Deceased Coupang Man's Colleague: "Impossible to Live a Humane Life Due to Overwhelming Workload... I Might Be Next"

[Source - Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Shinwon Yoon] Recently, a dawn delivery worker affiliated with the online shopping mall 'Coupang' was found dead in a villa in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. His colleague, Mr. A, said, "I thought it was inevitable because the volume kept pouring in without a moment to breathe."

Mr. A appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 18th and said, "Honestly, among colleagues, we often joke half-seriously that 'what was going to happen has happened.' In crude terms, it felt like people had to die for them to stop piling on such a volume," adding, "I also feel the anxiety that 'I could go through this too.'"

He, who has been with Coupang for three years, explained, "In the past, there was only daytime delivery, but with the introduction of dawn delivery, division into first and second deliveries, and camps operating 24 hours, it is no exaggeration to say that the volume has increased at least tenfold compared to before."

He continued, "Usually, workers join as non-regular employees, work for two years, and then convert to regular employees in the third year, but less than 10% of people endure it," adding, "It is too hard and overwhelming, and there is even a military-style culture of pressure."

He also said that the deceased Coupang worker's workload at the time was at least one household every three minutes to finish. Mr. A explained, "Assuming working through break times, someone who worked for about two weeks handling 70 to 80 households' worth of volume is an excessive amount," adding, "Simply calculated, one delivery must be completed every three minutes, which is a volume handled by mid-to-high-ranking Coupang workers."

When asked what environment needs the most urgent improvement, he replied, "If you pour in an absurd amount of volume, a humane life itself becomes impossible," adding, "There should be at least enough time to live a humane life and take a short break."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.