"Sorry to My Family Because of Sweat Smell" Delivery Workers Running Day and Night Sigh [Reporter Han Goes]

Delivery Worker Collapses Again... Found Unconscious Due to Cerebral Hemorrhage
Orders Increase Amid COVID-19, No Time to Rest While Delivering
No Time for Lunch, Barely Eating Meals in Delivery Vehicle

A delivery worker is organizing packages in an alley of a busy commercial district in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Han Seung-gon hsg@asiae.co.kr

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] "When I get home after work, I feel sorry to my family because of the sweat smell."

In an elevator of a building in Jung-gu, Seoul, Mr. Kim, a delivery worker in his 40s, was continuously looking at his personal digital assistant (PDA) that allows him to check delivery addresses.

Mr. Kim confessed that once he starts delivery work, he cannot think about anything else. He said, "When I carry and deliver packages, I am really busy. Just when I think I can take a breather, it’s already dusk. There are many times I can’t even have a proper meal," he lamented.

While talking about the hardships of delivery work, Mr. Kim could not take his eyes off the PDA. He was checking the next delivery address and schedule, and responding to calls from customers, showing literally no time to rest.

Labor without rest, like Mr. Kim’s situation, often leads to death from overwork. According to the Delivery Workers’ Death from Overwork Countermeasures Committee (Countermeasures Committee) on the 17th, on the afternoon of the 14th, delivery worker Mr. A (58) affiliated with Hanjin Delivery was found unconscious due to a cerebral hemorrhage in an apartment in Gangdong-gu, Seoul.

Mr. A was immediately taken to the hospital for surgery and regained consciousness on the 16th. He is currently hospitalized in the intensive care unit.

The Countermeasures Committee stated, "Mr. A worked more than 14 hours a day from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., with weekly working hours exceeding 80 hours. He also carried an average of 270 to 280 packages daily, suffering from overwork." Hanjin Delivery said, "We are investigating the details."

According to the Countermeasures Committee, 15 delivery-related workers have died from overwork this year alone. The committee explained, "Due to the recent escalation of social distancing measures amid COVID-19, delivery volumes surged. Earlier this month, a delivery worker affiliated with Lotte Delivery in Busan collapsed from a myocardial infarction and underwent surgery." Cerebral hemorrhage and myocardial infarction are well-known cardiovascular diseases caused by overwork.

During the COVID-19 situation, delivery workers are suffering from excessive workloads. They continue to receive orders and make deliveries even late at night. Photo by Han Seung-gon hsg@asiae.co.kr

The harsh working conditions of delivery workers are also evident in survey results. Recently, the Ministry of Employment and Labor conducted an online survey targeting 4,989 delivery workers and logistics center employees from three online distribution companies?Coupang, Market Kurly, and SSG.com. The survey found that delivery workers work about 10 hours a day and deliver approximately 200 packages.

As a result, many days they could not even have lunch properly. 52.3% of respondents said there are days in a week when they do not have lunch. Even when they do, 29.9% said they eat in the delivery vehicle, and 17.6% said they eat at convenience stores.

The employment status was also unstable. Among delivery workers, 84.5% were contract workers, and only 13.0% were regular employees. The most common monthly average income was 2 to 3 million won, reported by 68.1%. During peak season, 44.1% worked 8 to 10 hours, and 40.2% worked 10 to 12 hours. The average number of working days during peak season was five days (66.9%), the highest rate.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s labor inspection of the three companies uncovered a total of 196 violations of labor-related laws. One workplace forced delivery workers to work more than 12 hours of overtime per week due to increased delivery volume. Another workplace assigned continuous work exceeding 11 hours without guaranteeing rest breaks.

A delivery truck carrying packages is quickly crossing the road. Photo by Seunggon Han hsg@asiae.co.kr

Summarizing the situation, delivery workers are continuously exposed to insecure labor and intense working conditions, ultimately trapped in a vicious cycle that leads to death from overwork. On top of this, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a surge in delivery logistics, subjecting them to double or triple hardships.

The harsh working environment has also been highlighted by foreign media. On the 16th, The New York Times (NYT) published a Seoul dispatch titled "South Korea’s Delivery Workers Are Dying from Overwork," defining Korean delivery workers as "the hardest-working yet least protected laborers." The NYT reported, "Fifteen delivery workers have died in South Korea this year alone, including some who could not endure work that continued from dawn past midnight."

One delivery worker lamented about this situation, saying, "We work to make a living, but many colleagues collapse and die, and I feel like I might die trying to make a living." He added, "Death from overwork is not someone else’s problem. Anyone could collapse at any time." After saying this, the worker hurriedly turned to another delivery destination.

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