[Report] Food Crisis Amid Social Distancing Emergency... Busier Dawn Delivery Scenes

Social Distancing Level 2.5 Emergency
Visiting Oasis Gyeonggi-do Seongnam Logistics Center
From as few as 100 to as many as 300 people
Differences from early February COVID-19
Increased regular staff and enhanced COVID-19 prevention measures

At the packing zone within the Oasis Gyeonggi-do Seongnam Logistics Center, employees are packing products arriving on the conveyor belt for delivery.

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] "When the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) surges like these days, the volume of early morning delivery orders increases, and sometimes the cutoff time is as early as 4 p.m., much earlier than the usual 11 p.m. deadline. We remain vigilant on-site to ensure no orders are missed."

At midnight (0:00) on the 17th, when yesterday turns into today, hundreds of people were busy moving at Oasis's logistics center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, a company specializing in early morning delivery. Na Wonsik, an on-site manager at Oasis, said, "As the volume of early morning deliveries continues to increase, we have been strengthening logistics stabilization by increasing on-site staff, including delivery drivers. Between about 100 and 300 people work simultaneously." Since the initial fear of COVID-19 in February, Oasis has been simultaneously increasing regular staff and investing in smart factory conversion.

Delivery vehicle loaded with general courier items for third-party delivery

Products received from production areas nationwide on the morning of the 16th were sorted into room temperature, refrigerated, and frozen warehouses and placed in the Picking and Packing (PP) zone. General courier items for third-party delivery had already been shipped once through CJ Logistics, Team Fresh, and others. Picking and packing staff quickly sorted products according to the early-closed early morning delivery order sheets that afternoon and placed them into baskets labeled with customers' names. The products in the baskets were loaded onto a massive conveyor belt running through the logistics center and moved to the packaging zone.

As consumers hesitate to leave their doors, early morning delivery companies are busy handling the flood of orders. Yoo Ji-won (pseudonym), a picking and packing staff member in her 30s, explained, "The perceived volume seems to have increased by about 1.5 times compared to last year. By hiring picking and packing staff as regular employees, we were able to improve stability and efficiency." In fact, Oasis Market's average daily delivery volume recently reached 15,000 orders on weekends (12th-13th), about 1.7 times higher than the previous year. In particular, sales of Home Meal Replacement (HMR) foods increased by 80% compared to the previous month, and sales of seafood, agricultural products, and livestock products also rose by more than 30-40%.

Delivery drivers are loading early morning delivery orders destined for Seoul and the Gyeonggi-do area onto each delivery vehicle.

Although the e-commerce industry is currently booming, it is all work done by people. Since it is a space where many people gather, concerns about the virus inside and outside the company are inevitable. Oasis has also strengthened temperature checks and internal disinfection for employees. Infection among internal staff is a common challenge in the e-commerce industry. The picking and packing zone and the space where courier trucks move are strictly separated to proactively prevent the virus from penetrating the items inside the courier boxes.

At 2 a.m., the courier truck loaded with goods was ready to depart. Normally, this would have been completed around 3 to 4 a.m., but thanks to the earlier cutoff for early morning delivery, the departure time was moved up slightly. Kim Seungho (pseudonym), a courier driver in his 40s affiliated with Oasis, said, "It is true that the labor intensity has increased, but I am glad that delivery drivers are now recognized as a 'profession' unlike before. I hope people think once more that the person delivering the goods at the door is someone's precious mother, father, or son."

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