. Ms. Liu notices her scooter’s battery is working low. She winds up a number of orders and heads to a close-by charging station to trade the battery. To make use of the charging stations, she pays a month-to-month subscription that comes out to about $1.32 a day.

Solely a few hours later, the brand new battery is working low! She figures on the market’s an issue with {the electrical} connection to it, however she has orders to ship.

With a deadline approaching, she calls the shopper to apologize that she is likely to be late. However she manages to make the supply one minute early. One other shut name.

5:31 p.m.

Realizing the battery received’t final for one more batch of deliveries, Ms. Liu goes to get her bike repaired.

The mechanic replaces the connector and prices her -$2.80, about how a lot she makes for 5 deliveries. Drivers should pay to keep up their scooters.

5:45 p.m.

It’s the dinner rush, however Ms. Liu will not be getting any orders. Between that and the issues together with her bike, she decides to name it a day.

After 9 hours of deliveries, and paying for the bike restore, she made lower than $18.

Ms. Liu lately determined to chop again on the time she spends delivering meals. “It’s actually tough,” she mentioned in tears. “I’m already 48. I can’t do deliveries for for much longer.”

Now she is searching for different methods to make a residing. She paid for a web-based course to learn to produce short-form movies, that are very talked-about, although she is aware of that, too, is a tough approach to earn money.

“All I can do is to provide it a attempt.” Ms. Liu mentioned.