Losing 6 kilograms in a month, university teachers experience being a food delivery worker: working more than 10 hours a day
Recently, Xing Bin, a teacher at the School of Literature at Linyi University in Shandong, shared his experience as a food delivery worker, which sparked heated discussions. Xing Bin said that the process of running takeout for a month is very difficult, and sometimes he needs to deliver 5 takeout orders at the same time to increase his income. Xing Bin expressed that he hopes to enhance his life experience through this experience. He also called on society to better understand the difficulties faced by delivery drivers and to have more empathy with them.
Xing Bin is from Qingdao, Shandong. He holds a Master's degree in Literature from Northwest Normal University and is currently a lecturer at the School of Literature at Linyi University. At present, the main courses undertaken include modern Chinese literature, contemporary Chinese literature, etc. My main research direction is contemporary Chinese poetry.
On August 31st, Xing Bin told a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily that he had seen many reports on the income of food delivery workers, and the numbers varied greatly. "When my family and I were discussing this issue, we had the idea of personally experiencing being a deliveryman for verification. In late December last year, we began experiencing a one month career as a deliveryman. Xing Bin said," On average, I work more than 10 hours a day, walk more than 30000 steps, climb 110 floors, lose 6 kilograms, and earn over 7000 yuan in a month. "He recalled that he had registered as a deliveryman on multiple platforms, mainly as a part-time deliveryman. During this period, he delivered over 2000 orders and rode a motorcycle for an average of 210 kilometers per day.
Xing Bin calculated that on average, each takeout order can earn 3.5 yuan. Generally, it takes 2 kilometers to ride a bike to pick up the goods, and then 3 kilometers to ride a bike to deliver them. The average waiting time for pickup is 5 minutes, 8 minutes for cycling, and 7 minutes for delivery to the doorstep of the community, totaling 20 minutes. Can complete 3 orders in one hour.
If you bring three takeout orders for delivery at once, arranging them in order can save a lot of time, but it is easy to be reminded by customers, and the hourly income can increase to 15.75 yuan. As for delivering 5 takeout orders at once, in Xing Bin's opinion, it is already the limit and it is difficult not to be reminded, but the revenue can be further increased to 19.25 yuan per hour.
Xing Bin also displayed the bills he recorded every day. Except for a few days when he didn't take orders due to personal reasons, starting from December 22, 2022, he almost worked more than 10 hours of food delivery every day. The most common day he worked from 6:13 am to 1:41 am the next day, delivering food for a total of 19 hours and earning over 400 yuan per day.
Xing Bin said that in the future, he would like to experience professions such as construction workers and express sorting workers again.
dialogue
Beijing Youth Daily: How did you think of experiencing being a delivery man?
Xing Bin: When I was chatting with my family, what was the income of a delivery man? At that time, I thought that if I had worked as a delivery person myself, I would have known the answer. I don't think being a delivery person for just a few days can truly understand this industry, so I decided to go and experience it for a month.
I have registered on the relevant delivery platform, but as I still have to work, I can only register as a part-time delivery person. I went to the hospital for a physical examination according to regulations. Some platforms require training, while others do not.
Then I bought a motorcycle that can run 220 kilometers with full fuel. Later, when I was delivering takeout, almost every night my gas was almost depleted, so I filled it up and went home to rest. Based on this, I had to run over 200 kilometers every day during that period.
Beijing Youth Daily: Are you used to starting delivering takeout?
Xing Bin: I am 49 years old this year. There are many old buildings with five or six floors in Linyi, which do not have elevators and require climbing stairs to deliver meals. Once I received a barbecue order, and upon arrival at the store, the merchant said that the order also included two boxes of beer. After I arrived, I found that the client lived on the 6th floor and there was no elevator. I had to first place the barbecue on one of the boxes of beer, move it upstairs, then go downstairs and move the second box of beer up.
In addition, some communities are very large and may have over 40 buildings inside, making it very difficult to find the building where customers are located. Some residential building numbers are not arranged in sequential order, which further increases the difficulty of finding buildings and makes me feel almost overwhelmed. Moreover, most communities do not allow motorcycles to enter, so I need to get off the car and walk to deliver meals. My WeChat walking distance in a day basically exceeds 30000 steps, and mobile data shows that I climb an average of 110 floors per day. In a month, I lost 6 kilograms.
Beijing Youth Daily: What unforgettable experiences did you encounter during this period?
Xing Bin: Actually, when I decided to experience delivering takeout, I was mentally prepared to be scolded, but some things still exceeded my expectations.
In a lecture a few days ago, a listener asked me if it was true that a customer would give a delivery man 2 yuan to help with garbage disposal. I said giving 2 yuan would be great, but some customers would ask me to take away the two large bags of garbage in the hallway and throw them away without even giving me the money. I stated that this is not my task, so the other person asked me if I wanted a positive review. If someone gave me a negative review, I would have to deduct money, so I had no choice but to help them dispose of the trash. I actually often encounter such things.
One night, I delivered a barbecue order and it was delivered in 15 minutes. The lady who picked up the food picked it up and said it was cold, so she asked me to take it away. This means that I need to pay for this order myself. I explained to the other party that the weather was cold and I delivered it in 15 minutes. It's not my responsibility if the food gets cold. Finally, the person next to him stood up and said how could he bully the delivery man like this, which ended the dispute.
There are also things that make me feel warm. One night at more than 10 o'clock, I sent a Wonton to a five or six story family in the suburb, and a woman opened the door to receive the meal. After I went downstairs, I found that the other party had sent me a 2 yuan red envelope, and left a message saying that her child was in middle school, and suddenly wanted to eat Wonton at night. After hard work, I sent it to her, and she gave me 2 yuan to express her gratitude.
Beijing Youth Daily: Did you communicate with other delivery drivers during this period?
Xing Bin: Actually, our contact time is very limited. Most of the time, everyone is busy running their own orders. We only chat for a while when picking up food at the barbecue restaurant. Before, I saw some people say that there is fierce competition among delivery drivers, but I have come into contact with them and feel that everyone is very practical. They will take the initiative to tell me the tips for delivering food and share the faster routes for delivering food.
Beijing Youth Daily: What should I do if I encounter difficulties in safeguarding my rights while experiencing a food delivery service?
Xing Bin: Once, I waited at the restaurant for half an hour and the dishes were not ready yet. During this time, I kept in touch with all parties involved. Finally, after waiting for 75 minutes, I quickly discussed with the customer. The customer understood very well and ordered to receive the goods first, allowing me to deliver slowly. However, the next day, I was still warned by the platform, and I appealed one level at a time, but all showed that the appeal was invalid. In the end, when the appeal reached the fifth level, the supervisor still said that the appeal could not be approved and asked me back, "You've been appealing for almost a whole day now. With this time, you can make almost 200 yuan by running takeout for a day."
I replied at the time, "It's not a matter of money." After a while, he said he sent me a red envelope. I opened it and saw 15 yuan inside. The other party left a message saying they understood my experience, but the fine cannot be cancelled. 15 yuan is considered his personal compensation.
Beijing Youth Daily: What impact did this experience have on you?
Xing Bin: The original intention of my experience was just to experience this kind of life. This experience will be digested by me and will help me in creating literary works in the future.
I hope to use this experience to increase my life experience and expose myself to the various aspects of life in the vast society. After this experience, I have gained a better understanding of the life of delivery drivers and how they earn their hard-earned money. In the past, when I was writing, I saw that delivery drivers might answer phone calls later. Now, I will definitely answer them as soon as possible because I know they may be on the phone while riding a bike, which is very dangerous. I also hope that society can better understand the difficulties faced by delivery drivers and have more empathy with them.
