Increased Delivery Riders, Growing Anxiety as Well

"Nine out of Ten Face-to-Face Payments Are Made Without Masks"

#. Kim Gi-seok (alias), a delivery rider working for a food delivery platform, has recently experienced a significant increase in orders following the resurgence of COVID-19. However, his anxiety has also grown. This is because some customers he meets for food delivery might be in self-quarantine. As orders increase, the possibility of riders on the front lines being exposed to infection risk also rises. There have been cases in the first half of the year where riders tested positive for COVID-19, and recently, positive cases among workers in delivery-related sectors such as parcel delivery have continued. Kim always wears a mask while delivering, but his heart sinks whenever a customer opens the door to receive food without wearing a mask.

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise and social distancing measures are strengthened, the surge in delivery demand is accompanied by growing anxiety among riders. Although the proportion of contactless delivery has increased since the COVID-19 outbreak, it is still common to encounter customers without masks in the field. There are concerns that if a rider becomes infected with COVID-19, due to the nature of their work involving daily visits to multiple areas and contact with customers, they could become a 'super spreader.'

According to the industry on the 31st, since the announcement of social distancing level 2.5 guidelines, the volume of food delivery orders last weekend increased by about 10% compared to the previous week. Although work has increased, voices of concern are higher than those welcoming the situation at delivery sites. Rider A (33), active in Seoul, said, "I deliver to more than 30 places a day, and nine out of ten customers who pay face-to-face do not wear masks." Although they frequently face infection risks, it is not easy to ask customers to wear masks. Riders complain, "If we ask customers to wear masks, some get upset or complain to the store owners, so we cannot speak carelessly."

The proportion of riders facing customers' faces for payment and other reasons during delivery is not small. According to Barogo, a delivery agency with about 45,000 registered riders, the proportion of on-site payments was 32.5% as of the 27th. Although the proportion of prepayments is increasing as more customers prefer contactless delivery, riders still meet customers face-to-face about once every three times to receive cash or cards. Even with prepayment, there are many cases where riders must face customers to hand over the food.

As the situation remains difficult, delivery app companies are also making efforts to enable fully contactless delivery, where customers pay in advance and riders leave the food at the door. For example, 'Yogiyo' introduced a 'Safe Delivery Function' that allows easy contactless order requests. When customers prepay and check the safe delivery box, the contactless delivery function "Leave it at the door and call me" is automatically set. As of August, deliveries using this function increased by 580% compared to earlier this year. However, the proportion of orders choosing this contactless delivery function remains in the 20% range.

An industry official said, "With the resurgence of COVID-19, delivery orders are surging. Since delivery food is responsible for people's meals, for everyone's health, customers should wear masks when receiving delivery food, and riders should wear masks throughout the entire delivery process."

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